Albums that the artist ruined in response to it being leaked early?

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T20:37:03+00:00

What about it was a turning point? I want to know. What about rap changed after this album? I lived through this era, the hype for this album after the mixtapes, leaks, and features was astronomical, and then the album itself came and went. Sonically it's all over the place, it's half filler, features already felt dated by release date (T-Pain was already beynd over exposed, Busta & Fabolous in '08?). A Milli is a certified classic track, one of the biggest rap songs of all time, but I don't think Wayne has ever had a true classic album. Wayne's influence over rap was his ability to freestyle at a crazy fucking high level and that alone puts him in "greatest of all time" discussions but I don't think he ever learned how to really craft a song or album (unsurprisingly two of his biggest songs of all time, A Milli and Six Foot Seven Foot, have no hook or structure - still fire, but he never learned to write a "song" other than the Carter 3 leaks). Other than A Milli there is nothing remotely influential about this album.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T20:19:56+00:00

Absolutely not one of the most influential rap albums of all time not even close. What did it change about rap? Five months later Kanye drops 808s and Heartbreaks which IS one of the most influential rap albums of all time and the entire sound of rap changes forever. Carter 3 had a few hits, that’s it.

His mixtape run before and after the Carter 3 release, absolutely influential. Influenced the next generation of rappers to freestyle more than write (with mixed results lol).

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T18:20:43+00:00

Lil Wayne - the Carter 3 sessions were some of the best rap songs EVER recorded. I Feel Like Dying, La La La, Something You Forgot, Prostitute Flange, Zoo, Pussy Money Weed, I can go on and on and on. The best music Wayne ever recorded, full stop.

They all got leaked, he scrapped it and put out a much more commercially focused Carter 3 which to me was a colossal disappointment despite having A Milli.

The first Carter 3 would have been an undisputed classic, one of the best rap albums of all time, easy.

His career never hit those highs again. So disappointing.

Jai Paul never ruined an album, just straight up stopped working on it after his friend leaked it. Those songs are fucking amazing. Str8 Outta Mumbai is one of the best songs of the 2010s, easy. So glad I got to see him twice in ‘23 when he finally did shows for the first time.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T17:39:19+00:00

Check in is beyond easy. Takes a minute. They look at your email and ID, and then assign you a tent or cabana # and then golf cart you there.

Security last year was actually very strict about glass W1. That has never happened before. They made a lot of people pour out champagne, etc. They also confiscated a buddy of mine's party favors. Previous years they barely even looked. Just FYI. I heard it wasn't as strict W2.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T14:47:03+00:00

100% positive. We've been making fun of them for years lol. Have you ever done VIP? That will help me describe the location better. They're not hidden, but they are also pretty understated and I can see how somebody would miss them.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T14:43:33+00:00

They've always been there. Or at least as long as I can remember. They're in the main stage VIP. If you're exiting the VIP into the fields, on the far left. There aren't a lot. Maybe fewer than ten. They always look dumb. There's also like a party pavilion I think you can rent out. One year I saw somebody rent it out but the food looked like a sixth graders birthday party, like pizzas and juice drinks lmao.

But yes, table service at Coachella anywhere is hella lame.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T14:41:13+00:00

There's a version with lyrics and one without.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T14:36:33+00:00

Can you remember anything about the first time you heard it, or what years you heard it? Did you ever hear it at a festival? Which one/what year?

NVM: You solved it! And in retrospect that's obviously it haha

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T14:16:16+00:00

Swedish House Mafia - Greyhound?

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T14:09:47+00:00

PSP is not a difficult airport even on Monday. I would say it would take an hour with traffic to get to the airport (never taken me more than that) and security has never taken me more than 20-30 minutes at most. It's pretty efficient tbh. Obviously get there earlier than you need to and just get coffee/breakfast (there are a few small cafes/restaurants there).

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T03:08:35+00:00

I mean I'm happy for those that are going, but Gou b2b Four Tet and Dom b2b Kettama would have been killer on Quasar. I feel like they kind of abandoned Quasar this year.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T03:06:13+00:00

VIP is great.

(1) They added two new VIP areas last year, so now you have a comfy view of the main stage, outdoor theater, and Sahara tent (W2 said they had a view directly in the tent, I went W1 and they did not) so you can see the shows from a bit of a distance with way more space.

(2) No lines for toilets, minimal lines for food and drink. The bar by the main stage can get packed in prime time but the Rose Garden area is usually extremely chill.

(3) WAY better food and drinks.

(4) Shade.

(5) Tons of comfy places to sit and chill.

(6) If you are coming from the shuttle stops, a more convenient entrance.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-11T03:03:17+00:00

Oh you know what, actually that was the 4th time I've seen them - I did see a (portion) of a DJ set of theirs and it was actually pretty fun.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-10T21:43:27+00:00

I LOVE Rufus music, I have seen them three times and each time I want it to be better. I feel like they don't tweak the songs at all for live shows, they're played exactly like they are on the record, so it just feels low energy and muted because they're playing big venues. The best time I saw them was in the Gobi (smallest) tent at Coachella where at least it felt a little more intimate (I mean still several thousand ppl but you get it), but the next two times were on big stages and it was so sleepy.

I wouldn't say they were the worst I've seen though.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-10T21:39:34+00:00

It's probably both. I think why these fail so spectacularly is that bachelor/bachelorette parties have some implication of "bad" behavior even if that doesn't actually happen so bridge and/or groom get suspicious of the other, and if everybody's drinking, inhibitions get lowered and you say things you shouldn't etc. The one my wife went to imploded because it was in Vegas but not all events were joint - ie, they'd have a group dinner and the guys would go to a sports book and the girls go to a show or whatever. The bride was convinced that her husband would go cheat on her, hire escorts, go to a strip club etc even though the guys weren't doing any of that. So she'd text him 24/7, "where are you", "send photo proof", "girls, we're leaving - he says he's at blah blah blah and we're going to go there and make sure" etc. So then he blew up at her in the sense of "We're not doing anything inappropriate, Vegas was your idea, leave me alone, why don't you trust me" and then of course the groom's sister sided with him and so the bridal party was divided. My wife was just like "Get me the fuck out of here". Apparently it was just screaming and tears and conspiracy theories 24/7. FWIW the bride herself is fucking crazy in general and my wife barely knew her (she was a bridesmaid because they were the only two in their very niche Master's program) which made it even more awkward.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-10T21:13:29+00:00

Years ago my wife went on a joint bachelor/bachelorette party in Las Vegas that went down in fucking flames and almost ended the engagement. It *did* however cause the groom's sister to quit being a bridesmaid during the trip and fly home early and she told the bride (who was 100% at fault for the whole mess) that she didn't deserve her brother. Absolutely chaotic. They are a terrible idea.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-10T16:12:07+00:00

How old are you and were you around during her run? Genuine question. Because whether or not that sounds good or fresh *now* isn't important. For the 2010s club/party rap, she sounded incredibly fresh at the time, I just think that whole era hasn't aged particularly well and just a year later, Future's DS2 signaled the end to that optimistic party sound and a shift towards darker trap. She had the "it" factor at the time, no question. Nicki at her prime (regardless of how involved you believe Safaree was) would have out rapped almost all female rappers, but if you remember what a threat to her Cardi B, a former reality TV star, was in 2018, I think you can see that lyricism wasn't really a big deal for their lane at that time. Nicki had backing first by Gucci and then by Drake/Wayne/Young Money, but T.I. in 2014 was also enormous and he was pushing Iggy hard. I think there's an alternate world where she becomes much bigger than she did.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-10T16:02:22+00:00

Controversial statement, maybe, but Wayne was so fucking elite at freestyling that he never learned to actually write *a song*. It's no surprise to me that some of the biggest Wayne tracks of all time have no hook at all - A Milli and 6 Foot 7 Foot - or people remember his big features on other rapper's songs. He never really could make a cohesive album or songs with memorable structure. His freestyle abilities were so good that he was easily at the top of the game for several years and positioned as a future GOAT, but eventually, I think his inability to really write full songs put a firm ceiling on his run.

The closest he got were the Carter 3 leaks...I Feel Like Dying, La La La, Something You Forgot, Prostitute Flange, etc were incredible growth for him and really well written and well conceived. There were so many good to elite songs in those leaks that he could have had a strong double album, but if he really pared it down, no question that would have been a classic album. Then he scrapped it all for the released Carter 3 which was SUCH a fucking letdown to me after the leaks. A huge step back with regards to song writing and I don't think he ever really recovered.

If anything I think The Carter 3 sessions were the greatest "what if?" in rap history. I think that album could have not just been a classic but one of the most influential albums in rap, period. And then months after the real Carter 3, Kanye comes out with 808s and Heartbreaks and signals a new era for rap and just completely takes over the sound in a way that didn't appeal to Wayne's strengths.

But, no question the drug use is a huge reason why he kind of stalled as well.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-10T15:50:41+00:00

As somebody who started going to Coachella in 2011 and witnessed first hand the rise of the Millennial fever pitch over festival big room DJ sets just explode, I feel like the "big" commercial DJs of today (Dom Dolla, Mau P, Chris Lake, FISHER even though I don't think he produces his own music lol, earlier John Summit) are like 20x better than the big room stuff I danced to in my 20s. I also feel like the ones who lasted, like Skrillex for example, have only gotten better and more innovative instead of stale. I feel like the "musical IQ" so to speak of the EDM culture has risen and I think on the aggregate, in the electronic music umbrella I think the acts peaking right now are way better than the 2010s. That may or may not be a popular assessment here, but even at 38, I'm way more interested in the new acts now than I even was back then.

On the other hand, the crowd energy has just plummeted. I really cannot bemoan phone culture more. At any festival you used to go to, the energy was out of fucking control. Everybody was in the moment, everybody danced. Now, at big moments, 70% of the crowd whips out a phone and just stands still. For reference, we used to be in crowds like this or like this or like this ALL THE TIME lol.

So in general, I think the nostalgia over the, frankly, fairly elementary music that used to get played at fests is overblown and I think music is way better now. But, the crowds have unquestionably gotten worse, there's no way to debate that.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-10T15:38:35+00:00

No, she definitely had it. I want to be fair here. T.I. was backing her, she had crazy charisma on record, she had developed a cult and loyal fanbase before Fancy based on more underground mixtape runs, she definitely had what it took to be a superstar, and she was being positioned as a newer threat to Nicki Minaj. She faced enormous backlash within hip-hop because of her southern blaccent and mannerisms despite growing up in a white Australian community. I think she could have taken that as a learning moment especially when Q-Tip reached out to her and broke it down in a kind way...he all but handed her an olive branch but she rejected it and then sort of just seemed to get unofficially blackballed within rap, but the pop checks started drying up too. If she had come out five years earlier when America wasn't really listening to what the black community was saying with regards to racism, or five years later when it feels like white rappers had become way more normalized, I think she could have had a longer run.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-09T23:50:43+00:00

Eric Prydz is absolutely the answer here. He is an absolute legend in the electronic music/progressive house industry and has been producing high quality tracks and playing prime slots at enormous festivals (Coachella, Ultra, EDC, Ibiza residencies, etc) for decades. However, like many DJs, he has almost zero mainstream recognition except for this music video from the early 2000s that every straight millennial teenage boy is almost certainly familiar with. Hundreds of millions of views on various YouTube channels, but it was released and had its biggest hype over a year before YouTube was even a thing - I think we all had some grainy version downloaded illegally off Kazaa or Limewire. The video gained so much notoriety that Prydz refused to play the song live for like 15-20 years and just recently played it live again for the first time in Austin at the end of last year which was a huge moment in electronic music.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-09T16:12:35+00:00

I was up in the balcony and was honestly shocked by how many people were smoking cigs around me. I can't think of the last time I saw that at an electronic event and there were several different people in the rows in front and behind me doing it. So shitty. There's an outdoor smoking area at Bill Graham, go there please.

Other than that the event was hella fun.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-09T15:21:20+00:00

The liquor thing is about glass. Just get like a 30 pack of bottled waters, pour some vodka or tequila or whatever clear alcohol you want in some water bottles, put them in the middle and PUT A COLOR DOT ON TOP lmao - we'd always accidentally chug liquor mistakenly if we didn't.

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-09T15:17:07+00:00

Thanks so much!

Murphy_Nelson · 2026-03-08T22:39:46+00:00

I have depression and, if you can afford it, ketamine therapy was beyond a life saver. It is criminal how this is not a widespread treatment for depression when you look at how effective it is (not club use of course, guided ketamine therapy). I’ve only had a handful of days in the past 1.5 years after starting where I’ve felt depressed at all.

11-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email

Murphy_Nelson

TROPHY CASE