Hey, everyone. It's time to take your hot takes, your unpopular opinions, and your tough questions, and respond to the best ones.

That's what happens here. So without any further ado, let's go.

"I think that Vultures would still be unreviewable even if you got rid of the aspect of Kanye not being a good person"

@nathudgens

Maybe it's unreviewable for you because Kanye is not a good person. I do want to reiterate, for me, it doesn't simply come down to Kanye not being a good person. Obviously, him not being a good person ties into this, but it's more of the weird cult status that he has reached with his fan base. The way that he has completely turned away everybody and anybody who is not in that cult and fully balls deep into it.

That makes any normal or just reasonable discourse around his music nearly impossible at this point because that message is either going to reach one of two people – people who see his actions as so disgusting and heinous and beyond the pale that they don't really care whether or not he's making good or bad music at this point – or people who will not listen to reason and will not hear a single critical thought about anything that he's done in or outside of music because they are just so sycophantic and demented that they're beyond reaching.

That makes a review of anything that he does at this point pretty much impossible because who is it really for? Who is it for? Who is it convincing? Who is it really giving pause at the end of the day? Because you either have people who are ignoring Kanye for very valid reasons, or people who are so in love with him for whatever reason that they are, they're pretty much ignoring the content of the music and honestly, just how shitty it is. Because you really have to be out of your fucking mind to think that "Carnival" is one of his better singles, period.

It's actually been validating as of late to see at least some of the most obnoxious people on music Twitter, on hip hop Twitter, who were just so gung-ho for Vultures, slowly coming to the realization, actually, this album sucks ass. Just to make the record clear, I was saying it sucked ass when it came out and it does suck from the ass.

"This one will make you mad: Brat is able to withstand accusations of overexposure because it's a extremely good album with extremely good songs, but it is not a IO out of IO. 'Everything is Romantic' is a dud that drops the album to at least a 9, possibly an 8."

@jrosenbaum

That's interesting. I've heard at least a few people say that "Everything is Romantic" to them is the weak link in the chain, and I'm not really sure why. I get in comparison with maybe a few other of the tracks, it's a wee bit repetitive, especially on the lyrical side. But the thing is, repetition is, I think, a characteristic of a lot of the best songs on BRAT, in my opinion, because it's not just simply a pop album. It is very much primarily, in a lot of respects, a dance music album. And in dance music, in dance pop, in house music, there tends to be a lot of repetition.

I mean, there are lots of spots across the record where Charli's vocals are literally copied and pasted from other parts on the album, which, again, a factor and characteristic of electronic dance music and pop music that is adjacent to that genre. So I don't really see it as a downside on that song, especially since even if some of the vocals and lyrics are repetitive on that track, I do think the imagery and the emotion of that song is pretty evocative and very potent.

And on top of it, the instrumental has a lot of variation to it between the grand and very pretty strings, the driving beats. For me personally, it's one of the best and most compelling tracks on the record because it is so theatrical in comparison with almost everything else. I do think there are some valid arguments here and there in terms of maybe some songs on the record pailing in comparison with others. Personally, I just don't really see "Everything is Romantic" as one of those songs.

"Childish Gambino isn't cringe, we're just not used to black nerds going big."

@samdsavage

I mean, if Childish Gambino is cringe, I don't know if it has to do specifically with him being a black nerd. There are lots of black nerdy types in media, in music, in a lot of avenues of entertainment that don't come across as cringe or cringe in comparison with Childish Gambino, who I don't even think is particularly cringe, especially at this point in his career. Maybe there was an argument for that much earlier on, but I feel like that was also performative on some level, too.

On top of it, as far as black nerdy types, going big, making big, really popping off in entertainment, Kanye is a fucking nerd. Are you kidding me? I mean, maybe he has some swagger that has convinced you guys otherwise. His insecurity shit, his love of anime, the fact that he comes from a dorky art school kid background, he's totally 100% completely a fucking nerd. Even Donald Glover himself knows and realizes this, which is why he rips him off so much. And even Kid Cudi, too. Like Kid Cudi, quite a nerdy guy. And a lot of those dudes who were like those alternative left-field New York jazz rap artists that were funny and tongue in cheek, nerds. Questlove, nerd.

I don't say any of that in a bad way. I call myself a nerd. These people are nerds. I look up to them as a fellow nerd. I'm like, 'Whoa, that's a cool ass nerd right there.'

"Music nerds care wayy too much about ranking albums rather than enjoying them on their own merits. So much discourse revolves around which band/album is better or which is overrated/underrated."

@5te9han0

I don't know. Just let music discourse happen, man. How much is caring way too much about this? How much is caring too little about this? Where are we drawing the line? It's arbitrary. It's silly. Also on top of it, I love a good underrated album conversation. It's cool to talk about records that you feel like are flying under the radar a little bit, and maybe you're not being discussed to the lengths that you think they should.

I will agree with what you're saying only insofar as I feel like there are a lot of ridiculous comparisons that go on sometimes, people comparing apples to oranges, essentially, and saying, 'No way an album like BRAT can be a 10. Look at other 10s, like Abbey Road', which I mean, yeah, there's an argument for that record being a 10, but it would be for entirely different reasons than BRAT is a 10. Albums can be great on their own merits for different reasons. However you decide to rank those albums, at the end of the day, it's just based on personal preference and taste, no matter how much you may try to trick yourself into thinking otherwise.

If it gets conversation going and it gets people more excited to try out records and dive into maybe some sounds or some genres they wouldn't otherwise, then just go ahead and do it. It's fine. There's no harm.

"tough question... what do you think of this line

P-P-Pussy bald like Anthony Fantano - CHASE ICON, 'CHASE RADIO'"

@omgsashastar

Yes, I've heard this track before. I think it's a banger. I think it's quite fun. I'm sad that this bar has not taken off in the way that I think it should. But hopefully mentioning it here in this video will bring it the attention that it deserves because it would be great if next time somebody were to, at some point, see a pussy that was bald, maybe they could just look at it and just be like, 'Hey, like Anthony Fantano.' Yeah, and that person would never experience physical intimacy ever again.

"Putting a score in a review undercuts the substance of anything a reviewer says.

Numbers are fun for casual discussion and rankings. but if you really want to hear your written opinion, a number is just an excuse for people to overlook whatever your actual thoughts are."

@DoomboxMusic

Now, surely a comment like this that is followed with an even longer sentence is going to be bolstered, right? He's going to use the rest of this tweet to bolster that claim. No, he doesn't. It seems like he just says the same thing but longer.

Okay, how does it undercut anything the reviewer says? What's the proof in that? What's the reasoning? Is it just because there are people out there who are so dumb and mindless that they only care about the score? Well, how is that the reviewer's fault? That's not my fault.

I'm not going to tailor my content to appeal to people who are too stupid to get or grasp the substance of anything that I'm saying outside of the score. Why would I do that? If you're dumb or completely ignoring the content of my videos because I put a number at the end of it, which it's at the end for a reason, if you're clicking on the video and skipping to the end to see it, that's you. That's on you. That's not how the video was designed.

Again, this all comes down to people being dumb and not having any capacity for listening, comprehension or patience. I'm not going to tailor my review scores to that.

"If sex appeal wasn't a necessity to go big in female rap, the world would have known Rapsody as the Best Female Rapper."

@KTXG25

God, it burns. It hurts. Okay, look, I will come on here and admit that I was not the biggest fan of Rapsody's latest LP. I think it's fine. I think it's good. She has come out with much better records, in my opinion. I do appreciate some of the songs on the record, and I do appreciate the attempt that she makes at really giving us a bit of a personal mental health journey on that album.

But with that being said, if you actually listen to the content of her music, she makes it explicitly clear multiple times. She does not want to be just simply categorized as a female rapper or be categorized as somebody who is good for a female at rapping. She doesn't see this idea of female rap as a legitimate thing.

In fact, on her new record also, she explicitly says she doesn't even see the more party-centric music that some of her female contemporaries make hip hop music is a bad thing. She supports it. She's fine with it. It's clear that if she sees anything as a bit of a ceiling to her success, it's not that there are other women out there making catchier, more just party-centric, ass-shaking type music. It's the fact that she keeps being categorized as a female rapper when she's just a rapper who's as good as any other rapper, male or female. Well, she's a lot better than a lot of other rappers, male or female.

Okay, a new segment in Let's Argue.

We have right here a Blow Up Bad Takes Button. I'm going to press this to blow up bad takes that I get. We're going to blow them up.

"Lauryn Hill's singing brings 'the miseducation of Lauryn Hill' down a lot, She's way better at rapping."

@KytixW

Blow up that bad take. That's a bad one. This is awful. The new Chapel Rowan record. Yeah, that sucks. That's a sucky take. That take is trash.

"Listening to albums is inefficient

The best way to enjoy music is to build an eclectic Playlist."

@christoaivalis

Who the fuck said listening to music needed to be efficient? What are you talking about? This sucks.

"Twitter lacks the ability of critical thought and everyone's speaking from a place of trauma spewing misdirected anger at eachother and it makes it counter productive for any political or introspective discussion especially having to do with any form of art"

@HASANSARMPITS

No, that one's right. I'm not blowing that one up. That one's pretty valid. That's a valid one.

Also, why have you dedicated a Twitter account to Hassan's armpits? What is wrong with you? Okay, never mind. I'm blowing this one. Go the fuck outside.

That's going to be it for this episode of Let's Argue. You're the best.

Anthony Fantano, music, arguing, forever.