I don't really think those three are trying to do the same thing at all.

Earl has placed a focus on very precise loops and brevity in his writing. But he's not playing it safe with those instrumentals in the way Navy's have largely been thus far. While their writing mostly stems from a personal standpoint, Earl places a much greater focus on abstractions. Navy's writing on the other hand is much more straightforward and digestible.

While MIKE's always prioritised more adventurous production, even if it comes at the expense of clarity in his vocals. Navy does no such thing, his lyrics are what he intends you to focus on and his flow is always at an even keel to make sure that is the case.

They are so sonically similar in their deliveries and ear for samples and song structures and soundbites and general mood that I can't take this post in good faith. Sure, you can delineate how their music is different. Earl has three distinct phases of growth in his career already. Navy is not as refined a producer as he is. MIKE doesn't have the personality to touch either. Earl has more clipped lyricism. They are obviously not identical. They are, however, a lot more alike than members of Griselda or Armand Hammer. Just for example.

I don't see how you could find MIKE's production and overall sound anywhere close to Navy's. Its gotten murkier with every release since May God Bless Your Hustle. Navy's far more crisp and clean in his both his production and delivery. Earl is more out there than Navy but he ain't stretching sounds to the extremes that MIKE is. And nor is he muddying his vocals under layers of his production the way MIKE often does. And you say they are similar in song structure when Earl is out here making the bulk of his tracks under 2 minutes purposefully. Neither MIKE and Navy are locked into that.

Regarding ear for samples and general mood that's just a pretty flimsy comparison that could easily apply to a bulk of the current crop of undergdound artists and producers. It's not like the push for minimalist, sample based loops is something new. But again, Navy isn't chopping his samples like MIKE is and nor is Earl. Navy hasn't used any beat switches across his two projects while MIKE has used a bunch.

Really don't get your suggestion that they're all trying to do the same thing and therefore Navy can somehow be percieved as doing it better.

Being different doesn't make them dissimilar. Sorry. I'm not to going to waste energy further explaining their blatant overlap to somebody familiar enough with their music to hear it for themselves. Whether it is willful ignorance or cynical sophistry who can say. Stop being silly.

Waste further energy explaining it? You haven't expended any explaining anything. They overlap in the way the vast majority of rappers who spend time in the underground NY sphere do.

Imagine listening to Weight of the World and Song of Sage and simply concluding they are trying to do the same thing. Absurd.

Okay so these guys aren't similar at all but the entire NY underground is very similar. Makes sense! Definitely a good faith argument when you're willing to conflate Elucid with Stove God and Che Noir, but not MIKE with Earl and Navy.

a.uguu.se/PTETsaXa.mp3

I specifically said to you that since 'May God Bless Your Hustle' MIKE has made a conscious decision to become way more experimental with his sound and obscure his lyrics. Yet you pick out a track from MGBYH. You used their song structure as an argument when again I pointed out to you that Earl has made a habit out of making shorter songs - the majority clocking in under 2 minutes. Navy isnt doing that. He's making 'proper' length tracks, hooks and two verses. He's not writing in abstract terms, not going over instrumentals like 4N or Red Water.

To say off one listen that Navy is 'better at what they're trying to do' is just a lazy, dumbed-down observation.

If you can genuinely listen to their latest material - WotW, BLP 2020, FoC, SoS - and conclude that MIKE and Earl and Navy are 'so sonically similar', that they serve as legitimate points of comparison and critique, I'd be amazed.

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Yeah, MIKE already did this stuff in 2017. I'm glad you can admit that much. It only took like 5 replies.

It was a generalization not a book report. Your pedantry does not invalidate it.

I just compared their music across 3 years in that random 30 second clip. Anybody with a brain that isn't highly insecure will go "oh yeah, they are pretty similar". Keep digging your heels in. You look like a clown.

You're distorting your initial suggestion. Specifically you said Navy is 'better at what they're trying to do'. Your generalization isn't applicable because they are clearly not trying to do the same thing anymore - and haven't been for a while now. You're just being argumentative and rude for the sake of it.

No, you are shifting the discussion back to that comment after being proven wrong lol. Your original gripe was that they don't sound similar. Read back through this discussion.

I guess I'll do a subject matter a***ysis next. Won't be hard.

I've quite clearly focused on that comment since the beginning and why it is inaccurate.

Very disingenuous to pretend we didn't discuss in length how sonically similar their music is.

I'm not talking about 2017 MIKE am I. You didn't say Navy is better at doing what 2017 MIKE was trying to do.

Okay? That's not my problem that you ignored MIKE's earliest work that laid the foundation for this movement. Why you think I would exclude that is beyond me.

You're straight up lying now. In my second reply I said MIKE has stepped away from that sound 'since MGBYH'. Why would we be discussing 2017 MIKE in relation to 2020 Navy without you specifying that. Doesn't make any sense. You didn't say he's better at what they did or have done. You said he's better at what they're trying to do. Obviously that implies presently. Simple tense usage.

I described how they are working in the same space then provided an example of how their work overlaps in aesthetic. You tried to pigeonhole the discussion by leaving out MIKE's foundational work which undergirds my point. I was talking about Navy's 2020 project sounding like Earl's 2020 project and MIKE's 2017 project. These are the projects I am familiar with and the ones I have explicitly referenced here. I could have included Medhane I suppose. Yung Morpheus as well considering somebody else also pretended he's not working in this space as well. Again, absolutely silly.

Anybody without an agenda would concede these points. They are superficial observations. You seem to have given up trying to dispute that with your pedantry. Now you are pivoting to them being distinct elsewhere: how different their identities and lyricial styles are. Of course, I would argue a large part of their musical identity is in the overlap I already described. The similar deliveries and moods and flows and samples and sound bites and such. I also elaborated on some differences because it would be silly to pretend they are identical. That was never my contention.

I actually paid compliment to Navy for breaking out of the rut I considered them to be stuck in. He has bigger ideas than Mike and a worldview less obscured than Earl's. There is a substance on that tape I found lacking elsewhere. Mike's aesthetic epiphany has been run into the ground. Earl's clipped lyricism is intentionally alienating and makes it messy to articulate any broader perspectives beyond mood. I think Navy is still a little blunt, but he's young. He will most likely learn how to more artfully and symbolically convey these opinions. He might move in a new direction aesthetically as well. Maybe he did on this new project.

Fair enough. Wild how you don't see the appeal of Ankhlejohn tho. Is it his voice? Cause that's very understandable if so

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