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“Belle”, makes me really wanna finally watch Summer Wars even more than I already wanted to

Happy Birthday Fred, Raisin, and anybody else having a birthday! Happy Birthday Cake!

I’ll take a krabby patty, hold the cheese, extra onions pls

omg I don’t think I’ve heard of this??

Hey jenkman

how's your wekend?

Having a pretty bittersweet last day or two, tho idk if that’s even the correct term to use.

Yes. More to the point, though: I'll be sure to add the recommendations y'all put in here to my list of stuff to listen to!

Yo happy birthday Fred

Episode 2) Shark Gang Wars When Sharkey Two-Times and his Bloodtips rejected the once in a lifetime offer to become a featured attraction on the Graphic Nature Channel, how could the Bronzies possibly pass it up? If you haven’t already heard of The Bronze Whalers, then congratulations. That makes you and about most every other normal, everyday, working bodies. More commonly known as copper sharks, they’ve taken quite nicely to the moniker because it makes them feel more powerful than they actually are. When people hear the word “whaler” they think of something capable enough to take down an entire whale. In the shark world, such a feat would be considered legendary. It’s not something that even the greatest of great whites can accomplish. But the Bronze Whalers are opportunistic little scamps. They know full well just what human beings have been capable of throughout the years. They know exactly where to gather and at just the right time when a whale has just finished getting the shit harpooned out of it. They take credit for the Herculean feat, and they get fed very nicely in doing so. It’s a hustle that has provided greatly for them throughout multiple centuries. Though their methods of doing so , however, shouldn’t exactly win them any third place trophies. About tenth, at least. And at the top of the tenth rate food chain is “The Copper Head” himself, Rust. Don’t let the name fool you, he’s still far from showing any signs of rust. And as the self-appointed head of the table, it is his duty to provide for his shiver of sharks. Rusty likes to fashion himself a fundamentalist and he certainly perceives himself as being a cut above the Sharkey Two-Times way of running things, but in all honesty, they’re not all that different. Sharkey has his bloody fangs cinched in deep to Bikini Bottom. He and his bloodtips provide a sense of security that no policing body can hope to provide and they make a killing off it. Sharkey claims to be looking out for the little guys, but fail to pay him back in full, and you’ll find yourself at the bottom of his food chain. Rust, on the other hand, claims to look out for his fellow shark. A whole whale carcass can provide well beyond his shiver’s means, so he isn’t beyond sharing the spoils and spreading the wealth…for a nominal fee, of course. And expecting payment from a species that most of whom haven’t accepted or flat out don’t believe in the concept of “money” isn’t going to win you much support. But their support is the least of Rust’s concerns. The real bread and butter lies on the surface. For many years, human-shark relations have been strained. The Bronze Whalers are one of the very few who seem to have some form of symbiosis with their neighbors up top. As well as being one of those lesser known species that can easily disappear in a crowd, Rust has decided to use that to his advantage. Sending members of his shiver out into areas frequented by the likes of dusky, sandbar and even the versatile bull shark, Rust has coordinated and carried out many planned attacks on humans, with some fatal, and most of which the blame fell on to other species. With the reputation of his rivals taking the hit for his actions, the Bronze Whalers are free to push in on their territory as humans start to retaliate in kind. As previously stated, the copper sharks are an opportunistic and greedy lot. Which makes them the perfect subjects for the Graphic Nature Channel to further research on. But if they think, even for a second, that they can strong arm us for clout, then Mr. Darnell has enough evidence here that can really fuck up their day. Trivia Sharkey Two-Times is a featured character in the licensed PC video game, “SpongeBob Diner Dash 2”

you fucking serious with this shit dude lmfao

I'd just recommend listening to jazz rap, political hip hop, concious hip hop, abstract hip hop for stuff that's different lyrically and isn't as much as talking about sex and violence as much as mainstream trap rap might focus on, since it's more just vibes with the production and the personality behind the mic, vocals and stuff, or just to party to or whatever. I'm describing this horribly but I think you get my point. For me, I'm into any type of hip hop I've heard, I'm just very picky on production of most things. Rarely does vocals or lyrics bother me even if it's horrorcore stuff like early Eminem and Tyler the Creator.

Episode 4: Breaking Sponge One day, the cafeteria is seen being overcrowded by angry, hungry campers. They’re acting like the ravenous Krusty Krab customers eventually would, that foreshadowing! Plankton’s special c(h)um is on the menu for today, and it turns out that isn’t quite appealing to the campers, who would’ve thought? Krabs hears all the complaints and bursts in faster than a barefoot jack rabbit, sensing yet another lawsuit in the pit of his wallet (yep, we’re gonna milk this gag). He asks what the kids are bitching about, to which they say they hate Plankton’s food and want Mr. Lyle cooking instead. Plankton refuses to budge, but Krabs steps on him. Krabs says that Lyle took today off, which he wouldn’t allow if he was in charge, so he offers to cook some old fashioned navy food. Unfortunately, the kids don’t want that either, which makes Krabs aggravated. :grrr: He then says if these snowflakes can do better, then one of them should cook. SpongeBob decides to take the challenge, offering to cook. He’s always dreamed about being a fry cook and decides to use this as a first step into the career. Krabs shrugs and decides to give it a shot. He says Plankton will be working with SpongeBob or he’s fired. Who knows, maybe even Plankton will learn how to actually cook something that isn’t fucking disgusting from the kid (spoiler: he won’t). Plankton hides his annoyance and pretends to be excited, as the two get into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Giancarlo realizes one of the campers, Squidward Tennisballs-whoops, Tentacles, has an uncanny resemblance to the mysterious health inspector. He wonders if they are somehow related. Jonathan Banks says there’s plenty of octopi in the sea and it could be a coincidence. Still, Giancarlo suggests Banks delicately question him to see what he knows. Banks says he will do so, while Giancarlo begins researching through the history of Mein Kampf Koral to see if there’s anything he missed. He suspects something fishy is going on around here (drum snare), especially after Banks claims the intruder teleported away like some supernatural creature. Giancarlo knows there’s more to this mysterious health inspector than meets the eye. As Giancarlo shifts through old documents, he finds an old report of some people who tried to claim this land long ago, but got scared away by an alleged “magic Nazi squid.” Nobody took them seriously so the claim was dismissed. Giancarlo believes he’s found his smoking gun and continues to investigate. Back at the kitchen, SpongeBob is ready to cook. Plankton tries to mentor SpongeBob, but that goes about as well as you expect. First, Plankton commands SpongeBob to boil water, but ends up making it on fire. Plankton then suggests something easier, asking him to cut bread. SpongeBob tries to cut the bread, but the knife accidentally goes flying at Plankton, who barely avoids it. To which Plankton replies “too bad that didn’t kill me” (look look we’re referencing an episode you’d rather be watching!). SpongeBob then tries whisking, but gets whisked himself. He then tries to mold some dough, but Plankton gets hurt instead. Plankton has had it, telling SpongeBob to get the fuck out. SpongeBob begs him to give him another chance, for he wants to be the sea’s best fry cook, even pulling the sappy puppy eyes. Plankton, against his better judgment, says he’ll give him one last chance, but he has to actually make something to get his seal of approval. So, SpongeBob gets to work and within a few minutes, whips something up. Plankton asks what it is, and SpongeBob says it’s a special soufflé. Plankton tries it, and it’s…surprisingly good? Perhaps this kid really did have potential after all, but he tells him not to get too cocky. SpongeBob considers it a success and lets out a victory screech (moar references!!!). Plankton tells him to make another. Skodwarde is eavesdropping outside of the cafeteria, and hatches another genius idea that will get Giancarlo in hot water. Skodwarde uses his god powers to make a bunch of meth ingredients fall into SpongeBob’s current soufflé. When it comes out of the oven, it's crystal blue colored, which has Plankton curious and SpongeBob confused. Plankton tries it and reaches ecstasy. Plankton says to SpongeBob he's got a magic touch and that the two of them will make a great team, so here's a low budget visual to accompany that: SpongeBob wants to say he's not sure if it's supposed to look like that, but is happy his chef career is taking off so he decides not to say anything. Skodwarde uses his god powers to replace all of the normal soufflé ingredients with meth, which SpongeBob puts in for his next batch. Plankton passes out the crystal blue soufflé to the campers, who dig in at once, and reach ecstasy as well. Skodwarde gets a good laugh out of this and then begins to call somebody. Banks sees Squidward sitting on his chair, still reading Essential Elements for Band: Bb Bass Clarinet and approaches him. Squidward looks up, annoyed and asks what he wants. Banks says he’d like to ask him a few questions, assuming he’s not wasting his precious time. Squidward says he’ll try. Banks asks him if he has any relatives, to which Squidward says of course. He then asks if any of them are health inspectors, which Squidward denies. He then asks if any have been to this camp before. Squidward then starts to grow suspicious on why Banks is asking him this, but Squidward tells him no. Banks thanks him for his time and walks away. Squidward starts to wonder if Skodwarde's been dicking around with the camp again and needs to find him immediately. As the campers eat their soufflé, Sandy, being the only one there with a brain, realizes the color of it is similar to what Nobby and Narlene had. She tells the campers to stop eating that because it's bad for you, but they look at her like she's a stupid squirrel and ignore her warnings. Typical. Sandy peeks into the kitchen to see SpongeBob and Plankton making the crystal blue soufflé, assuming Plankton is tricking SpongeBob into making meth. Suddenly, a police car pulls up to the camp, and the God of Supremacy Orange Cop (!) gets out of it. Banks sees this and alerts Giancarlo, who both try to hide their worried looks. Giancarlo asks the officer what he can do for him. God of Supremacy Orange Cop says he received a notice that meth was spotted on this camp. Giancarlo assumes he's referring to the narwhals and tells them those were two intruders who were "dealt with." However, GOSOC says he was alerted of this today and needs to investigate pronto. Banks asks if he has a warrant, and the GOSOC pulls one out of his ass. The two can't argue with that, but aren't quite sure what to do now. Sandy then runs out of the cafeteria and tells the adults that Plankton snuck blue meth into their food. The GOSOC thanks the squirrel for her tip and barges into the kitchen, with SpongeBob and Plankton both putting their hands up. GOSOC gets the tiny handcuffs, arresting Plankton. Plankton is outraged, wanting to know the meaning of this. GOSOC explains he's been serving blue meth to children, confusing him. He points to the spiked soufflé, to which Plankton tries blaming SpongeBob, but SpongeBob says he was just using Plankton's ingredients. Plankton tries to protest this, ranting how he's been setup, wants a lawyer, and that he hates the police. GOSOC has heard enough and takes Plankton away. Krabs gives a hearty laugh, saying he always expected Sheldon to end up like this. Plankton vows he will destroy him! Giancarlo apologizes to GOSOC for this employee's actions and promise he does not reflect all of Mein Kampf Koral (the more he says that out loud the more you wonder why nobody suspects anything). GOSOC thanks Sandy for snitching, though Sandy looks at Giancarlo suspiciously, fearing she may have gotten the wrong guy. Plankton says he doesn’t need them and vows that when he gets out of prison, which probably won't take long, he'll open his own successful restaurant because he went to college. He says he won't miss this place but promises he’ll try to remember them all in therapy, as he's thrown into GOSOC's car. Plankton gives them the double bird and shouts "so long, assholes!" as it drives off into the distance. Sandy notes how curiously, nobody got sick from the blue meth this time. SpongeBob suspects maybe his magic touch prevented them from getting sick, and feels even more confident than before now about his cooking abilities. Giancarlo and Banks know Plankton was set up by their "friend", but they wanted to get rid of him for a while, and nobody liked his cooking, anyways, so they can't complain about this turnout. Still, they were cutting it pretty close there and know they need to act fast. Giancarlo tells Bank he's discovered who has been causing them trouble: an ancient god known as "Skodwarde". Squidward looks around for Skodwarde, demanding an explanation, but is unable to find him. Skodwarde, looking from afar, is annoyed his scheme has backfired, although is happy it's lit something a fire under Giancarlo's ass. He wanted to do this easily and quietly, but he now realizes he'll have to do something extreme to hurt Giancarlo's image. He has a devious look on his face, and no, it's not gay thoughts this time.

I am also open-minded about getting into other music genres, I do admit that I can find it hard sometimes to get myself invested into a hip hop/rap album and when I enjoy a certain song from an album that I listen to, I try to keep a mental note of that for when I'm building my playlists. While I'm certain someone above me has already said this, one method I have in mind is that I'd look into instrumental hip hop acts like Flying Lotus and DJ Shadow to get something more out of the genre. If you aim to put more effort into getting into rap and hip hop, some artists I recommend getting into if you haven't yet are Run the Jewels, Outkast, M.I.A., BROCKHAMPTON, Milo/R.A.P. Ferreira, Lupe Fiasco, and The Roots if you're looking for music that can be both fun and introspective while I recommend albums like Cosmogramma, To Pimp a Butterfly, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (or The College Dropout if I'm going with something besides an easy choice), The Score, Things Fall Apart, Purple Moonlight Pages, ATLiens (or like Aya suggested, Aquemini), We Got it From Here...(besides beng a tribute to one of the deceased members of A Tribe Called Quest, it's diverse with sounds and guest artists as well), and basically any Run the Jewels album. There's also Gorillaz to consider, even though their music is genreless. Their debut album has quite a lot of hip hop influences, so I'd get into that too if you haven't. There's more that I could name, but of course, when it comes to getting into hip hop, I still consider myself a beginner.

I live near Memphis, and rap is really popular here, but I just can't get into it. I don't know why, it's just not my type of music I guess. I'm more into dance-pop and alternative.

Beats are such an integral part of rap music. I believe viewing it as mainly a lyrical art form is taking a look at it from a wrong angle. Rap is probably my favorite genre of music, so I feel pretty strong about this subject. I don't know entirely to what you've listened to, but after seeing you list albums liks Madvilliany and Ready to Die, it shows to me that you do want to really understand and appreciate this music. If I may suggest albums, based on what you've said: To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar is probably the best example of beats and tonal expression in modern rap music. It is very, very heavily influenced and implements jazz into the entire album. Not to mention the lyrics are very important tell a story through the entire album. This is probably my mainly point of rap that I enjoy the most. A lot of landmark rap albums, to me, tell the best stories in music. Another good example of this is Aquamini by Outkast. I suppose, as you say, you enjoy tonal music over lyrical importance. So, I can understand when an album is more focused on just rapping, like Eminem or something like that. But, a lot of rap that I focus on is very very beat heavy. Now, I could sit here and suggest trap music. I know that, that is not for everyone. But if I had to suggest any trap music, Denzel Curry's TABOO is probably, objectively the best trap album ever. My personal favorite is Die Lit by Playboi Carti, if I may also suggest. I'd like to shift a bit of focus to my favorite rap album, and in turn my favorite studio album ever produced in general; which is Liquid Swords by GZA. Liquid Swords to me, is everything I personally love about rap music. It's the album, other than TPAB, that I suggest to people. Lyrically, it has everything that makes gangsta rap perfect. It's hard, it's aggressive, yet it's sad and has something to say. The beats are nearly unmatched, and the sampling means something greater than most in the genre. Now, focusing on MF DOOM, I can see where your taste lies in that. May I suggest records like Endtroducing... by DJ Shadow (not rap but important hip hop), It Takes A Nation of a Million to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy (important early hip hop that heavily influences modern rap music), Enter the Wu-tang (36 Chambers) by Wu-Tang Clan (which is an influence in major samples being used during albums, much like Madvilliany), The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox (a contemporary piece of nerd rap that is closely related to Madvilliany), Flower Boy by Tyler, The Creator (more lyrically focused, but obviously influenced by Madvillainy), Some Rap Songs by Earl Sweatshirt (all lyrical and a lot less beats, but all together is linked to that album. Experimental). Experimental rap is also something I would suggest exploring like Exmilitary by Death Grips or Atrocity Exhibition by Danny Green. I could go on and on about rap music, but I hope you can at least give some of these albums a chance. I don't know if I could convince you or anything, I just like seeing people trying to branch out their musical taste. So it's cool that you made a thread like this to try and reach out.

Have you tried listening to Kendrick Lamar? I find that he often has pretty solid lyrics and production. I also recommend Kid Cudi and Tyler, the Creator (his new albums more so lol).

just listen to it lol

I don't like rap either, the main thing I like about music is the actual music and rapping doesn't have that, its just the lyrics, and the lyrics are always really weird to say the least.

I've made no secret about the fact that, over the last couple of years, my feelings on music and other media have been taking some unexpected turns. I've even become more sympathetic to a bit of pop music over the last few months, if this was any indication. Well, even after all of that, at the ripe old age of... [checks notes] ...22, I still can't find my way into enjoying rap music by and large. Now, let's clear some things up first... I'm a guy from very white rural Louisiana who grew up listening to rock and old-school country, and has been vibing to Van Halen and 80s thrash Metallica since he was 9 thanks to his dad. Given that background, you might expect me to come at this subject with some stock boomer complaints like "iT's NoT rEaL mUsIc!", "rApPeRs ArE tALeNtLeSs", "iT gLoRiFiEs viOLeNcE aNd SeX", or some shit like that. Well, this isn't going to be one of those threads. Instead, I'm about to lay out my own really big problem with a lot of rap music, and I want any of you with the patience to read the whole thing to let me know what you think in response. Hell, maybe by the end of this whole thing, you'll have made a convert out of me yet. But, onwards! I have a fairly big collection of music today (>3,300 songs) that, while the majority of it is rock, also includes quite a big share of other genres like electronica, funk, soul/R&B, country, folk, jazz/fusion, even a bit of pop, and more. (I'm actually listening to Metamodern Sounds in Country Music while writing this.) Through all of this content, I can find something in every single track that keeps me engaged, be it the funk-heavy bite of Living Colour, the adrenaline-pumping ferocity of Tremonti and early Metallica, the rich chromatic sounds of Gino Vannelli and Dream Theater, the emotional soul depths of Etta James (or Beyonce?) and Sturgill Simpson, the nostalgia-inducing minimalism of Jan Johansson and Boards of Canada... okay, this list has gone on long enough. Point being, there's something about all of these that I can enjoy, and I believe the really big common factor is that all of them are "musical" in some way, in the sense of having notes, chords, melodies, etc. This is the really fundamental thing that keeps me from getting into a lot of rap. It's a form of music where the tonal element is almost entirely stripped out in favor of focusing on the vocals, which also don't have much tonality to them. Now, that on its own isn't a total deal-breaker for me (as you'll see below). The problem is that this tradeoff of music for pure lyrics means that, in order for it to work for me, the lyrics have to be great... and as far as almost every bit of rap music I've heard from the last 15 years or so goes, it doesn't meet that standard. As I said before, I hate to harp on this theme, but in the year of our Lord 2022, we need another rap song about violence, sex, materialism, and so on about as much as we need another country song about beer, scarecrows girls, and trucks. Both of them should be legally considered a type of grain. Now, I could probably cook up some sociological hypothesis for why this kind of rap music is what makes the biggest hits (in a nutshell: its core audience is a population for whom, much like the music, the process of getting anywhere has generally been slow as well - EDIT: okay, that was poorly worded), but that doesn't mean I would start liking it regardless. Well, after all of that, this is the part where I throw a curveball and bring up the fact that I actually have a bit of rap in my collection too. Along with a select few songs I particularly like, I've also got two albums, both of which I want to talk about: Madvillainy and Biggie's Ready to Die. Let's do the second one first. Ready to Die has all of the rap tropes I disparaged before in spades, but a few things that make it still worth listening to in my opinion. One, there's still a good element of production behind it, making it easier to listen and not fall asleep like I usually would (I also especially like that one of the songs is built off a sample from one that was in GTA SA). Second, much like the song Gangsta's Paradise, it's great for historical value, as a way of getting a clear, brutally honest look into the state of the supposedly-prosperous "Roaring 90s", and seeing the consequences of the previous decade - over-militarization of police, Reaganomics, the oppression of the American underclass - in full detail. Third, it's a semi-fictional, semi-autobiographical loose concept album, meaning there's something to the entire album to get your attention and keep it. Madvillainy, on the other hand, is something straight out of what I imagine could've only been a very stoned meeting between rapper and DJ. Whereas Ready to Die is an album I can only really listen to all at once, Madvillainy has everything that I've looked for in a rap work, with strong (if off-the-wall) production/sampling and aesthetic, MF DOOM's supervillain persona making for an interesting narrator, and tight lyrical work all coming together to make an album whose individual tracks I go out of my way to replay all the time. It took quite the oddball effort, but the two madlads managed to pull it off! I also have to give another honorable mention to my favorite rap song outside of these two albums: Scared of the Dark, which avoids some of the pitfalls I've discussed above by (other than X's clearly shoehorned posthumous verses) combining some solid, pretty emotional lyrics with a memorable sung chorus, not unlike the aforementioned Gangsta's Paradise (which, fun fact, also samples a Stevie Wonder song in my collection). Just take the unnecessary autotune off of Lil Wayne is all. So, after all of that, you should know what clicks with my boomer-heavy music brain. I'd like to think that rap isn't a genre that I'm totally hostile to, and at worst, most of it just makes me feel... well, bored. Like I wanna yawn hard. With all of that said, what would you suggest I try listening to next, if anything? Or am I just not a guy who has enough of an acquired taste for this kind of thing? You decide!

Happy birthday Fred!

It's that time of the year again. You know the drill. It's been a decade since the height of Season 8's praise on SBC (lol), and I'm curious to see how it holds up to the community now in the current year. Which episodes will flop and which will reign victorious? Round 5: Match 44: Planet of the Jellyfish vs. Mooncation Match 45: Frozen Face-Off vs. It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! You have until Wednesday, January 19th at 5pm EST to vote. We will then move onto Round 6, the finale. Feel free to post your reasonings for why you voted which episode.

Winners: Match 40: Planet of the Jellyfish Match 41: Mooncation Match 42: Frozen Face-Off Match 43: It's a SpongeBob Christmas! These will move onto Round 5, the semifinals.