Nov 21, 2020 DaBaby - Gucci Peacoat Its only been about 18 months since DaBaby exploded on the scene early last year but it feels like he's been around forever. In today's era of short attention spans and release schedules that necessitate packed release schedules, it almost feels like we've witnessed an entire long-term carer unfold before our eyes. A relatively unknown name becoming on overnight superstar, a XXL Freshman spot, 3 albums, singles on singles (pun intended), a guest feature list that spirals into infinityand creating some genuine all-time anthems of the past two years (see Suge, Bop, Rockstar). But then the excitement wore off. He's still a superstar, still dropping hits, but he's already been relegated to the previous batch of 'new rappers' - a few times now. One of the most exciting things about DaBaby when he first came on the scene though was his rapid-fire delivery, his eagerness to start barrelling into the beat (sometimes before it even started), but more importantly it was that breath of much-needed fresh air as the trap era reached it point of maximum saturation. One of my favorite Baby moments is the Intro of his KIRK album, at the time a complete surprise and change of pace from his usual output, dedicated to the memory of his father. Deeply introspective, musing on his overnight come-up, it showed a whole lot more depth than we initially thought him capable of. DaBaby's latest drop is an EP dedicated to the memory of his brother G, who took his own life just a few weeks ago. The projects lead single is Gucci Peacoat, which like Intro is a deeply introspective, thoughtful, sad and frankly - brilliant song where Baby agonizes over the fact he was out campaigning, encouraging people to vote (while wearing a Gucci Peacoat) at the time of his brother's death. I can't lie, I teared up at the end where snippets of a phone call / voice message get played back and Baby stares blank-faced at the camera giving one-word answers. He looks drained, like this has hit him hard and he's still reeling from the blow. I never expect artists to make music this personal, but godamn as a fan I appreciate tf out of it. Man's got me calling my brothers my s---. RIP G.
Nov 23, 2020 French Montana - Phenomenon ft. Max B French's music is always hit or miss for me. Thats pretty much how I feel about this entire new CB5 tape, but there are a few gems scattered throughout the tracklist. Like this collab with Biggavel that sounds like a leftover from Coke Wave 4, which still remains one of my favorite French projects of all time. He can do it when he wants to, d--- it.
Nov 24, 2020 Megan Thee Stallion - Shots Fired Megan x old school 90s sample = pure crack. Shots Fired is the opener to Thee Stallion's official debut album which dropped this past Friday and even though I'm still not sure how to feel about the full project (I'm leaning towards being somewhat disappointed), it does start off with a b---. This time its the aptly sampled Who Shot Ya that gets the Megan treatment, where she opens up about the infamous Tory Lanez incident. But this is more than just a reflection on what happened, this is straight up all-guns-blazing diss track, of the type we rarely get these days. Has a female rapper ever eviscerated a male rapper on a track like this? I don't think so. This is some real hot girl s---.
Nov 28, 2020 a few recent standouts… 22Gz - Fallen Blixkys “R.I.P to fallen blixkys,” 22Gz murmurs before rattling off a list of his brothers that are gone too soon. The beat is rumbling, haunting, gothic and laced with those electronic drill synths, matching the graveyard imagery of the accompanying music video - cold and dimly lit and forlorn but cut alongside vivd, head-spinning cuts of guns and flashing lights. Its stark and dark and the best song 22s dropped in a while. Rylo Rodriguez - Walk ft. Lil Baby & 42 Dogg A duo is great, but a trio makes the cypher complete. Just ask Griselda. Lil Baby came up as a part of an unofficial trio himself, alongside Thug and Gunna, and with the 4PF trio that comes together for the first time on Walk, he has one of his own, one that I suspect is going to catapult to the forefront of rap. The pre-album single Rylo Rodriguez dropped in advance of his debut full-length Goat In Human Form (GIHF) didn’t interest me much but I’m astounded at how well the full album came out. Rylo’s warbling, stuttering flow melts into these polished instrumentals like butter. The man never seems to run out of innovative melodies, but more than that he’s a surprisingly gifted writer and has a penchant for penning deeply heartfelt and often insightful lyrics in clever ways. That makes 3/3 for the 4PF g--- in 2020 and this song one its crowning achievements. Eli Fross - GOAT Freestyle ft. Sleepy Hallow Speaking of trios, that of Sheff G, Sleepy Hallow and producer Great John has taken the world by storm with their stark, baritone, ‘HUH’ adlib-riddled flows, THICK instrumentals with plodding bass and sparse drums and insanely inventive use of samples, a much needed counter offer to the rest of the Brooklyn drill scene where everyone’s trying to emulate Pop Smoke and 22Gz. With Eli Fross, who just dropped his debut CESAR album this past week, the trio has been extended to a quartet. Fross sounds just like Sheff and Sleepy, and with Great John in his corner has successfully crafted his own chamber in the growing Brooklyn-based collective. Blxst - Got It All ft. Dom Kennedy I gotta shout out @awhellno for introducing me to Blxst. It won’t be long before this guy is dominating feature lists, playlists, radios, videos across the world. This song sounds like summer. Like Nate Dogg and Ty Dolla $ign clinking champagne glasses in slow motion. Young Slo-Be - Program Thizzler came through with this one. I’ve never heard of Young Slo-Be before but the insanity pours through as he whisper raps threats over an instrumental that sounds like a ghost dancing in the streets. “b---- I got twin glocks with me, can’t hold hands”. It sounds like a f---ing decayed zombie hand emerging from the grave to pour the wocky in the sprite. I live for s--- like this man.
Nov 28, 2020 Sav I played the f--- out of that Deniro Farrar "Wu Tang" track these past few weeks, it's a pure gem, and I would like to thank you for posting it that $NOT/Denzel collab was also FIRE. love when you post older tracks - I hadn't heard Gucci's "Classical" in ages and it's a masterpiece Please continue dropping great suggestions on here for a very long time! (random thought: Denzel Curry and Danny Brown both have this very special & rare ear, this very special taste in terms of flow and melody and I would love to hear them collab)
Nov 28, 2020 d---, im just glad someones reading these! Ive been listening to so much I just feel like I gotta write at least some of it down or i'll forget lol. Glad you enjoyed that Deniro song, he's got a full album dropping next week iirc. Plus the project he dropped earlier this year was fantastic, definitley check it out if you havent already.
Nov 29, 2020 RjMrLa - Lil b---- ft. Mike Wayne Despite the tremendous surge of guest features and collab projects these days, its rare that you can get an actual, quality pass-the-mic back-and-forth where the two emcees sound like they were literally in the booth together, feeding off each others’ energy, trying their utmost to do outdo one another. I’ve been following RjMrLa ever since he first popped up on my radar on YG’s classic 2014 debut album, and though he hasn’t quite reached the career heights as his 4Hunnid label-mate, he has remained one of the most consistently excellent emcees to come out of LA in the past decade. His latest drop was a very below-the-radar mixtape Let Me Talk My s---, yet another impressive notch in his increasingly heavy belt . Its penultimate song features Mike Wayne - more battle rapper than musician, but that doesn’t detract from his appearance here at all. In fact, it only spurs RJ on as the 2 emcees trade bars that sound like they could’ve come out of a 2005 Smack DVD over an instrumental that sounds like it was tailor-made for Eazy-E and Ice Cube.
Nov 29, 2020 On God was a little bit underwhelming but I'm gonna check this out. Some good memories are attached to the OMMIO Tapes and I aways tried to keep up with RJ. This went unter my radar tho
Dec 1, 2020 Meek Mill - GTA ft. 42 Dugg Meek packs are always a blessing. And they always have at least 1 or 2 gigantic, classically Meekish shout-flow slaps that remain in rotation on the workout playlist and hold you over until the next album. This one, off the latest Quarantine Pack features 42 Dugg and an instrumental that inspires visions of Detroit streets bouncing in the guns blazing GTA hyperbole craze thats swept the industry this year.
Dec 2, 2020 Darkeo the Ruler - Polar Bear I’m still digesting Drakeo’s new album (on my... 6th? 7th listen?) and as much as I hate to make such bold claims so soon after a drop, this s--- is SO GOOD. Like insanely good. Its 50 minutes of unadulterated homicide, with Drakeo sounding so f---ing cold, completely in his bag as he matter-of-factly whipser-hurls the most ridiculous phrases and threats and boasts in such quick succession you can hardly keep up. Like JoogSZN did just a few months ago, the team of producers craft a perfect environment for Drakeo to just lose his s--- to. There’s even a f---in Lil Mosey feature, which goes. Anyways, I’ll stop now, it hasn’t even been 24 hours lol, I need to let this sit. The closer of the album Polar Bear is classic Drakeo in every sense imaginable. “Bury me in ice I’m a polar bear.” This man is a genius.
Dec 6, 2020 BLXST - No Love Lost (Deluxe) I know I just recently posted about Blxst, the South Central rapper/singer who’s career has started gaining some serious traction, following a number of sensational guest appearances, a debut album and a voice that sounds like a reincarnated Nate Dogg meets Ty modern day Ty Dolla $ign. Well s---, I’m posting about him again. The Deluxe version of his aforementioned debut album No Love Lost dropped this past Friday and pads out what was previously a short EP-like introduction into a full album that spirals into what is quickly turning into one of my favourite albums of the year. This album feels like a journey through LA hip hop history. Blxst himself is well aware of the Nate and Ty comparisons, but he ties and folds their influences into his own soulful sound and style that draws not only on the 2 legendary crooners, but on the entire pantheon of LA greats: from the futuristic, banging flows and rhythms of the Aftermath era to the jazzy free-flowing sounds and styles of TDE, you can hear it all. It comes together beautifully, not a carbon copy, but a rebirth. Blxst is a naturally gifted vocalist, a sharp writer and evocative storyteller. His voice floats, measured, commanding your attention but never overbearing as he takes you through his trials and tribulations. If there’s one album you should check out this week, make it this one.
Dec 6, 2020 Facts those deluxe songs are great. Ty$ and Bino features are prefectly splendid. I knew that you'd peep it as well.
Dec 6, 2020 one of the best new artists I've come across recently, hands down. Yeah the Ty and Bino features are amazing. Apparently he's did a whole project with Bino a while back, I'mma need to check that out
Dec 15, 2020 Hotboii - Double O Baby Its good to be proved wrong sometimes. Just a short while ago while reviewing $NOT’s Beautiful Havoc, I wrote about how the once flourishing Florida scene felt like it was on life support. Orlando’s Hotboii’s been making noise for a minute now but his second album of the year - Double O Baby - has given me serious doubts about my previous take on the state of Sunshine State rap. Hotboii’s sound is sun-soaked, sprawled out on a beach but a cold-, steadily beating heart beneath. He shifts from dead-serious to playful, all delivered in a moody, Melly-like melodic croon, with the slurred Kodakish pronunciation that captures that regional sound so well. It’s a little padded out around the edges, but there are some serious, genuine all time hits on this record. Even mores than $NOT, Hotboii is malleable and it doesn’t seem like there’s al limit to where he could next. I see big things ahead. And its not just that hairstyle.
Dec 17, 2020 Amine - Limbo (Deluxe) The Deluxe album trend that has taken off this year has been a gift and a curse. On one hand, deluxe editions give artists the opportunity to showcase those B-Sides and leftovers that didn’t fit on the original album but should still be heard (see LUV vs. the World 2). On the other there’s also the inevitable dump of half-baked/leftover music they had lying around in attempt to boost streaming numbers - often the stuff that probably should’ve been left in the vault. Either way I’ve found its also often been a surprisingly positive push to revisit an album I’ve already forgotten about in the never-ending ether of album releases - give it another spin, discover something you missed. This is especially effective when the deluxe is short and sweet - a couple of bonus tracks bundled up at the end. For example, I’ve completely rediscovered Amine’s excellent sophomore Limbo album, with a short and sweet 7 track deluxe version that dropped a few weeks back now. Somehow the original version passed me by - a few quick listens and on to the next one. And that’s a shame because Limbo is actually an incredibly well-made, deeply personal and entertaining album, with some of the best music Amine’s made in his short but promising career. Amine’s always worn his pop-rap influences (Kanye, Drake) on his sleeve - I mean the man had a song with Nelly on his debut album. He still does, but sounds a lot more focused now, using interludes throughout the album to reflect on the profound impact Kobe’s death had on him - a realisation and maturation from an event so distant but so close to his heart. And its all reflected in the music (Deluxe included), weird and fun, but with stabs of wistful memories and regrets and doubts, as he raps and sings his way across the track-list.
Dec 17, 2020 I've found that album to be quite enjoyable too. He got my attention back when he dropped REDMERCEDES (and the great Missy Elliot remix afterwards) but then he went pretty quiet . Limbo was a great comeback, if you could even call it like that. His verse on Rico's new album is neat too
Dec 17, 2020 I've been following him since Caroline but he never really captured my attention like he did on this album. I guess I just wasn't expecting much even though the dropped those monster singles. And yeah his verse on Rico's album was great, the whole album is great imo
Dec 19, 2020 Guapdad 4000 - Alpha (Remix) ft. Bfb da Packman A somber piano loop infused with a funky bassline becomes a playground for two of rap's premier weirdos to link up on. At first glance Guapdad and Bfb couldn't be further apart but on this remix to Guapdad's latest single, their two polar extremes of weirdness meld into each other surprisingly well. Guapdad says it best himself - "I just touched down in Michigan, I hit up Packman / He wanna do normal s---, but I'm extravagant", then cedes the mic to the borderline obese, perpetually hilarious Packman who wastes no time in describing how he contracted pink eye from a big booty b----.
Dec 20, 2020 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: HoneyKomb Brazy I’m becoming obsessed with these regional scenes popping up all over the place these days. Alabama’s never really been much of a rap mecca in the same vein as other Southern states but the rise of a handful of new artists in the past 2 years or so (especially this year) has piqued my interest. YBN Nahmir is probably the best known of the bunch, having released a handful of chart toppers, being featured on XXL’s freshmen list a few years back and weirdly, being instrumental in the rise of Cordae who has since become a major force in rap, far eclipsing his former YBN crewmate. OMB Peezy’s been putting out great music for quite some time now. Yung Bleu just recently somehow got a Drake feature. Rylo Rodriguez is on a huge come up right now with his 4PF affiliation and surprisingly excellent debut album released a few weeks back. Both Flo Milli and NoCap have had tremendous years in 2020 and both have major star potential. And there are plenty others; Luh Soldier, TLE Cinco, Big Yayo and Rubberband OG are just a handful of newer names who’s catalogs I’ve only just started to dig into recently. But one that has particularly stuck out to me recently is HoneyKomb Brazy, who - staying true to the cover art of his debut album that dropped in January this year - sounds like he chews on bullet casings for breakfast. The man has a lot to get off his chest and with absolutely no regard for song structure (there’s only one song with any semblance of a hook), raps like a demonic Meek Mill, barely stopping to take a breath as he recounts demented, hellish tales of his childhood and more recent life - a raw, unfiltered stream of consciousness that does not stop for 60 minutes straight - watching his cousin become paralysed, his grandmother breaking down in tears, his mother’s house getting shot up with his little sister inside, being locked up in the same prison cell as his own father, laughing - almost hysterically - at his would be murderers, jailers, all while ticking off a seemingly never-ending list of friends and family who are dead or in jail. The context is important here. Last year Brazy got shot at 8 times - “they tried to do me like 50 Cent” he yells out on album highlight Under Pressure. A few IG posts of him hooked up to respirators in hospital was followed by a retaliatory shooting a few months later, and a subsequent prison sentence, from which he’s only just recently been released. On New Body, another strong album highlight, Brazy flexes his natural gift for rapping, twisting words in his heavy Alabaman accent so that he’s rhyming the same syllable for 3 minutes straight. It’s an astounding feat. The instrumentals thought out are sparse and bass-heavy and sound like deserted city streets late at night, fiends lurking just out of your line of site. Brazy steamrolls his way across all of them, flattening everything in his path with unbridled ferocity. He’s dropped three singles since his release in November, the big highlight of which is Yellow - a deceptively happy sounding song featuring an infectious booming piano loop, but with the classically deranged, onomatopoeia-laden bars that were so prevalent on his album: “hear the gun shots every night - fa-fa-fa -a / Mama like ‘get inside!’ / why too many of my n!ggas died? / f--- I look like out here with no five?” Look, Brazys music definitely ain’t pretty (although Yellow is catchy) - its really just a conduit through which he lets his thoughts spill out in a chaotic wave. But the raw, unfiltered earnestness carries him a long way, it makes it all very real. Massive potential and highly recommended for anyone who can appreciate an artist who takes joy in the mere act of rapping.
Dec 21, 2020 Medhane - Slide / Drcry I do enjoy a fair amount of sLUms Collective music, but as I've mentioned before, I find a lot of it is often so low energy it loses its appeal. There's a limit to how Earl Sweatshirt-y you can get before it becomes so low-key its more spoken word than music. Medhane (along with Mavi, and a few others) stands out from the rest though. His second full length of the year year - Cold Water - remains one of my personal favorite records of the year and one of the best things I've heard of the sprawling collective. Which is why I was was extremely disappointed to find out when Medhane was accused of sexual assault a few months back. He offered an apology (which was - as expected - not well received) then went quiet. That is, until he dropped these latest 2 singles Slide and Decry. He doesn't explicitly reference the allegations, but that slow-burn baritone lamenting the loss of time, the distant memories and constant grief and never-ending hunt for peace over those drumless samples still hits just as well as it did on the album, albeit now with an added touch of regret. "Carved my heart up out of ice / Made my bed, laid my head on my darkest nights."
