You should already know I’m a fan of Lupe. The last time I’ve heard anything from him was “Drogas Wave” in 2018. Very deep. and worth the listen just for the historic and spiritual side. But this EP attracted me because of the production by Kaelin Ellis which always grabs my attention. And of course the lyrical genius of Lupe. Outside of that take a listen to the commentary by Virgil Abloh as well. Pretty damn good.
Continuing with showing love to diverse producers, DJ’s, beat makers. The Laid back creative flow of Glenn Boothe aka - Knxwledge fell into my lap with his new 2020 release while trying to find a Corona Virus groove. My introduction to Knxwledge was his 2015 release HUD Dreams so this was a welcomed surprise. Thus finally getting to talk about this creative artist that caught my attention 2 years ago.
I didn’t do a review of Tek’s highly enjoyable “allow it” released in 2018. I wasn't feeling the earlier EP release Blood, but now with the release of Dweeb. The B’more native has been moving forward with his sound so I wanted to hear what this one would sound like. He goes a different route and flavors his multi layer tracks with more vocals, trap beats and for sure his signature synthesized sound. At the same time I ran into his group NASA 8 so I had to show some love this year.
Sean and I jumps into one of my favorite southern rappers. This new release is full of features and Sean reveals the secret sauce. J. Cole produced album. Interesting review and our different perspective.
Sean and I finally get to YBN Cordae and we discuss where he ranks with the freshman of the year and the type of release he has out right now. With the amount of features he has on this new release. do we really get to hear his talent?
2 years ago, Sean introduced me formally to Big K.R.I.T with his release "4eva is a mighty long time." Now he drops something in this weak season of releases for us to digest and see how this release refers back to his 2010 mixtape "K.R.I.T Wuz Here". My thoughts is, I'm judging it on what he is releasing now. I didn't go back but Sean has his opinion. Especially since he's a fan.
Sean introduces the new release by MAXO Kream. The Houston story teller gets personal but for some reason still sounds familiar like a Quality Control production. We jump on this 15 track release.
You already know we criticize Dreamville for lack of promotion and weak promotion. But mad love to a lot of their artist and the King sitting on top J.Cole. So this massive compilation release with so many surprises that I couldn't get to the end until I rewinded so many of these cuts that it too me a few days to take it all in. Any way here it is.
Sean and I wanted to review the Smith children since they both came out around the same time. First we give our take on Willow and a style that we weren't expecting to hear. Also since she is more of a veteran than her brother. We didn't know what we would get. Then we drop in Jaden. He had a few releases after his well received debut album (for the record, those other releases I was not feeling) So for 2019 we get a listen to another one of these long ass releases with long ass 4 min. average songs.
Being a fan of Freddie Gibbs, during our last review it was mentioned that he needed some serious production help as well as a few features. In jumps super producer Madlib. Following a lot of his instrumental albums I have been a fan for a while but lately he has been producing a lot of others. With this combination we looked forward to hearing this release
This wasn’t something we really were waiting for after the mixed reviews of NAGA last year. But this really interesting throwback production was something that came out of no where. Lets see what Sean’s opinion is.
Sean introduces the two Logic release for the year a soundtrack and the 6 studio release. a Hip hop album “Confessions of a dangerous mind”. And the Soundtrack to a novel he released called “Supermarket. we touch on both releases and we have our preference.
Almost fresh off our review of his last years critically acclaimed release Flower boy. We get this new change and feel from Tyler after he has done some commercial high viz projects. We review the new 12 track release Igor and debate its merits so to speak
We have been feeling ScHoolboy for a minute. Me not so major but his appearance has always been worth while. So with his 2019 release was another one of the artist we looked forward to hearing. With a 5 songs with features on a 14 track release. We wanted to lay back and check this one out.
I’ve been a fan of James Blake for years. With his odd sound but soothing voice that went with so much but not quite with anything. He made you listen for different reasons and some how you would hear him sprinkled in with some hip hop folks. His dark brooding sound that was heard for years could have been a precursor to the young depressed sound you some times hear today. But this new release has a tone that’s unfamiliar but quite refreshing. This is the evolution of James Blake with a touch of his hip hop buddies help.
This young crooner wrote his song American Teen at 17 and now as he’s going on 21 he has another solid full length release Free spirit. He got a sweet intro by Apple by being featured on their memoji commercial with his single “talk”. We sit down to listen to his 17 track new release. Still listening to R&B right now. Go figure.
We get a second chance to listen to a new feature release for Anderson Paak. It was surprising that he would come out with another release so quickly but the sound and feel of this release is something Sean and I wanted to discuss.
Our next R&B release is a spiritual amazing sequel to a seat at the table that transcend lyrics and takes you into another level of music. Sean and I kept silent about our review until we sat down to review it together. This is our thoughts.
We flip into our R&B releases that we were happy to break from the the rap scene for a session or two. We start with a new comer and social media darling Doja Cat. Sadly her image grabbed our attention along with her viral song "Mooo!" So we started almost blindly with some preconceived thoughts on what this gorgeous artist would sound like and present
DaBaby aka Baby Jesus from North Carolina fell in my lap within the new releases that was coming out lately. Sean agreed to take a listen so we took the time give someone from up I85 from Atlanta. This rapid fire artist gets some love.