Consequence is solid as usual on this as speaks indirectly on his recent label situation and what he's learnt from it.
When you on the road to riches and you get to where the road stops people in your life are either shortcuts or roadblocks
I felt his verses were a little short but. I have mixed feelings though about both the Kanye production and the KiD CuDi hook. I think the vocal samples are used well but i'm not a fan of the strings Ye' sampled. As for the hook, there's something about CuDi's 'forever' refrain that just rubs me the wrong way but other than that it's enjoyable enough.
Apathy really hasn't put a foot wrong in the lead up to his Honkey Kong release (August 23rd) with every track put out being nothing less than great. Apathy does a great job over the House of Pain track but he pretty much destroys 'Eye For An Eye' and shows exactly exactly how you do multisyllabic rhymes without them coming across as forced.
Impatient, sick of waiting, sick of pacing in my room, in syncopation with the shit i'm playing, feel it boom Sick of chasing, chick's i'm dating, dick 'em then i'm quickly skating Spittin insignificant ignorance mixed with information
'Roll Call' is the type of Cool Kids i enjoy. No forgetting to rhyme half your lines from Mike and Chuck and the minimal production that manages to keep your attention and avoid feeling repetitive, especially given the track runs for 5 minutes. Asher has a nice verse, Chip's is okay and Boldy's is 'eh'.
This post is mainly thanks to Kosha Dillz. This is the first time I've heard the MC, who, if you hadn't noticed from the name, is Jewish, and seems to like to drop a number of references in his rhymes so you don't forget it. Gimmicks aside he does a terrific job with his verse here, his flows flawless, rhyme schemes are on point and he's adept with the imagery as well. RZA contributes some decent production and an average refrain while Kool G Rap lays down a fairly underwhelming 16 himself.
Off Trae's upcoming album, Street King, dropping July 12th.
Productions on point here with it's minimalist, relaxed vibe. MDMA's vocals are a nice touch an a lot less commercial than anything you might have heard from him on LASERS. Lupe's verse is pretty good and Big Boi brings some great energy to the track. Trae, Wale and Wiz's verses are all decent enough but hardly memorable. I've seen a lot of complaints regarding Trae's voice and I have to say, it certainly is distinct. I can't say I'm a big fan but it fails to bother me either.
After a slow start to the year the second quarters seen a ton of new music released and with Kendrick Lamar, Royce Da 5'9, Vakill, J.Cole and Jay-Z / Kanye dropping in the next month or two there's plenty of good Hip-Hop still to come our way.
Playlist: In general order of quality
Lupe Fiasco - Airplanes | Review
Vents - Marked For Death | Link
Kendrick Lamar - Ronald Reagan Era | Review
Richie Cunning - Pure Imagination | Review
Kendrick Lamar - HiiiPower | Review
Elzhi - Memory Lane | Link
Nas - Nasty | Review
Grieves - Boogie Man | Link
J.Cole - Return of Simba | Review
Big Sean - Wait For Me ft. Lupe Fiasco | Link
Brown Bag Allstars - See Again | Review
Random Axe - Jahphy Joe ft. Melanie Rutherford | Link
Drake - Marvin's Room | Review
Drapht - Sing It | Link
Royce Da 5'9 - Second Place (Prod. DJ Premier) | Review
Bobby Raps - Riff Raff | Review
Mr. J Medeiros - Neon Signs | Review
Blue Scholars - Cinemetropolis | Link
J.Cole - How High | Review
Drake - Trust Issues | Review
Jehst - England | Review
Drake - Dreams Money Can Buy |Review
Co$$ - Only When I Dream ft. Aloe Blacc & Sene | Review
Copywrite & Jakki Da Mota Mouth - Luscious | Review
Nametag - S.I.N ft. Quest MCODY & Buff1 (Prod. Black Milk) | Review
Ketchphraze - My Detroit ft. Trick Trick & Elzhi (Prod. Black Milk) | Review
For download links to individual songs click the 'review' link next to each track
Releases:
Drapht - The Life of Riley
The best release from Australia so far this year. The album has "some great production, well complemented with dynamic hooks and an MC with a unique voice and versatile and varied content".
This album really delivers exactly what you're expecting: great production from Black Milk and fairly good battle rap from Guilty Simpson and Sean Price. Nothing new or innovative about this release but it does what it does well.
"Much like the original record there is zero filler and the whole release has a ton of replay value". Will Sessions does an amazing job recreating Illmatic's production and Elzhi has one of his strongest performances yet.
Disappointing. Every now and then you can see glimpses of what the project should have been (mainly from Royce's corner) but in the end the whole release is sub-par.
Anyone that's never given Grieves a chance needs to, now. He's certainly not for everyone but anyone that's a fan of Brother Ali or Dessa is going to have a hard time not enjoying this release.
Big Sean falls into the Drake and Kid Cudi category of not necessarily being a great MC but still being able to make great music. Wasn't expecting to like this anywhere near as much as I did.
I feel like I'm saying this a lot lately, but, this track is a contender for song of the year so far. The production makes use of the 'Willy Wonka' soundtrack - which it samples - to great effect, with a dark, somber loop that switches to more wistful, feel good instrumentation throughout the song. The writing is superb. Richie is both poetic and straight-forward as he muses on what life would be like if he made it, followed by his exploration of the reality of his situation.The lyrics are brutally honest and all the more endearing for it:
If i knew that even one listener was with it I would spit til the club had to close down, Like a tired old horn player blowin with his case popped open on the street in a ghost town, Take a breath, grab the mic, here we go again, Crowd thinning I pretend that I aint noticing, They say 'Richie yo you know we got your back but it's late and we aint sittin round waitin for the show to end', Type a night to turn bangers into sad songs, Didn't even make enough to grab a cab home, Same train same lonely ride, the cold world roles slowly by..
Jehst - England | 8.5/10
In 'England', the British MC paints a hauntingly vivid picture of his hometown as he points out societies ills over some grim and mournful production. The whole track has a '1984' vibe without really venturing into conspiracy theory territory. 'An i still got love for the place where i'm livin, but right now there aint nothin great about Britain'
[Had to remove download link]
Nas- Nasty | 9.5/10
Anyone trying to recreate that early 90's sound, take note, this is how you do without sounding outdated. Nas REALLY goes in here and delivers a fast paced near-flawless performance. Nas is hungry. 'Ayo, late night, candlelight, fiend wit’ diesel in his needle
Queensbridge leader, no equal, I come from the Wheel of Ezekiel
To pop thousand-dollar bottles of scotch, smoke purp, and heal the people' Download |Lyrics
Royce Da 5'9 - Second Place(Prod. DJ Premier) | 9/10
This here is the Royce I enjoy. 'Second Place' sounds like something Royce and Preem would have cooked up in the Bar Exam 1 days. No lame punches or corny dick/shit/ass puns just a killer flow, some hard hitting lines and some witty ones. There's even a funny little retort to the often voiced (and valid imo) complaint regarding Royces' Eminem namedropping. I think one of Premo's most overlooked attributes his ability to craft a great hook out of a cut or 2 and a couple scratches and this track here is no exception. I look forward to the final version with Meth and Rae. [Had to remove Download link, shouldn't have much trouble googling one though]| Lyrics
Kanye West - Mama's Boyfriend | 9/10
Apparently this isn't the final version but seeing as it doesn't sound unfinished and may not be released in the future I've decided to post it anyway. You can tell why this was left off MBDTF, it has a more 'See Me Now' feel to it. The production is fantastic with the backing vocals really bringing the track to life. The heartfelt first verse does a great job of capturing both childish resentment and love, and the irony-laced contrast of the second verse juxtaposes well against that backdrop.
'I drew a picture of her that'll make her proud but the door is locked and the TV up so loud I scream out 'I aint goin to sleep no time soon
and when I do, i'm sleeping in my mama room' '
While in another artists hands those line might come across as corny Kanye has knack for infusing such sincerity in his delivery that such words are, excuse the gushing, transformed into touching personal insights.
[Had to remove download link]
Co$$ - Only When I Dream ft. Sene & Aloe Blacc | 9/10
Wow, what a killer track. Love the beat, Aloe contributes a great hook, Co$$ has one of the years best verses and though Sene is completely outshined it can't be said his effort is anything approaching weak. Download
Next Part coming soon. For Part 1 of The Catch Up head here.
This Blu and Flying Lotus collab off the upcoming No York! LP sounds like a Hipster's wet dream, but instead of being featured as a part of Pitchfork's 'Best New Music' this track is being almost universally derided. Most of this stems from the production. I might not be as big of a FlyLo fan as some but I am a fan. This beat though just isn't doing it for me, it's way too cluttered, busy and domineering for my liking.
The Jack Davey hook is probably the tracks strongest feature, it's a subtle yet catchy number. As for Blu himself, he seems to be out attacking the generic, empty platitudes of so-called 'positivty'. 'If you set your mind too it who knows what you can achieve!'. Blu mimicks these sentiments in the first two verses before bring some reality to the table in his third. I like the concept and for the most part I like the execution but the FlyLo beat is just too prominent for Blu to really shine through. Let's hope this isn't a sign of things to come ala No York!
At the beginning of every month I'll do my best to summarise what i feel was the best music and the most interesting news and videos of the previous month. I don't have the space to go into detail about every item I post so links to more in-depth reviews will accompany each item.
For Part Two of this months summary head over here
February was a pretty quiet month for Hip-Hop with only a few full projects being released. There were a number of glimpses of what was approaching in the coming months though with singles by CunningLinguists, Atmosphere, Lupe Fiasco, Raekwon & Pharoahe Monche signalling that this year might begin with a bang after all.
Consequence is never one to blow you away but is always fairly impressive and this is no exception. If you enjoyed the first in this series of mixtapes you'll enjoy this as well.
So I’m thinking that every Monday I’ll throw up a Re-cap of the past week music wise. I won’t be posting everything that comes out, only what I recommend listening to.
For any interesting news, videos, tracklists, artwork etc. from the past week, check out Part 2 of the re-cap over here
