Isaiah Rashad - The House is Burning
We’ve been waiting for a new Isaiah album for five years. His two projects, Cilvia Demo and The Sun’s Tirade, have amassed him a cult-like fanbase with his southern hip hop rooted in personal stories and problems. Also, him being on the hip hop mammoth Top Dawg Entertainment led to many fans wondering what the hold up was. Even though we now know there was a lot of substance abuse and money issues Isaiah dealt with during those years, the expectations for this project were still sky high. Now that it’s here, I’ll admit that this is my least favorite project from Isaiah so far, but it’s still a really good album nonetheless. The House is Burning focuses more on vibes than it does substance, which takes me out of it by the end, but the first half of the album is nothing less than fantastic. “From The Garden” survived being an old snippet for four years and a beat change to still be an incredible banger! “RIP Young” is a perfect vibes track and even has a Project Pat sample, not to mention one of the funniest outros I’ve heard all year. Smino absolutely steals the show on “Claymore” with maybe the best feature on the entire project! The previous singles “Lay Wit Ya” and “Headshots” are both in the first half as well, and make even more sense in the context of the album. But after that, there’s a good run of like 7 tracks where they’re all just good vibes, and none of them really stand out. Maybe the Jay Rock feature stands out, but the rest just feels like background music. It does come back for the last three songs, as those get more personal and into detail about the concept of the album. The last track especially is extremely personal and goes into how he deals with fame. I’m not sure if I’m being harsh since this is Isaiah, but he’s the special type of artist that connects with fans effortlessly. The House is Burning is clearly still a good hip hop album from someone who firmly established himself as one of the best rappers currently out of the south.
Prince - Welcome 2 America
Prince’s label hasn’t been shy about releasing new material after Prince’s passing. There was a live album of just him and his piano, a project of demos for songs he wrote and gave to other people, and multiple remasters with dozens of outtake tracks. But Welcome 2 America is the first posthumous release of completely unreleased, studio quality material. This album was recorded and finished in 2010, but was shelved until it was released this year. As expected, it’s another testament to Prince’s greatness, even if it’s nowhere near his best material. The grooves on here are fantastic on every track, as well as all the live instrumentation. There’s plenty of jazz and funk influence all over this tracklist, especially on tracks like “Same Page, Different Book” and “1000 Light Years From Here”. Prince also plays many of the instruments on here himself, and all of them on a personal favorite, “1010 (Rin Tin Tin)”. Lyrically, this album is all about the problems and inequalities going on in the United States, which many of the topics are more relevant today than they were when he recorded them. But even though the sentiment is in the right place, the actual lyrics themselves are pretty corny most of the time. Welcome 2 America is another musical journey through funk and jazz by one of history’s greatest artists.
Nas - King’s Disease 2
This album reminds me why I love hip hop. Nas is undoubtedly one of the greatest rappers of all time, and he’s still making great music at almost 50 years old! While his previous couple albums have been good, this is his first great one in a while. Hit-Boy still handles all the production, just like last year’s original King’s Disease, but this project is definitely produced better. He gives Nas lots of newer boom-bap beats, but updated for the year 2021. Nas’s flow on here is nothing short of fantastic, and the lyrics follow similarly. Both his clever lyrics and poignant subject matter require many listens to really understand. He even got Lauryn Hill and Eminem on here, both of which deliver lengthy verses. It’s especially wonderful to hear Lauryn give her first long rap verse in a very long time, maybe even more than a decade, and give an incredible performance. King’s Disease 2 helps Nas join Jay-Z as the only two rappers I can think of to release truly great rap albums at the age of 47 or older. And who knows, I think both of them could continue to release great projects for years to come. I want to see them releasing great projects at 60, that’d be really cool to see for hip hop.
Benny the Butcher - Pyrex Picasso
Well, Benny said he recorded this entire project in one day three years ago, so this clearly isn’t supposed to be taken as his next big follow up album. It seems almost like letting us into his vault for a bit, and this fulfills its need. He’s not quite at top form here, but his flow sounds as crisp as ever over these maximal, but somehow menacing beats. Tracks like “Flood the Brick”, “‘73”, and “The Iron Curtain” have perfect beats for this type of music. The entire project was co-produced by Chop La-Rok and Rare Scrilla, which helps make the entire 19-minutes feel very cohesive. Both Elcamino and Conway the Machine have multiple features on these projects, which helps give a bit of diversity to this sometimes samey project. As usual, Benny’s talking so much about drug dealing and gang life that it’s legitimately intimidating, especially with something like, “F*** settling beef, I’d rather wet up the streets. My brother died, my mother still not ahead of the grief.” But even when he says something that seems humorous like, “I’m bagging up a brick while I play Adele,” he says it so perfectly that the picture doesn’t seem at all funny. Pyrex Picasso for sure won’t be anywhere near a top tier Benny project, and probably not the best of this year, but it’s another quality listen for the time being.
Boldy James & The Alchemist - Bo Jackson
This is Boldy’s first album this year, which is a welcome break after the four he released in 2020. Bo Jackson is his follow up to last year’s The Price of Tea in China, which is another Alchemist collab album. To put it lightly, this album is yet another improvement for the duo. The level Alchemist is operating at for these beats is insane, but unsurprising after all the incredible music he’s made over the past two years. Besides Boldy’s voice being a bit monotone, his flow and pen are still as sharp as ever, especially when it comes to the portrayal of drug life in Detroit. But as usual, the features on here steal the show for each track they’re on. Benny the Butcher comes in with a rare double time flow over an amazing bassline on “Brickmile to Montana,” while Freddie Gibbs gives us an update on fellow Gary native Michael Jackson living in his guest house on “Fake Flowers”. Bo Jackson may not live up to the best from Griselda artists in 2021, but it’s easily one of the better hip hop albums of 2021.
Chynna - Drug Opera
Chynna is far from an innovator in the cloud/drug rap scene, but she was gearing up to be one of the most potent voices until her untimely demise in April 2020. She had struggled with heavy drug use ever since high school, and it ended up taking her life far too soon. Knowing what happened to her makes this project, her debut album, hard to listen to at times. Just look at the title, Drug Opera. It’s clear that this isn’t an uplifting listen, but the family didn’t want to change anything after she passed away, so here we are with a gut-wrenching listen. This isn’t like Mac Miller’s Circles where it sounded like he was getting better, she sounds completely messed up here. The beats are draped in darkness, no matter if it’s made by electronic producer Jimmy Edgar or Pro Era member Kirk Knight. Her voice can often be hard to understand, which is likely due to being high, but Chynna’s flow was always on point. There’s no reason that the same person should be able to make “seasonal depression pt. 2” and “929”, let alone on the same album. There are slight moments of happiness, like when her father’s call interrupts her mid-verse on “phone call”, but it’s a lyrical graveyard here. “1.28.19” is heartbreaking to hear, especially with the chorus literally being, “I’ve been thinking imma die soon.” On one hand, Drug Opera shows that Chynna had the potential to be a great artist and was very close to it, but it’s also not easy to listen to in the slightest.
Brittany Howard - Jaime (Reimagined)
Jaime has been one of the most acclaimed albums of the past couple years, and Brittany Howard’s one of the most respected singers currently. It’s easily evident by looking at the tracklist, which includes indie icons like Bon Iver and Michael Kiwanuka, and hip hop artists like 9th Wonder and Earthgang. Due to the amount of big, diverse names on here, the tracklist is a bit all over the place when it comes to remixes. Depending on what genres you like will likely depend on which one of these connects with you. Personally, songs like Earthgang’s complete transformation of “Goat Head” and Childish Gambino’s straightforward cover of “Stay High” have been in rotation for a long time. Childish Gambino’s especially took a while to fully connect with me, but now I love it. Even though tracks like the BADBADNOTGOOD remix of “Tomorrow” and Georgia Anne Muldrow’s remix of “History Repeats” might not live up to the originals, they're great on their own. There’s no doubt that this is one of the most entertaining remix albums of the year, but at the end of the day, it’s still just a remix album.
Yola - Stand For Myself
Yola has been making a name for herself with her blend of accessible country music with subtle americana moments, and it doesn’t take long into this project to realize that she easily has one of the best voices in this scene. She has the power behind her voice when she needs it, and she brings it out frequently towards the end of tracks, but it still sounds just as fantastic while pulling back. Yola’s voice really helps sell a lot of the slower songs on the tracklist, like “Be My Friend” and “Great Divide”. It also helps that the songwriting is very strong and easily relatable to just about anyone. Even the uplifting tracks on here could be played at any type of hang out, including “Diamond Studded Shoes”, “Whatever You Want”, and “Break The Bough”. I will say that personally, while a lot of the instrumental moments are technically really good, they lack the uniquenesses that would bring me back to them over and over again. It’s clear that Yola is extremely talented and should have a much larger fanbase than she currently does, but the instrumentals here are just too basic for me to fully enjoy it.
Big Red Machine - How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?
For those that don’t know, Big Red Machine is a duo made up of Justin Vernon from Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner from The National. While their debut album was very lowkey and went under the radar, this project is basically the indie avengers. Besides Justin and Aaron themselves, the project contains features from Alanis Mitchell, Fleet Foxes, Ben Howard, Sharon Van Etten, and more. But of course, the biggest feature is Taylor Swift, which is what this album sounds like. It’s like if you took many of the sounds from Folklore and Evermore, but had Justin and other indie artists singing over them. They do get a bit more abstract towards the back of the album, especially with songs like “Easy to Sabotage” and “Hutch”, where the vocals are extremely autotuned to the point of sounding like a robot. But even though it does lose some steam towards the end of this 65-minute long album, there are plenty of great tunes at the beginning. Most of the first half of the album contains dense, but beautiful instrumentation and vocal performances from Justin and every feature. Just overall, I’m not sure that Big Red Machine is for me personally, but I definitely recommend this album to anyone that likes Bon Iver or The National.
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