I will stand by the comparison that Kid Cudi is this generation’s Kurt Cobain, especially for the way they’ve each impacted people. So when he announced his first solo project in four years only days before it came out, I was pumped, especially with the project being the third installment of his famed Man on the Moon series. Thankfully, Man on the Moon III is definitely one of Cudi’s better projects in his career. The project revolves around another concept of Cudi overcoming his demons and even though it’s split up into four parts, it’s sonically split up into two parts. The first half of the project is full of psychedelic trap bangers that are heavily reminiscent of Travis Scott. I don’t think it’s as much of a copy as people think, but it is cool to see someone who Cudi heavily influenced a decade ago, now influencing Cudi himself. The second half of the album is where Cudi gets into his emotional, sonically experimental bag. Songs like “Sad People” and “The Void” show Cudi talking about finding peace and making his life worth something. “The Void” especially has one of the best moments on the album with the synth heavy outro and Kid Cudi repeating “It’s gon’ be ok. I promise you”. That’s Kid Cudi’s power, that he can say things like that and have it just work. It’s something intangible that only a few artists truly have, and Kid Cudi is one of those artists. And even without the music, his story of beating depression and drug use is something that continues to inspire people. “Lovin’ Me” with Phoebe Bridgers is another example of the incredibly emotional anthem, this time about self love. Their voices pair together perfectly and make it an instant classic Cudi song. Kid Cudi was able to come through with a fantastic project that not only pays homage to artists he’s influenced, but proves that he’s able to make emotionally potent tracks that will inspire a generation of kids yet again.
Rico Nasty stands out among rappers not only for her personality, but her ability to occupy unique lanes in hip hop. Her main genre is something she calls sugar trap, which is a combination of the aggressive energy of nu-metal and the shiny, almost glittery sound of extremely auto tuned pop music. Nightmare Vacation shows every sound that makes up Rico Nasty. Songs like “Don’t Like Me” and “IPHONE” show Rico doing more melodic choruses and verses, but there are still loads of the aggressive bangers that her fans love on this project. “Let It Out” and “OHFR?” are some of the best and most outlandish bangers of 2020, and both songs are produced by 100 gecs as well. That leads us to the main problem with the album, which is that the production doesn’t always hit as hard as her vocals. 100 gecs and Take a Daytrip really shine through with their beats on the album, but the other 8 are very hit or miss. There’s also a notable absence from Kenny Beats, who she made a whole collaborative project with last year, but she’s said that she purposely didn’t want to include him on the album to prove that she can do different things. He likely would’ve filled the weaker production moments on the album. Either way though, this is still a really good debut album from Rico that proves there’s no one making music quite like her.
The Avalanches are like D’angelo or Fiona Apple, they only drop once in a blue moon, but they make sure every time they release is a moment. The feature list for the project is insane and includes Denzel Curry, MGMT, Blood Orange, Leon Bridges, Rivers Cuomo, Jamie xx, Perry Farrell, and many more. They all come together to make this otherworldly, 70 minute odyssey. The whole thing works together so well that it’s hard to listen to one song and get the full experience of the album. “Wherever You Go” is one you can take out of context, as the song itself moves through multiple parts throughout the six minute runtime. “Running Red Lights” with Rivers Cuomo and Pink Siifu is a summer anthem and single that’s been out since March. “Music Makes Me High” is a full out dance track that is perfect for easy jamming and listening when you don’t want to think too much. “Born to Lose” has the only sample out of the hundreds that I recognized on here, as it samples Frank Ocean’s cover of the iconic ballad “Moon River”. Instead of keeping it a ballad, they turn it into a smooth club banger. There’s so much to unpack here that will keep fans listening and entrenched in this album for years to come.
Dropping one surprise album in 2020 would’ve been too easy, so Taylor decided to release another one less than 5 months from the original. As she said in the press release, this is very much a sister album to her previous album folklore and it sounds like it. While there are some slight differences, they have the same live instrumentation, indie-pop sound. There are some more experimental moments on here though. “Closure” sounds a lot like a weird Bon Iver track, which is likely because BJ Burton helped produce this track, as he produces a lot for Bon Iver and produced a good amount on Charli XCX’s latest album. This song is also one of the two songs on here written in 5/4, which is a time signature almost never used in pop music. “No body, no crime” is a song where Taylor and HAIM murder an ex-boyfriend of a HAIM sister and even with the entire album being some sort of storytelling, this song easily stands out. If not for the story, the song is the most country sounding track on the album. The title track with Bon Iver might not live up to “exile”, but it’s still a beautiful way to close out the project. “Champagne Problems” is an insanely gorgeous ballad about a proposal gone wrong. Marcus Mumford even shows up with some background vocals on the country ballad “cowboy like me”. With only a few days of listening available before this is posted, it’s hard to understand all the details of another hour long project by Taylor, especially when so much other music came out this week as well. Either way, this album doesn’t have the immediate stand out tracks that folklore did, but there’s a chance that this one ends up not only living up to its sister album, but surpassing it.
When quarantine happened earlier this year, James took to Instagram and Youtube to cover some of his favorite songs. His fans loved it so much that he decided to make an entire ep full of covers. James brings a unique spin to each song, whether it be the tone of his voice or the instrumental surrounding it. Each song is built around a piano and his vocal performance, with few songs having much else than that. It sits at only 20 minutes long with six different covers ranging from 2010s darlings Frank Ocean, Billie Eilish, and Beyonce, to iconic artists like Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, and Joy Division. How much people will enjoy this project boils down to if they like James’s voice. For me, James has an incredible voice and has come so far with his voice from when he started out a decade ago, so I really enjoy this collection of covers. It might not be the best introduction to his music, but there’s almost no doubting that these are some of the most beautifully performed ballads of 2020.
Producer Statik Selektah has been instrumental in shaping the east coast sound of the 2010s, and it’s evident how many people support him based on the features on here. The Balancing Act’s features include Black Thought, Joey Bada$$, Nas, Killer Mike, Gary Clark Jr, Method Man, Dave East, 2 Chainz, Conway The Machine, and those are only on the first four tracks! As obvious with those features, there are plenty of great songs on here. Black Thought kicks off the project with a fantastic verse that transitions perfectly into “Keep It Moving”, which features Joey Bada$$ and Nas going back and forth. The track that really surprised me the most was “Time” with Jack Harlow. I never would’ve thought Jack would be able to flow over this track as well as he did, or even be as introspective as he was. It was very Mac Miller-esque, but it shows that even though Jack is far from great at either sound, he’s got more diversity than I originally thought. For fans of boom bap or east coast hip hop in general, you will for sure find something to enjoy on this project.
Mixtape Weezy is back again for his first mixtape in almost three years, and it’s reviving another fan favorite series, the No Ceilings series. I had high hopes for this mixtape after how much I enjoyed his previous couple mixtapes, but this one ended up falling a bit flat. It’s still good, but it’s not up to par with his previous tapes. Many of the remixes on here don’t feel like he made the song his own, but rather took what the song had and put his own lyrics in there. For example, instead of finding new pockets in the beat, he uses the original song’s flow the majority of the time. Either way, there are still some highlights. “BB King Freestyle” with Drake shows each one at their best flow wise and lyric wise. He does his own version of Jay-Z’s classic diss track “Takeover”, and while it doesn’t rival the original, it’s still very entertaining. He brings on Young Thug to help remix his own hit “Out West”. Wayne also does three different Pop Smoke remixes to varying degrees of success, but hearing Wayne on a drill beat is very entertaining. It’s also apparent that there’s a side B to this project coming out later, likely on Christmas, so hopefully that side will be even better.
Tobe has slowly been gaining popularity over the last few years and has put out tons of new content, even weekly sometimes with his Get Twisted Sundays series. This project is easily his most high profile with features from Black Thought, Earthgang, Bun B, Cyhi The Prince, D Smoke, and more. The production is also some of Tobe’s best with these hard hitting, fuzzed out, deep bass driven songs. With all that, these are his best batch of songs yet! “Eat” features a verse from his wife, Fat, and the authentic energy in the studio comes through amazingly. “Wildlings” with Earthgang and Duckwrth is a great, Black empowerment banger. “Father Figure” features Black Thought giving another masterful performance with tons of flexing and life lessons, but the song is then ruined by Royce Da 5’9” being both anti-vax and homophobic in his verse. LaNell Grant, Tobe’s producer, even drops a verse on the last track that also drops an anti-vax bar. I wish these talented artists would stop propagating these baseless conspiracy theories, especially during the age of COVID where there’s no way to stop it without a vaccine. It’s like people don’t realize what life was like before vaccines. But if you take away the frustrating anti-vax bars, the project is easily Tobe’s best and there’s still some really great songs on here that aren’t tainted with conspiracy theories.
If her last name doesn’t ring a bell, Pamela is Thundercat’s mom. Yes, the incredible bass player’s mom released a project with her flute playing and most of her family featuring on the project as well. Every song except one on here has another family member on it, whether that be Thundercat himself, his brother, who is an incredible drummer, or even his father, who also plays drums. His mother not only sings on here, but plays the flute on almost every track as well! That family atmosphere really comes through in the music, to the point where even if the song isn’t the most technically enjoyable, you can’t help but to smile at the family comradery that the project oozes. Even Islelemania Bruner, who I assume is Pamela’s daughter, makes an appearance by singing the entirety of “Oh The Blood”. As for the music itself, it is very Christmas and religion oriented with the sound being very jazzy and soulful. There are some just quality tunes on here though, like “Christine” which features both Thundercat and his father helping out Pamela. Overall, it’s just so heartwarming to see a family put together a project like this, and the fact that they’re all extremely talented comes second.
Luke has toured with Chicago artists for years, including Noname being the biggest. He’s helped produce and has been a contributor to what the Chicago sound has become in the later half of the 2010s. With all that and the vibrant cover art, I made sure to listen to this and I’m glad I did. He blends everything from minute long jazz frenzy tracks to drawn out ballads with layers of vocals. “Mysticals” is easily my favorite song with this overbearing feeling and all the unique production that makes Luke stand out. “Today” has some high pitched, fast paced rapping with a fantastic chorus from one of Chicago’s best, Ravyn Lenae. Elton Aura lends a great verse to the closer, “Dayze”. The project also runs at just over 30 minutes, and everything feels necessary to the quality end result. This project proves that Luke has a future not only as a producer, but an artist himself.
There aren’t many young producers with the talent and notoriety of Steve Lacy. At 18, he made a beat on his phone and it got onto Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN., as well as worked for J. Cole, Tyler, the Creator, and Mac Miller before he turned 20. Even in the past couple years, he’s been on many different artists' works from Vampire Weekend to Solange. Instead of a new project, this one is a collection of demos and loosies that he had either been working on, or already released to Soundcloud. Even though these were created while he was in high school, he was also doing most of those things above while in high school, so even a collection of demos has decently high expectations. As with Steve’s other music, it's mainly run of the mill R&B, funk, and neo soul all put together. There are some standouts like “That’s No Fun” or “Uuuu”, but a lot of it just melds together into a one continuous, enjoyable vibe. So for fans of Steve Lacy, this is definitely worth a listen to understand him as an artist better, but this isn’t where someone should start with Steve.
Limbo has become one of the most loved hip hop albums of the year in the semi-mainstream hip hop level, and while even though I enjoyed it a decent amount, it still feels like there’s still a lot of potential yet to be realized. To give fans more music to listen to, he decided to release 7 more songs on a deluxe version of the album, and they definitely feel like b-sides to the original. The production is a lot more airy and mainstream than the original, and the hooks don’t stick anywhere near as hard. There are some highlights though, “Gelato” is a catchy, straightforward banger. Anytime Saba is featured somewhere it’s an automatic win, and he shows up on the short track “Talk”. While the rest of the tracks aren’t bad, they’re only for the hardcore fans.
Channel Tres has become a big name in house inspired hip hop and he’s back with his latest ep. It was teased with arguably his best song, “Skate Depot”, an infectious, danceable skate anthem that has become one of my favorite songs this year. With this project, he takes a slower direction with most of the tracks, going towards R&B instead of the heavy bass house music he’s well known for. There’s still some of that on here though. “Fuego” with Tyler, the Creator is driven by a menacing bassline and vocals pitched even further down than Tyler’s normal voice. “Unfinished business” is a better example of what he was going for here; a laid back, isolation anthem where you’re just chilling on the couch by yourself for five hours watching an entire season of whatever show is popular. This sound is going to be hit or miss with his fans, but I think it provides a cool detour for Channel to try out some new songs before his official album.
This is project number 8 or 9 for Terrace this year (depending on if you count the Ric Wilson EP he produced), and he ends the year on a really great note. This project shows him bringing back groups that he’s been a part of throughout the past few years. His live jazz ensemble, Grey Area, comes back for “The Voice of King Nipsey", a recording of a track he wrote for a live piece composed of many old and new tracks and was called ‘Racism on Trial’. It’s a powerful, straight jazz piece teeming with strength and aggression. His Dinner Party super group, who released an ep and a remix ep this year, comes back for the instrumental hip hop inspired title track. The Pollyseeds make their first appearance since his 2017 album with the track “Never Saw It Coming” with Zyah Belle and Chachi, and it sounds like something that could’ve been off that album. “Always On My Mind” with Alex Isley stands out on the tracklist with her and Terrace going back and forth, and it also has Terrace’s signature vocal box. This project is a culmination of every sound Terrace has done this year, and hopefully he’ll continue to make projects up to this quality.
Boldy James & Real Bad Man - Real Bad Boldy
Boldy James has undeniably been one of the hardest working names in hip hop this year by releasing four projects in 2020. Every project has been produced by a single producer, and this time it’s an LA producer called Real Bad Man. This style of production is definitely a shift for Boldy, as this one is a lot grimier and more street oriented than his other projects. It’s heavily reminiscent of when boom bap was in its prime during the mid 90s. Boldly still comes through with his same brand of clever bars and storytelling about his life growing up in Detroit. “Street Shit” is a highlight with Boldy’s best flow and chorus on the entire project. “Light Bill” with Meyhem Lauren is another notable addition to the tracklist with Meyhem coming through with a fantastic guest verse. “Good Foot” is just one example of many songs with a chopped vocal sample in the background of the beats that help give them a bit of spice. This project may not be Boldy’s best project this year, but it’s still a good, grimey hip hop project.
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