2 Chainz has somewhat quietly become one of the most consistent rappers of the past few years, and he’s back again with a new album. Overall, this project does feel like a bit of a step down from his past two albums, but that’s not to say it’s bad at all. The project is full of highlights from the lighthearted bangers to the introspective tracks towards the back of the record. “Grey Area” shows 2 Chainz bringing back his hilarity, especially with the chorus being, “Old enough to be your Daddy, young enough to f*** your Mama.” He brings on Lil Wayne to the marching band driven “Money Maker”, which is made to be an HBCU anthem and 2 Chainz even shouts out many of them at the end of the song. “Toni” shows 2 Chainz talking in the third person about himself over a great beat switch. “Southside Hov” is the introspective track on the project, as 2 Chainz compares himself to an Atlanta version of Jay Z. Kanye and Brent Faiyaz provide quality features to “Feel a Way”. He even samples the Hall & Oats classic “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” on “Can’t Go For That” with Lil Duval and Ty Dolla $ign. So while this 2 Chainz project isn’t connecting with me as much as his past two projects, it’s still a quality listen for his fans.
Future and Lil Uzi Vert have been teasing a collab project for the last couple months, but it finally materialized a few weeks ago. Sadly, this is yet another example of a collab project that does not equal the sum of its parts, but rather something slightly worse than each person could do individually. Not saying that there aren’t good songs, there are. “Sleeping On The Floor” is extremely fast paced and high energy that makes you want to drive 90 down the highway. “That’s It” is the single and for good reason, as it shows their ability to make an extremely catchy flow and chorus. “Drankin N Smokin” has a great guitar line that makes the instrumental stand out among the rest. But as a whole, the project becomes extremely tedious and way too long. Even with that, they still decided to add 8 new songs as a deluxe version only days after the original. “Heart in Pieces” might be the best song on either version, and “Tic Tac” makes for a cool opener, but there’s not much besides that on the deluxe. This is definitely a project to take the few songs that you enjoy, and just add them to your playlist and move on.
I first heard of Tony Velour when he was opening for 100 gecs at the beginning of the year when concerts were still a thing. Now almost a full year later and a delay last month, the full project is finally out! Tony brings a more hip hop driven sound to the hyperpop scene, and this project is another quality addition to that ever-growing genre. He brings on some quality features to this project, including Injury Reserve on the fast paced banger “Ted Talk”. Grandma also shows up on “Lost & Found” which is easily my favorite song on the project. I could actually see this song becoming somewhat of a hit, at least among the hyperpop scene. Fellow opener in Madison this year and hyperpop artist Alice Longyu Gao shows up on the Dylan Brady produced banger “H8 Me 2”. There are also solo songs that are highlights as well, including the skittering “Touchdown” and autotune driven “Dubbs”. While a lot of the songs feel a bit underwritten on their own, they all come together to make a pretty solid project, and Tony shows more than enough talent to prove that he’s got a future with this sound.
BENEE has had one of the more authentic rises to fame from TikTok with her otherworldly catchy, summer anthem “Supaloney”. Personally, I even found out about her from an Instagram ad back in 2019, so it’s clear social media has played a large part in her career, and she fits in perfectly with it. There are plenty of catchy, indie pop songs in the same vein as “Supaloney” on here. “Same Effect” sounds like another hit, as does the effortlessly funky “Kool”. “C U” is a great and beautiful indie pop ballad to close out the project on a high note. “Snail” is another cartoony and energetic addition to the tracklist. But even though there are plenty of traditional BENEE songs on this project, there are some successful departures from her normal sound on here. She brings Grimes on to help her with this autotuned and electronic attempt at an almost hyperpop track on the song “Sheesh”. Established singer Lily Allen and up and coming rapper Flo Milli both make an appearance on “Plain”, and somehow both work beautifully on the track. “Winter” with Mallrat is another great, melancholic highlight, and definitely thought provoking since her previous ep felt ripe for summer listening, but here she talks about how the winter suits her best. With this album, BENEE easily proves that she’s not a one hit wonder and hopefully she’ll just continue to grow from here.
There are times when randomly surfing Bandcamp pays off, and this is one of those times. The group features two lead vocalists, Ndumiso Manana and Zoe Modiga, who both play off each other very well. That dynamic is a big part of what makes this project stand out among the neo-soul and R&B scene right now. The producers, Sebastian Schuster and Philip Scheibel, still add quite a bit of flavor to the project too. Songs like “The Kingdom”, “I’m Scared”, and “Magic” feature these lush, gorgeous, long winded endings that leave the listener in a state of peace. It’s also nice to have an album that doesn’t take itself too seriously all the time. For example, the song “Fred” is about a dinosaur with said name who meets his demise from the fatal meteor. They bring on three great features to the project, which are Quelle Chris, Oddisee, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, all of whom bring their A-game to the project. Overall, this project feels like a gumbo of a bunch of different genres, and it all comes together in one of the best neo-soul albums I’ve heard in 2020!
Russ has become a bit of a punching bag for hip hop fans the past couple years, mainly because of his elitist and self righteous attitude, but he really came through with a solid project here. A big reason this project is this enjoyable is because of its features. In only five songs, he brings on Ab-Soul, Benny the Butcher, Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, and Kxng Crooked for featured verses, as well as production from Alchemist, DJ Premier, and 9th Wonder. The whole project is just here to get some bars off, so he lets the features go on for two minute long versus, which is something you almost never hear anywhere in hip hop anymore. The whole project is just full of quotables from every artist, but it really revolves around what Ab-Soul says in his verse, “This is what art is, simple as that, shut up and rap”. This project is full of people just shutting up and providing some great rapping, which is more than enough when you have amazing features like this project.
It’s a bit early for Christmas music in my opinion, but this project might have to be an exception. The project is full of great current R&B artists, including 6lack, Summer Walker, and Shelley FKA DRAM. It's a combination of originals and covers, almost all of them in the new minimal R&B sound. “Ghetto Christmas” features both 6lack and Summer Walker for a great first full track to the project. “12 Days of Bhristmas” with OMB Bloodbath and Westside Boogie is the lone banger on the project, and is equal parts awesome and hilarious. Shelley FKA DRAM takes on the Nat King Cole classic “The Christmas Song”, and ends up doing it justice. Summer Walker also provides a new R&B twist to another classic, “Santa Baby”. I normally don’t mention interludes, but Kitty Ca$h does such a great job providing some entertaining dialogue that keeps the energy for the project right where it needs to be. While the project obviously isn’t topping any best of the year lists, it’s still a whole lot of fun to listen to and will easily be one of the best Christmas projects coming out in 2020.
Introspective crooner Harry Hudson is back again with his first project since 2018. While I do enjoy this album, I think it falls into the age old saying, “You have your entire life to write your debut album, and only 18 months to write your next.” There are plenty of super entertaining songs though. “Just Side” with Jaden may have been released years ago, but it’s still welcome on this project as well. “Give Up On Us” brings back the folk and acoustic guitar driven ballads from the first project. “I Feel Amazing” is the uplifting anthem of the album that sounds as generous and uplifting as the title implies. “Damaged Goods” and “Cut Me Down” are some cinematic, rock inspired tracks that end up working really well. Unfortunately, the rest of the album just blends together way too easily. Personally, I think the more hip hop, synthetic sound doesn’t work as well for him as the folk inspired sounds from his previous album. Either way, I’m still curious where he goes from here and it’s still worth a listen for fans of his older stuff.
Anyone that knows me knows that D’angelo is one of my favorite artists, and the Soulquarians as a whole are one of my favorite collectives/sounds in music. I didn’t think it was possible to have that sound recreated 20 years later, but here we are! “Happy” is the largest example of this, as the instrumental sounds like something that would’ve fit perfectly onto Voodoo right after a song like “Chicken Grease”. The title track is the traditional album closer ballad, but it still manages to create that Soulquarian sound perfectly. It makes total sense that this was recorded in Richmond VA, D’angelo’s hometown. Singer Rob Milton and producer DJ Harrison add in a lot of gospel influence too, as evident by the subject matter of “Thank You Master (For My Soul)” and organs placed throughout the project. DJ Harrison also adds some instrumental interludes that help string together the project. Georgia Anne Muldrow even shows up for a fantastic duet on “Things I Should Have Said”. The project as a whole is also just under a half hour, so it’s a great length for an introduction to either artist, and now I can't wait to see where they go from here.
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