Grip is back with another EP to keep fans fed with new music, and once again, it’s one of the better hip hop projects I’ve heard this year! It seems like there was more thought put into the process of this project compared to Halo, as evident in the first two tracks. The first song transitions perfectly into the next song, almost as if the second song is just an extension of the first one. The maximalist rock influenced production of the second song is one of the best beats on the whole project, and Grip obviously sounds great over it, but the Jay-Z reference really added the extra spice to the track. Another highlight on here is “Grip 3:16” which has features from J.I.D and Kenny Mason, two of my personal favorite artists out right now! While I may think that the other two verses are slightly above his, the fact that Grip is right there shows how skilled he really is. This project and that song in particular shows people again why Atlanta is easily the best city for hip hop right now no matter what type of hip hop you like, and Grip is carving out his own lane.
Demae is a part of the budding R&B sound coming out of the UK right now, and this project fits squarely in with the rest. The lead single even features another member of that sound, Ego Ella May. Their voices work together perfectly into this gorgeous piece of R&B. “Basic Love” is also another highlight, with its luscious production and chorus. Demae also used to be a part of a hip hop group called Hawk House, and that influence still comes through in this mainly R&B/soul project, especially on “Use It”. If it weren’t for the glistening synths and infectious bassline, it could easily be used for a rapper instead of a singer, but she still manages to fit in perfectly over it. The final track features probably the most maximal instrumental on the whole thing, and is an immaculate send off for this project, especially with the poetry to close it out. This is a great first project for Demae, and I’m sure she’ll continue to just get better from here.
After almost two decades from her debut album, there’s not many surprises Alicia can pull out at this point in her career. We know what she’s going to do, and she gives it to us once again with Alicia. “Time Machine” was released last year, but it’s still probably the best song on here. The beat is heavy and works nicely with Alicia’s effervescent vocals during the chorus, and the little things like the string additions and the extreme vocal processing at the end add quite a bit to the overall song. The emotional ballad of “3 Hour Drive” is another highlight, with its themes of loss and love. It also has a beautiful feature from the ever-elusive Sampha, who fits just as perfect on here as he does with rappers like Drake and Kanye. “Me x 7” shows Alica collabing with another future star, Tierra Whack. The song itself is a lighthearted look at how sometimes you need to put yourself first. “Perfect Way to Die” is another emotional ballad, this time about unnecessary death in children. It’s easily the most emotional and tear-jerking vocal performance on the entire record. Even with the positives and great songs, it still doesn’t hold a candle to her older work. But if you’re a fan who's still looking for proof that Alicia can still write with the best of her peers, then you will definitely find something noteworthy on here.
After countless mixtapes and projects, including two already this year, this is his official debut album. It’s easily his most high profile project, and arguably the best Griselda project so far! There are some more mainstream and maximalist beats on here, including “From King” and “Fear of God” with Dej Loaf. Even with him out trying new sounds, there’s still some classic grimy Griselda cuts. “Lemon” with Method Man finally gives us a collaboration between these two legendary NY rap collectives, Griselda and Wu-Tang Clan. The beat switch on “Dough & Damani” is one of the grimiest beats I’ve heard all 2020. “Spurs 3” is one of the best posse cuts of the founding Griselda members so far and all over this fascinating and off-kilter beat. He even brings on Murda Beatz to produce “Anza”, which features him going over more trap style production with newly signed Griselda member Armani Caesar, who comes through with flying colors The emotional moments on the album hit especially hard with Conway talking about the recently deceased DJ Shay, who has two interludes on the album. The final song of the standard version, “Forever Droppin Tears”, is the best example of this with Conway spilling his heart out over this entire song about his deceased friends. Conway really came through with arguably the best album ever in Griselda, and knowing that he has features from Drake, 2 Chainz, and Lil Wayne in the bank, I’m sure the next album will be even better.
Speaking of Griselda, new signee Armani Caesar released her own debut project on the label the week after Conway, and proves that she can hold her own against anyone in the crew. The album starts out with some more lyrical cuts, including the classic Griselda sound of “Countdown”, the deceptively bouncy “Mac 10s for Everybody” with Westside Gunn, and “Gucci Casket” with this great piano driven beat and an amazing Conway feature. She can even do some more mainstream sounds, like on “Drill a RaMa” and the DJ Premier produced “Simply Done”, both of which feature Benny the Butcher. Her delivery is perfect no matter what style of beat she’s going over. And of course, I have to mention the great use of the Roy Ayers classic “Searching” on the outro. Hopefully we can hear more from her sooner rather than later, and knowing the work ethic of Griselda, I’m sure it won’t be long until we have another project form her.
After A.G. Cook’s 49 track project last month, he returns once again with a more normal length project dubbed as his “second debut album”, Apple. At only 10 tracks and about 40 minutes, the hype was high for this album but unfortunately, it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. There are still some highlights though, like the explosion of a song that is “Xxoplex”. While it doesn’t quite have the great drop like a Sophie track does, the sonics are still super exhilarating. Another almost equally exhilarating track is “Airhead”, which starts off almost like an entertaining anxiety attack before mellowing out into a great piece of synth-pop. Even the track “Oh Yeah” is a quality opener, even though the extreme vocal processing towards the end is a bit much. But a lot of the album just melds together into a combination of guitar ballads and electronics. While a lot of it isn’t really annoying, it doesn’t live up to the expectations that the founder of the most defining electronic label out right now should have.
Fleet Foxes have been one of the most acclaimed and popular groups in the indie folk scene since they came out over a decade ago and they are back with this album after only two days' warning, releasing the album at the exact moment of the fall equinox. Instead of releasing a darker album to guide us into winter, they come through with a really sunny and luscious album that would’ve been perfect summer music. “Sunblind” is a great mood setter for the rest of the album and immediately puts the listener in a good mood. “Featherweight” features some sporadic piano melodies that help the mid-paced ballad stand out among the rest of the project. “Young Man’s Game” provides a jolt of energy to the back half of the album. While some fans might not think it lives up to the standard of their other albums, Fleet Foxes prove that they still stand as one of the greats of this sound even after almost 15 years of music.
Nate and Roman are brothers that have each had a large part in Janelle Monae’s career, who also stars in the new horror movie Antebellum. Together, Nate and Roman compose this haunting score for that movie. They have each done a bit of scoring and composing previously to this, as both of them were credited as producing the orchestral overtures to Janelle’s first couple albums, but this is their first attempt at a full score, and they come through with flying colors. There are quite a few highlights on here, the first being the opening number. The seven minute runtime allows the song to build better than almost any other on here, and is long enough to get the overarching melody stuck in your head so you can catch it when they use it later in the score, like on the track “Burning Man”. “Hotel Intrusion” does a great job at slowly building the tension and not releasing it at the end of the song so it leaves the song the listener purposely uncomfortable. You can feel the character running for their life on “Horse Pursuit”, and possibly escaping by the quiet ending to the track. I love how they used the opening melody in the choir on “Battle Choir”, instead of the cello that is used throughout the rest of the project. So overall, if you’re a fan of movie scores and particularly horror scores, you can’t go wrong with this right here and hopefully they continue to do more scores from here.
Two years after The Carver V was released, Lil Wayne decided to bless us with a deluxe version of ten added songs, three of which had already been released in 2018. These songs might not be the best thing he’s ever done, but it proves that he still has plenty of heat left in the tank. “Holy” features this incredible beat made out of this gospel choir and boomin 808s and Wayne just spitting classic Wayne bars like “Put three holes in your head like a bowling ball, don’t spare ‘em.” It feels like a spiritual successor to “A Milli” and “6 Foot 7 Foot” from his previous Tha Carter albums. “Scottie” is another song where Wayne just uses a hundred different flows over this slower paced beat. He even does some storytelling with Raekwon on “More to the Story”, where each of them tell the story of a drug dealer trying to navigate the harshes of that life. As with most Wayne projects, there are still some songs that feel like they could’ve been left off. He always seems to try to appeal to all of his fans with every project, which is great because everyone always gets at least some of what they want. But I do wish that he would organize his newer projects into more cohesive albums instead of feeling like glorified playlists. Like, maybe use one project for more mainstream songs and others for just spitting bars for a dozen tracks. Either way, this is still a really good project filled with some incredible rapping.
Comments