Lupe Fiasco, 31 Year old artist from Chicago creates one of the best albums humanity has ever heard.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Joey BADA$$ - B4.DA.$$ (Coming Soon)
Joey Bada$$ is a 20 year old Rapper from Brooklyn, New York with a conscious 1990's boom bap sound. Check out his album below and tell me what you think.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Mick Jenkins - The Water[s]
Mick Jenkins is a 23 year old conscious rapper from the south side of Chicago, currently residing in New York. Mick Jenkins garnered some attention after the release of his last mixtape "Trees & Truth", which I truthfully have never listened to. But after seeing his name everywhere and people going crazy for this album, I decided to check it out.
The Water[s] is a concept album depicting many different scenarios where water plays a role, whether water for a bong, water in urine, water in the ocean, or the lack of water in communities. The concept of the album alone is intriguing but the more you dig in, the more you realize the complexity of the topic of such a simplistic thing.
The album begins with sounds of the ocean and a piano melody. Before you really get a chance to internalize the setting, "The Mind" begins to sing on the track Shipwrecked. He sings "Witnessed the end of our fair lady/A million pieces lost at sea/Ruined is the crew/That's setting sail with me/Oh Lord we're sinking, God knows we fall/Set sail for Heaven, pray my soul won't get lost/Pray God accepts me, I know I'm wrong/But we've been shipwrecked, since we were born". The exceptionally poetic chorus is followed by almost an uncouth flow from Mick Jenkins speaking on his experiences as a teen cleverly delivering the lines
"I still remember when my baby lungs blew them trees/
I still felt like a saint when I drew that breeze/
On the corners was I hangin' never bangin'/
But I knew them G's, it's been tragic/
Since Boy Meets World it's been savage/
But the goal was never really the beef, its been cabbage/
We kill for it, when we die we can't have it/
But we can't kill the habit holdin' onto this boat 'til we shipwreck"
The second verse transitions into more dramatic upbeat drums with heavy snares and sample vocals from literally out of nowhere. A vicious flow from Jenkins describes how he and his "crew" were born into the metaphorical waters and has become complacent in the water even though it will kill him. Water obviously being a metaphor for his hood and the conditions the government and the institution of racism have placed him under. He also uses the theme of water as a metaphor for his advice, claiming everyone is thirsty, which makes sense because the water they are surrounded by isn't okay to drink in both that his hood's tap water is literally not okay to drink and they are all in the ocean which doesn't have drinking water. The amount of poetic devices in this song are phenomenal and comparable to any famous poet. The lyrics laced with a wet beat truly make the listener truly feel underwater.
The song THC begins with the preachy "Drink more water" that appears throughout the whole album. This track is Jenkins talking to his audience, telling them
"I'm gon' get you high
And honeys down the road, I'm crazy, I'm gon' get you high
Flawless gems, I'm no fugazi, I'm gon' get you high
And you ain't even gotta cop blunts
Nigga brought food for thought, so you ain't even gotta cop lunch"
The next song The Waters isn't exactly one of the album's low points as far as sound goes, but Mick Jenkins continues to deliver lyrically with each of his verses. It's also evident that Mick's vocabulary exceeds most rappers by listening to some of the words he rhymes such as rhyming "rock the boat" with "not baroque". And again the instruments on the beat seem really wet and saturated (You can even hear a squeaking sound) with his vocals doused in reverb echoing continuously, and although it's not highly catchy it does it's job by talking about how people go for gold instead of valuing water. Water in this song is a metaphor for life, so he is in essence saying people chase after riches but not their health, which may be true but he's definitely not looking at all the perspectives. Before I move on to the next track I just want to it to be let known that he calls himself Mickalas cage on this song.
Healer is one of my favorite tracks on the album. "Jean Deaux" sings and even has a verse on it and she sounds completely angelic. They each describe relationships over a slow string heavy instrumental. Mick talking about how he gets angry trying to "Wake niggas up" but when he talks to her about the ills that befall humanity it's more of a conversation and less of an argument which transitions into Jean Deaux comparing the woman's cathartic abilities to water.
"You feel like water baby
You heal my body baby
You soothe my aching soul
This feel like water baby
This soothes my aching soul"
Jean Deaux's verse on this song is one of the most sad things I've heard in a while. She's constantly reaffirming how good he is for her, but every time he's there for her, he takes water from her after. I'd show an excerpt but that wouldn't be doing you justice because the whole verse is perfect. Please listen to it and digest it. It's not something you can just understand by listening because her delivery isn't implying any malice towards him.
Comfortable is another track that I really thinking is just so beautiful. It doesn't have a theme as prominent as other songs, but the strings on the beat with the combination of samples of birds chirping and a choir humming in the background set the scene and allows you to really become comfortable. Noname Gypsy and Jenkins combine to create one of the best hooks on the album. And each compete with laid back verses tied in over the head punchlines.
Vibe is one of the jazzier tracks and I must say some of the most impressive word play is on this track
"Inhaling vapors, I'm painting pictures so pristine
Right on your ceiling the feeling is kinda Sistine
For the artform and never the hand clap
When that's clear you can call it Saran Wrap"
He delivers a song heavy with food for thought and even a noah's ark reference.
On the song Jazz, which served as sort of a single for this free album, you hear Jenkins start off the album with more of the "Drink water" catchphrase he's had throughout and more of the wet jazz samples with heavy reverb while he describes what happens when you talk "that jazz" in the hood and what the hood is really like and begins to talk his own jazz.
Next is a Statik Selektah beat with less of the water and more of his scattered thoughts piled upon each other on the track Black Sheep.
"I never had no problem being transparent
Remember I was younger wishing that I had my friends parents
Back when they lied to us better, I’m on this water now
Funny how these other niggas thirsty but they watered down
They oughta drown, watching niggas run for the boat when the rain drops
How many lies can you tell yourself before the pain stops
Out here harvesting the same crop"
Drink More Water, Canada Dry & Who Else are more food for thought songs with references to water and the more he seems preach, it never comes off as too preachy and this has to do with his brash delivery which has to be influenced by him growing up in Chicago around drill rappers who are probably the polar opposite of preachy. At this moment you hear the instrumentals shifting from jazzy to more harsh and boom bappy. Jenkins flow is become highly aggressive. He makes you want to hear his opinion and his many different stories.
The album transitions into Dehydration which is arguably the worst song on the album. He bites flows from chief keef and migos and it's pretty cringe worthy. The hook on this is god awful and the beat seems like something drake would rap over during his so far gone stage. And by this point, him telling people to drink water has gotten stale.
514 has a darker beat and shows a more militant and scary Mick Jenkins. While the hook is less catchy it's still a good song and quite lyrical. He raps over it
System 'bout as foul as a free throw
Tell me what the fuck a nigga know about a free thought
If everything that he thought stem from a remote
This is so that he know"
Tell me what the fuck a nigga know about a free thought
If everything that he thought stem from a remote
This is so that he know"
Martyrs is the most preachy song on the album. It samples Carmen McRae's version of strange fruit, and it would do it justice if his lyrics didn't go at girls having sex and wearing weave, and dudes pursuing money and wanting to have money.
Jerome is by far the song with the best delivery. It has a feature from Joey Bada$$ and Kirk Knight who also produced the beat. Jenkins kind of steals Joey's flow, but it works because of Jenkin's already deep raspy voice and it makes the listener feel the energy.
Overall this album is an 8.5/10, there weren't very many low points, but this album could definitely do without some of the songs. The theme of water kind of got trashed and just became a buzzword towards the end. Although I love the song Jerome, it really didn't make sense to end with it. I'm scared for Jenkin's future. Even though this was such a great album, I feel like he won't abandon these topics and evolve. He is very critical of the world around him and he has yet to really talk about him as a person and how his environment has impacted him to act or how he has really impacted others. I hope he uses his future projects to voice that.
What did you think of this album? Did you love it? Did you hate it? Did you think I was too harsh? Did you think I rode it?
Mick Jenkins - The Water[s] (Coming Soon)
Mick Jenkins is a 23 year old conscious rapper from the south side of Chicago, currently residing in New York. The album Stream is down below, tell me what you think!
Monday, December 15, 2014
J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive
So I'm going to start out by saying this album is gassed. He goes over the same topics he's gone over time and time again. Maybe this time it's just more aesthetically pleasing. But whatever.
J. Cole is a 28 year old dude from North Carolina and he moved to New York on a scholarship when he was 18 then got signed by Jay-Z. He released one of my favorite mixtapes of all time "The Warm Up" then had an awesome follow up when he released "Friday Night Lights" but then he put out an album that just sounded bad and forced, then made another album that sounded great but lowkey most of the song started talking about topics but would abandon the theme halfway through the song (much like he actually does in this album). Kanye west does that, but with Kanye it sounds so good that you don't care. It's evident that J. Cole gets writers block but like doesn't care and changes the topic.
On the song Apparently, he starts off with a strong beautiful, melodic hook, but the first couple lines were so rap cliche. "This is my canvas/ I'm a paint it how I want to baby" Like shut up J. cole.
Anyway the album starts off with J. cole's raspy singing on the song "Intro". I don't mind his singing but after a while on this album it gets boring.
The album continues on to January 28th which sounds soooooo good and it doesn't sound like he doesn't know what he wants to talk about, just that he's exploring different topics.
Everybody loves the song wet dreams but its just a basic song I forget about. Nothing stands out about it, because I know J. Cole's story telling abilities and this was whack. J. Cole just talks about a sweet encounter with a girl who asks to have sex with him, asking if he was a virgin. He lies then eventually finds out she was a virgin (WOOAHH PLOT TWIST RIGHT?(not really)).
03 adolescence was an interesting story but it sounds too much like other things we've heard. J. Cole talks about his father being absent, a girl who doesn't recognize him, and a friend he asks to start selling drugs with to become cool but quickly gets reprimanded by the friend because he believed cole had a future.
A tale of two citiez sees J. Cole with one of his disjointed stories, and him trying to be someone he knows he's not really. I hear a lot of him trying to follow what's been popping in rap, this track sounds similar to what drake does but just sounds like an imitation. Although it doesn't sound as bad.
I've fallen in love with the song firing squad even though I hate the bridge and the outro where he talks about being a king (once again a rap cliche) but the verses and the hook just go in with passion and a flurry of dope rhymes. The first two verses are talking about him being the best (and that's the most on topic I usually see J. Cole), then on the third verse he comes at white people who succeed after appropriating black culture because they're white, while black people don't get the recognition, but then he goes back to talking about why he's the best.
St. Tropes sounds really beautiful, and it's one of the few songs where he's clearly talking about one thing and it works. His singing on this backed up by the female vocals puts the icing on the cake. He talks about his fears of blowing up and the struggles he faces with the relationships that it affects.
GOMD goes in! Not because J. Cole but because this hook is crazy as hell. It's hype too, but like the actually lyrics are kind of boring but his flow and energy is great. I know that the song kind of goes over the fact that this will get played because of the hook only but it's because J. Cole kind of hasn't evolved like other rappers have. Kanye West has, Drake has, Jay-Z has nas hasn't really and that's why his albums haven't been the same since the nineties and I believe that will really restrict J. Cole. Think about it like pokemon. What if you played the whole game without evolving, it kind of gets boring, you feel me guys?
No role modelz is sexist as hell, I'm finna skip this song. But it's catchy lowkey.
Hello sounds like trash sorry guys. Maybe if he said something interesting.
The album ends of in a similar fashion as it started. With J. Cole singing with a piano. Then he starts shouting out for 12 minutes. Yeah....
Listening to this album I've found that a lot of J. Cole's choruses'/hooks have nothing to do with the song. If he wrote novels, he would probably be one of those authors who use a lot of deus ex machina.
If you want to listen to Conscious rappers who are better than J. Cole I can give y'all a list.
Kendrick Lamar (O.D./Section 80/Good Kid Maad City)
Isaiah Rashad (Cilvia Demo)
Outkast (Litterally anything they have ever made)
Ab Soul (These Days...)
Lupe Fiasco (Food & Liquor/The Cool)
Big Krit (Krit Wuz Here/Return of 4eva)
Joey Badass (1999) etc.
If you want a list of rappers who sound better than J. Cole the list is too long.
This is a 6/10. J. Cole is a charmander when he should be a charizard. I'm just really disappointed. What did you think of this though? What Should I review next?
Everybody loves the song wet dreams but its just a basic song I forget about. Nothing stands out about it, because I know J. Cole's story telling abilities and this was whack. J. Cole just talks about a sweet encounter with a girl who asks to have sex with him, asking if he was a virgin. He lies then eventually finds out she was a virgin (WOOAHH PLOT TWIST RIGHT?(not really)).
03 adolescence was an interesting story but it sounds too much like other things we've heard. J. Cole talks about his father being absent, a girl who doesn't recognize him, and a friend he asks to start selling drugs with to become cool but quickly gets reprimanded by the friend because he believed cole had a future.
A tale of two citiez sees J. Cole with one of his disjointed stories, and him trying to be someone he knows he's not really. I hear a lot of him trying to follow what's been popping in rap, this track sounds similar to what drake does but just sounds like an imitation. Although it doesn't sound as bad.
I've fallen in love with the song firing squad even though I hate the bridge and the outro where he talks about being a king (once again a rap cliche) but the verses and the hook just go in with passion and a flurry of dope rhymes. The first two verses are talking about him being the best (and that's the most on topic I usually see J. Cole), then on the third verse he comes at white people who succeed after appropriating black culture because they're white, while black people don't get the recognition, but then he goes back to talking about why he's the best.
St. Tropes sounds really beautiful, and it's one of the few songs where he's clearly talking about one thing and it works. His singing on this backed up by the female vocals puts the icing on the cake. He talks about his fears of blowing up and the struggles he faces with the relationships that it affects.
GOMD goes in! Not because J. Cole but because this hook is crazy as hell. It's hype too, but like the actually lyrics are kind of boring but his flow and energy is great. I know that the song kind of goes over the fact that this will get played because of the hook only but it's because J. Cole kind of hasn't evolved like other rappers have. Kanye West has, Drake has, Jay-Z has nas hasn't really and that's why his albums haven't been the same since the nineties and I believe that will really restrict J. Cole. Think about it like pokemon. What if you played the whole game without evolving, it kind of gets boring, you feel me guys?
No role modelz is sexist as hell, I'm finna skip this song. But it's catchy lowkey.
Hello sounds like trash sorry guys. Maybe if he said something interesting.
The album ends of in a similar fashion as it started. With J. Cole singing with a piano. Then he starts shouting out for 12 minutes. Yeah....
Listening to this album I've found that a lot of J. Cole's choruses'/hooks have nothing to do with the song. If he wrote novels, he would probably be one of those authors who use a lot of deus ex machina.
If you want to listen to Conscious rappers who are better than J. Cole I can give y'all a list.
Kendrick Lamar (O.D./Section 80/Good Kid Maad City)
Isaiah Rashad (Cilvia Demo)
Outkast (Litterally anything they have ever made)
Ab Soul (These Days...)
Lupe Fiasco (Food & Liquor/The Cool)
Big Krit (Krit Wuz Here/Return of 4eva)
Joey Badass (1999) etc.
If you want a list of rappers who sound better than J. Cole the list is too long.
This is a 6/10. J. Cole is a charmander when he should be a charizard. I'm just really disappointed. What did you think of this though? What Should I review next?
Logic - Under Pressure
Logic is a 24 year old rapper from Maryland, who first generated a lot of buzz from 2011 - 2013 from his mixtapes, Young Sinatra, Young Sinatra: Undeniable and Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever. It's very clear his style is inspired from East Coast 90's rap, from his blistering flow and quick rhymes. His downside though, his that he is "pretend lyrical".
I say "pretend lyrical" because he gives off the impression that he is spitting some of the most grimey intense rhymes and because of his flow and how good he says he is, you actually believe it. But the more you listen to the album, the more you realize he is the difference between a B student and an A+ student. He's pretty good at conveying his emotions and sharing where he comes from and his situation, but not as poetically or even as well as rappers like Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole.
The album starts with the track, "Intro" which starts the album off with a pretty solid song produced with a piano ballad and sweet sounding strings. Logic rap's about how he wishes Biggie and Andre 3000 would come back to resurrect rap, (a common theme in rap now a days) but then realizes he has to be them and unnify the culture. But it's not really the verse that makes you like the song. It's the catchy Hook at the end and the beat. Be honest with yourself, although logic raps "Cause in my mind the only way I fail, if my verse weak" his verse was pretty weak.
The album transitions into Soul food, which has a nice beat but this time isn't even catchy. Although logic reveals a lot about his life and is very revealing, it comes off as sort of corny. He raps "Plus my other sister just went back to her old dude/He whoopin' her ass, I kill him, I kill him, I motherfucking kill him/I said I really want to kill him, but I can't/Cause if I do po po gon' claim I'm the villain, but I ain't". He talks about serious issues and these are completely serious and valuable topics he is talking about, but he's just not doing them in a way that's different from rappers who came before him. He's actually doing it worse.
The second half of the song transitions into a darker beat, and logic raps more aggressively and uses a complex rhyme scheme, but the song is ruined by a corny hook where he spits "I swear this music in my genes like Denim/Lyricism seeping, I'm like venom/Yes, I know the flow hotter than Lucifer/Even though heaven sent him " which would be impressive, if those lines weren't so commonly heard in hip hop.
From this point on, the album begins for me and I pretend the songs that came before never existed. It starts off with deep humming on a smooth beat, and logic just starts a flurry of rap and talks about basic rappers and how he's tired of them, which is common but this kind of beat suits him so well he doesn't come off as corny.
On Gang Related logic paints an eerie picture of a hood and the struggle that is associated with it. Definitely one of the best songs. He stops saying all the corny punchlines and focuses his attention on a story. Next is buried alive which is my favorite song on the album. It's aesthetically the best sounding song because of the girl in the background who seems to be singing along with logic. She seems to make all of his songs better. It really balances out his awkward voice. This song also takes the common theme of becoming famous, and not liking the feeling of it comparing it to being buried alive. Songs like bounce, growing pains, metropolis are fun but have serious topics. It's easy to get lost in the melody and ignore them, but you can listen to either the lyrics or the way the song sounds ans and you'll be okay.
Nikki is a song I wasn't pleased about, he starts talking about her throughout the album and it's clear that she's a metaphor but when you hear the song and the way he describes what nikki actually is, it's just like come on dude, you couldn't think of a better metaphor?
Under Pressure is a song that I think is interesting. It strings in at about 9 minutes long putting two songs with the same sample together. One where he boast a great flow with lowkey mediocre punchlines and the other half where he speaks from the perspective of his sister and father then himself replying to them. Overall I give this album a 7/10. I enjoyed it but you're free to have your own opinion, you can comment and tell me what you think.
The album starts with the track, "Intro" which starts the album off with a pretty solid song produced with a piano ballad and sweet sounding strings. Logic rap's about how he wishes Biggie and Andre 3000 would come back to resurrect rap, (a common theme in rap now a days) but then realizes he has to be them and unnify the culture. But it's not really the verse that makes you like the song. It's the catchy Hook at the end and the beat. Be honest with yourself, although logic raps "Cause in my mind the only way I fail, if my verse weak" his verse was pretty weak.
The album transitions into Soul food, which has a nice beat but this time isn't even catchy. Although logic reveals a lot about his life and is very revealing, it comes off as sort of corny. He raps "Plus my other sister just went back to her old dude/He whoopin' her ass, I kill him, I kill him, I motherfucking kill him/I said I really want to kill him, but I can't/Cause if I do po po gon' claim I'm the villain, but I ain't". He talks about serious issues and these are completely serious and valuable topics he is talking about, but he's just not doing them in a way that's different from rappers who came before him. He's actually doing it worse.
The second half of the song transitions into a darker beat, and logic raps more aggressively and uses a complex rhyme scheme, but the song is ruined by a corny hook where he spits "I swear this music in my genes like Denim/Lyricism seeping, I'm like venom/Yes, I know the flow hotter than Lucifer/Even though heaven sent him " which would be impressive, if those lines weren't so commonly heard in hip hop.
From this point on, the album begins for me and I pretend the songs that came before never existed. It starts off with deep humming on a smooth beat, and logic just starts a flurry of rap and talks about basic rappers and how he's tired of them, which is common but this kind of beat suits him so well he doesn't come off as corny.
On Gang Related logic paints an eerie picture of a hood and the struggle that is associated with it. Definitely one of the best songs. He stops saying all the corny punchlines and focuses his attention on a story. Next is buried alive which is my favorite song on the album. It's aesthetically the best sounding song because of the girl in the background who seems to be singing along with logic. She seems to make all of his songs better. It really balances out his awkward voice. This song also takes the common theme of becoming famous, and not liking the feeling of it comparing it to being buried alive. Songs like bounce, growing pains, metropolis are fun but have serious topics. It's easy to get lost in the melody and ignore them, but you can listen to either the lyrics or the way the song sounds ans and you'll be okay.
Nikki is a song I wasn't pleased about, he starts talking about her throughout the album and it's clear that she's a metaphor but when you hear the song and the way he describes what nikki actually is, it's just like come on dude, you couldn't think of a better metaphor?
Under Pressure is a song that I think is interesting. It strings in at about 9 minutes long putting two songs with the same sample together. One where he boast a great flow with lowkey mediocre punchlines and the other half where he speaks from the perspective of his sister and father then himself replying to them. Overall I give this album a 7/10. I enjoyed it but you're free to have your own opinion, you can comment and tell me what you think.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Introduction/About Me
This blog is dedicated to reviewing Rap/Hip-Hop music. "Who are you to be reviewing music?" You must be thinking this. That is a completely logical question to ask. I am reviewing music, many of which could be your favorite artists. But to be honest, I am just your average fan of music. Rap in particular. My opinion is not anymore valuable than yours, and is mine alone. You may agree with me, you may disagree. And that is completely fine. At the end of the day I am just 17 year old dude from Boston who likes music.
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