BigBabyGucci – “Asleep at the Wheel” review

Charlotte, North Carolina recording artist BigBabyGucci preluding his next LP with his 5th mixtape. Starting almost a decade ago off his debut EP ART HOE Collection, he would continue to build a name for himself by putting out 19 more EPs as well as 7 full-lengths & his last 4 tapes along the way. When U Wake Up, When You Go to Sleep, Baby 5 & the heavily alternative ANTI have all become his strongest material of the 2020s although I can’t the same for Isolation 2.5 a month after the latter. Internet Explorer was a fun redemption for himself & 5 months later, following up And When I’m Alone & Serotonin to fall Asleep at the Wheel.

“Bound” begins with him talking about smoking blunts & poppin’ bottles right when he gets up in the morning whereas “Glass Table Girls” samples “Don’t Play” by Travis Scott featuring Big Sean & The 1975 to describe the kind of women who get high every night. “Kiss & Tell” works in some synthesizers to talk about a type of love that’s on fire leading into “Still Around” confronts somebody for hanging around lames.

To finish the 1st half, “Is It a Dream?” talks about him still kicking it with thugs & still having aim even when he’s under the influence of drugs while “Alpina” gets the 2nd leg going confessing whilst drunk off tequila that the reason he has trust issues is because of all the real ones wanting to fuck with his girl. “Sonny Liston 2” comes through with a sequel to one of my favorite Universe 2 songs, refusing to give the ball back to anyone who crosses him.

“Fake Friends” wraps up Asleep at the Wheel’s final moments talking about the kind of people only come around in your life when it makes sense to them while “Chardonnay” likens himself to the Sunday paper hence why he doesn’t entertain old news & preferring lean over wine when I don’t drink either. “Prevail” spends the last couple minutes of the tape blaming him for being different as the cause of why he doesn’t fit in, admitting he isn’t doing so well.

Tha Leak was an intriguing collection of previously unreleased tracks between 2019-2022 & not only has he confirmed that there’ll eventually be a sequel, but we’ll get 2 more albums called Side Effects & 1 Long Trip by the end of the year with Asleep at the Wheel confirmed to be a prelude to either one of those. House of Mirrors & Mint Colored Stones are supposedly still coming too, conceptually taking us on a 26 minute car ride soundtracked by a producer he’s been bending genres with since 2019 already.

Score: 3.5/5

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Little Simz – “Sugar Girl” review

This is the 11th extended play from Islington, London, England, United Kingdom emcee, singer & actress Little Simz. Getting her start at the beginning of the 2010s, she would go on to drop 4 mixtapes & 10 EPs alongside 5 albums. GREY Area showed some serious artistic evolution & S.I.M.B.I. (Sometimes I Might Be Introvert) wound up being my 2021 Album of the Year, even giving a perfect 10. The follow-up No Thank You barely made it on my Best of 2022 list since it came out days after my 26th birthday, coming off the Lotus blooming almost a year earlier to drop Sugar Girl.

“That’s a No No” begins with this 2-parter using her signature flow to talk about using count of how many bitches she’s influenced this decade while “Game On” featuring JT finds the pair cautioning that anyone who fucks around & says the wrong thing will get snatched. “Open Arms” featuring DEELA starts the 2nd half of the EP advising everyone listening to learn their place leading into “Telephone” talking about this man needing a real bitch in his life.

It’s no secret that I’ve continuously held Little Simz amongst my favorite women in the UK & hip hop entirely for nearly the past 5 years, but it pains me to say Sugar Girl might easily be the weakest entry in whole discography. It’s more commercial than anything she’s done previously & I don’t see a problem with her giving us something more mainstream than her usually conscious approach to songwriting, it’s just not that memorable.

Score: 2.5/5

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Trap Dickey – “The Ville” review

Hartsville, South Carolina rapper Trap Dickey making his Top Dawg Entertainment & Uptown Records debut by dropping a brand new mixtape a month after signing. Carving a path for himself artistically after getting shot in the face as a result of a crossfire, his full-length debut Trap or Die would eventually arrive in the spring of 2021 & he has since spent the last several years building up anticipation for The Ville through numerous teasers. However in light his new deal, he’s ready to make a broader introduction under a major label.

“Sonny” produced by Sonny Digital was actually an impressive southern trap intro talking about him always looking up to the dealers whenever he watched gangsta movies whereas “Slidin’” mixes a guitar & some hi-hats to spit that g shit. “Jacker” brings a more energetic vibe to the table asking this woman if she’s ever fucked with a gang member until the 5th single “Don’t Trip” explains the reason a lot of rappers leave their hood is because they really don’t run the city.

As for the 7th & final single “Tell Me Why”, we have Trap Dickey confronting someone regarding the purpose of them fucking with him & the 6th single “Down South” featuring Key Glock was quite possibly my favorite of the bunch from FNZ sampling “Darkest Light” by the Lafayette Afro Rock Band to both artists calling to stop hatin’ on the wrong hitters. “Keep Going” featuring K Camp was a mediocre way to conclude the 1st half despite the messaging just before the 2nd single “No Love” featuring BigXthaPlug flips “Nothing But Love” from The 5 Heartbeats for a moderate gangsta rap cut.

“Blue Devils” featuring DaBaby on the remix trades verses with each other representing both Carolinas for the lead single while “LA Nights” samples “Island in the Sun” by Weezer to talk about spending evenings out in the west coast. The 3rd single “Gettin’ Money” featuring OJ da Juiceman has some cool strings & bells even if the “this shit gon’ stay on me like babies, please don’t pamper me” line was a bit trite while “Morning” samples “Easy” by the Commodores to provide some introspection.

YTB Fatt makes an appearance on the gospel trap crossover “Glory” referring themselves to be the big dog rookies of the year despite the fact that neither one of them are beginners while the 4th single “Day Shift” fuses a bluesy guitar & hi-hats talking about putting on for everything that’s in the streets along with no longer being a hitter due to the money that’s on his head. “New Philly” ties up the last few minutes of The Ville with a passionately drumless outro.

There are only a select few artists on the TDE roster that I would have to put in the C tier like Lance Skiiiwalker & Zacari, but you could add Trap Dickey to that same category considering that a great deal of The Ville was mediocre to me personally. Even if the guest list & production both falter at times, I can totally understand why Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith signed him because his whole style’s like a preacher’s grandson speaking directly to the audience.

Score: 2.5/5

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Law & Disorder – Self-Titled review

Law & Disorder is an east coast superduo consisting of Brooklyn, New York emcee/producer D-Dot alongside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by way of Buffalo emcee & lawyer Tracey Lee. They’ve already crossed paths a few times already with D-Dot producing some tracks off Tracey’s slept-on solo debut Many Facez under Universal Music Group almost 3 decades ago, so hearing that they were joining forces for a full-length debut of their own at the beginning of the year peaked my curiosity.

After the “Court Day” intro, the opener “Be Warned” begins issuing a cautionary statement over a boom bap instrumental about them still being beasts with the pen whereas “Let’s Get It On” hooks up a quirkier beat to talk about their flows being hard to follow. “Like This” turns up the dustiness boasting the surgical abilities they have with the pen leading into “What’s Missin’?” talking about being the product of 2 turntables & a mic.

“The Bop” after the “Need a Lawyer?” skit nears closers to the halfway point bringing us the rawness some have been looking for just before the funky “Boss” comes through with some lyrical braggadocio. “Oooweee Owwweeee” featuring the late Black Rob finds the trio bringing it hardcore over a jazzy instrumental prior to D-Dot getting a solo joint of his own with “D-Dot Wins” for a couple minutes, turning up the aggressiveness.

Preceding the “Act Now!!!” skit, we have Law & Disorder talking about the “Brotherly Love” they have for each other while “King-Dome” keeps dissecting all opponents who dare to step up against them. “Seen It All” takes a few moments to look back at the pair’s individually historical careers & once “It’s a Flex” talks about being better than everyone else, “You Know Who We Are” ends the album by having both parties dropping battle bars 1 last time.

I initially went into Law & Disorder expecting it to be a Tracey Lee solo album fully produced by D-Dot, but I had no issue with The Madd Rapper himself joining Tracey on nearly every track since he began in the late 80s as 1/2 of 2 Kings in a Cipher. The boom bap production’s a huge upgrade compared to a great deal of the LLeft Entertainment founder’s output since returning to music after getting his bar admission & proves that neither of them are bound by the past.

Score: 4/5

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Estee Nack – “Al-Andalus” review

Brand new LP & the 16th regarding his solo material from Lynn, Massachusetts emcee/producer Estee Nack. Breaking out as a member of the Tragic Allies, he also branched off on his own my senior year of high school off his Purpose-produced solo debut 14 Forms: The Book of Estee Nack & has since built a lengthy yet impressive discography for himself. Other highlights include the Sadhugold-produced Surfinongold.wav alongside it’s sequel The Order of the Golden Fleece, the Giallo Point-produced Papitas & it’s sequel, his collab efforts with al.divino, the V Don-produced B.R.A.P. (Born Rewards & Penalties), the Griselda Records debut Nacksaw Jim Duggan, the Mike Shabb-produced Live at the Tabernackle, the Futurewave-produced Stone Temple Pyrex & B.R.A.P. 2 (Big Rifles & Pistols). But upon hearing Cookin’ Soul was fully producing Al-Andalus, the chances of it becoming his best material in almost a year were increased.

“Santeria” opens up with this luxuriously mafioso boom bap intro talking about hustling by serving customers to get the dreams right whereas “Inbound” brings a funkier vibe instrumentally so he can detail the gangsta lifestyle. “La Bomba” has a jazzier boom bap approach to the beat talking about him being meant to have the world in his palms just before “Touchin’ Base” turning up the grittiness for Nackie Chan to get on his coke rap shit topically.

Yung Beef appears on the bilingually jazzy 2nd & final single “Telex Free Trap” talking about shooting bums in the face leading into “More or Less” reaching the halfway point of Al-Andalus emphasizing the boom bap elements boasting how fat his pockets have become. “Bread & Wine” featuring Lil Supa finds the pair talking about their unstoppable profiles even if Estee’s verse stood out the most personally while “Carlito’s Way” takes inspiration from the Edwin Torres novel of the same name.

“Hear Me” winds down the last few moments of the album talking about overcoming all the odds being stacked against us regardless of where you’re from while “La Poli” takes a few minutes to express the amount of disdain her has for the pigs. Planet Asia saves my favorite guest appearance for last during the outro “Ghost in the Lab”, going at the throats of those acting like the bread didn’t come with their penchants & not to get their statuses twisted.

It’s already been over an entire year since Big Size fully produced Ankhlejohn’s 7th mixtape The Michelin Man to widespread acclaim across the underground & despite both teasers being admirable attempts at showcasing a couple Spanish hip hop artists Estee Nack fucks with, the rest of Al-Andalus surprised me by delivering what could be my favorite thing he’s done this year considering how well he & Cookin’ Soul compliment each other’s styles excellently from the superb boom bap production to the gangsta-themed lyrics.

Score: 4/5

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Mission: Infect – “epideM:Ic” review

This is the 7th studio LP from underground hip hop collective Mission: Infect consisting of Lo Key, Badluck, Dubbs, Fia Fawn, KruX 1, Madd Maxxx, Malaria, St. Sinna & 0. They’ve released their previous 6 full-lengths together in the span of nearly 2 decades including the Chemical Threats tetralogy, XterM:Ination & Asphyxiation with quite a few other members finding success on their own as solo artists in the wicked shit scene. Returning in 2024 with their arM:Igeddon extended play, they’re returning in time for an epideM:Ic.

After the “Incoming Transmission” intro, we get a sequel to “Throw ‘Em Up” off the 2nd installment of the Criminal Threats series performed by Lo Key & Badluck whereas “Body Drop” aggressively talks about the crew slaughtering all opponents over a boom bap instrumental. “Bring the Noise” explains that this is basically chemical warfare to Neon Sermon & Dubbs rather than another song while “Call 2 Arms” lets both Lo Key & Dubbs blow off some lyrical steam for a few minutes.

“Bullets & Spraypaint” starts the 2nd half talking about LOKE & Fia Fawn’s only purpose here being to infest the brains of those listening leading into “Soldiers of Death” explains the voices in their heads telling them to kill all enemies. “Contagion” after the “Message from Grey” skit takes a more conscious approach topically over an apocalyptic beat & once “Blackout” brings the revolution live from the frontlines, the outro “Starting Over” provides an anthem for the rebellious to grab their gas masks & march to.

Originally slated to come out a year earlier, Lo Key ended up temporarily scrapping epideM:Ic for due to the lack of involvement from all the other Mission: Infect generals & I’m surprisingly overjoyed that he was able to get 6 others who’ve been around since Day 1 to be apart of the final product alongside the 2 newest additions to the crew. They’ve even jokingly said the album probably doesn’t have anything to do with the ongoing hantavirus situation & not only does M:I lyrically turn brains into black cherry slurpees, but them hinting at recruiting more artists to join & more output collectively seems like a promising beginning of making up for being inactive for long periods of time.

Score: 4/5

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Lelo – “Mastiff” review

Detroit, Michigan rapper Lelo coming off his full-length debut New Detroit last summer to drop his 7th extended play. Signing to 10K Projects a couple years ago, he would make his presence known more widely in the local trap scene by putting out his 4th EP Nightingale not too long after landing a record deal & gained even more exposure a month later by dropping the single “No Contempt” on SoundCloud. LifeAfterDogshit as well as When It’s Over & New Detroit would further increase his profile, returning 10 months since the latter to drop Mastiff.

“Hollowed Bricks” begins with a luxurious backdrop, some hi-hats & 808s talking about living before sitting in the casket whereas “Blueprint” featuring Apolloscase brings a wavier Detroit sound to the picture so both of them can trade verses with each other. “Dialect” ends the 1st leg of the EP explaining that it’s a whole different kind of talk whenever one brings up money around him & not inserting himself around those who haven’t seen shit.

To kick off the 2nd half, things got for a pluggier vibe instrumentally so he can talk about staying “Hoodrich” until his very last breath while “Monetize” brings a subdued tone to the beat flexing his ability of selling this shit back to the trap like he didn’t already begin to make some chips off it. The closing track “Down to Earth” spends Mastiff’s final 3 minutes blending a soul sample with hi-hats talking about having bigger dreams & a few telling him to die by this chain he has.

It made me happy to hear that more ears got put onto Lelo the summer prior ditching the trap elements of When It’s Over so he could make a turn towards a cloudier Detroit trap direction & create something entirely new out of interpolating many of the city’s popular sounds, swapping out the cloudier influences in favor of standard trap for Mastiff & incorporating some occasional plugg undertones to further represent the Motor City’s past & present.

Score: 3.5/5

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PlaqueBoyMax – “Crash Dummy” review

West Orange, New Jersey recording artist, producer, audio engineer, media personality & streamer PlaqueBoyMax is back with his 6th extended play. Catching on to him at the beginning of the year after calling out DJ Akademiks for being a child groomer, he has since stayed busy by churning out 5 EPs in the quick amount of time he’s been in the spotlight signing with Field Trip Recordings & Capitol Records. 5 Forever almost last year wasted some genuinely solid production on Max’s weakly performed raps. The same can be said regarding Too Much Music, which didn’t raise my anticipation for Crash Dummy.

“Bussin’” made for an underwhelming intro talking about not needing any handouts whereas “Elastiboy” explains the new nickname he gave himself now that he’s got all these bands on him. “Break the Bank” reaches the halfway point redundantly talking about his wealth while “Get Off Me” tells a bitch to hop off his dick. “Different Bag” hilariously talks about being in a whole other category than everyone else & “Bad Bitch Addiction” produced by Internet Money Records in-house producer Rio Leyva details his obsession for baddies.

Since we got Too Much Music this past winter, PlaqueBoyMax has already comforted that he’s in the midst of working on his full-length debut Prince & an entire body of work fully produced by Metro Boomin’ afterwards. There’s only a few problems with that however: His rapping hasn’t improved at all compared to 5 Forever almost a year earlier or Crash Dummy’s predecessor 5 months ago despite his production choices & Atlanta proving himself to be better at curating.

Score: 2/5

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Lucki – “Daysb4bad*” review

Finally getting the 10th extended play from Chicago, Illinois rapper & occasional producer Lucki to prelude his upcoming 4th LP. Beginning to turn heads in the summer of 2013 when he released his debut mixtape Alternative Trap to critical acclaim, he would later go on to give his fans 6 more tapes & a dozen EPs with the last one being the F1LTHY-produced Wake Up Lucki a week before my 25th birthday in December 2021. The full-length debut Flawless Like Me saw Lucki finding his style & the sophomore effort s*x mon*y dr*gs was the most I enjoyed Tune’s music in a while, coming off Gemini to drop Daysb4bad*.

“U Ready!” produced by LulRose begins with Tune talking about playing the game in order to ball & that the shit he does not being for show whereas “Sex Mula / Pete” featuring Lil Yachty fresh off helping Trick Williams become the new WWE United States Champion describes their preference of using weapons instead of fists. After freestyling over the instrumentals originally used for “All for the Love” by Jadakiss & “Made My Hoe Faint” by Future, the closing track “Capo 2x” featuring Kkanii finishes with both of them working smarter & trying to become rich.

Almost Woke & both entries of 2 Faced felt more like singles with an a-side & b-side than actual EPs but nevertheless, Daysb4bad* was a decent taste of what we can expect from what many can assume to be his final EMPIRE Distribution opus dr*gs r bad a couple weeks from now & expect it to be a lot better than what we got here. Excluding both freestyles & the outro, it sounds like he’s getting ready to let the world know how much of a student he is of this shit.

Score: 3/5

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Ziggy Marley – “Brightside” review

Ziggy Marley is a 57 year old musician, singer/songwriter, producer, voice actor, author & philanthropist from Kingston, Jamaica notable for being the eldest son of reggae icon Bob Marley & his widow Rita. Beginning as the lead singer of The Melody Makers, they would drop 9 full-lengths together until disbanding & embarking on a solo career. He has since given his 8 albums of his own for over 2 decades, with his debut Dragonfly & the sophomore effort Love’s My Religion widely considered to be his best. More Family Time until now was the only thing he’s released in the 2020s & was optimistic in terms of his 9th studio LP being an improvement.

“Jah We Give Glory” fittingly begins with this reggae intro co-produced by his brother Stephen singing about praising God whereas “Racism’s a Killa” featuring Big Boi on the remix makes a powerful statement regarding the issue of racial discrimination only days after the Voting Rights Act was gutted. “Hey People Now” featuring Nikki Costa decently finds the 2 singing about us having the ability of setting ourselves free until the brass-heavy “Why Let the World?” featuring Sheila E. describes escaping the issues of our daily lives.

I felt that “Many Mourn for Bob” was a heartwarming way to start the 2nd half remembering Ziggy’s late father while “Sweet Divine” sing about a person who he can’t even find the right words to describe. “Make It Paradise” brings ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro into the picture yearning to spend time with his loved ones outside while the title track ties everything up by singing about the Brightside of the chaos happening around us globally.

Looking at everything that’s been going on throughout the past year & a half, Ziggy Marley’s return to secular reggae marks an introspective comeback for the creative approach in terms of songwriting & production that was unlike anything he’s done throughout his entire career & probably surpasses Wild & Free to become the best thing he’s musically done since his 2000s output. It’s unique for him & Stephen to use the 432Hz sonic frequency regularly employed for meditation & confronts the issue of mental health directly.

Score: 4/5

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