Datkid – “Confessions of a Crud Lord” review

Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee Datkid officially making his debut for High Focus Records debut with the 4th studio LP in his discography. Beginning as a part of the Split Prophets, he began embarking on a solo career in the summer of 2011 off Dkay n Gramma & the subsequent sophomore effort called Home by 8 a little over 8 months later. Coming off Teeth Ledger however, Real Life Drama Records co-founder Leaf Dog of The 4 Owls being picked to fully produce Confessions of a Crud Lord had it shaping up to be the most important entry of Datkid’s individual catalog a week after Aussie Open & エル・ファンタスモ became the new RPW British Tag Team Champions & RPW British Cruiserweight Champion respectively.

“Fire in My Belly” opens up with a boom bap intro talking about his opponents being worse actors than the entire cast of modern day EastEnderswhereas “Myth” marks the return of the all-time dirtiest continuing to make history 2 decades later. “Crud Addict” issues a warning that he’s the very last person one should be bringing drama to just before “The Chosen One” keeps things in the basement instrumentally talking about being prophetic.

To kick off the 2nd quarter, “I’m Nice” hooks up a grungy sample so he can talk about keeping his focus toward bringing his audience some crud for them to bump prior to “Briefcase” featuring Westside Gunn handcuffing suitcases to their wrists referencing 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, 4-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, 6-time WWE tag team champion & the newest writer/producer of their developmental NXT brand Shawn Michaels.

“Lord Give Me Patience” takes a moment to ask God to grant him perseverance & searching for a sign because he’s getting hungrier the more time goes faster while “Heroin” eerily promises that he can rap around his opposition on his tiptoes if he really wanted to. “Eyes” featuring Conway the Machine begins the 2nd half wanting to smoke weed & count money over a piano mixed with kicks & snares while “Money & Dip” dives deeper down the mafioso rabbit hole.

Roc Marciano joins Datkid for “Scheme On” talking about what their backup plan is if their music careers don’t pan out the way they hope it will & Marc explaining that people will go the way wind blows because they have no loyalty but once “Blank Page goes for an orchestral boom bap vibe wanting to bring life to his notebook by using his pen to write rhymes, “Grown Up” soulfully finds himself caught in the middle of Commissioner Gordons & 2-Faces from the Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Entertainment owned Batman franchise.

The song “Cook Book” nears Confessions of a Crud Lord’s final moments whippin’ some gourmet & coming out claim his stake while the penultimate track “Crud Lord” shifts towards a funky boom bap direction to the beat essentially breaking down his position as a boss of his own style that he calls “crud”. Taking up the last few minutes, “Hoes” wraps it all up by setting out to rule the money out of greed & have women surrounding him.

High Focus Records has been heralding Datkid’s inaugural opus under the Hove, East Sussex imprint to be the grimiest musical statement in the label’s entire discography almost a decade after it’s formation & I can’t even complain with that statement now that Confessions of a Crud Lord has arrived in full since the Split Prophets member’s greatest entry of his solo catalog comfortably fits up in the ranks of that discourse. Leaf Dog’s cooks up amongst the dirtiest production of his career & Bristol’s finest reminds the world why he’s amongst the UK’s most proficient lyricists.

Score: 4.5/5

Illitamin G – Self-Titled review

Illitamin G is an MC/producer duo from the United Kingdom consisting of Bristol, England lo-fi hip hop producer Illiterate alongside London emcee Vitamin G. The latter of whom has been on the come-up making some standout 2018 guest appearances, following the other’s beat placement on Bisk from the Cult of the Damned’s sophomore effort XXXX the preceding year. So being familiar with both of them for some time already, I was already intrigued by what this eponymous full-length studio debut under the Brighton, East Sussex imprint Yogocop Records had in store for each half of the pairing.

“Gone Wrong O’Clock” opens up with a boom bap instrumental containing a vocal sample & some pianos coming out the gate with a reference to the Paramount Skydance Corporation subsidiary MTV-owned jackass franchise’s de facto leader Johnny Knoxville whereas “Protoza” featuring Cutta Chase links up over a lo-fi beat dropping verses with no hook, with Vitamin G’s rhyme schemes going harder & sticking out the most across both songs.

Continuing from there: “Landing” talks about still being here in the stratosphere just before “The Juice” shifts towards a sleepier lo-fi vibe to reach the midway point discussing fools commonly possessing the inability to maintain a loyal soul. “Tried So Hard” kicks off the 2nd half with a sound reminiscent to the late, great J Dilla talking about him still putting in the effort to make it while the breezy “Everybody” featuring CW Jones & Nuphzed boasting of no one fucking with them.

“All the Time” gets back to the sampling techniques finding himself unable to get somebody off his mind while “Oscilate” combines elements of lo-fi hip hop & boom bap addressing an individual moving like a goon possibly losing their place as a repercussion. “Posted” featuring Wundrop finds both members of CMPND joining forces so they can spend 120 seconds dropping hardcore penmanship & the closer “We Did It” spends the remaining minutes of the album getting celebratory.

Almost a month after it was announced that CMPND had signed to one of the UK hip hop scene’s most prolific independent labels High Focus Records, it makes sense why Illiterate decided to do a whole LP with Vitamin G when it’s been revealed he lended a couch for the latter to sleep on the preceding summer. His multisyllabic lyrics was part of what drew me into the trio’s debut single “Whatuplayin@” & that matched with Illiterate’s lo-fi production makes me hope Illitamin G’s paths will cross again for a follow-up when the time’s right.

Score: 4/5

DJ Paul – “Power, Pleasure & Painful Things” review

DJ Paul is a 42 year old MC, producer, DJ, songwriter & entrepreneur from Memphis, Tennessee known for co-founding the seminal Three 6 Mafia with Juicy J. He made his solo debut in 2002 with Underground 16: For da Summa but for the past decade, Paul’s has delivered a total of 7 more albums through his Scale-A-Ton Entertainment record label including his 2015 magnum opus Master of Evil with the help of Psychopathic Records or the Year of the 6 duology in conjunction with Slumerican the following year. However after spending the last year & a half producing & doing features, he’s returning with his debut EP.

After the “Journey Begins” intro, we go into the song “Creepin’”. Where Paul teams up with Wifisfuneral viciously brag over a chaotic trap beat. Then after the “Life Figured Out” interlude, the song “Easy Way” with Yelawolf & the Seed of 6 sees the 4 vividly describing life in the gutter over a dark beat. After the “Cleaner Way” interlude, the song “Came Up” with Rob Vicious co-produced by TWhy is a mediocre anthem about making money. Especially with the tedious “me so horny” hook.

After the “No More Small Time” interlude, the song “Real Money” with Beanie Sigel is pretty much a sequel to the last joint except it’s way more tolerable & off the wall. After the “Life Got Real” interlude, the final song “They Beefin’” is a menacing diss towards people who choosin’ sides. Then the EP finishes off with the “Gettin’ Caught Up” skit & a spoken word outro.

While it’s not bad, it could’ve been a lot better in my opinion considering how overlooked DJ Paul has always been compared to Juicy J. Paul pretty much sticks to his guns both lyrically & sonically, but the interludes before every song are highly annoying. Nonetheless, still a neck-breaking prelude of something bigger to come.

Score: 3/5

Logic – “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” review

This is the 6th full-length album from Maryland rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & now bestselling author: Logic. Who is fresh off his debut novel Supermarket a couple months ago with a completely unlistenable indie pop album with the same name accompanying it. Now that being said, my opinion on Logic & his music haven’t always been negative. He showed a lot of potential in the early half of this decade with his Young Sinatra mixtapes as well as his first 2 studio albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story but since 2016, he has shown himself to be HIGHLY inconsistent. Mostly because his topics have gotten corny & that he’s drowning deeper in his influences to the point where it’s distracting, whether that be his 2017 album ΞVERYBODY sounding like a Dollar Store version of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly or his Bobby Tarantino 2 mixtape sounding like a poor man’s Travis Scott album. Nonetheless, my morbid curiously got the best of me for this new record over here & I decided to give it a shot.

Despite claiming to be in his own lane on the title track that kicks the album off, it literally sounds like a J. Cole song down the flow & the symphonic beat that 6 brings to the table. Then we have “Homicide”. Easily the best single of the 3 that were released prior to the album, but still average. The intro about Logic coming out of his dad’s balls is annoying, his lyrics dissing trap music is hypocritical because we all know Logic’s been rapping over this style of production for the past few years now. Also, his speedy flow is a blatant rip-off of Tech N9ne’s & the beat is kinda bland. But luckily, Eminem‘s closing verse is enough to make the cut decent & I love how they sampled Chris D’Elia’s viral impersonation of Marshall for the outro. Didn’t mind Logic referencing referencing 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, former 16-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, 6-time WWE United States Champion, 6-time WWE tag team champion & 9-time NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair either.

“Wannabe” is a barely finished look at people who seek attention online with a decent beat for the clubs while the song “clickbait” talks about the comments he receives over generic trap beat, a horrific delivery & a cringey line about he’d suck dick. The track “Mama (Show Love)” with Cordae sees the 2 telling their mothers to look at them now over a dark, druggy beat while the song “Out of Sight” does have a decently spacious beat, the lyrics are vapid to me. The track “Pardon My Ego” gets insipidly narcissistic over a Middle Eastern-influenced beat while “Commando” with G-Eazy is less of a song & more of a contest to see who can be more basic.

The track “Icy” with Gucci Mane sees the 2 charismatically talking about how clean they are over a smooth beat while the song “Still Ballin’” with Wiz Khalifa serves a pretty decent sequel to a highlight off of Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever. The track “Cocaine” hilariously talks about selling drugs over a piano & some heavy bass while the song “Limitless” is another redundant materialistic brag.

“Keanu Reeves” whines about the criticisms that Logic’s justifiably gotten over the past few years while the song “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different” is a sappy motivational anthem despite the infectious instrumental & Will Smith’s verse at the start is easily the most awkward feature I’ve heard all year. The penultimate track “Bobby” is an egotistical ode to Logic himself with an old school instrumental & then the album finishes with “Lost in Translation”, which is actually a heartwrenching high-note to end on both lyrically & sonically.

Yeah I don’t know what else to say beyond that, this is yet another mediocre release in Logic’s ever-growing catalogue. The production is mostly just passable & the concept about social media does sound interesting but unfortunately, it seems like he loses focus of that narrative along the way in place of songs with laughable topics. I really don’t know where he goes from here & that’s sad for me to say as someone who’s appreciative of his early work.

Score: 1/5

Jack Danz – “T.M.I.B.” review

This is the sophomore effort from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom producer, audio engineer & rapper Jack Danz. Making his full-length debut in the fall of 2015 with Ouija Slang, he would go on to produce for both Lee Scott as well as Bisk from the Cult of the Damned collective. Coming off the Dying Lotus duology of beat tape, it made total sense for Jack to drop T.M.I.B. through one of London’s biggest underground UK hip hop labels: Blah Records.

After a compositional intro, “Washpoppin’” opens up with a murderous self-produced boom bap instrumental talking about being too stupid of getting himself in grave danger prior the morbidly slow title track lettin’ muhfuckas know they can’t imitate him & fuckin’ shit up in the lab. “Riley Reid” incorporates a bell-woven beat discussing his earning his legitimacy without needing a handout prior to “The Deep Field Image” reaching the midway point embracing a deadly atmosphere cautioning of coming near him.

“Winnin’” kick off the 2nd half of the album is willing about being watched through our handheld devices & after “I.D.G.A.F. (I Don’t Give a Fuck)” darkly shows a negligent side to the man, “Narcotic Suite” hooks up a cavernous sample talking about a user for life. “10,000 B.C.” winds down the last few moments advising against getting your perception of him underhanded & the closer “Arabella’s House” ghostly sends it all off talking about the trigger-finger waiting with no deliberation.

Ouija Slang was alright to me personally with all respect, but Blah Records was able to get Jack Danz at his most quintessential since the monotone magician brought his usual brand of dry wit lyricism & rarely vintage sampling to the mix throughout a great deal of T.M.I.B.’s half hour runtime. I also gotta give it up to him for self-producing nearly the whole thing & having no guest appearances, giving himself more than enough room to improve his songwriting & performance skills.

Score: 3.5/5

Valid – “Mihajlo” review

Valid is an MC from Detroit, Michigan who made his debut in 2012 with the release of 2 EPs: Maria & The US 12 Experience. He then followed it up with Beyond Physics’ self-titled debut the following year & his solo debut Reach High in 2015 but now with the help of his mentor DJ Head alongside Pig Pen & Tone Rizzo, he’s back on the scene with his sophomore album.

The album kicks off with “Travel”, where Valid gets nostalgic over an instrumental that kinda has a psychedelic rock vibe to it. The next song “Street Boy” is a heartfelt dedication to his family over some acoustic passages while the song “Bottled” with eLZhi sees the 2 letting out a lot that they’ve been holding back over an atmospheric beat. The track “Stagnant” talks about being in the titular state over a laidback boom bap beat from Foul Mouth while the song “Time for Me” with Mahogany Jones sees the 2 talking about focusing on oneself over a mellow beat from Pig Pen.

The track “Scarf Off” gets romantic over a Big Tone instrumental that cleverly samples Erykah Badu’s “Window Seat” while the song “Bumpin’” gets charismatic over a soulful beat. The track “IShudBeDaWon” talks about how he should’ve been big already over a vibraphone-inflicted boom bap beat from Ilajide while the song “Old Tale” vividly tells the story of a friend of his named Josh over a jazzy beat. The penultimate track “Tomorrow” gets motivational over an smooth beat as well as a fantastic Illa J hook & then the album finishes off with “I’m Blessed”, which is beautifully self-explanatory with a funky instrumental from DJ Dez.

To me, I think this is Valid’s magnum opus. Primarily because I feel like the listener is really getting to know him more as a person with the instrumentals enhancing the vibe & emotion of almost every song.

Score: 4/5

Sean Peng – “Trips to the Medicine Cabinet” review

This is the official full-length studio debut album from Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee Sean Peng. Known for being 1/3 of the Creatures of Habit & 1/4 of NLP, he would go on to drop the Crazed Conductor beat tape in 2016 preceding the formation of Lost Scroll Records. Coming off the Controlled Experiment extended play preluding Trips to the Medicine Cabinet a couple years earlier, locking in with his Creatures brethren Illinformed to have him produce this next chapter of Sean’s career raising my expectations compared to both of his earlier output.

“Danka Sean” opens with a jazzy boom bap instrumental reliant towards a vibraphone sample introducing us to the titular character himself whereas “Elixir” swaps out the vibraphones in favor of pianos chippin’ off a sip of his own medicine. “Cryostasis” keeps the same aesthetics of the previous track in play undergoing the experimental process of freezing himself for later resuscitation just before “Continuum” by NLP reunites the quartet for a heavy hitting boom bap face-melter.

I felt the opera sample throughout “Bug House” stood out amongst my favorite beats on the album talking about his only interest being him fucking up your funds while “Dr. Doctor” hooks the vibraphones back up pleading for help in fear that the drugs are gonna overcome him. “Green God” by the Creatures of Habit featuring People Without Shoes stands out coasting over boom bap instrumentation naturally leading into “Bitter Sweet” featuring Life MC jazzily demonstrates the power of positive messaging.

“3rd Eye” moves on making it his mission to elevate his fans to another plateau spiritually with his music instead of being fed propaganda while “Full Moon” offers a depressive glimpse at his battle with mood swings. “Deranged Halfwits” jumps over more piano flips talking about the kind of people he’s been living with while “Humming” featuring Datkid ruggedly speaks of both of them living in a whole different dream of their own individually.

The song “Too Many Lines” begins Trips to the Medicine Cabinet’s final leg sampling soul music advising to make the most out of thing since there’s no turning back the clock while “Rotten Seeds” featuring Mothman & Scott Lark finds the trio laughing off the idea of haters not getting what they can’t have despite not having my favorite guest appearances. “Paradigm” wraps up the full-length officially in the form of 1 last boom bap track describing another day inside his own personal paradise.

Compared to the highlights both Crazed Conductor & Controlled Experiment had, Trips to the Medicine Cabinet lands right behind Eric the Red’s sophomore effort Caught Red Handed in being my 2nd favorite LP in the Lost Scroll Records canon. Illinformed’s jazzy boom bap production hits a lot harder than either one of those previous entries in Sean’s discography & the latter makes a cohesively told story themed around prescription drug abuse.

Score: 4/5

ScHoolboy Q – “CrasH Talk” review

ScHoolboy Q is a 32 year old rapper from SoutH Los Angeles, California wHo came up at tHe beginning of tHe decade as 1/4 of Black Hippy. He released His first 2 albums Setbacks and Habits & Contradictions independently, but it wouldn’t be until 2014 tHat He would make His major label debut witH Oxymoron. THis would be followed up witH Blank Face LP a couple years later, wHicH I personally consider to be Q’s best work yet. However, 3 years Have passed & He’s now returning witH His 5tH full-lengtH album.

THe opener “Gang Gang” details His drug dealing past over an eerie trap beat from DJ Fu wHile tHe next song “Tales” takes a look back at Q’s criminal past over a somber DJ DaHi & Jake One instrumental. THe track “CHopstix” is a painfully boring “club banger” if you wanna call it tHat & even tHougH I do enjoy tHe gritty lyricism on “Numb Numb Juice”, it sounds unfinisHed & tHe beat is dime a dozen. THe track “Drunk” is a moody alcohol antHem wHile tHe song “Lies” witH YG takes a jab at tHe people wHo’ve said false tHings about tHem over an atmospheric beat from Sounwave. THe track “5200” gets murderous over a vibrant beat tHat doesn’t quite matcH tHe lyricism wHile tHe song “Black Folk” is a jab at an unnamed fraud over a cloudy beat.

THe track “Floating” witH 21 Savage talks about being on drugs over a murky beat wHile tHe song “Dangerous” describes the famous lifestyle over a psychedelic instumental. THe track “Die wit ‘Em” gets murderous over a monstrous Cardo beat wHile tHe song “CrasH” talks about going on over a Boi-1da instrumental tHat cHops & screws PRHyme’s “Boom”. THe penultimate track “Water” witH Lil Baby is an awkward brag despite tHe godly feeling in Cardo’s production & tHen tHe album finisHes witH “Attention”, wHere Q talks about praise & passion over a decent boom bap beat.

I don’t know what else to say, this is EXACTLY what I expected. It’s a lot more commercial which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it sounds just as forced as Jay Rock’s last album Redemption was.

Score: 2.5/5

Alla Xul Elu – “Church of Xul” review

Alla Xul Elu is an Ohio based horrorcore trio consisting of Billy Obey, Joey Black & Lee Carver. They started off as a duo, releasing their first 2 albums Head of Horns & Sci-Co in 2015. 2 years later, Lee joined & they dropped their debut EP Necronomichron that same year. However, it wasn’t until last year that the Xul made their biggest break to date with Twiztid signing them to their label Majik Ninja Entertainment. Their latest album/MNE debut The Almighty that dropped last fall is a modern horrorcore masterpiece in my eyes & now to accompany Twiztid’s brand new album Generation Nightmare, the 3 are back with their 2nd EP following their appearance at the 2nd annual Astronomicon.

After the “Welcome” intro, the first song “In the Church of Xul” slowly yet sinisterly tells us what goes in their world whereas “We Are One” advises you to believe over a nocturnally atmospheric boom bap fusion. “Preay” gets more murderous lyrically over a nocturnal instrumental while “To the Tome of the Black Tongue” hauntingly talks about possession. “The Goddamned” nears the conclusion by continuing the murderous themes & “Xuligans” finishes with a tribute to their fanbase with an old school boom bap approach to the beat.

Despite being an EP, this is just as fantastic as The Almighty & would prefer this over Generation Nightmare since it exemplifies why Alla Xul Elu has become the most exciting horrorcore act in the past year or so. It sounds a lot darker than that previous album & I love how they hold it on their own to prove that they’re really are bringing a breath of fresh air in such an underrated subgenre of hip hop.

Score: 4.5/5

Twiztid – “Generation Nightmare” review

Twiztid is a horrorcore duo from Detroit, Michigan consisting of Jamie Madrox & Monoxide. The duo started off as members of the House of Krazees with The R.O.C. before splitting off in 1997, eventually being taken under the wings of the Insane Clown Posse & signing to Psychopathic Records shortly after. They ended up staying with them for 15 years & sporadically wrestled during the first few years after Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) was formed, leaving the hatchet at the end of 2012 to form their own label Majik Ninja Entertainment in 2014. But now coming off the final Vans Warped Tour last summer as well as the 2nd year of their own annual pop culture convention a couple months ago, the demented duo & Astronomicon founders are back on the scene with their 12th full-length album.

After the “Live Forever” intro, we dive into the first song “Phlegm in the Windpipe”. A rap metal fusion where Jamie & Paul pretty much take a jab at society. The track “Speak Of” talks about being unique over an instrumental with some rubbery bass & a quirky synth while the song “Something New” speaks of changing the game over an abrasive beat from MIKE SUMMERS a.k.a. 7.

The track “Siamese Amazement” is a throwback to the punk sound that they dabbled with on Mutant, Vol. 2 while the song “Sick Mind” talks about being insane over a bass-heavy trap beat from Godsynth. The track “Here with the Dead” vents about their stresses over an empowering instrumental while the song “Disappear” talks about escaping drama & the chaotic beat is perfect.

“Bring Me Back” serves as an energetic companion to the previous joint while the song “Magic Spellz” is pretty much a refined sequel to Twiztid’s last attempt at going nu metal on “Nothing to You”, which landed on their previous album The Continuous Evilutions of Life’s ?’s. However I don’t know if it’s just me, but Monoxide kinda sounds like he’s impersonating Eddie Vedder on here.

The track “Livin’ @ the Bottom” talks about celebrating themselves over a Three 6 Mafia influenced trap beat & after the short but motivating Jamie solo cut “Skit 17”, the song “Let It Flow” boasts about their skills over a minimalist beat. The track “Don’t Be Hatin’” with Young Wicked pretty much speaks for itself over a bouncy instrumental while the song “Role Models” makes clever references to all of the celebrities who’ve committed heinous sexual acts lately over a gloomy beat.

“Wreck” to me sounds like a cliched rock song that you can find in a sports video game while the song “If It Matters What I Think Now” is a dedication to people who have their backs over an acoustic guitar passage with some drums thrown in. The track “4 the Nightmare Children” is a grimy ode to the outcasts & after the “End of the Beginning” outro, the final song “Strike” is a gruesome showcasing of Twiztid’s newly formed supergroup with Alla Xul Elu called the Venomous 5.

At first in felt that Generation Nightmare was better than Fearless Fred Fury because I was disappointed with it altogether even after the fact that parts of the “Fury!” video were filmed at my uncle’s store. However the more I’ve sat with it, I happen to find myself going back to Fearless Fred Fury & even it’s bonus EP Flip the Rat a lot more comparison. The production is kinda catered to that Warp Tour sound which makes sense considering that they performed as part of last year’s Warp Tour lineup & they previously performed in ‘03 Warp Tour, it’s that the results are decent.

Score: 3/5