Fabolous & Jadakiss – “Friday on Elm Street” review

6758161

Just when it seems it would never come out, Fabolous & Jadakiss finally deliver their long-awaited collab album just in time for Black Friday. The intro sees the 2 MCs comparing themselves to Freddy Krueger & Jason Voorhees respectively over a haunting beat that switches up during each verse. The song “Stand Up” is an ode to the “real niggas” over an abrasive trap beat & a decent Future hook. The song “Theme Music” sees Fab & Jada going back & forth about rising up from the bottom over a Swizz Beatz instrumental with a beautiful Marvin Gaye sample & then “Ground Up” tells all the frauds to be careful around their hoods over a gritty instrumental. The track “Soul Food” gets insightful over a fittingly soulful instrumental & while the song “Principles” does talk about the g-codes from their perspectives, the execution of the hook isn’t all that great. The track “Talk About It” intelligently gets conscious about the world today over a wavy instrumental & the Teyana Taylor hook is on point as well. The song “All About It” sounds like a failed attempt at a radio hit from the production & the French Montana hook to Jada & Fab starting off their verses by singing for a bit. The track “I Pray” sees the duo sincerely asking God to forgive them, but the Swizz Beatz hook kinda gets annoying after a while. The song “Ice Pick” is a gritty Jadakiss solo cut with Styles P on the hook & the penultimate track “Nightmares Ain’t as Bad” is a Fabolous telling the listener to make their dreams meet real life over a somber instrumental. The album closes out with an unnecessary remix of “Stand Up” which is pretty much the same thing as the original with the exception of a Yo Gotti verse where he copies Jeezy & then a verse from the actual Jeezy. This thing has been hyped up for a while now & I think it lived up to it. Despite some weak moments, Fabolous & Jadakiss show quite a bit of chemistry together during it’s nearly 45 minute run-time

Score: 3.5/5

Hopsin – “No Shame” review

With his last album Pound Syndrome being release in Mid-July of 2015 & his previous label Funk Volume going defunct at the beginning of 2016 due to a falling out with his former business partner Damien Ritter, California rapper/producer Hopsin is back on the scene yet again with his 5th full-length album & his first under his new 300 Entertainment imprint Undercover Prodigy. The album opens with “Hotel in Sydney”, where he passionately vents about his arrest for alleged assault over a symphonic instrumental. Unfortunately after that, the album takes a drastic nosedive. The next song “Right Here” basically tells the audience he isn’t going anywhere & while it’s just ok, the hook is annoying as fuck. The track “Twisted” informs the listener to respect him over a generic trap beat & then after a 1-minute skit, we then go into the song “All Your Fault”. Here, he disses his ex-girlfriend Alyce Madden along with his former label mate SwizZz & his haters in an angsty fashion over a Middle Eastern influences instrumental, but I think SwizZz was a tad bit uncalled for & the hook is annoying as fuck. The track “Money on the Side” has a nice flow, but the beat is synthetic & the lyrics about fingering a hooker’s asshole ruins it. The song “I Wouldn’t Do That” talks about being in his zone over an eerie trap beat, but calling yourself “the only MC in this wack genre” is flat out disrespectful to all of those who came before you. The track “Black Sheep” talks about being the titular idiom albeit in a corny fashion over a somber instrumental & then “I Must Be On Somethin’” talks about being crazy over a hard hitting beat. The song “Tell’em Who You Got It From” disses Alyce yet again, but the delivery is cliché as is the hook. The song “The Purge” talks about Hop’s return over an eerie trap beat & his rapid-delivery on here is insane. As for “Happy Ending”, it could very well be the worst song I’ve heard all year. It’s supposed to be a “humorous” tale about Hopsin getting fucked by an Asian woman in a massage parlor, but it’s actually in horribly bad taste. Especially with the God awful stereotypical Asian accent he does during the hook. The song “No Words 2” is a follow-up to the song “No Words” off his last album & while the original was funny, it’s hypocritical that he’s dissing Migos on this sequel considering the fact that he’s rapping over their type of trap beats on a lot of the other tracks on here. The track “Panorama City” talks about grinding over a g-funk beat that actually isn’t too bad & then “Ill Mind of Hopsin 9” is the new installment of Hopsin’s popular song series. This one is Hopsin talking to his newborn son that he can’t see due to being banned from Australia & while I can see where’s getting at about gold diggers, the lines towards Alyce make it this message come off as bitter. The penultimate track “Marcus’ Gospel” sees Hopsin getting vulnerable over a a churchy instrumental & then the nightmare finally ends with “Witch Doctor”, where he’s telling the listener not to fuck with him over a tribal instrumental. Over the course of it’s 73 minute run-time, I can say that Hopsin has only come through with SLIGHTLY better album. I will give him credit for him improving his delivery & flow but I can’t say the same for his lyrical topics, production & hooks. There are a few decent moments, but Hopsin still comes off as corny as ever on here

Score: 0.5/5

Super Sag Bros – Self-Titled review

The Super Sag Bros are a duo from Manchester, England, United Kingdom consisting of emcee/producer Black Josh & emcee Sleazy F Baby. Both of whom are members of the Cult of the Damned collective & have crossed paths with each other several times on tracks like “Ohana” or “Gucci Glasses” & “Gang Gvng” to name a few. Looking to elevate themselves to the next level, it doesn’t surprise me that Blah Records is putting out their eponymous debut EP through the London imprint.

We get a cloudy trap instrumental during the intro “28 Grams” talking about levitating in the middle of them getting blazed so much that they’re walking on air & the whole crew looking fresh whereas “Burner” suggests not to call their phones if there isn’t a job for either of the Super Sag Brothers who always stay 1 step ahead. “Paranoia” gets the 2nd half of the EP going by talking about staying stoned on a daily basis while the closer “10 Bud” passes it to the left fusing jazz rap & trap.

Commemorating the process of weed becoming legalized in both the UK & the United States respectively, Black Josh & Sleazy F Baby whip up a 14 minute extended play trading verses over trap production taking secondary influences from jazz rap & cloud rap in time for Black Friday. I might even prefer it a bit more than the B-Movie Millionaires’ eponymous debut EP a few years earlier partly due to the Super Sag Bros having no guest appearances at all despite enjoying nearly ever feature on there.

Score: 4/5

Antiheroes – “Disasterpiece” review

The Antiheroes are a duo consisting of Runcorn, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer & Blah Records founder Lee Scott alongside Sari, Iran emcee/producer Salar. Introducing themselves in 2003 off their debut mixtape Middle Finger Salute, they wouldn’t return until almost a decade later when they dropped their full-length studio debut Flows for the Contemporary Urban Gentleman. However after taking a 6 year hiatus, Lee & Salar have reuniting for an extended play produced by Farma G & having Telemachus handle the engineering process of it all.

“Godnose” dustily begins advising to not stress over anything & to do your thing since they got your back whereas the title track encourages all to follow them on this path towards searching peace. We get some pianos mixed with kicks & snares promising to throw boulders at a “Glass House” just before “No Sleep ‘Till Mars” finishes this Disasterpiece with a quirky boom bap instrumental talking about both of them not losing a step after another lengthy period of inactivity.

It’s not very often where the Antiheroes release new music & almost 15 years since their formation, but I could debate Disasterpiece for only an EP places itself above Flows for the Contemporary Urban Gentleman & Middle Finger Salute in becoming the greatest thing Lee Scott & Salar have ever made together. Farma G’s production here sounds a lot rawer than both of its predecessors & for 4 tracks clocking at over 10 minutes, both of them sure deliver in that short amount of time.

Score: 4/5

CyHi the Prynce – “No Dope on Sundays” review

CyHi the Prynce is an MC from Atlanta, Georgia & this is long awaited full-length debut. The album opens with “Amen”, where CyHi’s talking about staying in your environment over a fittingly churchy instrumental. The next track is the title track, where he & fellow G.O.O.D. Music signee Pusha T talks about trappin’ another other day than the Lord’s day & the beat change from Lex Luger is phenomenal. The song “Get Yo Money” speaks on the drug game over an eerie instrumental & the track “Movin’ Around” with ScHoolboy Q isa weed anthem with a decent trap beat. The track “Trick Me” gets braggadocious over a mellow piano instrumental& the 2 Chainz verse isn’t all that bad. The song “Murda” talks about life in the streets over a decent reggae instrumental while the track “Don’t Know Why”gets conscious over a somewhat spacey instrumental. Also, the Jagged Edge feature on here is pretty great as well. The song“God Bless” is pretty much about being thankful & I️ absolutely love how it samples my favorite Roy Ayers song “Searching”. The track “Dat Side” with his mentor Kanye West sees the 2 attacking their haters over a dreary instrumental while the song “Looking for Love” is a self-explanatory love song with a decent trap beat & a mediocre auto-tune hook. The song “Nu Africa” gets pro-black over a nice boom bap beat & the track “Free” seems to be a diss towards Def Jam Recordings over a dreamy instrumental. The song “80’s Baby” speaks through the point of view of an unborn child over a jazzy instrumental & a beautiful BJ the Chicago Kid feature while the penultimate track “Closer” talks about maintaining a relationship with Jesus Christ over an instrumental with an uplifting atmosphere to it. I know both of these song topics sound corny, but CyHi’s actually able to pull both of them off. The album then closes with “I’m Fine”, which pretty much talks about livin’ life to the fullest & I really wish Travi$ Scott had a verse instead of just doing the hook. CyHi the Prynce has been long overdue with an album & I think this should give him the credit he finally deserves. Despite a few mediocre beats & hooks every here & there, it sounds focused, the features are on point & it’s just as smart as ever

Score: 3.5/5

Bob Seger – “I Knew You When” review

This is the 17th & final studio LP from Detroit, Michigan singer/songwriter, producer & musician Bob Seger. One of the most prolific artists in the heartland rock scene, he’s dropped over a dozen albums in nearly half an entire century with Night Moves & Stranger in Town under Capitol Records respectively both being singled out as his greatest. His friend of 50 years Glenn Frey passed away merely 22 months earlier & he’s decided to follow-up Ride Out by unearthing 2 covers as well as 11 previously unreleased tracks from the archives as a parting gift.

“Gracile” kicks things off in the form of this heartland rock intro describing a woman with a slender physique & after covering “Busload of Faith” by Lou Reed, “The Highway” continues from there singing about maintaining his artistic integrity. The title track digs up an outtake from the Face the Promise sessions remembering Glenn just before “I’ll Remember You” gives us a Ride Out leftover thematically built around not letting go of an old lover.

We get some heavy Led Zeppelin vibes throughout “The Sea Inside” encouraging listeners that they can leave all the baggage in their lives behind leading into “Marie” delivering a sultry successor to the Beautiful Loser standout “Jody Girl”. The oldest song here would be “Runaway Train” since it dates all the way back to It’s a Mystery singing about driving dangerously fast under the influence of alcohol while “Something More” has to decide whether one wants to fight or flee.

“Forward into the Past” after a cover of “Democracy (is Coming to the USA)” by Leonard Cohen starts the deluxe run with a cross between “Even Now” & “American Storm” off The Distance& Like a Rock respectively depicting the decline of rural living while “Blue Ridge” can be reminiscent of “Sightseeing” from The Fire Inside at times, paying homage to Richie Hayward. The final bonus track “Glenn Song” ends I Knew You When paying 1 last tribute to Glenn Frey.

You’re obviously not gonna get anything that can hang with “2 + 2 = ?” & “Still the Same” out of I Knew You When considering a great deal of Bob Seger’s output post-Against the Wind has been predominantly lukewarm, but I do think admirers of his will appreciate this swan song for finally giving this collection of material spanning nearly a quarter of a century a chance to see the light of day & would highly recommend it above Kid Rock’s latest full-length Sweet Southern Sugar earlier this month.

Score: 3.5/5

Milkavelli – “Cult Member” review

London, England, United Kingdom emcee Milkavelli making his solo debut. Originally known under the moniker Monster Under the Bed, he was also a former member of both the Children of the Damned & the Piff Gang collectives in addition to him presently comprising 1/4 of Cult Mountain & 1/2 of the Mcabre Brothers. Although he’s considered to be more of an affiliate of the Cult of the Damned, he’s telling us what it was like being a Cult Member a year after the 616god extended play days after Ryan Smile ended Josh Bodom’s record-tying 3rd reign as RPW British Cruiserweight Champion.

“Spaceman” begins with him talking about having vices because he’s hellspawn & giving middle fingers to the enemy at war whereas “Rehab” featuring Suspect OTB finds the 2 comparing the feeling of being inside of a studio to that of rehabilitation. “Lock & Load” continues with him talking about feeling comfy by himself carrying a pistol in his hand leading into “Jamaa” produced by Sumgii talking about his enigmatic profile & feeling trippy after taking a few tabs.

Nobodies Home jumps behind the boards on “Cold Outing” speaking of treating his weed sack religiously in sense to people telling him he raps sacrilegiously & winning when he’s never won while “ZZZ” featuring the late Lil Peep talks about each of their own relationships with drugs. “Foul Mouth” has a more chaotic trap vibe instrumentally talking about him going all in while “There It Is” tackles drugs, relationships, success & spirituality over a Reklews beat.

“Yay High” featuring Jesse James Solomon gets the other half of the album going with both of them talking about having different shit within the same day over a Tony Seltzer instrumental while “Silk Tears” admits to doing this shit for the fuck of it only for people to bit him. “S!ck” has the Mcabre Brothers linking up to talk about being fed up with being too ill at everything while “Feeling Like” psychedelically discusses him only having his teammates & going up against the weekend when it’s actually a weekday.

Kicking off the 4th quarter, “Hello Kitten” shows a more flirtatious side to Don Silk telling this woman who has his attention that doesn’t play with religion despite having faith while “Mmm Bop” featuring Sniff gets together over an eerie boom bap beat the latter made himself to talk about going to Hell merely for their own amusement. “Where’s Olly?” suggests those worrying of what he’s doing to get a real hobby & “Roger Rabbit” sends it all off describing him watching The Walt Disney Company-owned Who Framed Roger Rabbit? with Zapp playing in the background.

There are a few other members from the original Children of the Damned crew who either haven’t released any solo material whatsoever like Salar or Tony Broke solely doing guest appearances for the past few years following his last EP Money in the Bag, but I’d have to say I prefer Cult Member more than 616god if this is the last we’ll hear from the Monster Under the Bed individually. The production’s an upgrade from its predecessor last Halloween, there are more guests in comparison & includes a myriad of different hip hop styles like boom bap & cloud rap.

Score: 3.5/5

Joe Budden – “Rage & the Machine” review

5b41a5d1

53 weeks have passed since Slaughterhouse member Joe Budden gave us a near perfect ending to his Love Lost trilogy but now, he’s teaming up with araabMUZIK to give us his 8th & most likely final album. The opener “3” tells the listener what to expect going into this thing & the choir vocals in the background are just beautiful. The track “Uncle Joe” pretty much addresses the current state of hip hop over some piano chords from a personal point of view & the song “Serious” is a gritty duet with fellow Slaughterhouse member Joell Ortiz about how you shouldn’t fuck with either MC. The track “By Law” talks about keeping it real over a militant instrumental & the Jazzy hook isn’t too bad either. The song “Flex” with Fabolous is a smooth sex tune & the Troy Lanez hook fits like a glove. The track “Forget” is only 91 seconds long, but I can totally get where he’s going when he confesses about meeting so many people that he forgets them over a beautiful soul sample. The song “I Gotta Ask” gets into battle rap mode & the Into the Woods soundtrack sample was surprising, yet interesting. The track “Time for Work” is another sexual jam, but the production here is more energetic than it was on “Flex”. The song “Wrong One” has a chaotic instrumental that fits perfectly with Joe’s hardcore bars & the track “I Wanna Know” gets reflective on his life over a beautiful Manhattans sample with an equally beautiful hook from Stacy Barthe. The closer “Idols” is Joe naming all of his influences over a mellow instrumental if this really is Joe’s final album, then this was a perfect close the book. The production is on par with his previous album All Love Lost & Joe lyrically is getting into an OG’s perspective on things.

Score: 4/5

Kid Rock – “Sweet Southern Sugar” review

Here we have the 11th studio LP from Romeo, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & DJ Kid Rock. Coming up as a b-boy for The Beast Crew in the late 80’s, he wound up signing to Jive Records & RCA Records for his full-length debut Grit Sandwiches for Breakfastbefore they cut ties with him due to comparisons to Vanilla Ice. Bobby then dropped The Polyfuze Method & Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp on his independently owned Top Dog Records, but got Atlantic Records to help back Devil Without a Cause & the success of that rap rock classic lead to him shifting away from hip hop to teeter between classic rock & country for the last 2 decades even to this day. This foray has been either hit or miss with me personally, but I can’t deny the success of “Picture” & “All Summer Long”or how much I enjoyed the Rick Rubin-produced Born Free since it originally came out back when I was in middle school. Coming off his final Atlantic offering Rebel Soul & the Warner Records-backed 1st Kiss, he’s going independent again for Sweet Southern Sugar.

“Greatest Show on Earth” blends southern rock, hard rock, blues rock, country rock, progressive country & progressive rock to sing about how he loves being despised whereas “Po-Dunk” fuses southern rock, country rock, blues rock, bro-country, alternative rock & turntablism for a hideous redneck anthem when he had a luxurious upbringing. “Tennessee Mountain Top” maintains a southern country rock vibe for the WWE’s Survivor Series XXXI official theme song & after the Bob Seger-influenced “I Wonder” asks if this woman thinks of him the way he does her, “American Rock ‘n Roll” ends the 1st half with a mediocre ode to some old fashioned rock & roll.

“Back to the Otherside” kicks off the 2nd leg of Sweet Southern Sugar telling those dealing with suicidal thoughts to never give up just before “Raining Whiskey” sings about drowning in alcohol ever since this individual walked out the door. “Stand the Pain” encourages people to persevere when life’s kicking you down while “Grandpa’s Jam” makes up for a boring cover of “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” by 4 Tops with this rap rock closer talking about the birth of his granddaughter, marking the first time in a decade that Bob has rapped in his music & having longtime producer Mike E. Clark program the drums.

Thankfully the rumors of Kid Rock running for Senate only 4 months ago were only drummed up so that could bring more attention to Sweet Southern Sugar even if I liked it less than the 2 full-lengths he put out after Born Free. His southern rock, country rock, rap rock, hard rock, blues rock, alternative rock and rock & roll production’s pretty much what you’ve come to expect from him at this point regardless of him exploring subjects like the hillbilly life, heartbreak, suicide prevention, opioid usage & becoming a grandparent.

Score: 1.5/5

Lex the Hex Master – “Beyond Redemption” review

Almost year after his debut Contact & just in time for Halloween, Queens horrorcore MC & Majik Ninja Entertainment signee Lex the Hex Master is now dropping his sophomore album. After an 80 second intro, the title track is the first song in the track listing & it has a super ominous instrumental that fits his angry about being face to face with his fate perfectly. The track “Beast” raps about shuttin’ shit down over an energetic, but the first half of the hook is too nasal for me. The song “Joke’s Ova” with G-Mo Skee & Grizzy Hendrix is basically the 3 venting about the wack shit of today & getting back to the hardcore days over a sinister instrumental. The track “Attributes” sees Lex telling us a bit about himself & the instrumental kinda sounds like something Eminem would rap over in 2002 or 2003, but in a cool way.

The song “Shadow Army” with his mentors Twiztid alongside Gorilla Voltage & Řezník is a nice, gritty horrorcore posse cut & the track “Gangstas” talks about a chick who wants to chill with the thugs over an instrumental with a fitting gangsta rap vibe to it & the song “Broken” vents about haters as well as traumatizing your ears over another Early 2000s Eminem-esque instrumental minus the wailing guitar. The track “Bully Foot” has an instrumental kinda reminds me of “Put ‘Em in Their Place” by Mobb Deep, but Lex’s confrontational bars actually sound just fine over it. The song “Samurai” with Young Wicked sees the 2 bragging about their skills over some pounding drums & the hook is super catchy. The penultimate track “Arrival” with Young Uno, Var Francis & Bubbah Barz sees all 4 MCs taking shots at all the frauds out there over some ominous keyboards & then the closer “It Begins” is Lex vividly telling the story of a man who eventually gets murdered over a perfectly somber instrumental.

Overall, I think Lex the Hex Master outdid himself on this one. The production is grittier, Lex is continuing to improve himself as an MC & it sounds even angrier than before.I think Lex is one of the most underrated right now & if anyone’s new to him, I think this is where you should stop sleeping

Score: 4/5