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.
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.
Richmond, Virginia rapper & songwriter Nettspend surprise-releasing his 2nd mixtape on his SoundCloud. Blowing up in 2023 off his debut EP Kickdoor, he would also team up with Hooligan Lou for the poorly received collab EP 3rd Knock preceding him signing to Grade A Productions & Interscope Records a few months afterwards. His debut mixtape Badass Fucking Kid was welcomed to divisive feedback although I personally enjoyed it more than Kickdoor or Nettgenes’ eponymous debut EP. Coming off the introspective Early Life Crisis a couple months ago, him looks to prepare us for the next era.
“kriss kross” opens up with him talking about not having any friends & for his sidekick to slide back over a rage beat whereas “sumthin’ different” describes him taking 10s all day to the point where he feels like he’s spinnin’. “medicine taste like shit” produced by che sticks out amongst my personal favorites on the tape detailing his dislike of fentanyl & cocaine until “strong” samples “hey, hello” encouraging this person to take hard-hitting drugs with him over yet another hypertrap instrumental.
We get a cross between plugg & cloud rap on “bliss” suggesting the problem between him & this woman was him waking up & asking her which drugs he should take prior to “change on me” bringing the rage beats back into the picture talking about having the ability to steal hoes before becoming famous. “goin’ dumb” embraces a more prominent digicore sound discussing all the hoes knowing exactly how hard he’s been going while “team x” shifts towards a pluggier direction again getting on his gangsta shit.
“high off life” contains one of my favorite hypertrap instrumentals on the tape courtesy of gyro advising for this individual to never hit up his line again going forward & if I had to pick a least favorite track, “breesh breesh” takes the cake talking about having guns & drugs inside his bag. “$ MF” blends cloud rap & plugg again moderately flexing his cash flow while “H.Y.W.D.S. (How You Wanna Do Shit)?” goes full Chicago drill to talk about having no time for the power.
The rage lets itself loose once more during “young ho” detailing him being at the point in his life where he’s used to hearing gunfire & what he refers himself to be instead of an O.G. while the Early Life Crisis outtake “pocket bag” incorporates some jerk undertones confessing that he isn’t playing for keeps. “killin’” emphasizes the jerk influences with a bit of a plugg twist talking about being a real villain while “sallys” cooks up another outstanding hypertrap instrumental from CXO shouting out the place he dyes his hair.
“problems” spends almost a couple minutes colliding cloud rap cautioning for everyone near him not to test your luck since he has the ability to leave muhfuckas dead but after ”Snapchat” swaps out the cloudier elements in favor of standard trap music talking about women sending him nudes through the social media app itself, “sonder” experiments with mixing characteristics of emo rap & jerk asking if the chick he’s addressing meant what she said.
The last 3 songs all have their own rage-inducing auras to them, except “10k ona dogg” talks about his savagery & making out of the rap shit off the rap shit itself while “beep beep” calls out the crowd of individuals who stay envious of him experiencing the lifestyles of the rich & famous from his Range Rover to his fit. “shootin’” finishes him by posing the question of why things have gotten worse for him in the midst of trying to find a way out of this dead end while “fuck tsa” starts the deluxe run dissing the TSA over a jerk beat.
“mona lisa” talks about having bitches who’re works of art the way he see thems & money making their worlds spin while “u not a demon” calls back to both “plan b” & “paris hilton” off the last album. “forever never” might be my favorite bonus track of them all talking about his plans of replacing everything that’s was built & ironically, the weakest of the bunch “maybach” reserve my least favorite for last bulletproofing his luxury car in case he runs into some haters.
Wasn’t anticipating Nettspend to drop again so soon, but I suppose it makes up for the delays Early Life Crisis faced taking a couple leftovers from those sessions & throwing some unreleased material in there ahead of his upcoming sophomore effort Slut vindicating why he’s been him. I’d even put him above 2slimey when it comes to that experimental rage style & there’s more variety between jerk, trap, cloud rap, plugg, digicore, Chicago drill & emo rap than the hardcore/pop raps of his debut.
London, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Farma G enlisting Brighton, East Sussex producer Relense to solely produce his sophomore effort. Known for being a member of the Mud Family collective & 1/2 of the Task Force alongside his brother Chester P, he would go on to produce for several big names within the underground from Rome Streetz to Vinnie Paz & the latter’s Heavy Metal Kings cohort Ill Bill. Signing to High Focus Records a few years ago, How to Kill a Butterfly was a solid beginning of this new chapter in his career & the chances of Nearly Nothing’s Enough outdoing it were very likely given some of the teasers.
“‘Till I’m Gone” begins with a boom bap-tinged 3rd & final single celebrating his journey so far whereas “Ya Dead Now” talks about the trials & tribulations of a nomad being on the line. “Mr. Moany” portrays himself to be an depressed individual who can’t see to leave his own home due to the messiness of his life while the lead single “Makes Me Wanna…” makes some commentary on the state of the scene in an age of overinflated egos & social media clap trap.
Meanwhile on “Peace Pipes”, we have Farma talking about law enforcement officers who abuse their power just before “The Circus” works on a vocal sample so he can ask himself if anyone in this game has balls. “Punch Up” demands for everyone to give him everything they have or put their heads on the chopping blocks while “Matters of the Heart” talks about having the process of mending heartbreak lasting our whole lifetime.
“X-Files” kicks off the 4th quarter of Nearly Nothing’s Enough taking a more conspiratorial approach to his songwriting while “Psycho with a Lexicon” talks about analyzing murder scenes in order to identify the victims. The 2nd single “Sun Wukong” stunningly brings the anciently supernatural Monkey King from Journey to the West to life & the outro “Never Be the Same” finished the album talking about things constantly changing throughout our existence.
I can still picture Farma G making a full-length where he’s handling all the beats by himself with a few guests, but Nearly Nothing’s Enough will suffice as the greatest entry of his solo discography for now. Relense’s gritty analog production is a cut above Howto Kill a Butterfly’s, soundtracking the venom & introspection that fuels a great deal of Farma’s wide range of topics taking him back to a corner where he once sat & studied the world as it passed him by.
I believe this is the 5th extended play from San Antonio, Texas rapper & Shrunken Head Entertainment founder Razakel. Known for being 1/3 of the Slice Girls as well as the Dead Girlz & 3FRMHELL in addition to her formerly comprising 1/2 of the Serpentines, she also has over a dozen solo albums under her belt along with her last 4 extended plays. She had a song on her most recent full-length Surprise, Surprise! last fall that was produced by Grand Rapids, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm and that has now led us to The Possession of Razakel.
“Sum1 Like U” begins with this industrial boom bap intro lyrically talking about figuring out the kind of people who’re fake & live always wishing for those specific types of individuals whereas “Funeral” further embraces an industrial vibe instrumentally, advising for the crowd who’re against her to begin planning their own memorials in advance & lacking any mercy. “Slasher” on the other hand ends the EP fusing horrorcore lyricism with EDM instrumentation.
Come to think of it: Pretty much everyone on the current Dirtcore roster has already put out new music on the label over the course of these past 4 years, so I can get on board with Crossworm’s idea of reaching out to other artists in the underground & do a brief takeover of sorts. Mainly because I firmly believe people will consider The Possession of Razakel to be some of greatest material she’s recorded in whole career, sharpening her pen for 10 minutes over a small handful of industrial hip hop beats.
Here is a brand new LP & the 5th overall from Queens, New York emcee Grafh. Emerging over 2 decades ago off his debut mixtape The Bang Out, he went on to release 7 more tapes before dropping his full-length debut Autografh only a few years later continuing that with a total of 10 mixtapes & an EP. The sophomore effort Stop Calling Art Content produced entirely by the late DJ Shay & released through Benny the Butcher’s very own MNRK Music Group imprint Black Soprano Family Records as well as his TCF Music Group debut Art of Words would become his most acclaimed material to date, coming off God’s Timing to explain how Sometimes Money Cost Too Much.
“Word Up Son” represents his home borough over a horn instrumental produced by 38 Spesh to open up shop whereas “Squeeze 1st” featuring Benny the Butcher finds the 2 talking about asking questions after initially firing shots over a bloodcurdling boom bap beat from Mike & Keys. “Outside” featuring Mitchy Slick & Styles P brings the trio together so they can let everyone know they’re still out in the streets leading into “Documented” talking about everything with him being kept on record.
Tech N9ne appears on “Suicide” explaining that crossing either one of them will result in the death of those doing the backstabbing while “Better with Time” featuring Bun B goes for a cloudy trap vibe instrumentally talking about improving as they get older. “Big League” featuring Joyner Lucas was one of the weaker singles teased fusing rock & trap to speak of being in the majors when Grafh’s the better lyricist of the 2 until “Brick by Brick” decently continues talking about the gangsta lifestyle.
“Rollin’” featuring Don Paul & Dope Gang Porter experiments with a more nervous sound encouraging the listeners to look at him & his squad now while “Twin” incorporates a sped-up soul sample to get more romantic on the lyrical side of things. “Lil Vybe” was another single that I wasn’t head over heels for continuing the sensual subject matter over a cloudier beat while “Some Wounds Never Heal” finishes with a drumless outro where we get hit with gut-wrenching introspection.
The last 3 albums we’ve gotten from Grafh within almost 5 years have been some of the most important material in his entire 2-decade career & that alone has raised my anticipation for Sometimes Money Cost Too Much. However since it’s finally out following some delays within the past couple months, I’m a little torn by it although there are certainly more highs than lows. He does his thing on the mic as do a great deal of the guests, but some the production left me underwhelmed & the 2nd half feels weaker than the 1st.
Brand new 2-disc collaborative mixtape & their 3rd together overall from New Orleans, Louisiana rapper, songwriter & record executive Curren$y as well as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rapper, singer/songwriter, actor & entrepreneur Wiz Khalifa. Proving themselves to be hip hop’s Cheech & Chong of the late 2000s when the Jet Life Recordings & Taylor Gang Entertainment founders dropped their How Fly mixtape, they would return a decade later for the 2009 album & are back again 7 years later to have Cardo & Harry Fraud respectively produce each side of Roofless Records for Drop Tops by themselves.
“Close Your Eyes” was a psychedelically cloudy intro talking about getting it because they’re going the hardest until the wheels fall off whereas “Jet Life Taylor” represents each of their respective crews over a calmly nocturnal beat. “So Many Flavors” kinda has this smooth west coast vibe instrumentally talking about having several different strains of weed leading into “Stoned & Leave” going for a pop rap direction wanting their partners to pull up to get high.
Cardo makes a turn for cloudy trap territory during “Bounce Back” so Spitta & Wiz can talk about feeling down bad sometimes & coming back from it by catching more Ws prior to “How Could I Lose?” suggesting that others are right when they say both artists are running the game. “The Same One” has a more subdued tone to the beat telling their lovers they can’t be at their houses unless there are no neighbors while “Live Fast Burn Slow” explains the way the game goes.
“Ashes Out the Window” experiments with somewhat of a pluggier sound calling for everyone moving slow to pick up the pace while “Rrari Twins” ends the 1st leg flexing their Ferraris & meaning big business whenever they pull up to the spot. “Pink Panther” gets the 2nd half going over a jazzily drumless loop taking a more sensual approach to their songwriting while “The Coin Toss” express a desire of making their families rich by the end of the summer.
We have the jazz rap influences making their back in the spotlight on “🍾🍾🍾” talking about smoking wherever they go & hosting meetings chillin’ inside of yachts but after “Smoke N’ Pray” combines some keys with more hi-hats to detail the complications that come with their boss statuses as well as wakin’ up early being an obligation, “Long as You Live” expresses the way they feel over a predominant woodwind instrumental talking about how touching $1M doesn’t mean shit to them.
“Storm Shadow & Snake Eyes” winds down the last 7 & a half minutes of Roofless Records for Drop Tops incorporating this bluesy guitar to discuss riding around their sports cars stoned as fuck & commending those who’re actually wise enough to stay out of their way while “z28” luxuriously talks about shit being far from sweet out in their hoods & people knowing your whip before your name because the game’s dirty like that. As for the final song “Palm Island”, it cloudily ends the mixtape boasting their expensive habits 1 last time.
Similarly to Jay Worthy’s debut album Once Upon a Time last fall, I choose to wait until both sides of Roofless Records for Drop Tops were officially released so that way I could cover the whole tape start-to-finish & I’m happy I did considering the mixed reception Disc 1 generally got at the end of the month will likely be reevaluated now that the other half’s here. It could potentially become amongst Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa’s greatest material as a duo since I’m at it, trading verses depicting their stoner rap escapades over Cardo & Harry Fraud production varying from trap to drumless & jazz rap.
Detroit, Michigan’s demented duo & Astronomicon founders Twiztid hitting us with their 18th extended play. Consisting of Jamie Madrox & Monoxide, both of whom originally started out as part of the House of Krazees alongside childhood friend The R.O.C. in 1992 before their initial disbandment 5 years later. Almost immediately after, the Insane Clown Posse took Jamie & Mono under their wings by signing them to Psychopathic Records as who they’re known as today. They would become the label’s 2nd biggest act being their mentors off projects like Mostasteless, Freek Show, Mirror Mirror, The Green Book, W.I.C.K.E.D. (Wish I Could Kill Every Day) & Abominationz. Shortly after the latter was released, Twiztid left Psychopathic to form Majik Ninja Entertainment in 2014. Since then they’ve released 8 albums & 9 EPs on their own label, my favorites of which being /ˌrevəˈlāSH⁽ᵊ⁾n/ & even their last full-length Glyph. Their last full-length Welcome to Your Funeral produced by Rob Zombie’s engineer Zeuss was a superior Unlikely Prescription sequel & are unearthing the Herb n Legends.
After the intro, the opener “So Numb” sets things off talking about a feeling a fire burning inside of them whereas “My God” by Triple Threat describes a way they’ve never felt before. “Noid” featuring James Garcia or the artist formerly known as Young Wicked throws it back to the latter’s Axe Murder Boyz roots & “D.I.D.” ends the EP having both Triple Threat & Otis linking up to talk about smoking to escape the problems they face in the daily lives.
Conceptually inspired by a man disappearing in the forest of West Branch while getting away from friends only to be found 73 hours later carrying a 20 minute recording explaining where he had been & what had happened to him, Herb n Legends returns to Twiztid’s hip hop roots rather than continuing to expanding the rap/nu metal sounds of their previous full-length with a conceptual EP themed around their love of smoking kush with a horrorcore twizt.
This is the debut mixtape from Detroit, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter & producer Nasaan. The son of the late D12 de facto leader & in my opinion the greatest Detroit emcee of all-time Proof, some of you may remember him for releasing the Def Jam-backed debut EP Kiss of Karma in July of 2019, which was followed up with the Error 404 extended play under Atlantic Records. Now that he’s no longer signed to a major label, he’s beginning a new chapter of his career with Method Acting.
“To My Name” made for a slick opener talking about having no reason to complain since he has $100K in his bank account whereas “All for Me” featuring Bruiser Wolf comes through with an ode for their homies who had bitches trying to play them before they were the real deal. “Calling Me” goes for a smoother vibe in general for a charming pop rap ballad leading into him admitting to not knowing how to solve his “Family Issues”.
We have Nasaan throwing it back to 80s with “Need That” playfully asking for his lover to save him to begin the 2nd half while “Man Again” soulfully talks about willing to go to war with stars. “This Close” might be my least favorite track here because of it’s distractingly heavy Drake influence but after the spacious “Sexy” admires the beauty of his significant other, “Stay Blessed” luxuriously ends the EP carrying his grandmother’s advice forward.
Celebrating what would’ve been his late girlfriend Mycah Lewis’ birthday, Nasaan spends a great deal of Method Acting getting more melodically sensual than a lot of his earlier output & finishes what she helped him start from selecting the beats to being his biggest judge critiquing the final product. It was a surprise to hear it was supposed to come out earlier within the month but nevertheless, I know Mycah’s looking down on him with his dad proud of the artist & person he’s become.
New surprise mixtape & the 3rd overall from Detroit, Michigan rapper Rafa. A member of the WRLD Tour Mafia, he would also begin a solo career of his own starting on Thanksgiving 2020 with his debut EP Not for Household Use & followed it up earlier this year in the form his debut tape Dog$hit & Ammunition. His eponymous mixtape was a pivotal point in his career & Good Girls Don’t Exist was a superior EP, coming off R.A.F.A. (Rockstars Are Fucking Awesome) as well as Madman & Lil Dogshit to drop Good Girls Don’t Exist 2.
“Toxic Lovers 4L” opens up with a pluggy intro talking about being a poisonous coupling until the end whereas “Love the Way” atmospherically boasts that this female’s ex is mad because of him stealing her. “The Game” continues the cloudy vibes talking about treating this shit like it’s a monopoly & people biting him while “All In” asks why some waited for him to reach the top to fuck with him.
Moving on from there, “Get Rich or Die Trying” has this peaceful trap instrumental with a guitar talking about his primary mission while “No Rules” produced by WTM Niketech admits that he’s been feeling someone out of place recently. “RAFA vs. RAFA” hops over a distorted beat to talk about scooping up a chick from Texas just before “Tell Me Lies” discusses him putting his whole life on the line for his music career to take off.
“Broke Bitch K / Seasick” comes through with a 2-parter that has a cloudy beginning & a pluggier 2nd half talking about not being the same ever since he lost a homie of a his until taking another shot at those who’re trying to ride off his coattails but after “Overlyyy” flows over a LulRose instrumental talking about never going back to his old life again, “Everyday is Valentine” incorporates some 808s promising to show his partner the world.
The song “Stuck in the Past” cloudily talks about taking his own path & not going anywhere since he’s constantly in the studio while “Ball Player” psychedelically observes the way some of these artists switch up on each other a lot similarly to NBA players who wind up being apart of several teams in the league. “Not Mad” however spends Good Girls Don’t Exist 2’s final 2 & a half minutes melodically talking about his love no longer being angry at him for always traveling.
Originally teased 7 months ago literally days preceding Lil Dogshit’s release, Good Girls Don’t Exist 2 revisits everything that made it’s predecessor so special a couple years ago from the plugg/cloud rap production to Rafa’s lyrics continuing to further explain the belief he initially expressed regarding there being no such thing as faithful women & pulls it off in a manner that I would consider to be superior to it’s predecessor along with the most I’ve enjoyed something from him since R.A.F.A. (Rockstars Are Fucking Awesome).
Legends Will Never Die 