Yelawolf – “Trunk Muzik 3” review

Yelawolf is a 39 year old rapper, singer & producer from Gadsden, Alabama who first came onto the scene in 2005 with a mediocre debut album Creekwater. It wasn’t until the kickstart of 2010 with the release of his breakout tape Trunk Muzik that he would gain attention, eventually signing to Shady Records/Interscope Records & releasing his sophomore album Radioactive: Amazing & Mystifying Chemical Tricks the following year. A focused grouped, yet still fun major label debut. He then returned in 2015 with Love Story, where he started to incorporate country & rock music into his style. But when his childhood friend Shawty Fatt passed away at the tail-end of 2016, it caused him to disappear from the scene for a while. He fortunately returned with his previous album Trial by Fire, which is pretty much a self-produced & refined sequel to Love Story. Now after dropping a total of 8 vicious freestyles, he’s returning with his 5th full-length album & his last with Shady/Interscope.

The intro kicks things off fantastically, as it pretty much serves as a sequel to Trunk Muzik‘s title track from Yelawolf’s angry bars down to WLPWR sampling the original “Trunk Muzik” song itself. The next track “Catfish Billy 2” of course is a gritty follow-up to the cut that introduced the world to Yelawolf’s alter ego to begin with & even though I appreciate the song “Rowdy” for being a description of coming from the gutter as well as an abrasive beat from DJ Paul (who also provides an adrenaline pumping hook), the MGK verse is laughable. The track “Special Kind of Bad” is a violin & bass-heavy love ballad that’s goes over very well, but the next song “Like I Love You” is a cringey follow-up to it with a moody trap beat. The track “Drugs” is a look at addiction over a somber beat while the song “Trailer Park Hollywood” talks about looking country fresh & the beat is perfect for the whip.

The track “No Such Thing as Free” with Caskey & Doobie is a jab at people who talk crazy over an eerie beat while the song “We Slum” with Shawty Fatt & Big Henri is self-explanatory over a banger beat. The track “Box Chevy VI” with Rittz & DJ Paul is a tribute to old school Chevrolets over a vintage Paul instrumental while the song “All the Way Up” with MopTop & Cub da Cookup Boss is a look at their feelings on fame over some keyboards & skittering snares. The track “Over Again” is a somber breakup anthem with a cloudy beat while the song “Addiction” tells the depressing story about a friend of Yelawolf’s over a piano infused boom bap beat. The album then closes out with “Over Here”, where Yelawolf disses rappers who’re only out for the fame over a settle guitar & some thumping kick-drums.

With Yelawolf’s tenure at Shady Records being over, this is the best full-length album he’s released yet. The features are hit or miss, but it’s a great return to form of his earlier work from his deadly lyricism all the way down to the menacing production. Really looking forward to the future as he is now a fully independent artist.

Score: 4/5

Onoe Caponoe – “Surf or Die” review

Brand new album & the 3rd overall from Perivale, West London, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Onoe Caponoe. Introducing himself in the early 2010s off his debut mixtape Central Control as well as Willows Midnight Gallery & Holy Mountain, it wasn’t until The Staircase to Nowhere caught the attention of High Focus Records & made his full-length debut for the label with Voices from Planet Cattele during my senior year of high school. Spells from the Cyclops continued Onoe’s evolution & had me hoping Surf or Die.

After the introductory skit, the first song “Suicide City” begins with a mix of Bionic from the London Posse & early Pro Era kicking flows over a nostalgic boom bap beat whereas “Red Planet” goes for a more cloudy Memphis trap vibe inciting an intergalactic mosh pit. “Ms. Universe” feels instrumentally reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest’s late 90s output telling the woman he’s been seeing that he can make the stars shine while “Blood Moon (City Hunt)” shifts treads the trap waters again discussing 169 coming through the back door.

“Valentine’s Massacre” returns the boom bap after the compositional “Carnival of Souls (Hypno Pop)” piece abstractly referencing the murder of seven members & associates of Chicago, Illinois’ notorious North Side Gang just before “Graveyard Funk” shows off a bit of a Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony influence with a Memphis twist to it. “Behind the Wall of Sleep” talks about the good living forever & bad croaking whenever their time comes leading into “Chop ‘Em Down (Mosh of the Dead)” featuring L-Zee Roselli ending the 1st half of Surf or Die with an aggressive crunk gangsta rap fusion.

After the “Last Bittersweet Moment” instrumental intermission, “Heathers” smokily recalls a woman he met during the summertime & getting far away from people together while “Spaceship Funk / Cat on the Roof” talks about being swerved out in our solar system ahead of the spoken word outro during the 2nd half. “Raincloud” brings some jazzy piano chords in the fold speaking hearing voices in the back of his head like the Harry Potterfranchise antagonist Voldemort while the trap-flavored “Phone Call” produced by Telemachus talks about stepping out engulfed in flames.

“Crazy Cat Coffee Party” takes inspiration from jazz rap once again flexing that he’s been high in the sky & there being nobody higher than him generally while “Yellow Brix” confesses to being afraid of changing. “Lost the Love” smoothly samples “Running Out of Time” by Rexy realizing his mind’s true potential & the final song “Cymatics” prior to the “Black Sun (Love’s Key)” outro jazzily leaves a trail of flames behind when it’s time for him to go off.

Capturing the turbulence within Onoe Caponoe’s life these past couple years, I have no doubts of Surf or Die being heralded as the greatest LP in his entire discography & amongst the top 5 projects throughout High Focus Records’ most for years to come. The prominent experimental hip hop direction of Spells from the Cyclops ventures further out in favor of boom bap, jazz rap, cloud rap, Memphis rap, trap & sound collage getting a lot more lyrically abstract than what he’s done previously.

Score: 4.5/5

Logic – “Supermarket” review

Logic is a 29 year old rapper who came up at the beginning of the decade with his Young Sinatra series of mixtapes. His first 2 studio albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story showed more promise of his potential, but pretty much everything after that saw him taking a total nosedive. However with a new novel out now, he saw fit to release a new album accompanying it.

The “Bohemian Trapsody” has a pretty acoustic instrumental, but it sounds half-written. The next song “Can I Kick It?” is a buttery bastardization of the iconic Tribe Called Quest song with the same name while the song “Time Machine” is a cringey piano ballad about saving this chick (presumably his ex-wife Jess Andrea). The song “Pretty Young Girl” is a decent acoustic tribute to one of Logic’s Day 1 while the title track insists that he’s not a stalker, but yet he’s obsessing over this chick to the point where he goes to her job just to see her & fantasizes over her constantly. The song “Baby totally ruins Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” while the track “By the Bridge” is pretty much Logic whining about why this woman doesn’t love him over another acoustic instrumental.

The song “Best Friend” is an acoustic love ballad that goes over pretty decently while the track “Lemon Drop” talks about setting this woman free over some funky guitar licking. The song “I’m Probably Gonna Rock Your World” is a hilariously sappy sex tune with a dreamy instrumental from Mac DeMarco of all people while the track “Vacation from Myself” talks about not needing sophistication over a mellow instrumental. The song “DeLorean” is another love ballad filled with Back to the Future & then the closer “I Love You Forever” is pretty much a boring diatribe to Jess.

I don’t know what else to say about this, it’s easily the worst thing he’s ever done. I can appreciate Logic for stepping out of his comfort zone & the production is cool for the most part, but the instrumentals tend to wear thin by the end. On top of that: his singing is awful & the lyrics are cornier than anything he’s been putting out since ΞVERYBODY.

Score: 0.5/5

Baka Not Nice – “no long talk.” review

Baka Not Nice is a 40 year old rapper from Montréal, Québec, Canada who started out as a security team member of Toronto, Ontario superstar Drake. He eventually signed to Aubrey’s very Warner Records imprint OVO Sound in 2013 & got a weird case of him forcing a 22-year-old woman into prostitution only to steal her money shortly after & questioning him being around him. Now just a few months after releasing his debut EP 4Milli this past fall, he’s returning with a follow-up EP that’s only 3 tracks.

The opener “My Town” gets confrontational over a nocturnal beat provided by 40 that fits in solidly & then there’s the song “30”, where Baka monotonously brags & the instrumental on here is super skeletal. The closer “Caddy’s” kinda bounces back as it’s a strip club anthem that actually goes over better than I had expected & the Juicy J verse is just flawless.

This is definitely better than 4Milli, but not by much. It goes a bit harder, but I think Baka & company could’ve worked in 2 or 3 more cuts so that it would become a more fleshed out product. Regardless, this has me a bit more curious to hear something bigger that he may have coming down the pipe soon.

Score: 3/5

GloToven – Self-titled review

Chief Keef is a legendary 23 year old rapper & producer from Chicago, Illinois who blew up onto the scene in 2012 with his Back from the Dead mixtape & his debut album Finally Rich. Both of which I highly recommend if you wanna get into drill music. He’s dropped a handful of projects since then & this new one with Zaytoven producing it from front to back really stopped me in my tracks.

The album kicks off with “3rd Person”, where Keef talks about how life is fabolous over an abrasive beat. The next song “Old Heads & Regretful Hoes” with Lil Pump sees the 2 talking about good dope over a somber trap beat while the track “Batman” spits that gun talk over an atmospheric instrumental. The song “Ain’t Gonna Happen” is an emotional piano ballad while the song “Fast” addresses fake cats over a spacious beat.

The track “Spy Kid” is a vicious diss towards 6ix9ine while the song “Fuck What the Opp Said” is self-explanatory over a flute-inflicted beat. The track “Petty” is a druggy auto-tune ballad that doesn’t go over very well while the song “Han Han” talks about money over a piano-inflicted trap beat. The track “Posse” gets confrontational over a glimmering trap beat while the song “Sneeze” continues the gun talk over a haunting beat. The album then finishes with “What Can I Say”, where Keef talks about hoes over a moody beat.

To be honest, this is Chief Keef’s best effort in a while. He sounds angrier than ever & Zaytoven provides him with some of the most hard hitting instrumentals that we’ve heard on one of his projects in years.

Score: 4/5

Elcamino – “Don’t Eat the Fruit” review

Elcamino is an MC from Buffalo, New York who‘s been blowing up within the past couple years. He dropped a self-titled EP with Griselda Records in November of 2017 & a mixtape last summer called Walk on Water but now, he’s delivering his long-awaited debut. The album kicks off with “Davis St.”, where El talks about being made over a soulful beat. The next track “Devotion” talks about just that over a luscious soul sample from DJ Shay & Nicholas Craven while the song “Ghetto Luv” talks about making out of the struggle over some horns & an organ. The title track gets bloodthirsty over an atmospheric beat while the song “Venice Beach” with Benny the Butcher sees the 2 getting mafioso over some epic string sections.

The track “Flu Game” is an unfinished yet gloomy minimalist piece while the song “Redrum” pretty much speaks for itself over an eerie beat. The track “Big Bro” is a dedication to his older sibling over a beautiful instrumental while the song “Too Grimey for the Radio” with Meyhem Lauren truly lives up to it’s title in every aspect. The track “9 on My Lap” with Conway the Machine gets back on the confrontational tip over a sinister boom bap beat while the song “Alter Prayer” with Crimeapple gets back on the mafioso tip over a synth heavy beat. The album then ends with “Hidden Hills”, where Elcamino continues to brag over a Termanology instrumental with some congas & an infectious horn lead.

Man, it makes me really happy to see Elcamino outdoing himself with each & every project. The production’s more refined & El sounds harder than ever, but I just wish it was longer than 29 minutes.

Score: 4/5

Juice WRLD – “Death Race for Love” review

Juice WRLD is a 20 year old rapper from Chicago, Illinois who started blowing up just about a year ago due to the release of his debut album Goodbye & Good Riddance. I personally thought it was just average, because I feel like he’s pretty much Post Malone making Lil Uzi Vert & Trippie Redd songs. He then followed it up with a VERY awkward collab tape with Future called WRLD on Drugs but now, he’s returning with his sophomore album.

It all starts off with “Empty”, where Juice vents about being lonely over a piano & clap driven instrumental. The next song “Maze” talks about losing his sanity over a somber trap beat from Boi-1da while the track “HeEmotions” talks about another day in the life of Juice WRLD over a gloomy beat from Hit-Boy. After the “Demonz” interlude, the song “Fast” talks about his new life, but it literally sounds like a Post Malone joint down to the Louis Bell & Ging instrumental.

The track “Hear Me Calling” talks about a breakup over an infectiously rhythmic Purps instrumental while the song “Big” gets boastful over a spacey Hit-Boy beat. The track “Robbery” is another breakup tune except this one feels forced & corny while the song “Flaws & Sins” talks about seeing light through the darkness over a bland beat. The track “Feeling” is pretty much a boring rehash of the opener while the song “Syphilis” is a sex ode with an eerie trap beat from Cardo.

The track “Who Shot Cupid?” details more ex-girlfriend shit with a beautiful acoustic-driven instrumental from Purps while the song “Ring Ring” is about doing drugs with a dime a dozen beat. The track “Desire” is on some stalker shit over an atmospheric Purps beat while the song “Out My Way” gets back on the braggadocious tip over an abrasive Hit-Boy beat.

“The Bees Knees” is a fiery club banger while the song “ON GOD” with Young Thug sees the 2 talking about being in their bags over some prominent hi-hats. The track “10 Feet” is a boring diatribe about being high while the song “Won’t Let Go” talks about the girl of his dreams over a Purps beat with some rubbery bass.

The track “She’s the One” is a trippy follow-up to the previous joint while the song “Rider” sees Juice telling this chick to prove her loyalty to him over a generic beat. The album then finishes off with “Make Believe”, where Juice talks about how he say this breakup coming over a Boi-1da instrumental that beautifully uses the same sample that J Dilla used on “Runnin’” by The Pharcyde.

This wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna be, but it’s still a mixed bag. The production has gotten better & Juice is only as half melodramatic this time around, but it really didn’t need to be 22 tracks & 72 minutes long.

Score: 2.5/5

Xtra Overdoze – “Viral Injection” review

Xtra Overdoze is an MC from The Bronx, New York who I first caught wind of with his debut mixtape WTFIXO? back in 2017 & to prepare for his first full-length album, he’s back with his debut EP.

The “Introjection” starts off as a decent skit, but then it erupts into a chaotic beat & a rapid-fire flow. The next song “What the Deal?” talks about being too live over an old fashioned boom bap beat while the track “My Mentality” talks about wanting to be forgiven over an ominous beat. The song “Don’t Stop” gets wicked over a rap rock beat while the track “She a Freak” with F. Dux speaks for itself over a synth-inflicted trap beat.

The song “Sour Apple” with Lex the Hex Master sees the 2 talking about their come up over some prominent keyboards & punchy drums while the penultimate track “Red Dixie Cup” is of course an alcohol anthem with a bouncy beat. The EP then finishes with “Dead Language”, where Xtra starts to vent over a haunting instrumental.

All & all, this has me excited to hear more of what this dude has coming in the future. The production is dark & Xtra Overdoze’s lyricism is cutthroat. Definitely an exciting new face in the horrorcore scene.

Score: 3.5/5

BVA – “Peep the EP” review

Glastonbury, Somerset, England, United Kingdom emcee & Real Life Drama Records co-founder BVA preluding his sophomore effort with his 2nd EP. A member of The 4 Owls as well as the Brothers of the Stone & the 3 Amigos, his solo debut B.V.A. (Be Very Aware) arrived in 2014 under High Focus Records roughly 3 years succeeding an eponymous debut extended play. However, the Leigh Brothers being enlisted to produce Peep the EP in it’s entirety caught my attention coming fresh off a Return to Stoney Island.

“Friends” produced by Leaf Dog kicks off the EP with a boom bap instrumental talking about it seeming like we’re going for broke sometimes & checking the notes as a result of that whereas “Brothers” blends some kicks, snares & grand sampling techniques to discuss making ducats with all of his homies. Illinformed jumps behind the boards on “Mary” beginning the 2nd half telling the story of an attractive woman whose appearance has become 50/50 over time while the soulfully jazzy “Chris” talks about not needing someone like the very character down for whatever.

We’ll we’ll just have to wait & see if BVA can surpass B.V.A. (Be Very Aware) in terms of a future LP from him down the pipe whenever that comes, but Peep the EP for only 4 tracks to me was more enjoyable than the 2011 self titled EP. Both of Leaf Dog & Illinformed’s portions of the boom bap production feel a lot stronger, with Leaf refraining from accompanying his Real Life Drama co-founder like he did for 3 songs right when the 2010s began & BVA getting more conceptual than he did with the last couple times he’s dropped material all by himself.

Score: 4/5

Solange – “When I Get Home” review

Solange is a 32 year old singer/songwriter & actress from Houston, Texas known for being the younger sister of Beyoncé. Her first 2 full-length outings in the 2000s were average at best, but came back fantastically in 2016 with A Seat at the Table. But now 3 years later, she’s returning out of the blue with her 4th album.

Things kick off with “Things I Imagined”, which is a mellow yet repetitive piece. After the “S. McGregor” interlude, the next song “Down With the Clique” sings about how she comes first & the keyboards from Tyler, The Creator on here are absolutely gorgeous. The track “Way to the Show” is about how this guy can get it over a spacey yet funky beat & after the “Can I Hold the Mic?” interlude, the song “Stay Flo” talks about lust over a settle instrumental from Metro Boomin’ of all people. The track “Dreams” talks about just that over a relaxing instrumental from both Earl Sweatshirt & Blood Orange and after the “Nothing Without Intention” interlude, the song “Almeda” with Playboi Carti sees the 2 listing common traits of black people over some militant drums & beautiful keyboard passages.

The track “Time (Is)” sings about how this guy isn’t for her over some keys & bass-playing while the song “My Skin My Logo” with Gucci Mane sees the 2 complimenting each other perfectly over a bass-guitar. After the “We Deal with the Freak’n” intermission, the track “Jerrod” is a guitar ballad about how Solange wants the titular guy to call her. The song “Binz” talks about how she wants to wake up over a minimalist instrumental while the track “Beltway” is a half-written ballad about how this dude loves her. After the “Exit Scott” interlude, the song “Sound of Rain” is another repetitive piece, but I do admire the atmospheric Pharrell production. Then after the “Not Screwed!” interlude, the song “I’m a Witness” serves as a flawless closer with a prominent bass-line.

This is EASILY a serious contender for the best R&B album of 2019. It’s bit more psychedelic than A Seat at the Table, but it’s just as introspective & lush. Another near perfect example of why Solange is on par (or maybe even better) than her sister.

Score: 4.5/5