Jedi Mind Tricks – “The Bridge & The Abyss” review

After triumphantly returning to form in 2015 with The Thief & The Fallen, Philadelphia underground legends Jedi Mind Tricks are now coming out of the blue with their 9th full-length album. After a 96 second intro, we go into the first song “San La Muerte”. Here, MC Vinnie Paz talks about how he isn’t fucking with anyone over a sinister Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind instrumental. The track “Rashindun Caliphate” sees Vinnie talking to his haters over an instrumental with an eerie atmosphere to it while the song “Freshco & Miz” talks about their longevity over a boom bap beat with some jazzy horns.

The track “When the Body Goes Cold” gets confrontational over a gloomy boom bap beat while the song “What She Left Behind” vividly describes an abusive relationship over an alluring soul sample & the drums are going off like Desert Eagles. Honestly, I think it’s the most disturbing JMT song I’ve ever listened to. The track “Death Toll Rising” talks about ghetto life over a boom bap beat with a pretty Latin vocal sample & after the “Shed the Skin to Receive the World” interlude, we go into the song “Certified Dope”. Here, Pazzy spits that gun-talk over an instrumental that doesn’t really suit the vibe to me.

The track “Hell’s Henchman” talks about snakes over an instrumental with some intense strings while the song “God Forsaken” is filled with murder bars over an instrumental that perfectly fits into a final battle. The track “Legacy of the Prophet” with Sean Price talks about their place in hip hop & while it is hard, I feel like we’ve heard Sean on so many JMT tracks at this point.

After the “Void Ritual” interlude, we go into the song “You Have 1 Devil but 5 Angels”. Here, Paz spits some battle bars including a reference to WWE Hall of Famers The Fabulous Freebirds over some bass & keyboards while DJ Kwestion’s scratch hook suits the vibe fantastically. The track “Marciano’s Reign” intellectually talks about overcoming the negatives over an orchestral instrumental while the song “Torture Chamber” with CZARFACE goes back to the battle bar tip over a rap rock beat.

The track “The Letter Concerning the Intellect” references Matt Hardy of the current World Team Champions The Deleters of Worlds over a gloomy guitar & a soul sample on the hook while the final song “Making a Killing” talks about the meat industry a beautiful piano instrumental before the album finishes with a 1-minute instrumental.

While I prefer their last album a lot more, this is still great. Vinnie Paz’s lyricism has gotten sharper with age & Stoupe’s production compliments him just as much, but there were too many interludes for me

Score: 3.5/5

Freddie Gibbs – “Freddie” review

After making a strong comeback with his last full-length album album 2017’s You Only Live 2wice, Indiana MC Freddie Gibbs is now returning with his 10th mixtape.

The opener “Weight” of course talks about drugs over a decent trap beat while the next song “Automatic” gets confrontational over a murky beat. The song “Death Row” with 03 Greedo talks about criminal activity over some dinky keys & heavy bass while “Triple Threat” talks about how hot this chick is over a smooth trap beat. The song “2 Legit” gets braggadocious over an amazing sample of Roy Ayers’ “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” & after the FML interlude, we go into the track “Set Set”. Here, Gangsta Gibbs gets lavish over some rattling hi-hats & an atmospheric backdrop. The track “Toe Tag” gets murderous over an eerie beat & the song “F.B.C. (Fendi Buckle Coat)” charismatically talks about how fly he is over a fun instrumental Tony Seltzer co-produced. Then we get the closer “Diamonds 2”, which serves as a heartwarming sequel to the song “Diamonds” off of his Pronto EP from 2015.

While I still prefer Freddie’s last 2 albums more, this is still solid. Despite Freddie’s gritty lyricism staying in tact & while I also adore the nod to the classic Teddy Pendergrass album Teddy in the artwork, some of the production could’ve been better & the 03 Greedo verse didn’t really do much for me admittedly. Regardless, I think this is still is an enjoyable treat to hold us off until MadGibbs drops Bandana

Score: 3.5/5

Art Morera – “Transit City” review

830931

Art Morera is an MC/producer from Miami, Florida & this is his 3rd EP. Things start off with “Strangers”, where he vents to an ex & his production on here has a beautiful piano from start to finish. The next song “In the Moment” sees Art talking to his girl over an instrumental that suits the mood perfectly while the track “I Live in a Transit City” talks about his hometown over a jazzy beat. The song “All We Are” is a great display of Art’s storytelling skills over a laid-back instrumental while the track “WYA” with Ramon Reeves sees the 2 giving us a humble brag over a decent trap beat. The penultimate track “Dilly Dviiy” gets motivational over an instrumental kin to KiD CuDi’s early work & then it finishes perfectly with “I’ll Be Back”, where he talks about backtracking & his future over a soulful beat. Overall, this is Art’s best work yet. The production is beautiful, he sounds passionate, it’s well written & it’s a great display of where he’s at today.

Score: 4/5

The Carters – “EVERYTHING IS LOVE” review

7033509

The Carters are a musical duo & power couple consisting of legendary Brooklyn, New York emcee JAY-Z & his wife, former Destiny’s Child member & Houston, Texas popstar Beyoncé. Their latest albums Lemonade & 4:44 saw them at their most personal, but now they’re closing out the trilogy with a collaborative effort.

The album starts off with “SUMMER”, which is a sex song over a Cool & Dre instrumental that suits the mood fantastically. The next track “APESHIT” is an energetic club banger with an infectious Pharrell beat & Bey’s rapping was a very nice touch. The song “BOSS” talks about success over a triumphant trap beat from D’Mile & Mike Dean while the track “NICE” with Pharrell sees the 3 getting braggadocious over some beautiful keys & rattling hi-hats. The song “713” is a dedication to Beyoncé’s hometown over an instrumental with heavy bass with even some Scott Storch-like keyboards. It makes even more sense that Bey interpolates the classic Dr. Dre tune “Still D.R.E.” in the hook, but that’s really the only part of the song that I’m realistically not crazy about.

The track “FRIENDS” sees the 2 individually dedicating the time to song crew over a gloomy trap beat from Boi-1da & for some reason NAV while the song “HEARD ABOUT US” tells their critics to watch their mouths over a funky beat. The penultimate track “BLACK EFFECT” sees the 2 intelligently talking about being African American over a soulful trap beat & then it finishes perfectly with “LOVEHAPPY”, where the ‘03 Bonnie & Clyde go back & forth with each other about professing their love for each other as well as moving on from the whole Becky incident over a beautiful Eddie & Ernie sample.

I’m well aware that Jigga intentionally gave us this just the day after the new Nas album NASIR & while that is definitely superior, I still thought this was a lovely way to end the trilogy. Given what they’ve been through, the impeccable chemistry between JAY-Z & Beyoncé is a lot more stronger than it’s been in the past. Most of the instrumentals are luscious too & while I do enjoy a handful of trap music, I feel like a few of the beats on here sounded like they were forced to throw in hi-hats when they really didn’t need to

Score: 4/5

Jay Rock – “Redemption” review

With Top Dawg Entertainment’s ongoing Championship Tour wrapping up this weekend, it’s only right for Black Hippy member Jay Rock to deliver his highly anticipated 3rd full-length album.

The album begins with “The Bloodiest,” where he reflects about growing up in Watts an eerie beat from Boi-1da, Allen Ritter & Jake One. The next track “For What It’s Worth” talks about murdering someone as well as having sex with this woman even though he knows that she ain’t right over a smooth beat from Sounwave while the song “Knock It Off” is a warning to everyone who’s trying to be him over a laidback trap beat. However, the flow doesn’t really do anything for me on this one. The track “ES Tales” talks about going back to the projects over a sinister beat while the song “Rotation 112th” grittily talks about gang life & the trap beat on here suits it pretty while. The track “Tap Out” is of course a sex tune with a generic beat & a decent Jeremih hook while the song “OSOM” with J. Cole & SiR tells the listeners that they’re living life like he’s runnin’ out of time over a gloomy trap beat.

The track “King’s Dead” originally appeared in the Black Panther soundtrack earlier this year & I’m actually upset they kept Future’s verse on there & removed Kendrick Lamar’s. On the other hand: the song “Troopers” brags about his crew, but the Cardo production sounds vaguely similar to his instrumental on “THat Part” off of ScHoolboy Q’s last album Blank Face LP. The track “Broke+-“ is of course about money over a somber instrumental while the song “Wow” makes up for “King’s Dead” by flawlessly displaying the chemistry between Jay & Kendrick over a bouncy woodwind-infused trap beat from Hit-Boy. The title track lyrically reminds me of “Start from Scratch” by The Game over a beautiful piano instrumental & the SZA hook is very pretty. The closer “WIN” has a triumphant trap beat & I do like the delivery, but it sounds half-written & the hook is very tedious. Also as much as I love Kendrick, his constant adlibs on this joint are too much.

I already knew going into this that it was pretty much gonna be Jay Rock’s DAMN. & while it’s not bad, it could’ve been much better. He sounds a lot more energetic on here than he was on his last 2 albums & the content is mostly on par as well, but a lot of these trappy instrumentals are hit or miss with me to be quite honest.

Score: 3/5

Nas – “NASIR” review

Despite saying it was done when DJ Khaled gave us a Major 🔑 in the Summer of 2016, the legendary Queensbridge MC Nas is finally coming through with his 11th album & he has enlisted Kanye West to produce it in it’s entirety.

The album begins with “Not for Radio”, where he vents about how he feels like the world is afraid of African American people over some haunting choir vocals. The next track “Cops Shot the Kid” with Kanye sees the 2 talking about police brutality over a perfect sample of the classic Slick Rick tune “Children’s Story” while the song “White Label” is pretty much a humble brag with a beautiful sample. The track “Bonjour” gets romantic over a soulful beat with some strings while the song “Everything” does talk about the current state of the world over some marching drums & a funky bass guitar, the first 2 minutes could’ve been cut off easily. The penultimate track track “Adam & Eve” lyrically reminds me of his Escobar days over some piano keys & then the closer “Simple Things” pretty much speaks for itself over a soulful beat.

As expected, this is tied with Pusha T’s latest album DAYTONA for being my favorite of the 5 albums that Kanye has dropped within the past month. I’m not surprised by the fact that it’s 7 tracks long given the other 3 albums are also in that length & it’s well produced, but Nas’ performances are a bit underwhelming to where hearing him offbeat is distracting.

Score: 3/5

KIDS SEE GHOSTS – Self-titled review

KIDS SEE GHOSTS is a midwest hip hop duo consisting of the renown yet polarizing Chicago, Illinois legend Kanye West & Cleveland, Ohio recording artist KiD CuDi. The 2 have worked with each other numerous times dating back to when Yeezy signed CuDi to his G.O.O.D. Music record label in 2008 & let him co-write 4 songs on 808s & Heartbreak later that same year. KiD CuDi has contributed to every Kanye album since then. More recently the song “Ghost Town” on his latest album ye, which is a prelude track to this album over here. CuDi even released his first 3 albums with G.O.O.D. Music before he left on amicable terms in 2013 to form his Republic Records imprint Wicked Awesome Records. The duo would later have a brief falling out in the fall of 2016, but they would eventually reconcile after the St. Pablo Tour was cancelled due to Kanye‘s hospitalization for stress & exhaustion.

The album opens with “Feel the Love”, which is pretty much being dominated by Pusha T. He definitely goes in, but the gunshot adlibs from Kanye were annoying on first listen as it grew on me over time. I also like the spacey keyboards & the later added drums that come through in the instrumental. The next track “Fire” actually sees the 2 getting together & responding to everyone who criticize them for their failures in the past over some militant drums & an eerie guitar in the background. The song “4th Dimension” has a prominent Louis Prima sample tackling sex in addition to 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. The track “Freee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)” with a brief Ty$ appearance tells the audience that that’s exactly how they feel right now over a killer guitar, but the way the say the titular word does get old after a while.

The song “Reborn” is easily my favorite one on the entire album. The lyrics are all about moving forward from their pasts & the uplifting instrumental is a serious throwback to CuDi’s 2009 debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day. The self-produced title track has a surprising yet solid Yasiin Bey hook & the instrumental has an intergalactic atmosphere to it that’s very pretty. Lyrically, KiD CuDi‘s verse about how he can’t be stopped & that he’ll be finding heaven in a matter of time while Kanye’s talks about fame. The album then finishes with “CuDi Montage”, where CuDi tells God to save him & Kanye gets insightfully conscious over a fitting sample of “Burn the Rain” by the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

As a whole, I think it’s on the same enjoyability level as ye. The pop rap production is a lot more refined & given the recent hospitalizations of both members, the chemistry between KiD CuDi & Kanye West is stronger than it ever was before.

Score: 4/5

Kanye West – “ye” review

After going A.W.O.L. ever since his hospitalization in late 2016, the ever so polarizing Kanye West is finally coming out of the shadows to release his 8th full-length album. The opener “I Thought About Killing You” has a beautiful spoken word piece at the beginning about depression & then we get a confident verse over a moody beat, but then it switches into a more trap-like sound as he responds to his haters near the end. The next track “Yikes” talks about drugs over a hard hitting beat Ye made with Mike Dean, Pi’erre Bourne & Apex Martin with a humorous outro about being a bipolar superhero while the song “All Mine” talks about a supermodel thick woman over a bouncy beat. Also, I found the hook on here to be somewhat hilarious.

The track “Wouldn’t Leave” talks about his sensitivity over a beautiful gospel-like beat from ¥$ & I love how he starts it off by responding to his infamous TMZ appearance a couple months ago. The song “No Mistakes” is a response to Drake’s Duppy freestyle with a beautiful sample of the classic Slick Rick jam “Hey Young World” & while the penultimate track “Ghost Town” talks about being loved over a rap rock beat, I wish it was structured better. Then we have the closer “Violent Crimes”, where he talks about his kids over an atmospheric beat. Also, the I like the references to Nicki Minaj & “Monster” halfway through the verse. It makes even more sense that Nicki pops up at the end via cell phone saying the line & that she wants everyone to hear it, but I don’t know about ending the album that way.

Regardless, this is still a fantastic. While he did say it would be only 7 tracks, it’s mostly focused & consistent with vibrant production & honest lyrics

Score: 4/5

Black Thought – “Streams of Thought” review

Black Thought is a legendary 46 year old MC from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania most notable for being the frontman of The Roots. Fans have been wanting some sort of solo project for a long time now (especially after his iconic Hot 97 freestyle this past winter) & he is now delivering an EP with the help of The Soul Council.

The opener “215” talks about growing up in Philly over an upbeat instrumental & the next track “Black vs. 9th” talks about self-evaluation over some punchy drums. The song “Dostoyevsky” with Rapsody sees the 2 talking about the judicial system over a nice boom bap beat while the penultimate track “Making a Murderer” with Styles P pretty much speaks for itself over a menacing instrumental. This magnum opus then finishes off perfectly with “Thank You”, where Black gets grateful for how his life turned out over a soulful beat.

It’s been long overdue, but we finally got an official solo project from Black Thought & it’s perfect. His lyricism is sharp & intelligent as expected & The Soul Council’s production gives them a flawless backing. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a follow-up soon given that it’s labeled “Vol. 1”, but I’m all for it

Score: 5/5

Pusha T – “DAYTONA” review

With the release of Darkest Before Dawn at the tail-end of 2015, former Clipse member & current G.O.O.D. Music president Pusha T has been laying on the down low outside of a few features. However, he has finally returned with his 3rd full-length album with a new title & he has enlisted the G.O.O.D. Music founder Kanye West to produce it in it’s entirety. The album opens with “If You Know You Know”, where Push spits his signature mafioso bars over a fun beat with a faint sample in the background. The next track “The Games We Play” continues to spit drug bars albeit in more braggadocious manner over a twangy guitar & some jazzy horns while the song “Hard Piano” with Rick Ross sees the 2 talking about living in Santo Domingo over an atmospheric with some BEAUTIFUL keyboards throughout.

The track “Come Back Baby” charismatically talks about the lavish life some monstrous bass & the soul sample hook is gorgeous. The song “Santeria” gets spiritual over a beat that starts off with abrasive, but then switches into a more boom bap vibe. Also I don’t know who the female singer on the hook is, but her singing is alluring. The penultimate track “What Would Meek Do?” with Kanye sees the 2 responding to that everybody that has talked badly about them up until this point over an eerie beat & then the closer “Infrared” talks about the current state of hip hop along with reigniting his beef with Drake over a murky beat.

While it’s been a long wait, I think Push came through with his magnum opus. Despite being only 7 tracks & 22 minutes long, it sounds focused & Pusha’s lyricism is just as sharper & grittier than ever. Also, we‘re getting some of the darkest Kanye instrumentals I’ve ever heard on a handful of tracks

Score: 4.5/5