Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada born albeit Compton, California raised emcee Jay Worthy showing some love to Parliament-Funkadelic with his 6th mixtape. Coming on my radar in 2017 after The Alchemist produced his debut EP Fantasy Island from top to bottom, he would go onto drop 5 more EPs & a fantastic collaborative effort with Larry June called 2 P’z in a Pod even though initial plans of putting it out through Griselda Records fell through for whatever reason. Harry Fraud produced You Take the Credit, We’ll Take the Check & DJ Muggs did What They Hittin’ 4 to significant acclaim, but the Roc Marciano-produced Nothing Bigger Than the Program was still good despite having too many features & the DāM-FunK produced Magic Hour improved on that as did The Tonite Show 2 produced by DJ Fresh. Coming off his double solo debut Once Upon a Time last fall, he’s taking it upon himself to shine a light on Generation P.
After the “Holly Wants to Go” intro, the 2nd single “Knee Deep” featuring WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg kicks things off with a g-funk opener talking about both of them being freaky whereas the 3rd & final single “P of the Week” featuring Larry June finds the pair on their playa shit. The lead single “Atomic P” tells us the story of nasty street dogs who happen to be famous while “1 Nation” featuring The Game & YG on the remix flips the Funkadelic track of the same name seeing nothing other than bankroll.
“Oh I” goes for a soulfully jazzy direction thanks to Terrace Martin asking this person who never learns from their mistakes how they’re comin’ & goin’ just before “Allegiance” looks back at idolizing O.G.s when he was a kid. “Adolescent” featuring Curren$y talks about making it after choosing their own paths but once “Chasers” featuring 03 Greedo discusses making flower children smile, “What It P Like?” featuring Aceyalone & Del the Funky Homosapien preceding the “Holly Wants to Leave” outro talks about having class.
P-funk’s forefather George Clinton narrating Generation P to me is only the bow on top of the present because what really makes this such a lovely tape for me is the performances from both Jay Worthy himself & the multitude of west coast veterans joining him for a half hour celebration of the very style of funk music that subsequently birthed the west coast’s g-funk era in the early 90s, which the production strictly caters to rather than containing various different sounds.
DJ Dahi is a 43 year old DJ, producer & singer/songwriter from Inglewood, California who’s worked with likes of Dom Kennedy as well as Dr. Dre & Vince Staples to only name a few. He was also signed to ARTium Recordings in tandem with Def Jam Recordings for a period of time but over a decade into the game already, he felt like now was the time to make his independent solo debut bringing an interesting list of hip hop & R&B guests on board to perform over his beats catered to those styles.
“Who’re You?” by Channel Tres & Vince Staples mellowly encourages everyone to wake up & get serious about the lives we’re livin’ now whereas “Find Me” by Mez & Moses Sumney finds the pair linking up for a neo-soul single singing of getting stuck in the middle. “How to Pray” by Kendrick Lamar keeps the laidback vibes rollin’ responding to a bar Drake had on “Plot Twist” a little over 3 months ago while “Running” by Childish Gambino combines contemporary R&B, neo-soul, jazz fusion & psychedelic soul for an ode to Dahi’s heritage.
Obongjayar takes the microphone for “Love Me” singing for his partner to be gentle, easy & careful with him because we all eventually fall just before “They Don’t Know Me” by Mez has a repetitive kickoff preceding a beat switch & a verse reflecting on life & the pain he’s experienced to wrap up the midway point. “The Night” by Kurtis Wells sings about the latter’s preparation for the evening to kick off the 2nd half of Black Boy (Alternative) until the lead single“Rest of Your Life” assuring Dahi’s partner to take her time falling in love.
“Stand for Something” by Ant Clemons, Baby Rose & Jesse Boykins III finds the trio teaming up to sing of upholding a set of principles while the 4th & final single “Square Up” by Fousheé cautions the world will fuck you up with an uppercut if one’s searching for trouble they’re bound to find. “Drowning” by Elmiene & Ravyn Lenae finishes up Black Boy (Alternative) with a neo-soul duet about raising a child without care & sell the world a lie without fear.
Becoming a fan of his as a teenager, DJ Dahi created Black Boy (Alternative) as a love letter to his younger self obsessed with rock along with soul & West African music prior to knowing any of that would result in what he’s doing today after spending so much time pouring himself into everyone else’s visions. Fusing rock’s grittiness & soul’s heart with West African rhythms for 40 minutes, the extraordinaire gives the world a more honest yet playful look at the kind of music he grew up on & one that paves the way for an exciting solo career.
Everlast is a 57 year old rapper, singer/songwriter, & producer from Los Angeles, California by way of Long Island, New York who originally came up in the early 90s as the frontman of House of Pain & a founding member of La Coka Nostra. He would eventually go on to drop 8 solo efforts, with the Tommy Boy Records-backed sophomore effort Whitey Ford Sings the Blues being my personal favorite of the bunch. I was however excited to learn the Martyr Inc. Records founder 9th solo LP & first in a decade would be fully produced by Yelawolf.
“Losing Man’s Game” kicks things off with an Americana intro asking himself why he can’t walk away from this game he keeps playing where he never wins whereas “Never Coming Home” sings about being on the run over a country rock beat. “Mistaken Identity” takes a more somber approach instrumentally finding himself all alone in the streets of Los Angeles just before “My Hollywood” sings about being fed up with the small town life over some acoustics.
Meanwhile on “Broken Heart for Hire”, we have Whitey Ford detailing a kind of love that doesn’t work like it used to leading into “Stones” singing about the self-awareness of being fed up with & acknowledging it by claiming he’s sick of himself also. “Out of Your Way” kinda has this singer/songwriter flare to it putting us inside the shoes of a single, simple, lonely man who maintains a heart of gold & a broken soul while “Lies” sings about tightly holding his lover until the break of dawn.
“Rubber Bullets” gets the 2nd half of Embers to Ashes going making a country-flavored comparison between kinetic impact projectiles & real ammunition while the country rock-tinged “Every Dog Has It’s Day” sings about riding off in the sun because he was born to lose. “Ain’t Coming Home Tonight” finds himself callin’ a woman he argued with at 4 in the morning only for her to send him to voicemail while “Love Don’t Heal” sings about his heart being unfixable & trying to do so would be a waste of time.
The title track recalls going from champagne & crystal glasses to drinking cheap whiskey out of plastic while “1987” looks back at the times when nothing else mattered nearly 4 decades earlier going to house parties broke as fuck. “Happy it’s Can Cry” sings about every dark night meeting its dawn & after protecting his “Peace of Mind” instead of buying some time selling his soul, the outro “Young Man” ends Embers to Ashes singing of living this fast life getting old.
A large portion of Everlast’s material since the turn of the millennium already has either been average at best or underwhelming at worst, so Embers to Ashes seemed like it had all the right reasons of becoming his finest late-career statement & it’s certainly a comeback that makes the absolute most sense. Yelawolf’s production bases itself around Americana & bluesy roots-rock for passionate tales of glory grasped & lost, the sudden swerves that change a life’s trajectory & hard-earned wisdom & warnings. Listen to this instead of Stella Lefty’s awful debut Long Way Push.
Here we have the 4th studio LP albeit his 3rd under the $uicideboy$‘ very own G*59 Record$ from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada rapper, songwriter & producer Night Lovell. Emerging in 2014 when he dropped his debut EP I’ll Be Back & then following it up 4 months later with his debut mixtape Concept Vague, heads continued to turn in 2016 off the sophomore tape Red Teenage Melody & the 2019 full-length debut Goodnight Lovell. His sophomore effort & G*59 debut Just Say You Don’t Care was a step above the album before that, coming off I Hope You’re Happy to use My Blood as the Ink for his return.
“Sick & Tired” was a simply modest 2nd & final single talking about being fed up with people acting like they fuck with him when they really don’t amongst other issues like haters waiting for him to fold whereas “This Ain’t K-Pop” bombastically claps back at the artists who weren’t build for this shit. “Stranger” goes for a murkier trap vibe instrumentally talking about a solid muhfucka being hard to come by until explaining he sheds a “Gangsta Tear” every time he looks at the mirror.
We have Lovell over another dark trap beat during “Pawn Shop” talking about turning fuckboys into ghosts & people tryna take his spot just before the slower “Cigarette” admits there have been several times he’s considered callin’ it quits from music. “Fight Night at Gitanes” kicks off the 2nd half frighteningly talking about waking up every day to a whole different side of himself while “Bleed” discusses being trained to kill over a cloudier instrumental.
“Flip the Switch” nears closer towards the conclusion of My Blood as the Ink talking about people not understanding what he’s been through & exactly what it does to him but the “Message to You” skit, “Piñata” further embraces the trillwave aesthetics confessing he’s been learning to better himself in addition to life occasionally having it’s duller moments. “Run” wraps it all up with a cloudy trap lead single talking about having no time to focus on his own life.
I Hope You’re Happy was more positively received than Just Say You Don’t Care despite my personally appreciating it for the G*59 debut it was, but I feel like My Blood as the Ink could be Night Lovell’s weakest offering since joining the label. His songwriting & performances are there except I find the production largely uninteresting. If he hunkered down with someone like $crim or Dynox & even Chetta, then I believe he could make some of the most important music of his decade-plus career.
New quadruple 20th solo LP from Vallejo, California emcee, songwriter, entrepreneur, actor, occasional producer & Sick Wid It Records founder E-40. However: It’s his 27th album if you count Revenue Retrievin’: Day Shift & Night Shift, Revenue Retrievin’: Overtime Shift & Graveyard Shift, The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil, Vols. 1-3 & subsequently Vols. 4-6, Sharp On All 4 Corners & The D-Boy Diaries all as individual albums. Anyway some heads like to disrespect him, but he’s been putting it down for the Bay Area for over 3 decades at this point. My favorites in his catalog include In a Major Way, The Mail Man, The Element of Surprise, Charlie Hu$tle: The Blueprint of a Self Made Millionaire, My Ghetto Report Card & The Block Brochure series to name a few. Coming off Rule of Thumb being his most focused statement since, he’s not wasting any time Turning My Money Over.
“Cuttin’ Up” featuring Jason Martin formerly known as Problem kicks things off talking about staying sharper than a blade all day whereas “Car Dance” produced by Rick Rock shifts towards a hyphy vibe instrumentally looking to make people’s whips jump. “She Just Wanna Party” continues from there talking about a woman who merely likes to stay lit just before “Game Been Missing” featuring Larry June links up so they can give us what they feel like hip hop’s been lacking.
The 2nd single “Sum’n Ain’t Right” goes for a trap vibe instrumentally getting the feeling that something’s off leading into “Over Came ‘Em” featuring Celly Cel finds the pair on some Mobb shit talking about overcoming every obstacle thrown at them. “On Here Trippin’” discusses livin’ it up to the max & his belief of family extending broader than merely kin while “Keep Runnin’” featuring Peezy treads the rap rock waters talking about maintaining the grind.
“Come with Me” hooks up a woodwind-infused beat from none other than 40’s son Droop-E speaking of needing to be protected at all cost & having only a crumb at the early stages of his career while “Quicksand” featuring Havoc talks about making it out the struggles they faced in their respective hometowns of Vallejo & Queens. “Blessed” takes the hyphy route to express his gratitude for the hustler lifestyle while “Must Be the Lingo” talks about his unique slang.
As for “Certified”, we have 40 Water over another hyphy beat so he can confess to being souped up while “Talkin’ Crazy” challenges anyone to say something slick to him. “Trunk’s Alive” featuring B-Legit & Too $hort teams up so the trio can talk about the speakers in their rides making it seem like the cars they’re driving are floating while “Paint Where It Ain’t” boasts his pockets being swollen up in addition to smoking the dankest weed & painting up the town.
“Play If You Want” featuring Busta Rhymes talks about being the greatest for their own separate reasons over an energetic Murda Beatz instrumental while “Night in the Bay” featuring Anderson .Paak takes a smoother approach yearning to drive around the Bay Area with their significant others. “Stand Down” featuring G Perico & Puablo15 gets on some gangsta shit together over a Hit-Boy beat while “Soul of Vallejo” featuring DaBoii, LaRussell, Nef the Pharaoh & NyNy ends the 1st half of Turning My Money Over with a posse cut repping their city.
Kicking off the 2nd half, “Make the Speakers Go” fuses elements of hyphy & g-funk talking about having to work all his way up to the top while “Mastermind” made for a decent lead single likening him to a genius & having the block jumpin’ similarly to the combine. The self-produced “On Top” featuring Kokane talks about their paper staying long after going from the bottom of the barrel to the highest point while “Show You How to Love Me” gets romantic over a Mike & Keys and Jason Martin beat.
“Baptized” featuring D-Shot talks about keeping heat by their sides since it gets cold around their parts with a slapping hyphy instrumental accompanying them while “You See It” moderately flexes his materialistic riches. “Need That” featuring Hitta Slim reassures they’ll talk back if one ever mentions money in a conversation while “The Woo Wop” turns up the hyphy influences promising all his haters they’ll eventually meet their fate.
AzChike appears during the Mobb-inspired “Dreams & Shadows” talking about being the kind to take everything only to ask for more over some sampling chops while one of the weaker tracks “High Kickin’ In” hooks up this goofy reggae beat for stoner raps I’d consider average at best. “Trenches” aggressively tells us stories of what the streets of Vallejo are like while “Double Back” featuring Cousin Fik returns to a Mobb sound talking about neither of them acting right.
“Gamed Up University” takes us to a fictional campus he claims to be spooky & murky maintaining the Mobb scene’s core components in tact while “The Work” talks about him knowing who’s gonna win or fail & merely playing for keeps. “Hope I Lose” sends an eerily Mobb-flavored message to all the people who want you to fail than succeed while “Look at That” was another skipper since it sounds like a bland strip club anthem.
DJ Daryl gets behind the boards for “Sucka Ducking” featuring P-Lo talking about avoiding any cornball who attempts approaching them while “What Would 40 Say?” brings some g-funk undertones in the picture responding to that very question. “Get High” featuring Killer Mike was a far more entertaining weed smokers’s theme than “High Kickin’ In” was while “Lift You Up” wraps up the 4-disc experience reminding the world they’re dealing with a pro.
I do remember E-40 saying a Rule of Thumb 2 was gonna happen but regardless of whether or not it’s been scrapped like Parts 3 & 4 of Sharp On All 4 Corners were, Turning My Money Over was less enjoyable than it’s predecessor although by a slight margin. There is a fair share of impressive production, guest performances & 40 Water verses although I felt like the songs containing weaker instrumental palettes or features would make me want to come back to it as much as I’d like.
Alex Warren is a 25 year old singer/songwriter, YouTuber & influencer from Carlsbad, California known for co-founding the Hype House collective of TikTokers. He eventually signed to with Atlantic Records in 2022 & wouldn’t drop his double full-length studio debut You’ll Be Alright, Kid until last summer. One of the most unpleasant listening experiences I had the previous year despite the hit single “Ordinary” embodying what the Billboard charts have become, so him coming back 13 months later for a sophomore effort until the beginning of fall next month unsurprisingly doesn’t raise my expectations or had me expecting a whole lot outta it.
“Emerald Eyes” experiments with disco to kick things off singing about hopes of this woman never letting him go whereas “Same Stars” hooks up some pianos asking “How the same stars over my head are the same stars from the night that you left?”. The 3rd single “Passenger” falls flat at a pop rock, dance-pop & new wave cut describing the feeling of helplessness in a 1-sided relationship just before the final single “Rescuer” blends alt-pop & folk pop thanking this female for pulling him out of an emotional darkness.
We get hints of gospel on “Cry Wolf” singing about a fire igniting in his veins whenever he hears someone mentioning an ex-girlfriend who wound up hurting him while the 2nd single “Fine Place to Die” depicts the apocalypse mixing adult contemporary & pop soul. After the “Are You Having Fun, Alex?” skit, “I Miss You More” sings about an individual in his life who’s been away for some time & pondering the idea of fathering a girl while “Only Thing Left” assures his partner they’re out of fight instead of love.
“Fever Dream” weakly fuses pop rock, pop soul & stomp & holler for a lead single inspired by his wife while “Won’t Go Back Again” emphasizes the stomp & holler elements singing about being done with setting himself on fire for the sole purpose of keeping others up. “Last Time” has somewhat of an Americana flare to it wishing he would’ve sooner realized he’d see this person for the very last time & the title track ends Wildchild singing about not letting this cruel world take our light away.
In a way, I can actually commend Alex Warren for experimenting a lot more throughout his 2nd album than his debut did regardless of me liking it no better or worse than what he dropped 13 months earlier. The adult contemporary, pop rock, dance-pop, stomp & holler, new wave, disco, gospel, alt-pop & folk pop production’s somehow more uninteresting than You’ll Be Alright, Kid & the songwriting still doesn’t do much of captivating me despite him trying to turn up the intimacy in his music.
This is the 9th studio LP from Pleasant Hill, California singer/songwriter & actress Lex Walton. In almost a decade, she has dropped a total of 8 full-lengths & 4 extended plays including the Shame Music series as well as Girlfriends & most notably I Want You to Kill Me. I was however interested in learning that Ultimate Love Forever would reach the same pedestal the previously mentioned album did upon learning she had signed to the prominent Seattle, Washington indie label Sub Pop Records after her apartment had tragically burned down.
“For Thee I Sing” begins with this slacker rock intro interpolating “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” Samuel Francis Smith & discussing the US enacting fascist overreach whereas “Hipster Runoff” gives off a garage rock revival vibe critiquing Gavin McInnes. “Yr Op-Ed Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” includes an insane guitar solo towards the end after downing some bourbon while “USA = Fag Nation” suggests the world would be a better place if different people got shot.
Continuing the 2nd half of Ultimate Love Forever, the song “I Wish I Was an M80” sings about alienation blending slacker rock with indietronica & power pop while the lo-fi singer/songwriter crossover “Adrian Borland Will Have His Revenge on London” confesses she was on the verge of death when writing this. The title track properly concludes Ultimate Love Forever singing about the only thing she wants being a kind of affection that would last eternally.
I Want You to Kill Me still remains the most groundbreaking statement in Lex Walton’s decade-long career, but her Sub Pop debut Ultimate Love Forever will certainly appeal to fans of Jonathan Richman’s early material with The Modern Lovers from the mid-70s to late 80s or either one of the 2 extended plays Dollhouse have put out this decade. The slacker rock, noise pop, power pop, garage rock revival, noise rock, singer/songwriter & dance-punk revival production basically providing commentary on society’s decay from the perspective of a transgender woman living in a transphobic America.
This is the long-delayed 12th studio LP from Brooklyn, New York emcee, songwriter, producer & actor Busta Rhymes. A member of the Leaders of the New School, he would go on to turn heads in the spring of ‘92 off the strength of his verse on “Scenario” off of A Tribe Called Quest’s flawless sophomore effort The Low End Theory. The dragon would see greater success as a solo artist with full-lengths like The Coming, When Disaster Strikes…, E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front, Anarchy, Genesis & The Big Bang. However when E.L.E. 2 (Extinction Level Event 2): The Wrath of God dropped Devil’s Night 2020, it would find Busta returning to form considering the mixed to subpar reception of B.O.M.B.S. (Back On My Bullshit) & the panned Year of the Dragon backed by Cash Money Records. Blockbusta preluded by The Fuse is Lit were both treated to mixed-to-negative responses, looking to redeem himself with Dillagence II.
After the “Ma Dukes Speak Again” intro, “How the Boss Will Deliver” opens up with a ferocious 81 second freestyle preceding “Entry” featuring La Reezy joining forces over a boom bap instrumental laughing off the dummies going up against them. The lead single “Spazzz” co-produced by Black Milk & Kev Brown splits itself in 3 different sections for more hardcore penmanship while “Back Pain, Chest Pain, Head Pain” climbs another mountain in the midst of traumatizing people.
“Royalty” featuring Cie & Trillian finds the trio talking about there never being another version of either of them over a colorful boom bap beat just before the subdued “This Woman” featuring a hook from the late D’Angelo takes a more romantic approach conceptually & does it without sounding forced. “Shoo” returns to the boom bap tellin’ all these wack rappers they straight up need to get the fuck out the culture leading into the soulfully jazzy “Drugs” solely produced by Karriem Riggins likens his music to that of an addictive substance.
After the “Story of the Old Man” interlude, “Run ‘Em Down” gets the 2nd half going reminding the world who he is while “Lay Down” featuring T3 has him & Busta in their energetic hardcore bag together. “Wait 4 U” featuring Big Sean & Honey Bxby gets back on the pop rap tip although it’s one of the weaker tracks in the few exploring that style while “Kingpin (Knock Ya Head Off) featuring Anderson .Paak & Ludacris necessarily turns the aggressiveness back up.
“How You Want It” winds down the final act of Dillagence II making sure everything remains raw both lyrically & instrumentally while “Love & War” featuring Talib Kweli freestyles over “I Must Love You” by Guilty Simpson off his 2008 debut Ode to the Ghetto. The 2nd & final single “Talk Shit”featuring Lil Wayne samples “I Know You Got Soul”by Bobby Byrd featuring James Brown for a superior “Nirvana (Hello)” remix while “What We Got in Common” featuring Common preceding the “Ma Dukes & J Dilla’s Closing Word” outro wraps it all up with a 6 & a half minute closer.
Confirming the rumors of J Dilla giving Busta Rhymes over 300 beats prior to his passing, I’m happy he makes up for the excessive commercialization that made Blockbusta so disappointing & his sequel to the Dillagence mixtape would be placed above it’s predecessor for the best in the series in addition to being a step in the right direction for him like E.L.E. 2 (Extinction Level Event 2): The Wrath of God was 6 years earlier. He’s not trying too hard to appeal to a younger crowd like the previous album did, having a more consistent guest list joining him to bring their A-game over Dilla production.
Finally have the 4th studio LP from Montréal, Québec, Canada emcee, producer & engineer Mike Shabb in front of us. Emerging in the spring of 2018 off his full-length debut Northwave, he would continue to make his presence known by putting out a few extended plays & mixtapes before gaining notoriety for engineering Boldy James’ 5th album Fair Exchange No Robbery along with producing “Switches on Everything” off Hitler Wears Hermes X & enlisting his mentor Nicholas Craven to fully produce his 5th EP Shadow Moses. He would follow these up with Hood Olympics, Sewaside III, Shabb Van Gogh, Fight the Power!, Vrai Rap Keb!, the Drega33-produced Lost Tapes & Maple Flavored. The latter of which was ok compared to the others I named, coming off Hood Olympics 2 to drop Sewaside IV.
After the “Fiya Fi Dat!” intro, “Montreal!” begins with a soulfully jazzy ode to the city that made him preceding him going full “Jack Mode!” for the next track swapping out the jazzier elements in favor of a funkier vibe. “1,2,1,2” references the late WWE Hall of Famer Muhammad Ali’s motto for anyone looking to commit career suicide in a battle with him over an old school beat while “Tell ‘Em Again” dabbles with reggae sending love to all of his family out in New York.
We have Shabbo completely going hard with the sampling again on “Disco Duck III” continuing a trilogy in which Hood Olympics began & Shabb Van Gogh bridged while “Mr. Triggerman” gets on his gangsta rap shit over a crooning boom bap instrumental. “Conehead!” keeps it funky for more lyricism reminiscent of 90s hardcore east coast hip hop & so does “Tales from da Hood” except he’s recalling stories about his neck of the woods, assuming the saga will continue since it’s labeled “Part 1”.
“Boom It Up!” officially marks the halfway point of Sewaside IV speaking of getting rich like a muhfucka now as opposed to people doubting him & after the reggae-tinged “Mike Shabb Getting Married” interlude, “Leflaur Leflah!” homages one of the few tracks The Fab 5 have done with each other as a supergroup. “Ring-A-Round!” featuring Obijuan talks about keeping the guns & butter between them over some pianos while “85.5FM” featuring ANKHLEJOHN & Rvlr Magz gives us a hardcore intermission.
I felt like “Buckshot ‘26” was a dusty sequel to “Buckshot Flow ‘93” off Broken World while the jazzy “Bastard Child!” continues to give his flowers to the Boot Camp Clik. The other single “Dontsweatit!” featuring MIKE links up talking about walking through their own shadows & not letting detractors define who you are as a person until “Flowers!” takes a more smoother approach instrumentally yearning to show appreciation towards people while they’re still here.
“Reminisce!” returns to the boom bap looking back at him making it out of the jungles of Montréal & expressing his annoyance towards people hating for him being legitimate from the rip but after the celebratory “Party People!” outro, the bonus cut “Imnotakilla!” officially ends Sewaside IV with 1 last heater clocking at precisely 100 seconds basically getting in his shit-talking bag attacking those who ain’t getting bread or pussy daring them to pull up.
At the time, I really did believe Sewaside III was gonna conclude the saga & here we are 2 years later proving me wrong with what I’d consider the finest chapter of them all. Mike Shabb’s production takes heavy inspiration fromThe Bomb Squad similarly to what C-Doc did for Public Enemy last summer when Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025 dropped last summer & the lyricism calling back to Duck Down Music Inc.’s run 3 decades earlier.
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina emcee Rapsody is back for her 5th studio LP. Rising to prominence last decade with a handful of mixtapes & EPs, her 2012 debut album The Idea of Beautiful continued to show her potential until the Roc Nation Records-backed Laila’s Wisdom in 2017 truly refined her style & sound almost perfectly. 2 years later, she signed to Def Jam Recordings releasing EVE to similar acclaim, coming off Please Don’t Cry to explain God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops.
After the “Peace, God!” intro, “Free Yo’ Mind” produced by mR. pOrTeR kicks things off on a funky note suggesting maybe she’s too humble or has too much ego & trauma in her search for freedom whereas “No Way” goes for a tropical vibe instrumentally dissing DJ Vlad & No Jumper for being culture vultures. The 2nd & final single “Apple Juice” blends neo-soul & jazz rap for an ode to the late D’Angelo leading into “Never Break” shifts towards a drumless approach showing us an indestructible heart.
We have the lead single “God Gotta Afro” experimenting with industrial hip hop & electro so she can talk about shattering dreams & duckin’ schemes just before “OMG! (Love to Sun Ra)” presents us a psychedelic love letter to none other than the late avant-garde jazz icon himself. “Black Love” featuring No Malice discusses Afrocentrism over some soulful background vocals & finger snaps while “Pick a Side” featuring Amanda Reifer hits the midway point talking about individuals hiding the truth away because they have privileges they ignore.
“Abandoned Me” kicks off the 2nd half on a cavernous synth-driven beat clapping back at a guy who’s angry because she put up boundaries he can no longer get around while “The Peejaays” by MadRaps talks about about the projects on top of this heavenly Madlib instrumental. “You!” proves to the crowd who doesn’t like trap that she can very much kill it over that sound exemplified by the hunger in her cutthroat delivery while “Black is Beautiful” by MadRaps tackles the Afrocentric subject matter once more.
The song “Pretty Bird” preceding the “Way U R” interlude remembering his niece’s girl who passed away asking to capture a picture of what it’s like beyond the light & singing at her wonder of love lost while the upbeat “Joyful” attempts at making the crowds dance, refuting the claim people don’t do it anymore. “Act II: Bloodline / Growing Older” wraps up God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops with a 6 & a half minute 2-parter talking about having the patience of an old timer.
Conceived when she took a vacation to Ghana, it made Rapsody look at the US rewriting history through whitewashing & that eventually resulted in God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops landing right behind Laila’s Wisdom for my 2nd favorite album in her discography. mR. pOrTeR handling a vast majority of the production other than a few tracks makes me happy as a Detroit native who feels like he can be underappreciated behind the boards, providing the right musical backdrops for Rapsody to preserve African American stories & truths.
Legends Will Never Die 