Byzantine – “Harbingers” review

Byzantine is a groove metal, thrash metal & metalcore band from Charleston, West Virginia consisting of bassist Ryan Postlethwait, drummer Matt Bowles, lead guitarists Brian Henderson & Tony Rohrbough and finally frontman/rhythm guitarist Chris Ojeda. Forming during the beginning of the new millennium, they would put out 5 LPs together until signing with Metal Blade Records almost a decade ago & making their debut for the label on The Cicada Tree. Nearly 7 years after Chris’ solo debut Lullabyz, the band’s getting back together for their 7th full-length album & Metal Blade sophomore effort.

“Consequentia” begins with some guitars & clean vocals singing about being frozen in time eternally along with tomorrow bringing what today has made whereas “A Place We Cannot Go” turns up the heaviness so they can tackle the ever growing problem of mass shootings in the U.S., particularly in schools. The lead single “Floating Chrysanthema” details a bleak dystopian future when AI overpowers mankind & enslaves us all just before “The Clockmaker’s Intention” heavily bases it’s subject matter around the S-Town podcast.

Chris & company pull inspiration from the thrash subgenre during “Riddance” while the title track reads as a jab towards the Trump administration since literally everyone who’s a part of it represents the song’s message: Greedily doing everything they can to maintain power. “The Unobtainable Sleep” was a poetically dark choice of a single telling a story about pursuing serenity through death & after “Kobayashi Maru” bases itself around the fictional training exercise from the Star Trek franchise, “Irene” rounds it all out with an acoustic outro singing about Empress Irene of Athens.

Looking to raise the stakes with a revitalized lineup, Byzantine puts all of their chips on the table during Harbingers now that they have much more insight on what they needed to do to really make a push after many fumbles they’ve encountered during their career spanning a quarter of a century for this conceptual opus revolving around a maternal ruler. It marks a significant shift in the thrash/groove metal & metalcore outfit’s process testifying their resilience & creative evolution as a unit far enough where those in the metal community who’ve been sleeping on the Lamb of God affiliates all this time will finally be awoken.

Score: 4/5

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The Bug Club – “Very Human Features” review

The Bug Club is an indie rock duo from Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom consisting of guitarist/vocaliat Sam Willmett & bassist/vocalist Tilly Harris. Emerging earlier in the decade off 3 EPs & a couple full-lengths, they would go on to sign with Sub Pop Records last summer for their previous LP On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System becoming widely received for it’s additional influences of garage rock along with post-punk revival & slacker rock. It’s been over 9 months since they made their debut for the label & are back in time for summer on their 4th album.

“Full Grown Man” picks up on the garage rock vibes singing about not knowing how to live alone whereas “Twirling in the Middle” incorporates more raw, energetic, simply employed, sloppy & fuzzbox-distorted guitars to do the rocksteady. “Jealous Boy” was a great lead single choice addressing expectations & comparisons with a loud-quiet-loud garage rock structure to it leading into while the vividly post-punk “Young Reader” suggests you don’t have to live like this since it’s a matter of principle.

Sam & Tilly experiment with glam rock during “Beep Boop Computers” singing about interpersonal relationships & experiences just before the title track subtitled “Muck” combining some of the folkier spoken word elements of Rare Birds: Hour of Song so they can concentrate deeply on one’s place in the world today. “When the Little Choo Choo Train Toots His Little Horn” pleads to be dunked in the water again due to them still feeling like monsters while the 2nd single “How to Be a Confidante” teaches everyone what they gotta do to become a close friend.

“Living in the Future” heads back to the garage taking pride in themselves for being overly focused on what might happen down the line instead of the current moment, but then “Tales of a Visionary Teller” refuses to show the taste of bitter practice offending their inner senses under any condition. “The Sound of Communism” aesthetically has an admirable Paul McCartney flare to it having fun with no regrets until “Blame Me” admits to them not believing in social consciousness with some catchy guitar melodies.

The 3rd & final single “Appropriate Emotions” manages to pull the suitable moods for a homosapien to feel in situations like the one they’re in as we speak sounding completely removed from the human experience as they possibly could’ve & despite “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales?” not being included, I still wanted to give it some props for being a joyous new ode to The Bug Club’s beloved home country chock full of regionally referential songwriting.

Presenting themselves as a collective mind even with only 2 members remaining, the band’s Sub Pop sophomore effort expands on the experimental tones of their 1st offering for the label getting more layered & complex than they did almost a year ago. Steve & Tilly create more of a pastoral atmosphere with the raw indie rock, post-punk, garage rock, slacker rock & occasional glam rock production, amplifying the storytelling through the songwriting looking closer at the smaller things in life & delving deeper into the creativity they’ve connected themselves to almost a decade after forming.

Score: 4/5

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Juicy J – “Live & in Color” review

This is the 9th studio LP from Memphis, Tennessee rapper, songwriter, producer & record executive Juicy J. Rising to stardom in the 90s as the co-founder of the seminal Three 6 Mafia alongside his Tear Da Club Up Thugs cohorts DJ Paul & the late Lord Infamous, he’s also had the most successful solo career out of everyone in the Mafia whether it be the Taylor Gang Entertainment/Columbia Records-backed Stay Trippy & Rubba Band Business: The Album or more recently Crypto Business & Mental Trillness. The latter & it’s sequel noticeably taking on a more serious tone than some of Juicy’s latest material, taking a good chunk of it’s time coping with Gangsta Boo’s untimely passing. Coming off the mature Ravenite Social Club, he’s having Logic fully produce Live & in Color.

The title track sets it off with a boom bap instrumental asking if you understand getting money with the rest of the hood whereas “Get Right” featuring Project Pat works in a psychedelic sample keeping his back against the wall. After the first of many “Discussion” interludes, “Big Bag Talk” finds himself back in the basement to show off his riches just before “The Problem” featuring Logic himself after the “Discussion 2” interlude soulfully brings the pair together to discuss coming from nothing.

“Shame” featuring Logic once again brings a trap vibe to the beat from Bobby Boy Records in-house producer 6 suggesting you watch them kick their feet up after rolling their weed up & after the “Discussion 3” interlude, “We Live” returns to the boom bap talking about striving for something better. After the “Discussion 4” interlude, “Kill For” heads for a dustily exuberant approach flexing that he’s lived a life many wish they had leading into the 2-parter “& Did” immediately following the Discussion 5” interlude focusing on motion instead of pussy.

Chipmunk soul & boom bap collide with each other during “Flowers” talking about the samples getting his daughters through college but after the “Discussion 6” interlude, “20 Years Later” featuring Logic & Project Pat swaps out the boom bap elements in favor of trap sticking to the codes to this very day like they did 2 decades prior while “Fame” suggests to not let the internet mislead you & allow him to do all the guiding since Juicy’s a product of his people.

After the “Discussion 7” interlude, “Black Rothstein” featuring Wiz Khalifa likens themselves to Arnold Rothstein of the Jewish Mob over an instrumental meshing soul & trap with each other 1 last time until the final song “I Need a Hug” ahead of the “Discussion 8” outro properly ending Live & in Color by telling his late mother to take a good look at him because he’s genuinely trying figuring out if she can even hear him from the pearly gates.

Saving only 3 verses, Logic takes a backseat on the mic for a good portion of Live & in Color in favor of opting to focus more on the production side of things & that to me is actually a great call because this is almost on the same enjoyability level as Juicy’s jazz rap album 10 months ago. Bobby’s production in spite of the ridiculous amount of “Discussion” interludes tightly balances boom bap, trap & chipmunk soul during the course of 13 tracks displaying both sides of the Three 6 co-founder whether it’s the maturity of his recent output for fun trap joints to play when you’re out having fun.

Score: 4/5

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Apathy – “Mom & Dad” review

In front of us is the 10th studio LP from Connecticut underground MC/producer Apathy. Emerging only 2 decades back as a member of the Demigodz & the Army of the Pharaohs collectives founded by Open Mic & Vinnie Paz respectively, he was also signed to Atlantic Records at one point even though he eventually left due to creative differences. Since then The Alien Tongue has built up quite the solo discography on his own, with my favorites being Honkey Kong! as well as The Widow’s Son or more recently Where the River Meets the Sea & King of Gods. No Second fully produced by Stu Bangas. Connecticut Casual 2 mostly produced by Playa Haze was a highly worthy successor to Connecticut Casual last spring, getting ready for the summer by remembering his Mom & Dad.

“The Great Flood” featuring Little Vic & Suave-Ski recalls a series of severe floods that affected various regions of the U.S. roughly 4 decades ago whereas “Shore Life” keeps the trio together for a self-produced boom bap joint reminiscing on what it was like for them growing up in the east coast. “Put the Money in a Bag” featuring Little Vic produced by Playa Haze finds the pair sticking together so they can talk about hustling to the point of exhaustion just before “All Good” soulfully suggests you holla at him if you need anything.

Slaine of La Coka Nostra appears on “Blue Collar Scholar” to talk about the kind of art they make in a world built on lies over a sample-driven boom bap instrumental while the title track goes drumless referring to the President & First Lady of the U.S. during a bulk of the 80s as his parents. “Vintage Canvas” slickly cracks the code without having to go into practice mode, but then “Old Lyme Like Old Times” featuring Ryu gives off a laidback approach to the beat talking about letting the champagne blast off.

“Summer at the Shore” chops up a soul sample so he can confess that he’s getting sick of getting his fingers dirty from counting money & sleeping with his wife in high fashion declaring themselves as slaves of consumerism while “1 Crown” returns to the boom bap wanting to know the possibility of people who’ve never been great relating to what he’s saying. “Lee Harv” featuring a verse & production from Little Vic sees the 2 warning you’ll get shot in front of the world as if it’s JFK’s assassination & “Whalers” wraps it all up with some woodwinds using the same scale they use to weigh the whales with.

Coalmine Records has teamed with Anchors Up Records formerly Dirty Version Records to uncover Ap’s biggest memory growing up in the 80s, which was during Ronald Reagan’s presidency because he feels as if he was raised by the actor turned politician & his widow even though neither one of them were related to him. Meshing the nostalgia of the very decade that raised The Alien Tongue & socio-political commentary, the underground veteran takes it up a notch with the personal topics going from expanding on the state that made him last spring to reflecting on the Reagan administration’s impact on his life felt to this day.

Score: 4/5

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Tha God Fahim – “Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 13” review

Another EP from Atlanta, Georgia emcee/producer Tha God Fahim & the 2nd in less than a week, marking the 61st in his discography. Starting as an affiliate of Griselda Records as well as being 1/3 of the Dump Gawds alongside Mach-Hommy & Your Old Droog, we also can’t ignore the massive output that he’s managed to build for himself, some of the standouts include Breaking Through tha Van Allen Belts & Dump Assassins. He’s been releasing amongst his best material in the past few years like the Camoflauge Monk-produced Dark Shogunn Assassin, the Nature Sounds-backed Iron Bull, the Nicholas Craven-produced Dump Gawd: Shot Clock King series, the Oh No-produced Berserko, the Mike Shabb-produced Dump Gawd: Rhyme Pays, Tha Supreme Hoarder of All Pristine Wealth, Supreme Dump Legend: Soul Cook Saga produced by Cookin’ Soul & Machine Gun Vocabulary produced by Cartune Beatz. He just had Drega33 produce Lethal Weapon 3 this past Friday & returning with the 13th entry in the Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap saga.

“Render Punishment” is this piano-boom bap intro talking about gaining a piece of mind surviving in these current times of protest in Los Angeles whereas the soulful “Twisted Metal” featuring Ru$h homages the video game franchise TV adaption with it’s upcoming 2nd season on the Comcast Corporation subsidiary NBCUniversal-owned peacock & the franchise’s mascot being played by former AEW World Champion & 2-time AEW TNT Champion Samoa Joe of the current AEW World Trios Champions The Opps.

The drums get stripped on “Hold the Throne” catching bodies in the studios & feeling ungodly maintaining a chipmunk soul vibe just before “Smoke in Mirrors” continues the drumless sampling to talk about profit being essential to his mental being. “Brand New” hooks ups a crooning sample chop looking to boomerang interest in his opps leading into the jazzy “It’s Automatic” boasting about his raps being cinematic.

“I’m Leavin with Sum” lastly wraps up the EP leveling up his rhyme schemes a couple notches notable when starts by referencing being wittier than Michael Scofield from Prison Break on the Fox Corporation’s flagship property & leavin’ enemies with their throats slit during the final seconds giving the wisdom of preferring a 9-5 instead of going broke. Couldn’t forget to mention the spoken word outro where he touches on always getting to himself something.

Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 13 is a lot like the predecessor in terms of the jazzy, boom bap & drumless production except it’s not another Jay NiCE collaborative effort & maybe the most I’ve enjoyed an EP in the series since Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 10 because of the performances Fahim handles by himself for most of it. Wouldn’t surprise me if he does a collab EP with Ru$h because I’d actually welcome it if that is in fact planned at any point.

Score: 4.5/5

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Tha God Fahim – “Lethal Weapon 3” review

This is the 60th EP from Atlanta, Georgia emcee/producer Tha God Fahim. Starting as an affiliate of Griselda Records as well as being 1/3 of the Dump Gawds alongside Mach-Hommy & Your Old Droog, we also can’t ignore the massive discography that he’s managed to build for himself, some of the standouts include Breaking Through tha Van Allen Belts & Dump Assassins. He’s been putting out amongst his best material in the past few years like the Camoflauge Monk-produced Dark Shogunn Assassin, the Nature Sounds-backed Iron Bull, the Nicholas Craven-produced Dump Gawd: Shot Clock King series, the Oh No-produced Berserko, the Mike Shabb-produced Dump Gawd: Rhyme Pays, Tha Supreme Hoarder of All Pristine Wealth, Supreme Dump Legend: Soul Cook Saga produced by Cookin’ Soul & Machine Gun Vocabularyproduced by Cartune Beatz. He & Jay NiCE linked for their 2nd collab EP Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 12 last weekend & Drega33’s back to produce Lethal Weapon 3.

“Against the Grain” was a piano-driven boom bap intro talking about contrasting the natural inclination to slay wack rappers by the boatload whereas the soulful “Caught My Eye” became an unexpected yet welcoming turn of things getting in his sensual bag lyrically. “Free Speech” embraces a heavily jazzier sound showing gratitude he’s still alive by the ocean side while “Carnage” gets back on the chipmunk soul tip telling us how he lives.

The song “DNA” gets the ball rollin’ on the final 10 minutes of Lethal Weapon 3 fusing chipmunk soul & jazz rap into 1 talking about being supernatural while “Foot the Bill” talks about watching these chumps squeal in their own blood. “Each Passing Day” heads for a chipmunk soul direction once again suggesting opposites detaching as much as they attract & the crooning outro “Championship Status” talks about the proper steps it takes to become a champion.

Compared to both its predecessor, the trilogy chapter in the Lethal Weapon saga preludes Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 13with the most detailed entry of the series. Drega33’s production is more jazzier than Lethal Weapon 2, harking back to the original Lethal Weapon except he’s meshing it with chipmunk soul to backdrop a deadlier Fahim.

Score: 4/5

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Seth MacFarlane – “Lush Life” review

Seth MacFarlane is a 51 year old actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian & singer from Kent, Connecticut notable for being the creator of Family Guy on the Fox Corporation’s flagship property & American Dad! set to move back to the network it premiered on in 2026 after a decade on the Discovery Global-owned tbs. He’s also known for his directional debut ted during the end of my freshman year of high school voicing the titular character & airing a prequel series on the Comcast Corporation subsidiary NBCUniversal owned peacock. Couldn’t forget to mention the 7 vocal jazz albums he has put out under Republic Records & getting to perform lost arrangements for his musical idol in Reprise Records founder Frank Sinatra over the course of his 8th LP.

A rendition of “Give Me the Simple Life” introduced from the film Wake Up & Dream almost 8 decades ago next winter really opens up on the Lush Life from there whereas “I Never Felt This Way Before” waits & ponders where the love of his life is over some delicate string sections. The title track essentially serves as a cover of a jazz standard Billy Strayhorn wrote in the early/mid 1930s prior to “Flying Down to Rio” giving a big band vibe for the theme of a nonagenarian pre-code musical.

“How Did She Look?” feels like a counterpart to a song Joan Merrill made in the 40s asking about the well being of his ex-fiancée that he hasn’t seen in over a year or so after someone he knew ran into her while “Who’s in Your Arms Tonight?” wants to know who’s listening to lies coming out of lips divined over a harmonious choir behind. “A Wonderful Day Like Today” fuses big band & vocal jazz defying any dark clouds to hover on top of him just before “When Joanna Loved Me” covers a composition Tony Bennett popularized.

7 Hills of Rome gets its flowers to start the 3rd & final act of Lush Life with Seth’s own version of “Arrivederci Roma” performed in the 1958 musical leading into “Hurry Home” setting the worrisome tone with some woodwinds & chordophones asking tor his partner to return back as quickly as she can because of him feeling all alone. “Ain’tcha Ever Coming Back?” & “No More Shadows” both tie up the full-length with covers honoring the memories of both Peggy Lee & Erroll Garner respectively.

For a collection of arrangements originally written for Come Fly With Me & Only the Lonely that were left on the cutting room floor, the Fuzzy Door Productions founder gears up for The Naked Gun 4 next month starring the likes of Liam Neeson & the previous WWE Champion Cody Rhodes to name a couple with a vocal jazz album surpassing Music’s Better Than Words at the start of my freshman year of high school. Seth MacFarlane’s warm expressive vocals breathe new life into these carefully preserved outtakes like it’s a time capsule opened for the first time ever.

Score: 4/5

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Lil Wayne – “Tha Carter VI” review

New Orleans, Louisiana emcee, singer/songwriter, record executive & entrepreneur Lil Wayne continuing one of his most beloved sagas on his 14th studio LP. Signing to Cash Money Records at the very age of 9, he would go on to become 1/2 of The B.G.’z as well as 1/4 of the Hot Boy$ & 1/6 of the Cash Money Millionaires. His first 3 solo albums Tha Block is Hot, Lights Out & 500 Degreez were average at best but we then found him improving in the mid 2000’s with Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, Dedication, Dedication 2, Da Drought 3 & my personal favorite Tha Carter III. He then started his own label Young Money Entertainment & followed his magnum opus up with a God awful “rock” album Rebirth along with the mediocre I Am Not a Human Being. He was able to bounce back in 2011 with Tha Carter IV, but things looked rough once again with the horrendous I Am Not a Human Being II in 2013 & then being entangled in legal issues with Cash Money from 2014-2018. Wayne eventually broke free from Birdman & was able to release Tha Carter V in 2018 to celebrate his 36th birthday returning to form. Funeral however was a step-down in comparison & Tha Carter VI has finally come over 5 years later.

After the “King Carter” intro, the first song “Welcome to Tha Carter” was a soulful boom bap intro eating rappers he’s already heard as if they’re appetizers whereas “Bells” samples “Rock the Bells” by LL Cool J to boast how hot he’s been on the mic for 2 decades almost. “Hip Hop” featuring Jay Jones works in a trap instrumental from Infamous & Einer Bankz with a vocal sample for a representation of the culture that I’d like more without Jay’s verse while “Sharks” featuring Big Sean & Jelly Roll finds the trio talking about snakes not always hiding in the grass over a guitar-based beat from Boi-1da.

“Banned from New Orleans” featuring Nicki Minaj on the remix gets in their dirty south bag flexing that they’re sellin’ chromes to bricks out here leading into “The Days” recalling being in a hospital bed after one of the countless epileptic seizures he’s had since childhood blending rap rock & boom bap together. “Cotton Candy” by ColleGrove interestingly fuses jazz, trap & pop rap all into 1 for a collab that’s primarily compared to most of what was on Welcome to ColleGrove even with the reference to former IWGPヘビー級チャンピオン as well as a 10-time WWE world champion & former UFC Heavyweight Champion in both TKO Group Holdings divisions Brock Lesnar just before “Flex Up” continues with a mildly boastful cloud rap cut.

One of my least favorites easily has to be “Island Holiday” & not because of the subject matter of getting away on vacation, but rather because of the performances heavily slathered in auto-tune. “Loki’s Theme” turns up the rap rock influences courtesy of DJ Clue? of all people to my surprise talking about getting it out the mud while the acoustic “If I Played Guitar” throws it back to “How to Love” down to the sung vocals a little except not as good.

“Peanuts 2 N Elephant” links up with Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame for a spiritual successor to “6 Foot 7 Foot” featuring Cory Gunz with what sounds like a Crash Bandicoot level while “Rari” hops over a joyous trap instrumental from Wheezy talking about driving around Los Angeles in a sports car. “Maria” featuring Wyclef Jean hooks up an opera sample from the latter discussing a party girl waking up in the underworld while “Bein’ Myself” stays true to himself over a soulful Mannie Fresh beat.

The song “Mula Komin’ In” featuring Wayne’s son Lil Novi has little to no presence from Weezy F. Baby other than his verse at the backend of it although I very much appreciate what he was trying to do giving more exposure to Novi’s own music career while “Alone in the Studio with a Gun” featuring Kodak Black & MGK sticks out as the worst collab here since Young Money General washes both of the guests on it. “Written History” finishes C6 with spoken word passages from the late WWE Hall of Famer Muhammad Ali speaking on his legacy in hip hop while “Momma Don’t Worry” featuring Lil Baby advises their mothers not to stress out since they birthed real ones over an ATL Jacob instrumental.

Some will argue that him signing Drake & Nicki has tainted Wayne’s legacy considering “Big Foot” & “The Heart 6” have both been mocked equally as much as “Ghoulish”, to which I understand completely. Anyway, I went into Tha Carter VI with fingers crossed that it would reach the level of quality as Tha Carter V did 7 years ago & it makes me sad to call this the weakest installment of the series. Weezy can very much rap his ass off & I won’t deny that, my issues are more towards some of the guests & production choices.

Score: 1.5/5

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McKinley Dixon – “Magic, Alive!” review

McKinley Dixon is a 29 year old MC & singer from Richmond, Virginia introducing himself in the early mid-2010s off his first couple EPs Nappy Headed & Peter Truman followed by the full-length debut album Who Taught You to Hate Yourself? & The Importance of Self Belief. The spring of 2021 marked his breakthrough in the underground largely due to For My Mama & Anyone Who Look Like Her, which Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? elevated a couple summers later & his 5th LP hopes to tie up some loose ends of it’s predecessors.

“Watch My Hands” was a brief 106 second drumless intro splittin’ through seasons hopin’ all parts eventually collide whereas “Sugar Water”featuring Quelle Chris heads for a jazz rap/neo soul approach instrumentally offering their souls so they can finally have peace. “Crooked Stick” featuring Ghais Guevara takes a bit of a boom bap direction with the beat flexing their legacies are eternal despite the envious wanting to sabotage until the experimental 2-parter “Recitatif” featuring Teller Bank$ dismisses the notion of being civilians.

The sequel to “Run, Run, Run” works in some pianos & live drumming confident he’ll be celebrated when his squad step back on the street & after “We’re Outside, Rejoice!” turns the jazz rap influences back up again hoisting up the child born under the sun advising they hide all cracks in their voice when yellin’ at the sky, “All the Loved Ones (What Would We Do???)” featuring ICECOLDBISHOP & Pink Siifu is this funky, cloudy hybrid talking about their mamas beating each other’s asses if they don’t stop playin’ with ‘em.

“F.F.O.L. (Fist Full of Light)” featuring Teller Bank$ blends these woodwinds & brass usin’ the generational words of their grandfathers just before “Listen Gentle” takes pennies from his thoughts & turns it into $100K. The title track suggests you get in the whip with him because of his plan to make it so his homies stay immortal & “Could’ve Been Different” featuring Blu finishes with them staring out the window, pray their wings can hold their frame.

Magic, Alive! feels the breathtakingly concluding trilogy chapter that For My Mama & Anyone Who Look Like Her began & Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?bridged telling the story of 3 kids who lose their best friend & facing the subsequent turmoil. McKinley & his guests’ consciously abstract performances contemplate what constitutes magic in all forms meshing the sounds of jazz rap occasionally influenced by the lo-fi hip hop pioneer & one of my top 10 producers ヌジャベス, neo-soul, urban contemporary gospel, orchestral music, experimental hip hop, industrial hip hop, hardcore hip hop, rap rock, cool jazz, drumless & cloud rap.

Score: 4.5/5

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Little Simz – “Lotus” review

London, England, United Kingdom emcee, singer & actress Little Simz releasing her 5th album a month after its initial date. Getting her start at the beginning of the 2010s, she would go on to drop 4 mixtapes & 10 EPs alongside all of her previous LPs. GREY Areashowed some serious artistic evolution & S.I.M.B.I. (Sometimes I Might Be Introvert) wound up being my 2021 Album of the Year, even giving a perfect 10. The follow-up No Thank You barely made it on my Best of 2022 list since it came out days after my 26th birthday, finally giving space for the Lotus to bloom.

“Thief” essentially starts off by dissing Inflo after giving her a £1.7M loan in 2023 that she has yet to pay back whereas “Flood” fuses post-punk, art punk, afro-rock, psychedelic rock & experimental hip hop asking to be kept away from Satan’s palm walking a wicked ground. “Young” was my least favorite single of them all despite the blend post-punk & new wave with dance-punk & chap hop in addition to the humorous lyrics, but then the crooning “Only” talks about about solely having love in her heart.

Neo-soul, jazz rap & pop rap collide on “Free” highlights the power of love to set people free in contrast to fear just before “Peace” strips the drums completely so she can talk about finding her peace of mind. “Hollow” keeps it drumless suggests the individual she has in mind is for the cult instead of the culture referring to gaslighting as the work of a deeply insecure person while “Lion” goes for a jazz rap vibe talking about caring less of what they say.

“Enough” warns to not make her pull the plug since she’s fed up bringing a dance vibe to the table instrumentally leading into “Blood” featuring Cashh & Wretch 32 talking about family being their armor in the muddiest of waters. The title track predicts a long night ahead if she’s gonna get high going from being in hiding to the mountains while “Lonely” talks about the loneliness she feels making 4 versions of Lotus as a result. “Blue” ends with 1 more drumless cut advising to carry on with the light at end.

One of my homies Oojadan out in New Orleans once said to me that Little Simz deserves the same amount of respect that Doechii’s getting & I can agree on it since she has a flawless album in this decade. Nevertheless, Lotus reflects the evolving artistry of the London trailblazer & showcasing life’s intricate phases through neo-soul, conscious hip hop, jazz rap, afro-funk, experimental hip hop, afrobeat, psychedelic soul, post-punk, art-punk, afro-punk, pop rap, dance-punk, chap hop & new wave.

Score: 4.5/5

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