Run the Jewels – “Run the Jewels 4” review

Run the Jewels are a super-duo consisting of Killer Mike & El-P. They first crossed paths with each other in 2012 when the latter produced Mike’s 5th album R.A.P. (Rebellious African People) Music in it’s entirety, but came together officially the following year with a self-titled debut. Their sophomore album in 2014 is my personal favorite though, as it’s a lot darker. Last we heard from Mike & El-Producto together in a full-length capacity was in 2016 with their much more political 3rd album but in classic Run the Jewels, they’re releasing their long awaited 4th album a couple days early.

Things kick off with “yankee & the brave (ep. 4)”, where the duo display their chemistry over an abstract chaotic instrumental. The next song “ooh la la” with Greg Nice sees the 3 talking about over a piano-inflicted boom bap beat while the track “out of sight” with 2 Chainz talks about being menaces over a vintage rap rock instrumental. The song “holy calamafuck” is a dark shit-talking anthem with a phenomenal beat switch about halfway through while the track “goonies vs. E.T.” talks about having another chance over an abrasive instrumental.

The song “walking in the snow” is pretty much a well-timed response George Floyd’s recent murder over a dynamic instrumental while the track “JU$T” with Zack de la Rocha of course talks about the industry over a Neptunes-influenced beat which is fitting because Pharrell kills it with his additional vocals. The song “never look back” talks about moving on from the past over a futuristic instrumental while “the ground below” talks about how love never meant much to them backed by an amazing sample of “Ether” by Gang of 4. The penultimate song “pulling the pin” cleverly uses grenades as a metaphor for their hearts over an instrumental with a cavernous instrumental with phenomenal guitar playing from Josh Homme & then the album finishes off with “a few words for the firing squad (radiation)”, where Killer Mike & El-P make an epic dedication to those whose voices were never heard over a more minimalist instrumental.

These guys now have 4 consecutive classics together, because this did not disappoint me at all. I love how they took all the elements of their first 3 albums & fused them all together into 1 near-perfect 39 minute album. The production is off the wall, their chemistry is unmatched at this point & the political commentary is perfect for everything that’s going in the world right now.

Score: 4.5/5

Apathy – “The Widow’s Son” review

Almost 6 months after the release of Perestroika’s self-titled debut, Army of the Pharaohs & Demigodz member Apathy is at last giving fans his long-awaited 6th full-length album. The opener “The Spellbook” sees Ap spits angry battle bars over a haunting beat & then the next song “CHAOS” brags about his rapping prowess about over a jazzy boom bap beat from Stu Bangas. The track “Never Fall Off” with A.G. sees the 2 talking about their longitivtiy over some glorious strings. The titular song with Ryu gets conscious over a grimy rap rock beat while the track “The Order” is a menacing attack towards his enemies over an grimy boom bap beat from none other than DJ Premier.

The song “Alien Weaponry” raps about his rapping prowess over an eerie Nottz beat & then the track “Hypnosis” sees Ap spitting knowledge over a soulful instrumental. The song “I Keep On” with Pharoahe Monch sees the 2 lyrical beasts battle rapping each other over a Pete Rock instrumental with some keys & a funky bassline. The track “A View of Hell (View from Hell)” gets lyrically murderous over a gritty beat from Buckwild while the track “Fist of the North Star” with Diabolic is a vicious diss to wack rappers over a boom bap/rock fused beat.

The track “Stomp Rappers” with Celph Titled & M.O.P. gets into battle rap mode over a grimy instrumental while the song “Legend of the 3rd Degree” sees Ap giving more knowledge over an ominous beat. The penultimate track “Rise & Shine” with Locksmith talking about killing wack rappers & I love the horns throughout. Also, the soul sample during the hook is beautiful. The album then finishes off perfectly with “Obi Wan”, which is a heart-wrenching tribute to Apathy’s father over a gloomy beat.

It’s been a long time coming, but this might be Apathy’s magnum opus. Of course it’s gonna be angry & rawly produced but conceptually, it’s probably his smartest one yet.

Score: 4.5/5

Big Hoodoo – “asylum” review

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This is the 4th studio LP from Detroit, Michigan emcee Big Hoodoo. Originally coming up as Doe Dubbla. Under that original moniker, he put out a double-disc full-length debut in 2008 called Stack’n & later followed it up with Hiatus in 2012. However it wouldn’t be until 2013 when Dubbla signed Psychopathic Records, put out his 3rd album Crystal Skull that summer & became the black magic practitioner that he is today. 3 years later, he’s taking y’all through the asylum.

After a 2 minute intro, we finally get into the first song with the title track. Here, Hoodoo gets confrontational over a haunting instrumental. The next song “Runnin’ from My Magic” telling the listener to witness his illumination over some creepy keys & a super funky bass-line. Also, the Mystikal nod at the beginning of the first verse was really cool. The next 2 songs “I Bring Death” & “The Yard” get murderous over eerie beats, but I think the first one does a better job at it minus the nasal hook from Young Wicked.

Then on “Out My Mind”, he talks about insanity over a semi-druggy instrumental. Also, the line about a hoe telling him his jizz was delicious at the beginning of the final verse was pretty hilarious to me. The track “Boom Boom Piggy” disses crooked cops over a menacing instrumental & the song “Go Get ‘Em” sees Tha Hav Knots angrily attacking at their enemies with an instrumental & hook that will get you in the mood to fight. The track “Calm Down” may have uplifting instrumental, but everything else about it is just alright outside of that.

“Monster Squad” with Anybody Killa, the Axe Murder Boyz, DJ Paul & the Insane Clown Posse is a gritty Psychopathic posse cut with a haunting instrumental while “Psycho Love” is a predictable Bonnie & Clyde-esque love song, it’s not that bad. The song “Shadows” talks about the end coming over an eerie instrumental & then the penultimate track “I’ve Seen Pain” vents about the world of sin over a sinister instrumental.

The album then closes with “The Passage, where Hoodoo & Blac gets ambitious over some keys. However, Blac didn’t really captivate me & it didn’t need to be 9 minutes long. Honestly, this was an improvement over Big Hoodoo’s debut. It sounds a lot more darker & Hoodoo really improves himself as an MC.

Score: 4/5

Joe Budden – “Rage & the Machine” review

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53 weeks have passed since Slaughterhouse member Joe Budden gave us a near perfect ending to his Love Lost trilogy but now, he’s teaming up with araabMUZIK to give us his 8th & most likely final album. The opener “3” tells the listener what to expect going into this thing & the choir vocals in the background are just beautiful. The track “Uncle Joe” pretty much addresses the current state of hip hop over some piano chords from a personal point of view & the song “Serious” is a gritty duet with fellow Slaughterhouse member Joell Ortiz about how you shouldn’t fuck with either MC. The track “By Law” talks about keeping it real over a militant instrumental & the Jazzy hook isn’t too bad either. The song “Flex” with Fabolous is a smooth sex tune & the Troy Lanez hook fits like a glove. The track “Forget” is only 91 seconds long, but I can totally get where he’s going when he confesses about meeting so many people that he forgets them over a beautiful soul sample. The song “I Gotta Ask” gets into battle rap mode & the Into the Woods soundtrack sample was surprising, yet interesting. The track “Time for Work” is another sexual jam, but the production here is more energetic than it was on “Flex”. The song “Wrong One” has a chaotic instrumental that fits perfectly with Joe’s hardcore bars & the track “I Wanna Know” gets reflective on his life over a beautiful Manhattans sample with an equally beautiful hook from Stacy Barthe. The closer “Idols” is Joe naming all of his influences over a mellow instrumental if this really is Joe’s final album, then this was a perfect close the book. The production is on par with his previous album All Love Lost & Joe lyrically is getting into an OG’s perspective on things.

Score: 4/5

The LOX – “Filthy America… It’s Beautiful” review

It’s been almost 19 years since The LOX released their debut Money, Power & Respect under Bad Boy Entertainment & almost 17 years since they released their previous full-length album We Are the Streets (which I personally consider to be their best work) under Ruff Ryders Entertainment but now, they’re finally returning with their 3rd full-length album & they’re doing it with the help of Roc Nation. I’m very well aware that they dropped a trilogy consisting of 2 EPs & a mixtape a few years ago called The Trinity & while I thought it was a solid trilogy overall, I was a lot more excited when I first heard about this album being announced at the very beginning of the month. Mainly because it’s been so long since we’ve heard a full-length project from them. The album opens up with “Omen”, which has a trap beat with a choir sample throughout & I think the content enhances the evil atmosphere this opener provides. The track “The Family” talks about putting their dudes over money & the beat is a little spacey but hard. The track “The Agreement” is unquestionably the worst track on the album, mainly because I’ve always found Fetty Wap to be annoying as Hell & his feature on this song is no exception at all. The track “Move Forward” is some pure hardcore shit complete with a boom bap beat provided by DJ Premier & I actually like the piano-loop throughout. The track “Hard Life” talks about how rough life really is over a grimy beat from Dame Grease & for the trio to have Mobb Deep featured on here was flawless. The track “Filthy America” is conceptually about the trio being on trial & all of them eventually being found guilty in the end over a somber beat from Pete Rock. As a full album, it’s awesome to hear the trio together again but I kinda wanted more from it. There’s no denying that the 3 still sound great together & they still deliver dope bars, but I thought the production could’ve been better on quite a few tracks & maybe a couple more tracks could’ve been added onto the track listing as well. It’s definitely worth checking out, though

Score: 3.5/5

Smoke DZA – “Don’t Smoke Rock” review

After dropping an EP with Harry Fraud back in March along with a much needed sequel to his George Kush da Button mixtape back in Late May, Smoke DZA is now hitting us with his 4th full-length album & he has enlisted the legendary Pete Rock to produce it in it’s entirety. The album starts off with the track “Limitless”, where DZA’s basically talking about living it up over a triumphant beat. The track “Black Superhero Car” sees DZA getting together with Maybach Music Group founder Rick Ross to deliver some boss-like bars & the strings throughout this thing are beautiful. Including the reference to WWE Hall of Famer, former 2-time WWE Tag Team Champion & WCW World Television Champion Larry Zbyszko. The track “Hold the Drums” has no drums whatsoever (hence the title), a beautiful piano sample throughout & a killer guest verse from Royce da 5’9″. On the track “Wild 100s”, DZA’s spitting some mafioso shit over some ominous sounding strings. The track “Last Name” has a mellow beat & DZA’s basically rapping about proving his strengths & putting suckas in their places. There’s also a hilarious line near the end of the 2nd verse about clown dudes marrying clown bitches & starting a circus together by having clown kids. The track “1 of 1” is about how there’ll never be another like DZA & I really like how he got Pete to spit a few lines on here. The track “Milestone” sees DZA, Jadakiss & Styles P looking back at their personal milestones over a relaxing piano sample. On the track “Show Off”, DZA gets together with Wale to get braggadocious & the beat on here sounds like some really cool futuristic boom bap. The track “I Ain’t Scared” has some war-starting horns & you can just tell in DZA’s voice that he’s giving no fucks whatsoever. We even get a short but sweet verse from Pete near the end. The album’s closes out strongly with the track “Until Then”, where DZA hooks up with Mac Miller over an electro-ish beat with some hard boom bap drums in it. It kinda reminds me of something I’d hear from J Dilla, even though Pete Rock was Dilla’s biggest musical idol. In all honesty, I’ll argue that this is Smoke DZA’s best work. Not only is Pete Rock’s production on point, but the way DZA sounds over each & every beat Pete provides overall is almost perfect

Score: 4.5/5

Childish Gambino – “Awaken, My Love!” review

After seeing a bunch of success with his new FX comedy-drama Atlanta (which is actually one of my favorite shows on TV right now), it’s not too surprising for me to see Lancaster rapper/singer Childish Gambino dropping his 3rd full-length album just a month after the first season of his new show finished airing. In contrast to his last 2 albums which were primarily hip hop, this album sees Gambino experimenting with psychedelic soul throughout a vast majority of it. The album kicks off with it’s lead single “Me & Your Mama”, where Gambino’s singing to this girl he’s in love with over a funk rock beat. The track “Have Some Love” sounds VERY Parliament-Funkadelic inspired from top to bottom & lyrically, Gambino’s sending a sincere message to those who’re going through hard times & basically telling them that they should show love to one another. The track “Boogieman” has yet another funk rock sounding production but this time, he’s venting about the very recent violence towards police & African Americans. Might sound cliché to some since there’s been a lot of political music being made recently in light of Donald Trump being elected as our next president, but I personally find Childish Gambino’s hauntingly delivered vocals on here to enhance this track’s overall vibe. The track “Zombies” basically calls out the type of people who’re after him for his fame & the way this song’s sonically executed makes it this song makes it sound like a scary story being told. The track “Riot” lives up to it’s title in every aspect from it’s rock production to Gambino’s wild vocal delivery. The track “Redbone” has a smooth beat & lyrically, Gambino’s venting about how upset he is that his girlfriend cheated on him with another man & telling her that it’s too late for an apology. Might sound corny to some, but his vocal delivery on this song makes it more beautiful to me. The next track “California” talks about life in his home state & that this girl he’s seeing is trying to live her life like a Vine post. The production on here’s fittingly tropical sounding too & personally, I can absolutely understand where he’s going at lyrically on here especially since there are people these days who left social media control their every day life instead of living real life. The next track “Terrified” is kind of a sequel to “California” but in contrast to the previous track having a more party vibe to it, this one has a trippy beat & it lyrically sees him having a serious conversation with the same woman from the previous song. I really like the fast food wordplay on here, because I feel like it ties in with the song’s theme really well. The following track “Baby Boy” has a pretty funky/joyous beat & it’s dedicated to Gambino’s first born child, who was actually born just a couple months ago. The track “The Night Me & Your Mama Met” is a 3 & a half minute instrumental with romantic guitars, but the choir makes it sound spiritual to me as well. The album’s closer “Stand Tall” sees Gambino telling his son to stay strong no matter what & the lush production on here makes it feel like as if you’re actually listening to Childish Gambino singing this song to his son as he’s sleeping. Personally, I consider this to be Gambino’s most creative & ambitious work to date. I absolutely love the P-Funk influences he incorporates on here & while I do enjoy him as a rapper, I thought it was a nice change of pace to hear him primarily singing throughout because I’ve always found him to be a beautiful singer as well & he showcases it fantastically on here. I kinda wanna hear him spitting rhymes on his next project but on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if he continues to make this style of music in the future at all

Score: 4/5

Metallica – “Hardwired…to Self-Destruct” review

With Slayer dropping their 12th album Repentless last September along with Megadeth & Anthrax respectively dropping their 15th & 11th albums Dystopia & For All Kings earlier this year, it’s only right for Metallica to step up to the plate to deliver their 10th full-length album & their first since 2008’s Death Magnetic. It’s also the band’s first full-length release under their own label Blackened Recordings & for some reason, it’s a double disc album with 6 tracks on each disc. The album starts off with it’s lead single “Hardwired” which has a pretty kick ass riff, but the songwriting on here is a little too angsty for me. The next track is the album’s 3rd single “Atlas, Rise!”, which is morally about moving on & the way this whole song is executed just makes me feel empowered. The first disc ends with the 8 minute “Halo on Fire” & while that might sound cool for some of you, I personally find the listening experience of this track to be boring after a while. However, the last 2 minutes totally make up for it. Especially with the guitar solo. The first track on the 2nd disc “Confusion” talks about PTSD & while it’s not a bad song at all, it does kinda remind me of Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” in a way. The track “Here Comes Revenge” talks about revenge & while I enjoy the execution of the track, the lyrics on the hook do seem half-assed to me. The album’s closer “Spit Out the Bone” talks about how essential technology is & I actually think this is the most energetic song on the entire album. There’s also a bonus disc on the deluxe version containing the 2014 single “Lords of Summer” as well as live renditions of 9 previously tracks & 4 cover tracks (the first of which being a medley & the last one being recorded during a live performance). I personally prefer the song structures on Metallica’s last album Death Magnetic a lot more, but I won’t deny that Greg Fidelman’s production on this album sounds a lot more clearer in contrast to Rick Rubin compressing Death Magnetic to death (no pun intended). James Hetfield’s vocals are also on point as is Kirk Hammett’s guitar work & Robert Trujillo’s bass, but Lars Ulrich’s drumming could’ve been a lot better. Overall I definitely think this album’s worth checking out, but I guess I expected a lot more out of it

Score: 3/5

A Tribe Called Quest – “We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service” review

18 years have passed since the seminal Native Tongues subgroup A Tribe Called Quest dropped their 5th album The Love Movement but light of group member Phife Dawg’s death back in Late March of this year, they’re giving us their proper final album. Luckily, every single member of the group (including Phife himself & original member Jarobi White) was involved with the making of it. The album kicks off with “The Space Program”, where Q-Tip & surprisingly Jarobi are spitting about how the African American community needs to get it together & I find the production on here to be catchy. The track “We the People…” starts off with some sirens but then Tip & Phife talk from their minds about the recent bullshit in our country & I like how they both sound like they’re talking through loudspeakers on here. The track “Whateva Will Be” has a funky bassline throughout & a short but killer guest verse from Tip’s cousin Consequence at the end. The track “Solid Wall of Sound” has some VERY melodic piano playing & not only is the chemistry between Tip & Phife on here still very strong but since Phife’s performing in a Jamaican accent throughout the whole song, it was only right to fit Busta Rhymes onto the track to do the same. The track “Dis Generation” has a tropical sounding beat & I really love how Tip, Phife & Jarobi sound together as they trade lines back & forth. Regardless of Busta joining in later on, all 3 of them sound happy as Hell to be fully back together again. Oh by the way, this track contains one of my favorite lines on the entire album which is “Day of the dead, bury all the zombies instead & it’s just your Aftermath, Busta cuttin’ your dreads”. I seriously laughed harder than I should’ve when I first heard that. Like that shit’s pretty clever. The track “Kids…” has a beat that sounds like something I’d hear from an Atari game & it sees Tip teaming up with OutKast member André 3000 & they both just sound fucking AWESOME together. The track “Melatonin” is a Q-Tip solo track & he’s interestingly talking about addiction over a funky beat. The track “Enough!!” is a sex track & I think the smooth ass production (complete with a clever “Bonita Applebum” sample) perfectly fits the smoothly delivered sexual lyrics like a glove. The track “Mobius” is solely Consequence & Busta rapping together & I really like Busta’s energy on here. I’m hoping we hear him spit like this on E.L.E. 2 (Extinction Level Event 2), if that ever comes out at this point. The track “Black Spasmodic” has a joyous sounding beat & I absolutely love how Tip’s verse on here is basically about Phife’s spirit talking to him. The track “The Killing Season” sees Jarobi & Consequence teaming up with Talib Kweli to rhyme about racism in the US over some bass playing & I was actually surprised as Hell to hear Kanye West on the hook. The track “Lost Somebody” has some somber piano chords & the track sees Tip & Jarobi paying a sincere tribute to their fallen friend Phife. The track “Movin’ Backwards” sees the group teaming up with the latest Aftermath Entertainment signee Anderson .Paak to talk about being remembered over a nice electric guitar & some mellow keys. The track “Conrad Tokyo” has a relaxing beat & it sees Phife talking about Donald Trump being recently elected as the next president of the United States. There’s also a jab at mumble rappers near the end of his verse, which is just flawless. After that, we get a verse from Black Hippy member Kendrick Lamar & he perfectly continues where Phife’s verse had left off. The track “Ego” is another Q-Tip solo track & it’s well-laid out story about egotism with some really ominous sounding bass playing throughout as well as some really catchy saxes at points. The album closes out with “The Donald” which is another Phife tribute but unlike “Lost Somebody”, here we’re getting a posthumous Phife verse & it doesn’t disappoint. The keys on here are nice too. Personally, I consider this to be a PERFECT coda for my 2nd favorite hip hop group of all-time (#1 being the Wu-Tang Clan). The production as well as the lyricism throughout are top notch as it was back in the 90’s & with all these mumble rapppers nowadays, I think it’s VERY refreshing with each listen

Score: 5/5

Mr. Lif – “The Life & Death of Scenery” review

After making a solid comeback just 6 months ago with his 4th full-length album Don’t Look Down, Boston underground hip hop legend Mr. Lif is now giving us yet another album & this time he’s teaming up with North Carolina based producer & Mello Music Group label-mate L’Orange to produce it in it’s entirety. Given that Lif’s first 2 albums I Phantom & Mo’Mega are some of my favorite Definitive Jux releases ever as well as the fact that L’Orange entirely produced 2 fantastic albums for Jeremiah Jae (The Night Took Us in Like Family) & Kool Keith (Time? Astonishing!) last year, I was absolutely thrilled when it was announced that the 2 would be working on a full-length album together. The album’s first song “A World Without Music” starts off with some melancholy sounding chords but then some hard boom bap-ish drums get thrown in & Lif starts vividly detailing what he thinks the world would be like without music. “The Scribe” is basically an introduction to the album’s protagonist (who shares the exact same name as the song’s) & not only is there an ill scratch hook from DJ Qbert, but Lif reunites with his Perceptionists cohort Akrobatik to trade lines back & forth with each other & their chemistry on here as well as one of the later tracks “Strange Technology” is just as strong as ever if you ask me. While I do enjoy the concept on “Antique Gold”, I’m not a huge fan of the opening verse from Chester Watson because I personally think he comes off as a generic mix of Earl Sweatshirt & Joey Bada$$. The track “The Gentle End” has a ominous sounding string loop throughout & I really like how it fits with Lif’s revolutionary lyrics like a glove. The album closes out with “A Palace in the Sky”, which is a tale about a greedy king who eventually gets karma thrown at him in the end & I also love how spiritual sounding the beat is. Honestly, I’m not that disappointed with this album at all. The futuristic concept was well laid-out & I think L’Orange brought some fitting soundscapes to the table, but it was really short. Not as perfect as Deltron 3030’s self-titled debut however, but I truly think this is better than Don’t Look Down. Hell, I’ll go as far as saying that this is Lif’s best album since Mo’Mega

Score: 4.5/5