Kevin Abstract – “glue” review

Corpus Christi, Texas rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & director Kevin Abstract following up his 5th LP Blanket with his 4th official mixtape. Making his debut in 2014 in the form of MTV1987, he followed it up 2 years later with the fantastic sophomore effort American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story & rose to stardom as the de facto leader of the now defunct BROCKHAMPTON collective the year after. Both of Kevin’s solo efforts afterwards ARIZONA baby & The Family were solid although I liked the latter more for being chipmunk soul heavy & Blanket improved by going indie rock. Now that the summer nears its final month, Kevin’s putting glue together.

“Dirty Boy Swag” produced by Quadeca starts off the tape pulling inspiration from Lil B & Kevin showing off his titular swagger whereas “Kobe” talks about adopting the late Lakers icon’s mentality over a cloudy & illbient instrumental. “Jefferson” finds Romil Hemnani sampling “ELEMENT.” by Kendrick Lamar feeling like his father truly loves him leading into the highly anticipated collaboration “Tennessee” featuring Lil Nas X fuses trap, pop rap, cloud rap, alternative R&B, dirty south & regalia with the help of Devstacks talking about meeting guys in the titular state.

Meanwhile on “Beautiful Dumb Boys”, we have Kevin taking it back to the Blanket era coming to the realization that he has to break up with this guy just before the creatively fun 2-parter “Diamondz N Cash” featuring HVN & Lil Yachty gets unearthed from the Beverly Daze sessions telling us what they think of when they wake up. “2am Halcyon” has a bit of a Ye formerly known as Kanye West influence aesthetically rapping over synths telling his new man that he knows he wants to be with him prior to the bubbling, low-key “Creek” serves as an official version of “Green” allowing Romil helping Kevin return to form telling us what romance is to him.

“You’re My Type of Pleasure” sings to his partner over some organ-like synthesizers he feels like they know something about me that I hasn’t even discovered yet while “Big Dog” blends pop rap, trap & hyphy with the help of Kevin himself, Romil, Quadeca & Popstar Benny talking about how it’s lights out for him. “Red Light” reunites with Ameer Vann on top of an outstandingly gorgeous Quadeca beat wanting their lovers to stay in their dreams with them & “I Love These Hoes, They Don’t Judge” drearily ends glue talking about feeling the most fake these days.

The people that thought Blanket was a disappointingly average stylistic departure gonna find themselves enjoying glue more than Kevin’s last album going from the indie rock sound of the predecessor back to his hip hop roots whether it be experimental hip hop, west coast hip hop, dirty south, alternative R&B, regalia, illbient, cloud rap, pop rap, hyphy, trap or even a small hint of indie rock. It’s already been well established that he’s by far the most talented member of BROCKHAMPTON & glue could very well be his most enjoyable mixtape yet.

Score: 4/5

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Phonte – “Pacific Time 2” review

Phonte is a 45 year old MC, singer/songwriter, producer & podcaster from Greensboro, North Carolina notable for being of the 3 founding members of Little Brother alongside Rapper Big Pooh & 9th Wonder as well as 1/2 of The Foreign Exchange with Nicolay. In the fall of 2011, he would break out solo with the acclaimed debut Charity Starts at Home followed by the sophomore effort No News is Good News roughly 7 a half years later. His first EP Pacific Time the next spring went full R&B/neo soul which makes sense considering that Drake was heavily influenced by Percy Miracles when he first rose to stardom, so hearing that a follow-up was coming down the pipe had me interested.

“Run for Your Life” starts us off going for a synthpop direction produced by Focus… talking about heading somewhere he can get a peace of mind whereas “Follow” featuring Carlitta Durand embraces a house flare instrumentally singing about themes of romance. “5:55am” starts the 2nd leg of the Pacific Time sequel working in a spacious atmosphere describing the vibes he’s getting in the early hours of the new day before the sun comes up & the final song “Outta My Head” featuring Carmen Rodgers hooks up a psychedelic guitar lead as they sing about being here together for a night.

The original Pacific Time almost 5 & a half years prior was more centered around R&B & neo-soul so I kinda knew what I was getting myself into for the sequel, but Pacific Time 2 takes it a step further developing further beyond of both those particular styles blending them with other sounds ranging from synthpop to house & even psychedelic rock with a couple decent guest performances joining him here & there.

Score: 3.5/5

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BigBabyGucci – “Baby 5” review

Charlotte, North Carolina recording artist BigBabyGucci returning after 8 months for his 4th album. Getting his start in the summer of 2016 off his debut EP ART HOE Collection, he would continue to build a name for himself by putting out 19 more EPs as well as his last 3 full-lengths & a mixtape along the way. Coming off one of his best LPs & EPs to date When U Wake Up & When You Go to Sleep respectively, BBG’s looking to continue the acclaim of his last couple projects with Baby 5.

The synth-heavy “News” begins expressing his concern for the woman rockin’ his chain puttin’ on for those who didn’t make it whereas “Belong to Us” kinda takes a funkier route instrumentally talking about hoes that ain’t even his. “★★★★★ Dinner” featuring MDMA pulls inspiration from the west coast hip hop scene a bit claiming they ain’t even in their prime yet while “Dirt on It” brings the rage beats in the fold promising to make it work.

“Captain Crashout” maintains the hypertrap vibes of the previous cut flexing the nickname that his bitch gives him tryna turn her into a pornstar just before “Oxy Queen” further induces the rage talking about his chick doing oxycontin. The pluggy “Mark Zuckerberg” named after the Meta Platforms founder boasts that he grinds day ‘n’ night like KiD CuDi & having more songs than Drake, but then “Pink Sprite” turns the bass up to 11 pointing out haters tryna do it the same as him.

Moving on from there, “Temporary” goes hip house discussing a 1 night stand leading including a reference referencing the inaugural IWGPヘビー級チャンピオン, former 12-time WWE world champion, WWE tag team champion, 2-time WWE Hall of Famer & Real American Beer founder Hulk Hogan to the into the minimally produced “Stop Tryna Read on My Mind” telling a hoe he ain’t got time for to do simply that. “Phony Girl” featuring Bryant Barnes wraps up the first half of Baby 5 cooking up a rock/R&B duet telling their significant others they acting disingenuous while the chilled out “Instagram” breaks it that he doesn’t give a fuck about the titular social media app.

“I’m That Type” featuring Frais flexes the power, influence & money that they have in the Charlotte hip hop scene currently over an instrumental experimenting with Detroit trap while “Chris Tucker (Comedian)” psychedelically gets geeked as fuck leveling up his wallet to Goyard getting rich. “Local Member” pulls from the hypertrap scene once again finds him tired of people callin’ him their twin since he ain’t like them while “No Photos Please” gets on the alternative R&B tip again not wanting any pictures taken of him at the function.

Meanwhile on the acoustic “Tequila”, we have BigBabyGucci getting crossfaded in order to forget about an ex-girlfriend who he’s been thinking about latterly ahead of the dynamic 2-parter “Chanel / Solar” talking about how bad this bitch is & his life being bright. “You a Joke” hooks up synths & claps laughing off those who go get it all & choking while “These Days” moodily gets choosey nowadays.

“Slime Flow” continues the encore of Baby 5 showing the amount of respect he has for YSL Records founder & trap trailblazer Young Thug accompanied by pianos & synthesizers paying homage to Thugger’s flow telling y’all to come out & jump out the fire with a real one like him & “Pink Runtz” cloudily ends the LP admitting that he doesn’t like to smoke the titular strain of weed out in the field.

As much as I enjoyed both When U Wake Up & When You Go to Sleep, BigBabyGucci reached the same caliber he did last fall & it has me further anticipating the alternative album that he has coming out taking it a step further. His take on pop rap, alternative R&B, trap, rage, rock music & funk music culminates uniquely pulling inspiration from the likes of 2000s era Ye or formerly known as Kanye West to Marilyn Manson & even PARTYNEXTDOOR.

Score: 3.5/5

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¥$ – “Vultures 2” review

This is the sophomore effort from superduo ¥$ consisting of Los Angeles, California singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & producer Ty$ alongside Chicago, Illinois rapper, singer/songwriter, one of my top 10 producers of all-time, fashion designer, former G.O.O.D. Music founder Ye or formerly known as Kanye West. We’ve seen them together a handful of times for nearly a decade on tracks like “Guard Down”, most specifically “Real Friends”, “Ego Death” & “Everything We Need”. However, the first installment of the Vultures trilogy came on the 20 year anniversary of my favorite Ye album The College Dropout to mixed reviews. Anthony Fantano even labeled it as “unreviewable trash” although I personally thought it had it’s highlights despite both KIDS SEE GHOSTS & Watch the Throne being significantly better. 5 months after it’s initial March date, Vultures 2 is finally here.

“Slide” is an impressive pop rap, hip house & alternative R&B crossover with additional elements of experimental hip hop that Ye, Wheezy, Fred again.., London on da Track & Leon Thomas III produced together asking Zalia & Bianca Censori if they would ride of them whereas “Time Moving Slow” turns the hip house influences up to 11 courtesy of The Legendary Traxster reflecting on past relationships although it’s gross that Ye has dominion over her.

Don Toliver, Kodak Black & Playboi Carti all join ¥$ for what could very well be the most anticipated track off the album “Field Trip” & it sure delivers with it’s alarm raising instrumental that Wheezy & Dez Wright cook up together sampling one of my favorite Portishead songs “Machine Gun” near the end getting romantic with their partners except Ye briefly using AI for his part was pointless prior to the rage-inducing “Fried” coming off a spiritual successor to “Carnival” reenlisting The Inter Milan Ultras on background vocals & Outtatown behind the boards cautioning not to fuck with them because they’re exhausted.

After the “Isabella” skit, “Promotion” featuring Future works in organs & hi-hats to talk about heartless lovemaking that is until “Husband” solely produced by Ye kinda throws it back to the 808s & Heartbreak era minus the auto-tune saying that family heals. “Lifestyle” featuring Lil Wayne samples “LOVE IS GONE” by Nico Baran of Internet Money Records talking about their significant others wanting to live the lifestyles they do just before James Blake provides “Forever” a predominantly more atmospheric & melodic tone overall singing about the possibility of hoping they can last forever with Ye unfortunately using AI again. 

“Bomb” featuring Ye’s daughters Chicago & North West alongside Yuno Miles gives off a Jersey Club rap vibe to boast including a Japanese portion interestingly enough leading into “River” featuring Young Thug & it’s entrancingly spirit-lifting trap beat from Pi’erre Bourne & Digital Nas tackling false ideologies in the rap scene calling for Thug to come home. My favorite song here “5:30 / Dear Summer” assisted by E*vax feels like a legitimate College Dropout throwback other than the lazy AI ending, but then “Dead” featuring Future & Lil Durk hops over an intoxicating instrumental from ATL Jacob talking about how they can’t be playing with these diamonds & money.

Lil Baby appears on “Forever Rollin’” bringing a ghostly trap flare to the table addressing loyalty while the guitar-driven “Sky City” featuring CyHi the Prynce with BoogzDaBeast & Timbaland on co-production gets unearthed from the Yandhi sessions except it’s ruined by AI again. “My Soul” featuring Big Sean on the remix ends Vultures 2 letting Boogz, DJ Camper, FNZ, 30 Roc & YZY SND Head of Music 88-Keys blending gospel & hip hop in the vein of DONDA so ¥$ can pay tribute to the 4,000+ prisoners in California being used to put out the wildfires that have been ravaging the state for the last 3 decades additionally dissing Adidas.

“Take Off Your Dress” starts the deluxe run sampling “Please Make It Good Again” by Talmadge Armstrong likening their partners to supermodels while “Gun to My Head” featuring KiD CuDi reunites KIDS SEE GHOSTS sampling “Blindside” by Alice Merton talking about not being too hard to find. JPEGMAFIA fresh off his superiorly better new album I Lay Down My Life for You & BoogzDaBeast flip “Super Sharp Shooter” by the Ganja Kru for “Believer” clarifying that Christians don’t like to admit that they like to sin & the hip house flavored “Drunk” by Bad Bunny, Kodak Black & Peso Pluma talks about being fucked up. “Can U Be” featuring Travis Scott ends the bonus track run with a hip house Havoc beat asking if one is afraid.

The sequel to Vultures finds ¥$ taking themselves below the predecessor as a whole listening experience although the sound compared to the debut goes from pop rap to hip house, alternative R&B, experimental hip hop, rage, Jersey Club rap, the chipmunk soul sound Ye helped pioneer, trap, gospel music & rap rock pretty much mixing old & new sounds together. I don’t like the use of AI in music because I feel like the way that Ye utilizes it as lazy compared to The D.O.C. & Beanie Sigel both saying they’re working on new albums using AI on their voices. It’s about how you use that technology & he doesn’t use it to elevate himself musically.

Score: 1.5/5

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Vstylez – “Buddy Revell” review

Detroit, Michigan underground veteran Vstylez returning after 6 & a half years for his 3rd full-length LP. Being introduced to him through his feature on “Clash of the Titans” off of eLZhi’s 3rd mixtape The Leftovers, he eventually put out a debut album of his own At Oddz ‘Til I’m Even in late 2014 & the sophomore effort Thornton Melon about 4 years later. The acclaim of the latter resulted in V temporarily signing to Middle Finger Music, whom he started working on Buddy Revell for in 2021. Years of delays later, he’s finally putting it out solely through RSM Recordings much like the last couple.

The title track gets the ball rollin’ with an eerie boom bap instrumental comparing himself to the titular antagonist from the movie 3:00 High whereas “Hustle Hard” featuring RJ Payne keeps the kicks & snares in tact to talk about both of them grinding their fuckin’ asses off. “L.L. vs. Tarantino” has one of my favorite beats on the album from DJ Rhettmatic sampling rock music ripping it hardcore lyrically paying homage to LL Cool J just before “The Wake Up” featuring Bumpy Knuckles returns to the boom bap thanks to the latter wakin’ up everyone who been sleeping on them.

“Me” hooks up chimes, kicks & snares to talk about how harder it is to do him than one might think leading into “Edgewater Park” featuring Ro Spit & the Twin Towers produced by Nottz ruggedly dedicating this one to all their homies in the streets. “Listen” has the soulful vibes Apollo Brown became known for assuring you’ll learn from experience in due time, but then grimy “Biscuit” featuring Jimmy the Icon talks about having the heaters on them.

Boog Brown, Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat & Ty Farris all join V for a remix to the Thornton Melon highlight “Detropolis” keeping the same Pete Rock instrumental for a Motown posse cut while the piano/boom bap hybrid “Stroke of a Pen” discusses confessing his thoughts through writing songs. “Wrath of the Titans” featuring Guilty Simpson, Lil’ Fame, Shabaam Sahdeeq & Skyzoo lastly ends Buddy Revell aggressively referring themselves as the titular titans.

It’s certainly been quite some time since we’ve last heard from V & he’s coming back with only a month & a half or so left of summer to make the long-awaited album he’s been working on for a few years already a step above the previous one. He himself has grown a lot since Thornton Melon both artistically & personally, the production’s raw & the guests are all well picked out. Apparently he’s got another project coming next month called Walter Sobchak, which has me anticipating it as much as this considering that it’s named after John Goodman’s character in The Big Lebowski.

Score: 4/5

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Summrs – “Nightfall” review

Lafayette, Louisiana recording artist Summrs once again preluding his upcoming 10th album Tale of da Raven with his 16th EP & the 2nd of the year following B4daRaven. Starting out as a member of the Goonie-founded Slayworld collective, his presence has been known predominantly in the plugg scene by constantly dropping projects whether it be his last EP What We Have or even the Fallen Raven LP, both of which I highly recommend listening to if you wanna get into his music. Stuck in My Ways & Ghost were cool, but Rino brought back the plugg elements that Ghost lacked on the official What We Have sequel What We Didn’t Have last September & was curious of what direction Nightfall would take.

“Bentley Mulsanne” starts the final EP ahead of the next LP boasting that he’s at the top of the food chain over a futuristic trap instrumental whereas “F.W.W.Y.N. (Fuck Wrong With Y’all N****s?)” brings a cavernous trap beat to the table talking about never catching him slip. The hollowly produced “Phantom Musik” confesses he still doin’ things wrong thinking everything was right while the vibrantly catchy “F.O.B. (Family Oriented Business)” produced by Synthetic of Internet Money Records discusses coming for his. “Marble Floors” was a great trap/regalia crossover & the outro is a rage-inducing anthem for his fans.

B4daRaven had more of a prominent pluggnb/pop rap sound with cloud rap undertones in comparison to What We Didn’t Have astoundingly returning to Rino’s plugg roots, but the overall vibe on Nightfall generally leans more toward straight forward trap in comparison although you do get hints of cloud rap along with regalia & even rage. That tells me all of these sounds are gonna come together into 1 by the time Summrs himself feels ready to tell the Tale of da Raven sooner rather than later.

Score: 3.5/5

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Navy Blue – “Memoirs in Armour” review

This is the 10th EP from Brooklyn, New York skateboarder, MC, producer, songwriter, visual artist & model Navy Blue. Breaking through in 2015 off his debut EP According to the Waterbearer. He has since continued to turn heads in the underground scene by dropping 9 more EPs & 6 full-lengths before signing to Def Jam Recordings for his previous album Ways of Knowing produced by Budgie to critical acclaim. Over a year later, he’s spilling Memoirs in Armour.

“Take Heed” begins with a euphoric instrumental from Budgie so Navy can tell everyone that’s listening right now that they should be taking notice whereas “Boulder” keeps the sampling going thanks to Chuck Strangers wishing he knew then what he knows as we stand today. “Low Threshold” kinda gives off a lo-fi vibe instrumentally talking about cancerous antics that leading him to the crypts while the self-produced “Slow” goes drumless to demonstrate his own metamorphosis.

Finishing the 1st half, “Basis” has this fresh soul flip to discuss having everything he wants & more prior to “Running Sand” hooking up a reversed loop to talk about progression being his sentence & his reflection being the opposition. “Red Roses” has to be my favorite track here from the Nicholas Craven beat to the lyrics weighing the cons when you sense pros just before “Time Slips” exuberantly accepts his shadow side. “Say the Word” looks for a push over a soulful instrumental from Graymatter & the drumless “La Noche” ends the EP hoping you find peace of mind on your own.

Soul Golden has to be my favorite EP that Navy has ever done, but I still found myself enjoying Memoirs in Armour as much as Ways of Knowing or even From the Heart… & Gangway for Navy. In only the span of 27 minutes, he uses his abstract pengame to pick up fractured recollections in floral & imagistic poetry that leaves everyone sifting through the dense metaphors to find the trauma & catharsis at the center rendering, spirituality, love & family in a painterly mosaic of pain & healing.

Score: 4/5

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Killer Mike – “Songs for Sinners & Saints” review

Here we have the 7th solo album from Atlanta, Georgia emcee, songwriter, actor & activist Killer Mike. Brought into the limelight due to his feature on “The Whole World” off of OutKast’s eponymous greatest his collection, he eventually signed to Columbia Records & put out the full-length debut Monster in the spring of 2003 & following it up with the I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind trilogy through his self-owned Grind Time Official Records with the exception of Grand Hustle Records helping distribute the final installment. His future Run the Jewels cohort El-P fully produced the critically acclaimed R.A.P. (Rebellious African People) Music through the [adult swim]-owned Williams Street Records alongside GTO & Grand Hustle of course returning last summer to sign a new solo deal with Loma Vista Recordings for the personal Michael that went on to win 3 Grammys. However, he’s delivering Songs for Sinners & Saints as an epilogue to the Michael era.

“Bussin’ Bricks” samples “Shout Bamalama” by Mickey Murray to talk about hustling whereas “Nobody Knows” shifts gears into sumptuous boom bap territory explaining that his transformation is still undergoing & it’s still showing itself. “Humble Me” gives off a predominant southern political hip hop vibe asking God to make him humble referencing WWE Hall of Famer Muhammad Ali & “Higher Level” returns to trap turf instrumentally refusing to give up on the mission to be taken to a new level.

Offset joins Mike for the piano-driven “Exit 9” produced by Honorable C.N.O.T.E. hoping those listening can feel their pain leading into “Lord Prepare Me” featuring Belly Gang Kushington & Jane Handcock blending gospel & trap together asking God to forgive them for their wrongs since they wanna do right. The damn-near 10 & a half minute “Slummer 4 Junkies” remixes both “Slummer” & “Something for Junkies” from Michael just before “Had to Go Get It” is another gospel/trap hybrid asking to be granted better days.

The “‘97 3-6 Freestyle” rips up an apocalyptic trap beat from DJ Paul & TWhy to shreds off-the-dome paying homage to the Three 6 Mafia during the seminal Memphis group’s Chapter 2: World Domination era & finally, “Still Talk’n That Shit” concludes the epilogue of Killer Mike’s most personal offering to date with a sequel to the highlight track “Talk’n That Shit” featuring both Key Glock & Project Pat. I should further mention “Detonator” featuring Rock D the Legend with El-P behind the boards made for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 & later becoming the official WWE Backlash XX theme song.

Songs for Sinners & Saints thanks all of Killer Mike’s supporters for this journey he’s been for helping him see so many of his dreams come true & the support I’ve received this past year has been so beautiful & inspiring, he realized wasn’t finished with the sound & wanted to do something with the people who’ve been bringing it to life every night performing it with him. I still prefer Michael & R.A.P. (Rebellious African People) Music, but these 10 tracks still very much come from a genuine place landing itself a spot for being one of his top 5 albums.

Score: 4/5

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Jerry – “No Receipt” review

New Jersey emcee, singer/songwriter, producer & music video director Jerry following up his stylistic departure of a sophomore effort lovemesooner by releasing his 4th mixtape 6 months later. You may know him for coming up as 1/2 of the duo MellowHype alongside Left Brain in the mid/late 2000s under the original moniker Hodgy Beats prior to helping I Smell Panties, Casey Veggies & The Jet Age of Tomorrow form the impactful albeit now defunct alternative hip hop collective Odd Future. He was also the first person in the Wolf Gang to put out a solo effort, dropping his debut mixtape The Dena Tape only 9 months after the crew put out their 1st tape as a unit The Odd Future Tape. Higashi Miyagi would go on to expand his solo discography with 2 more mixtapes & 3 EPs prior to his full-length debut Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide a day before my 20th birthday which to this day, I still think it’s possibly the most criminally overlooked offering that we’ve gotten since OF’s disbandment due to how much growth was shown on that album. Entitled was a solid comeback EP a couple years ago experimenting with contemporary R&B on top of a predominant west coast trap sound, lovemesooner was ok aside from moments that felt like a Frank Ocean bite & remained optimistic ahead of No Receipt.

I found the acoustic instrumental throughout “Resist Facts” to be pretty rapping about a woman who is so focused on him that he needs the analytics & “Of the Feeling” keeps things stripped-back instrumentally expressing his desire for wealth. The acoustics get blended with synthesizers for “Logic Lacks” asking if you feel like it ain’t yours to keep or it not being the time to speak just before the briefly minimal “What Truth’s Revealing” starts singing about a woman who called him a bad influence.

“Perform in Pattern” keeps the bare guitars rapping that he ain’t gonna be begging please if he gets down on 1 knee referencing marriage proposal leading into “Mars Saturn” hopping on a boat in the evening maintaining hope that he stays on & being the vehicle that drives his girl nuts. “Jupiter Returns” acoustically keeps it rolling telling his lover he loves her smile & the time they spend, but then once again stripped back “2 the Tavern” sings about wanting to party & bullshit.

Moving on from there, “You’d Rather” hops over summery guitar passages to rap that he’s having the dream of his dreams while the acoustic “Hype Die Down” sings about mixing addiction & obsession in a bowl of emptiness. “Nervous System” maintains the stripped-back vibes discussing a vampire while “Lie Down” acoustically asks his lover to give him what he can’t give to her in return.

“Wind Down” minimally pushes towards the final moments of No Receipt to talk about feeling colossally great hoping to teach all the lessons he ain’t even learned while the song “Like You’re” acoustically sings about being treated as if he’s garbage. The final track & subsequently closer “Tied Down” rounds out the 31 minute listening experience having an epiphany that he’s a fool for love.

lovemesooner was a decent attempt at singer/songwriter & indie folk with additional elements of west coast hip hop, emo rap & contemporary folk as is No Receipt although to a lesser extent. I respect that Jerry’s matured so much since the Odd Future era & I don’t have that many issues with his songwriting. The biggest problems I have with this tape are the repetitive production & most importantly, the Frank Ocean pastiche from last time carrying over.

Score: 2.5/5

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Tanna Leone – “Mixtape” review

Here we have the debut mixtape from Los Angeles, California up-&-comer Tanna Leone. Emerging under the original moniker Noviiimber & later Baby Santana ahead of settling down with his current name, he first made his footing in the late 2010s by releasing a total of 5 EPs until Kendrick Lamar signed him to a joint deal with pgLang & Def Jam Recordings. Tanna’s debut album Sleepy Soldier was released to mixed reception & his set during the Mr. Morale Tour was certainly captivating, so I was interested in hearing Mixtape ahead of upcoming sophomore effort Beware the Giant Killers.

“Role Model” is a psychedelic opener to the tape explaining that he ain’t the type of person others should be looking up to whereas “Psychosurf” takes the synth-trap route instrumentally getting on his emo alien shit. “Beloved” blends trap, a hint of rock & pop rap addressing a woman that he needs every day of his life prior to “Drop Dead Gorgeous” turning the psychedelia up addressing a woman he knows to follow his voice & block out the noises.

The woozy trap vibes on “Sound of Pain” are nice talking about the difficulty of being excited when that’s not how he feels at all thinking the world wanted a new artist that kept it real when he signed to pgLang just before the dejecting “Mr. Melancholy” discusses the incapability of feeling what he does. “Romanticize” has to be one of the weaker moments here once again rehashing the themes of love over a spacious trap beat, but then “Situationship” cloudily discusses smoking & drinking.

“Oh Shit” get on the boom bap tip coming to the realization that he’s human after all while “Bus Fare” has a slower trap flare to the instrumental dedicating this one for all the people that save money so they can hitch a bus ride. “555” nears the conclusion of the tape with a soul sample passionately going off the top for 101 seconds & “Warning Signs” officially closes the shop with an empowering ballad showing off his singing chops.

Sleepy Soldier gave Kendrick’s audience a glimpse of what Tanna can offer in the realms of west coast trap, alternative R&B & pop rap despite it‘s weak spots and Mixtape returns to every single one of those styles refining them ahead of Beware the Giant Killers other than additionally incorporating elements of boom bap as well as cloud rap & psychedelia.

Score: 3.5/5

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