Asun Eastwood – “The S.O.U.L. (Science Of Understanding Life)” review

This is the 5th full-length album from Toronto, Ontario, Canada emcee Asun Eastwood. Coming up as part of the Brown Bag Money collective, he eventually broke out solo in 2017 off his debut mixtape Hollywood Briggs & then a Finn-produced debut album With All Due Respect a couple years later. We were just treated to P.I.M.P. (Prophecy Is My Present) a few months ago to celebrate Asun’s born day & for a follow-up, he’s reuniting with Finn for The S.O.U.L. (Science Of Understanding Life).

The title track at the start sets the tone for the album really with Asun jumping on a soul sample to talk about leaving a legacy before Ill Conscious accompanies him on the boom bap, integrity-themed “Soul Cry”. The song “Humility” with Daniel Son is short yet affective as the duo talk about never dying on top of a somewhat fuzzy instrumental whereas “Cassius Clay Fist” is a other short cut, except it’s a lot darker in sound & the reckless lyricism.

Rigz jumps on the dreary “Thrill of Victory” to help depict how exciting it is to be victorious & not only is the storytelling on “Bookey Owned the 80s” outstanding, but I also love how smooth the production is. SLNC might have the weakest feature on the album with the mafiosi “Keep It Clean”, but Flee Lord makes up for it on “.40” as he & Asun get on their gun-talk shit on top of a bass-guitar & a flute.

Meanwhile, we have Saipher Soze tagging along for the rock-influenced “Midnight Sun” to get introspective before he & Family Gang Black spit about pride & stupidity on the old western-flavored “CB4”. The song “Crown to Crown” with M.A.V. has an extravagant instrumental with the duo talking about pushing weight while the penultimate track is a gorgeous sequel to “Soul’s Mystery” off With All Due Respect. The closer “Float Away” gets back on the rock tip telling listeners to look at him now.

Despite me enjoying P.I.M.P. (Prophecy Is My Present), I’d say Asun outdid himself on The S.O.U.L. (Science Of Understanding Life). A couple of the features punched under their weight in my opinion but nonetheless, his lyricism has stepped up & Finn’s production is amongst the best he’s ever cooked up.

Score: 4/5

J. Cole – “The Off-Season” review

This is the long-awaited 6th full-length album from North Carolina rapper, singer/songwriter & producer J. Cole. At this point, I’m pretty sure everyone & their mom knows who dude is. Especially given the universal acclaim of projects like The Warm Up, Friday Night Lights, Born Sinner & my personal favorite: 2014 Forest Hills Drive. However, his last 2 albums 4 Your Eyez Only & K.O.D. were both released to mixed reception. Matter of fact: my review for K.O.D. is amongst my most controversial. I don’t get shit for it anymore but at the time when I gave it a 6/10, Cole stans were on my ass for the next 2-3 weeks. Even to this day: my opinions on that & 4YEO haven’t changed at all but that’s not the point. I was given hope for The Off-Season given his feature run (most notably “Family & Loyalty” off the final Gang Starr album One of the Best Yet) along with his L.A. Leakers freestyle just a couple of days ago.

The opener “95 South” pays homage to Cam’ron’s “Killa Season” from J. Cole’s flashy lyricism to even The Heatmakerz-influenced production provided by Boi-1da. Cam’ron himself makes an appearance during the intro & outro. Even the “Put Yo Hood Up” sample during the last 40 seconds is pretty cool. The next song “amari” has a more mystical feel to it instrumentally with T-Minus & Timbaland as Cole while the track “My Life” serves as a sequel to “a lot” off i am > i was from it’s soulful trap production co-produced by Jake One & Wu10 down to the surprise 21 Savage & even the subject matter.

“Applying Pressure” jumps into boom bap territory going on about how you just gotta flex sometimes whereas “Punchin’ the Clock” details teetering between enlightened & insanity over a Tae Beast instrumental that has a bit of a ghostly yet jazzy feel to it. He later incorporates a fucking Willie Hutch sample on “100 Mil” talk about how he’s been getting better over time & even though the instrumental on “Pride is the Devil” is somewhat similar to “Can’t Decide” off Aminé’s last album Limbo, I do enjoy Cole & Lil Baby’s takes on egoism quite a bit.

Meanwhile on “Let Go My Hand”, we get an instrumental from DJ Dahi & Ging that almost takes me back to 1999-era Joey Bada$$ with lyrics about making sure his son is equipped when he gets older before “interlude” incorporates a Tommy Parker sample to talk about coming a long way. “The Climb Back” has a well-flipped[Brief Encounter sample throughout with Cole rapping about being assessed as one of the all-time greats while the penultimate track “Close” surprisingly samples MF DOOM’s “Valerian Root” as the lyrics talk advise being patient with God. Then the album finishes off emotionally with “Hunger on the Hillside”, which is Cole jumping on some strings to say he’s gonna be the same man when he retires.

Although I’d have to say my current Album of the Year so far is a toss-up between Death & the Magician or Haram, I’m not gonna deny that this is hands down the most consistent J. Cole album I’ve heard since Forest Hills Drive. He sounds like he has a fire under his ass performance-wise & it’s refreshing to hear him bringing outside collaborators into the fold. If he keeps it up, It’s a Boy & The Fall Off could both shape up to be epic finales in his career.

Score: 3.5/5

Fatt Father – “Soccer Dad” review

This is the 5th full-length outing from Detroit emcee Fatt Father. Coming up as 1/4 of the world famous Fat Killahz, he eventually went solo in 2006 off his debut mixtape Tales of the Childless Father. Going on to release 3 more tapes along with 4 albums, it’s only right for Fatts to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of his previous effort King Father by dropping the long-awaited

The “Raging Angel” intro kicks off with a gospel sample as Fatt Father celebrates being reinstated whereas “The Commute” details being pulled over by a cop taking his son to a soccer game over a boom bap beat with a heavy guitar. The title track is a grimy follow-up that let’s the listener know who they be fucking with while the soul sample-laced “Stick to the Script” comes through with that grown man spiritual street corner material”.

The song “Head Shot” in pirates some organs as the Twin Towers & Tone Plummer go at those running they mouths while “Papa Free” is simply just Fatts getting a lot of shit off his chest for 3-minutes backed by a relaying vocal sample. “The Price of Freedom” of course gets on the conscious side of things with a fitting rock loop whereas “Smoke” is an up-tempo banger about how you ain’t want beef with him.

Meanwhile on “Underground Ballin’”, we get a charismatic anthem about how underground MCs can ball as much as the mainstream cats can whereas “Party of 1” talks about taking off heads over a deadly instrumental. The song “Do Better” is a cinematic cut tackling daily self-improvement while “#1” goes into a more trap direction with lyrics about failure not being an option. The song “In All Fairness” brings in some hi-hats & catchy vocal harmonies to say he ain’t do nobody wrong, but then “Truth” serves as a well-written response to those people with a dusty boom bap beat incorporating icy keyboard melodies.

I’ve been waiting on this album for almost 2 years now & I’m glad the day has finally come because this could very well be the best thing Fatt Father has ever done. A lot of the same reasons I enjoyed Bang Belushi’s latest album Rudy make it’s way onto here, especially the personal lyricism & the eclectic sounds Foul Mouth uses throughout.

Score: 9/10

XL the Beast – “Heavy Hands” review

XL the Beast is a 47 year old MC from Boston, Massachusetts who was formerly apart of a local group called The Kreators. However after dropping a slew of singles, he’s finally ready to unleash his full-length solo debut to the masses that has been in the making for almost 15 years.

“Reawakening” is ass-kicking opener from the rock-influenced production from The Arcitype to XL’s threatening lyricism whereas the Skyzoo-assisted “The World Today” gets on the conscious side of things on top of a horn-inflicted boom bap instrumental from Shuko. We get a surprise appearance from Heltah Skeltah on the roomy & appropriately titled “Credibility” just before fellow Boston native Slaine helps get on the introspective tip for the glistening “Wreckage of My Past”.

Meanwhile, we get an emotional look at a fraction of the man he used to be on the downhearted “Choices” before angrily getting in his shit-talking bag for “Apocalypse”. The organ-loop on “Sucker Punch” is a nice touch as REKS & Rock come into talk about throwing their opponents off guard & even though “Dead Ends” has my favorite hook on the album, the Moe Pope feature is just ok.

The song “Desolation” jumps on top of a spine-tingling instrumental to talk about feeling barren just before Shabaam Sahdeeq accompanies XL for “Fan of the Week”, where both parties talk about bringing the smoke. “Distorted Facts” has a sporadic feel to it sonically as Vice Versah & Moroney come in to address themselves as sick fucks with twisted thoughts while Domingo brings in some guitars for the braggadocious “$100 Bill”.

“Paper Champions” with Esoteric & Checkmark is of course a symphonic battle rap cut while XL & Big Shug talk about getting it in on the dusty “Writer’s Block”. The penultimate track “The Rain” gets romantic on top of a piano & a flute, but then the closer “See You Again” with G-Squared is a touching tribute to their homie Big Juan.

Coming away from Heavy Hands, I’m pretty impressed with it. The features are either hit or miss (for me personally anyway), but the diversity of it is very admirable & I feel like you get a good look at who XL is both artistically & personally.

Score: 3.5/5

CZARFACE & MF DOOM – “Super What?” review

This is the surprise 2nd collaborative album between East Coast supergroup CZARFACE & one of the most beloved MCs/producers in all of hip hop: MF DOOM. The first time we heard Inspectah Deck and 7L & Esoteric team up with Viktor was on “Ka-Bang!” off the trio’s classic 2015 sophomore album Every Hero Needs a Villain, which was followed up in 2018 with the appropriately titled CZARFACE Meets Metal Face. But after being delayed for the past year due to COVID-19 as well as DOOM’s unfortunate passing, Super What? is finally seeing the light of day.

“The King & Eye” is a solid way to kick the album off as the quartet team up with D.M.C. to declare themselves as royalty referencing AEW performer Orange Cassidy on top of a boom bap beat from none other than The Czar-Keys with some chimes being incorporated. The next song “Czarwyn’s Theory of People Getting Loose” goes on about how “there’s no dope in the industry” & even though I personally believe is far from true, all 3 of the verses on here are cutthroat as Hell. As for the production end of it: I like how it starts off grimy, but the switch-up midway through Esoteric’s verse was a bit unnecessary.

“Mando Calrissian” has a Special Herbs feel to it instrumentally as the trio talk about going commando, but then the track “DOOM Unto Others” is an decimating battle rap cut. Del the Funky Homosapien provides the best feature at the end of the threatening “Jason & the Czargonauts” before talking about “continuing where they left off” on the jazzy “Break in the Action”.

After the “A Name to the Face” skit, the song “This is Canon Now” is a 7L & Eso solo cut taking it back to the days of A New Dope instrumentally & dropping numerous comic references. The penultimate track “So Strange” incorporates an organ as well as some dusty drums as they pop off about the thoughts in their mind & even though I like the storytelling on “Young World” a lot, it’s a weird way to end the album.

Even though Super What? is more of an EP to me than a full-length, I still enjoyed it as much as CZARFACE Meets Metal Face. The chemistry between the 3 emcees never fails to amuse me & The Czar-Keys stick to their guns in terms of the project’s overall sound.

Score: 4.5/5

Night Lovell – “Just Say You Don’t Care” review

Night Lovell is a 23 year old rapper, songwriter & producer from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada originally 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, but his biggest break came just a few months ago when the $uicideboy$ signed him to their Virgin Music imprint G*59 Record$. And with his born day coming up later this month, it’s only right for Night to drop his sophomore album.

“Trying to Float” is a stellar way to kick off the album with it’s jangly trap beat as well as Night Lovell telling a story of him in the position to change everything about his life whereas the next song “Smoke Screen” is a cloud rap banger telling those to mind their business. The instrumental on “Bandage” is somewhat similar to the opener except dude goes into detail about fake people & then piano-trap infused “I Know Your Ways” serves as an expansion of this theme lyrically.

Meanwhile on “You Motherfucker”, we have Night Lovell jumping on top of a cacophonous beat to brush of those who’re envious of him before leading up to the depraving sex song “Call Me Water” & a melancholy-filled breakup anthem “Sadly I Can’t Control”. The song “10 Wishes” is a distorted description of what he would do if he had such while “Bottom Top” goes into psychedelic territory to talk about getting head.

“Puppet” has a more industrial-edge to it with lyrics detailing a woman controlling him before thinking about his life on the airy “On the Hill”. The song “Crawl” is a woozier cut about living in 2029 & then the penultimate track “Counting Down the List” is a cloud rap tune about knowing this woman was a demon. To finish the album off, we have Night Lovell detailing his loneliness on the atmospheric “Alone”.

I can totally see why Ruby da Cherry & $crim took this kid under their wing because is a pretty solid album. He sticks to his typically dark sound in terms of production & the songwriting is at it’s best. Looking forward to keep watching him evolve from hereon out.

Score: 3.5/5

Namir Blade – “Imaginary Everything” review

Namir Blade is a 28 year old MC/producer from Nashville, Tennessee who first emerged at the beginning of 2018 off the strength of his debut album O.S.T. Worlds & Dreams. However, a lot of people (including myself) weren’t really familiar with the cat until he signed to Mello Music Group & dropped his critically acclaimed sophomore album Aphelion’s Traveling Circus this past fall. 8 months later, L’Orange is being tapped in to produce Namir’s 3rd full-length outing from start to finish.

The titular opener has these grand horn sections & Jimi Hendrix-esque guitar lead that I really like, but Namir’s vocals are totally buried in the mix. The next song “Lyra” continues to go into rock territory with lyrics about possibly becoming the next big thing whereas “Nihilism” is a wailing look into just that. Quelle Chris jumps on the boom bap flavored “Point to Point” to help talk about spending time on the road & despite the brevity of “Out East”, I love the Chappelle’s Show homage at the start & the overall charm of it.

We go back into that rap rock sound on “Corner Store Scandal”, which is literally about a unique purchase he made at a corner store. Fly Anakin jumps on the bass guitar-tinged “Gassed Up” to depict “pulling a shinobi” while “Shotgun” talks about holding it down backed by an instrumental that kinda has a psychedelic-flare to it. The peppy “Somebody’s Anthem” opens up the struggles of being “black on the interstate” before going into a more soulful direction to talk about wanting a lil life.

Meanwhile on “Murphy’s Law”, we get a warping beat as Namir foreshadows a shitty day before going melodic for 2-minutes on the minimally-produced “I Can Change”. The album then finishes off with “Pipe Dream”, where he & Marlowe jump on a spacey instrumental to boast their lyrical skills.

I was curious to hear where Namir Blade was gonna take things after Aphelion’s Traveling Circus, but man he really killed it on Imaginary Everything. Easily his best work to date in my opinion. His writing has improved & L’Orange’s production is otherworldly. If their goal was to make something extravagant out of the mundane, both parties have succeeded.

Score: 4/5

Presice85 – “Narcos & Boom Bap” review

Presice85 is a 36 year old MC from South Gate, California who first emerged at the very beginning of 2017 off his debut mixtape My Life Novel & followed it up a couple years later with a sequel during the spring time. However with a handful of singles that came down the pipe ever since then, it’s all lead up to his debut EP over here.

“War” starts off the EP with some keyboards & dusty drums talking about how no one wants smoke with him & even though I love the positive vibes of “No More L’s”, the King Lil G verse is kinda corny to me. “Street Poets” with KXNG CROOKED has a more orchestral sound declaring themselves as such whereas the somber “City of God” details going crazy for the cash, even though I’m a bit indifferent towards the Iceman Skrill verse.

The song “Russian Roulette” with Oside Blaze finds the 2 on top of a suiting Russian sample spitting that battle shit while the penultimate track “Body Catcher” gets on that sinister murderous shit. “Blood Sport” ends the EP by forebodingly comparing the rap game to such & taking shots at anyone who wants to step up to him.

If you’re not familiar with dude already, I think Narcos & Boom Bap is a pretty good place to start. I think he’s definitely a talented lyricists, but there are features sprinkled into a good 60% of the EP & it really didn’t need to be the case.

Score: 3.5/5

DJ Khaled – “Khaled Khaled” review

DJ Khaled is a 45 year old DJ, record executive, producer & media personality from New Orleans, Louisiana whom a lot of people may not know came up as a tour DJ for the Terror Squad. But for the last 15 years, Khaled has curated a total of 11 albums under his own name. However when his last effort Father of Asahd charted at #2 right behind IGOR on the Billboard 200, dude completely ruined his Mr. Nice Guy image by dissing Tyler, The Creator out of bitterness. Almost 2 years later, Khaled is returning with his 12th full-length project.

Jeremih & Lil Wayne kick the album off on “Thankful”, where the 2 speak on gratefulness over a sample of Bobby Bland’s iconic “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City”. The song “Every Chance I Get” has a Three 6-inspired sound from Tay Keith as Lil Baby & Lil Durk go back & forth about turning up on haters while the Cardi B solo cut “Big Paper” is a grimy braggadocious anthem down to the beat too. The track “We Going Crazy” not only has a weird synth-instrumental, but the chemistry between H.E.R. & the Migos are totally off.

Lil Baby returns albeit with Megan Thee Stallion & DaBaby for the ironically enjoyable rap rock banger “I Did It” whereas Justin Bieber & 21 Savage deliver a boring look at the saying “Time is money” on the plainly-produced “Let It Go”. The song “Body in Motion” by Bryson Tiller, Lil Baby & Roddy Ricch is a gross attempt at going romantic while the first Drake solo cut “Popstar” sounds completely uninspired.

Meanwhile, we have A Boogie wit da Hoodie joining forces with Big Sean & Rick Ross to ruin Biggie’s “Long Kiss Goodnight” on the conquering “This is My Year” whereas the highly anticipated “Sorry Not Sorry” is easily my favorite off the entire album as JAY-Z & Nas talk about living the dream over a sample of Bobby Glenn’s “Sound’s Like a Love Song” provided by STREETRUNNER. “Just Be” by Justin Timberlake unapologetically ruins the Ghostface Killah joint “All That I Got Is You” right before “I Can Have It All” by H.E.R. & Meek Mill butchers one of my favorite Beanie Sigel songs: “Feel It in the Air”.

The other Drake solo cut “Greece” is even worse than “Popstar” only because he is completely trying to rip off The Weeknd’s vocal inflections from start to finish & if you’re familiar with Khaled’s previous output, you already know the album ends with a reggae note & that’s what “Where You Come From” by Barrington Levy, Buju Banton & Capleton does.

I don’t know what else to say other than that, he just keeps making the same goddamn album over & over again. The usual line-up of guests hardly compliment one another & the radio friendly production is just average at best. Just put 3-4 joints in a playlist & call it a day.

Score: 1.5/5

The Alchemist – “This Thing of Ours” review

This is the 9th EP from Beverly Hills producer, DJ & emcee The Alchemist. Coming up as 1/2 of The Whooliganz in 1993 with Scott Caan, the disbanded a year later after recording a debut album that eventually got shelved & Scott went onto acting. Mudfoot however, quickly established himself as a household name in hip hop production by working with a handful of the culture’s most iconic names ranging from Mobb Deep to Eminem. Last thing we heard from him solo wise was The Food Villain back in October & after producing the new Armand Hammer album Haram to universal acclaim last month, Uncle Al is staying busy by amassing 6 emcees for This Thing of Ours.

The opener “Nobles” weaves in a Sun Ra sample as Navy Blue & Earl Sweatshirt trade bars back & forth with one another while the next song “TV Dinners” is a bit oxymoronic with it’s calming instrumental along with Boldy James & Sideshow declaring themselves as soldiers through the lyrics. The penultimate track “Holy Hell” by Maxo & Pink Siifu goes on about the devil wanting their souls over a guitar & a vocal sample before Earl returns to talk about people nickel & diming on the trumpet-heavy closer “Loose Change”.

Not the best EP we’ve heard from The Alchemist, but still an enjoyable listen. His production is a lot more chilled out in comparison to Haram & despite a couple of the guest MCs providing weak verses, most of them do what they do best.

Score: 3.5/5