ScarLip is a 24 year old rapper & producer from Brooklyn, New York signing to Epic Records following the single “This is New York”. I on the other hand wasn’t introduced to her until she appeared on “Take ‘Em Out” off the Hip Hop 50, Vol. 2 EP that Swizz Beatz produced a couple years ago & began seeing the appeal in her music once “Blick” came out weeks after a couple of her fans were messaging me on social media last summer. To get THIS summer started, the Broken Child Entertainment founder’s preluding her debut album with a debut EP.
I didn’t mind “Pop That” featuring Lil Wayne as an intro bringing both of them together over a Rockwilder & Swizz Beatz instrumental to remind where you can find them if you need some weight whereas “Melanin” angrily talks about beefing with ghostwriters instead of other rappers. “Eastside” fuses trap & soul advising not to call her since she don’t need anyone leading into the mediocre New York drill collab “Fruity Pebbles” featuring TaTa.
“Could’ve Been Me” featuring Skilla Baby begins the final moments of Scarred B4 Fame with both of them keeping guns by their side asking what the plan is but after “Runaway Love” freestyles over the instrumental of the Ludacris track of the same name from Release Therapy, “Lord Please” sends off the EP fusing trap & gospel asking God to be easy on her.
Haven’t really consider myself the biggest fan of the New York drill scene other than the late Pop Smoke & right when I thought that subgenre was starting to fade out because nobody has really carried the torch since, hearing ScarLip for the past couple years had me hoping that she would capitalize on her potential with this EP & the results are mixed. I can certainly say the hunger’s there in her verses, although most of the guests’ performances & some of the instrumentals are 2 of the biggest criticisms I have with it.
Here we have the 9th EP from Buffalo emcee/producer Che Noir. Discovering her after 38 Spesh signed Che to TCF Music Group & fully produced her first 3 EPs, her Apollo Brown-produced full-length debut As God Intended & then her self-produced 4th EP After 12 during the 2nd half of 2020 was where her potential began to blossom exponentially. She has since followed this up with the sophomore effort Food for Thought as well as The Last Remnants, the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced Noir or Never, The Color Chocolate, The Lotus Child. & the recruiting Superior-produced Seeds of Babylon. Damn near 3 months to the day, The Color Chocolate 2 is kicking summer in full gear.
“Painting Class” was a drumless intro opting to give haters interventions instead of bars whereas “Buy vs. Sell” brings a self-produced boom bap instrumental in the fold talking about a woman who makes her every dime off crime. “Who’s the Greatest?” featuring eLZhi finds the 2 painting visions for the blind with intricate wordplay from both parties while “Show & Tell” featuring 7xvethegenius reunites the pair ahead of their collab effort in November to grind until they can’t anymore.
Starting the 2nd half, “Where You Go” takes a soulful route to the beat stripping the drums once again being colorblind to those showing her their true colors while “Blink Twice” talks making atheists pray on her downfall over a piano instrumental from Evidence. “Stories” expresses her frustration of being fed up with fake friends who never gave a fuck of what she wanted & the closer “New Beginning” remembers a late friend whose girl is carrying his child.
Pushing her lyrical prowess as well as her storytelling abilities & dexterity as a producer even further, Che Noir gets back on her bully shit with a sequel to The Color Chocolate 2 that I enjoy more than the predecessor from a year & a half ago. The sequel’s production is stronger than the original’s personally & I think there’s significantly more consistency within the guests’ performances.
Joshua Redman is a 56 year old saxophonist from Berkeley, California notable for being the son of the late Dewey Redman. Signing to Warner Records in 1994 with his eponymous debut, he would go on to follow it up Wish as well as Moodswing & Freedom in the Groove. He would stay with Warner for Timeless Tales (For Changing Times) followed by Beyond & Passage of Time, leaving after Elastic in the fall of 2002. Recently signing to the greatest jazz label of all-time, Joshua’s 16th solo LP will now be his official debut under Blue Note Records.
“A Message to Unsend” begins with a 5 minute post-bop composition enlisting labelmate Paul Cornish on piano ahead of his debut You’re Exaggerating! later this summer alongside Philip Norris playing bass & Nazir Ebo handling the drums prior to tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana joining the quartet for “So It Goes” to improvise 7 minutes of pure swagger. Philip’s bassist skills kicks off the first 60 seconds of the title track until the drums, sax & pianos all come in respectively while “Borrowed Eyes” reaches the halfway point with a bluesier mood.
Getting the ball rollin’ on Words Fall Short’s final act, “Icarus” could be my favorite post-bop song throughout the whole 45 & a half minute runtime bringing trumpeter Skylar Tang along for an exhilarating improvised post-bop jam just before “Over the Jelly-Green Sea” shows Joshua’s appreciation towards the late W.G. Sebald. The final instrumental piece “She Knows” explores his full range with a soprano saxophone giving a shot at avant-garde jazz during it’s 2nd half “Era Ends” by Gabrielle Cavassa sends off the album with a vocal jazz outro reminiscent to the most recent entry of her discography Where Are We?.
Conceived in a working environment that inspired him to dig into compositions that hadn’t found a home yet, Joshua Redman’s approach to bandleading hasn’t changed from the very moment he introduced himself to the world 3 decades earlier still performing with virtuosos who’ve mastered all the different jazz vocabularies & know how to express their individual brilliance through group improvisation & collective interaction. Primarily departing from the vocal jazz direction that took up a good bulk of Where Are We? & turning up the post-bop influences, Josh’s previously unheard collection of originals the beauty of human imperfection sees the light of day as his greatest material since leaving Warner.
London, England, United Kingdom emcee & Potent Funk Records co-founder Dabbla teaming up with local producer Ghosttown for his 2nd solo EP. Both of whom formed the Dead Players alongside Jam Baxter until Dabbla made his solo debut in 2016 off Year of the Monkey followed by the debut mixtape Chapsville under High Focus Records & the sophomore effort Death Moves respectively. Coming off Nobody as well as Bad Tuesday & G.W.O.A.T. (Greatest Wanker Of All-Time), it was intriguing to hear the LDZ & Problem Child member returning to High Focus with Ghosttown by his side throughout the duration of BLOTS ahead of Nino Bryant becoming the new RPW British Cruiserweight Champion this weekend.
“Shoosh” opens with what’s easily my favorite track here from the bassy trap beat to the rapid-fire flow & lyrics about being UK hip hop royalty whereas the 3rd & final single “Paper Boats” featuring PAV4N links the pair up to flex leveling up on some next shit. The 2nd single “Karate Good” featuring Dubbledge goes for a boom bap vibe instrumentally having both of them wishing a muhfucka would just before the lead single “Bang” featuring Tis Zombie spits that gun talk pulling from trap once again.
Succeeding the “My Guy” interlude, “Uh Oh” begins the 2nd half of BLOTS fusing trap & jazz rap explaining that the true meaning of boredom is when one’s lacking inner resources while “Yadda Yadda Yadda” featuring Smuj joins forces to talk about hearing a whole lotta bullshit out these people’s mouths. The closer “Nonsense” sends off the EP with him over a woodwind so he can take aim at those speaking in balderdash.
Chapsville still remains my favorite solo project Dabbla has ever made almost a decade later so when I heard Ghosttown was fully producing BLOTS, I was hoping for it would surpass Bad Tuesday in becoming the most celebrated extended play of the 2 we’ve gotten from him & I certainly did it enjoy it more than it’s 2022 predecessor by only a slight margin. My criticisms of this EP lie more with them overloading it with guest appearances for nearly every son, but I can respect Ghosttown’s chaotic trap production & Dabbz recapturing the spirit of his LDZ days.
Atlanta, Georgia emcee/producer Tha God Fahim releasing his 62nd EP over a week since the last one. 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 Vocabulary produced by Cartune Beatz. Continuing the Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap Rap saga, the dumpathon finds no end in sight with the 14th installment.
“Post Apocalyptic” sets off the EP with a laidback boom bap instrumentally talking about the state of the world especially with everything that happened in the Middle East last weekend whereas “No Traffic” heads for a chipmunk soul direction boasting that he’s in his own different lane when he’s not entirely wrong. “Warmonger” hooks up a drumless guitar instrumental to talk about living life like a gladiator while “The Work of 1,000” soulfully uses the element of surprise to fight his mental struggles.
Ru$h teams up with Fahim on “Megamen” like he did over a week ago for “Twisted Metal” letting it be known that there ain’t no 2nd chances when they make advancements to their styles leading into the atmospherically dusty “Olympic Weightlifters” talking about keeping a pump on him & looking to fulfill his destiny since this is our only opportunity alive. “Versace N Pepper Steak” rounds out the EP by hopping over a funk sample paying homage to the recently departed Sly Stone.
Noticeably less jazzier than the EP we got from him 8 days ago, Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 14 continues the historically unstoppable run Fahim & Craven have been on together since last fall. The latter’s production carries over the chipmunk soul, boom bap & drumless sounds that a vast majority of the series has been praised for from the get-go & Breadrick Douglas’ lyrics cut deeper than a samurai sword.
This is the 7th studio LP from Washington, D.C. emcee/producer Ankhlejohn. Breaking out off his Big Ghost Ltd.-produced sophomore effort Van Ghost, he’s given the underground his last 6 full-lengths as well as 8 EPs & 7 tapes in almost a decade. Other favorites of mine in his discography include the Navy Blue-produced As Above, So Below, the Rome Streetz collaborative effort Genesis 1:27. & more recently the Cookin’ Soul-produced The Michelin Man earlier this year. August Fanon had produced Blu’s widely praised 13th solo album 40 back in April & hearing him produce Live! at the Disco had raised my expectations for it going in.
“Electric Funk Daddy” sets up some woodwinds & keys to get the party going assuring that you best believe he’s got some personal shit poppin’ off in his life right now whereas “Lexus GS300” embraces a funkier direction instrumentally so he can get on his smooth shit on the mic for a couple minutes. “Emilio Pucci” takes the drumless chipmunk soul route giving his flowers to the late founder of the Italian fashion house Pucci just before “The Lordy Way” brings back the funk talking about doing shit the only way he knows how to: his own.
The late “Marion Barry” gets brought up on a song named after him lettin’ y’all know where Lordy comes from over some delicate synthesizers behind him while “Long Overdue” chops up the soul sample again to map out big heists you won’t even believe. “Replica Jazz Club” dives into jazz rap turf talking about new beginnings & his vision being bigger than everyone else’s prior to “Monday Morning” soulfully talks about needing permission from no one except his mother.
“Day by Day” mixed soul & synth-funk showing everyone his imagination smoking the finest mush he could find on the daily while “Eddie Brock” makes reference to The Walt Disney Company subsidiary Marvel-owned Venom’s alter ego turning the jazz influences back up again. “Majic 102.3 Vibes” maintains a jazz rap flare airing out the people who haven’t paid their dues in the game & “Digital Love” ends with a drumless saxophone talking about being that muhfucka.
I did enjoy the Grace Given EP don’t get me wrong, but Live! at the Disco recaptures almost every that made The Michelin Man his best in a while & both of them will be hailed as his most essential listens the more time passes. August Fanon’s production on this one a lot like 40 earlier this spring prominently centers itself around chipmunk soul, jazz rap & drumless swapping out the conscious subject matter Blu is known for in favor of the hardcore lyricism that Lordy’s become popular off of.
New collaborative LP between Sudanese-American rapper & songwriter Bas alongside London, England, United Kingdom alternative R&B duo The Hics. One of whom began in 2011 by putting out his debut mixtape Quarter Water Raised Me & the 2013 sequel Quarter Water Raised Me 2 would catch the attention of J. Cole, becoming the 2nd act after Omen other than Cole himself to sign to his Interscope Records imprint Dreamville Records. Bas would introduce himself more to the Dreamville fans the next spring on the moderately received full-length debut Last Winter & the sophomore effort Too High to Riot couple years later won them over, as it’s still the most critically acclaimed body of work in Bas’ discography to date. Milky Way was also treated to mild reception as were the couple of EPs that he’s given us since then Spilled Milk & BUMP (Pick Me Up), returning a year & a half after We Only Talk About Real Shit When We’re Fucked Up to team up with The Hics on Melanchronica.
“Out of Sight” was a soulfully orchestral trap fusion were 2 lovers talk about being down & out for each other whereas “Norbit” featuring Ab-Soul references the shitty Eddie Murphy movie that came out at the beginning of 2007 on top of mentioning that they want no parts with politics. “4 Walls” brings the alternative R&B & pop rap vibes they’re both known for in full effect wanting to get to know each other by telling war stories of their worst times while the cloudy “Everyday Ppl” reunites both acts for another R&B/hip hop duet talking about not wanting to fight anymore.
I found “San Junipero” to be a decent 2-parter with a beat switch during the final couple minutes pleading to hold onto love & “Comfort Levels” after the “Roxanne’s Interlude” acoustically talks about never seeing his squad going under since only God knows his hunger. “Mine” featuring Domani finds the quartet going for a tropical direction not wanting to let each other go while “Erehwon” featuring SABA talks about having tons of problems to pay for. “Sometimes” ends the album with a 7-minute closer split in 2 different halves observing tangible qualities in one another.
Breaking free from Interscope albeit staying with Dreamville much like the EARTHGANG did, Melanchronica feels like a longer version of the SNAKEGANG’s eponymous debut EP with the exception of The Hics’ production fusing Bas’ pop rap style with the indietronica/alternative R&B elements of the British duo’s own music. It’s concept is based around the longing of a lost love as well as the battle between our own duality & the pensive self reflection of one’s own shortcomings satisfying fans of both artists encompassing the stories of their lives from pre to post COVID.
Here is the 8th studio LP from Grand Rapids, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm. Starting as 1/2 of 2Korpse before branching out on his own for the full-length solo debut Phoenix, this was followed up by a sophomore LP Ready to Burn alongside 2 EPs Mouth Full of Dirt & jaws: Deciduous respectively. Taking a few years off after the latter, he returned in the summer of 2014 by dropping 4 more albums: Parasite Avenue, Drowning in Restricting Thought, Finding X & Eat the Weak. I’ve covered the Gōst EP along with the synthpop inspired ANTI & of course the eponymous Bodies Below Sea Level debut, dropping Cruelty a month after both Dirtwave & Shelter Skelter.
The first song “We Rise, They Fall” after the “Live, Laugh, Lobotomy” intro was an industrial rock opener singing about how every single one of us should be standing tall whereas “You Fucking Lying Bitch” by Bodies Below Sea Level gets back on the industrial horrorcore sound of their self-titled effort last fall. “Warning” maintains the vibes of the previous track except Crossworm’s doing the MCing all by himself until “Bully” by Bodies Below Sea Level lets out some overcrowded angst they can’t keep in anymore.
“Liquify My Dick & Drink It” hops over an industrial beat for 50 second pleading to be left alone with his peace beneath the cold dirt subtly referencing The Beneath the Dirt Podcast in which the Dirtcore CEO produced it’s theme song, but then “Get the Fuck Off My Lawn” featuring Madd Maxxx industrially unites the 2 so they can repeat the same shit until they’re wrong. After the “What Do You Do?” interlude, “You’re Dead to Me” sings over synthesizers with the lyrics airing out some grievances he has leading into the “Vulnerable” interlude AND the “Useless Entitled Cripple” interlude.
Things get minimal for “It’s All My Fault” meshing pianos & an acoustic guitar taking some accountability for himself while “Shatter” by Misery Coast talks about their squad leaving everyone behind in dust. “Some Call Me the Devil” continued the industrial horrorcore hybrids acknowledging some comparing him to Satan while “I Still Hate” experiments with nu metal feeling loathsome. Lastly, “I Have My Reasons” closes Cruelty with a melodic boom bap joint recalling when he used to feel oblivious.
Eat the Weak was considered to be the most aggressive entry in Crossworm’s whole entire solo career up until this point & over 2 decades since Phoenix, he’s taken it to another level on Cruelty. His production feels like a mix of all the sounds he’s employed during the course of his career from horrorcore to industrial music, nu metal, industrial rock & boom bap bringing half of the artists he’s already signed to his increasingly popular underground hip hop label on board balancing his rapping abilities with his singing chops evenly.
Daz Dillinger is a 52 year old rapper, producer & songwriter from Long Beach, California who happens to be the cousin of Brandy, her brother Ray J, WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg & the current AEW tbs Champion and RPW British Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné set to face set to face the current CMLL Mundial Femenil Campeon Zeuxis at Grand Slam VI at Arena México this upcoming Wednesday & the current 4-time AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm at All In IV at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas next month. He eventually signed to Death Row Records & became an original in-house producer under the guidance of its co-founder Dr. Dre, forming Tha Dogg Pound with Kurupt not too long afterwards. Daz finally made his solo debut on ‘98 by putting out Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back on Death Row until departing rather quickly to put out 19 more LPs of his own with almost 3 decades of experience in the game. We just had the Dogg Pound Gangstaz make a return to form with W.A.W.G. (We All We Got) under Tha Row last spring & his 21st album looks to take it back to the essence of his own debut.
After the “Level 4 Yard Bizniz” intro, the first song “Death Row N’Matez” by Tha Dogg Pound featuring RBX & Soopafly was a funky west coast hardcore hip hop intro with all 4 of them justifiably showing off their status as O.G.s of The Untouchable west coast label whereas the soulful “Calculate the Time” talks about the chosen few who’re simply too cold. “West Coast is the Best Coast” boastfully represents the sunshine state to the fullest since hip hop’s a habit to him & after the “Get Down You Clown” interlude, “Set Trippin’” advises that those who ain’t from the same block as him to watch their step.
“Retaliation & Revenge” apocalyptically suggests you better not come around his parts or the city anymore bringing images of gang violence to life so he can back up the warning message he’s sending out just before “Get Bacc” lets y’all know the exact moment the guns start to blow reaffirming he’s always been with the gang life then, now & forever. “Start Bacc Bangin’” featuring a verse from the late Big Skye finds the 2 linking up for a modernized g-funk vibe flexing their Crip ties, but then “We Came to Play” featuring B-Legit goes for a traditional g-funk approach to dedicate itself to the playas.
Lil’ C-Style formerly of the LBC Crew joins Diggity Daz for “Switchin’ Lanez” working in more synthesizers so they can fondly recall the people in their lives who gave them a sack simply because they knew how hard both of them were hustlin’ until getting signed back in the day while “Like a Movie” by Tha Dogg Pound takes the trap route a little asking if you’re ready to do & comparing the way they live to a theatrical film. “Destiny” samples The Jackson 5 single of the same name standing tall because he was born for it while “On the Dead Homies” puts it all on the people in his life who aren’t with us today.
“The Reason” was a cloudy g-funk crossover breaking down why he’s been grinding with a purpose all this time while “Ask the Homie Daz” pulls from trap music again instrumentally to tell anyone who got questions for him to take them to someone else due to him having nothing for ya. “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” dives into g-funk turf once again talking about the gangsta lifestyle he lived during his younger days & “Mentally Crazy” finishes Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back 2 with a powerful reflection on mental health explaining the stigma around that touchy subject makes it hard to reach out for help when it absolutely does.
It’s no secret a vast majority of Daz’ solo material since DPGC: U Know What I’m Throwin’ Up has been either received positively such as the So So Def Recordings-backed So So Gangsta & Dazamataz or left west coast heads divided in Matter of Dayz’ case. Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back 2 on the contrary makes for a worthy sequel to the album he broke out as a solo act with. His production takes cues from the west coast’s past & present, enlisting a more consistent guest list than The Adventures of Dilly tha Dogg exactly 6 months ago who perform on his same level rather than constantly being subpar.
Digital Nas is a 26 year old producer, rapper & singer/songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia whom many including myself got introduced to in 2016 after producing “Up Next 2” off Lil Yachty’s debut mixtape Lil Boat. Following an eponymous debut EP of his own, he would go on to put out another EP Throwaway Songs Worth Listening To. & a sequel to his self-titled EP as his full-length studio debut. His bitterness & desperation for attention has seemed to get the best of him as of late whether it be him making homophobic remarks about Tyler, The Creator during the Chromakopia rollout or being a yes-man for Ye formerly known as Kanye West in the midst of the latter’s behavior on Twitter worsening in the last 5 months owned by Tesla CEO, SpaceX founder, Neuralink founder & Nazi Elon Musk. Nearly a couple months since DONDA 2 was finally completed, the man’s sophomore effort originally set to close the DN trilogy has been made public on streaming.
“Honest” feels reminiscent of his work on Ye’s final Def Jam Recordings album DONDA with the organs & electric guitar astonished by the amount of people falling for idiocracy whereas the experimentally drumless “Living n a Dream” sings about life not being what it seems. “bLCK hedi SliManE” regurgitates Ye’s obsession with the far-right with the “new black KKK” line over a chaotic trap instrumental while the synth-driven “Loose Screw” acknowledges his eccentricity.
What could possibly be the worst song he’s ever made “New Ice” ruins a trap beat with some decent synthesizers with poor songwriting & a hideous delivery with the soulful “#1 P” not being any better topically wanting to call it even & others wanting to be him when I simply cannot imagine that in any capacity. “Stars Aligning” goes for a drumlessly cloudy direction instrumentally trying to convince you he defines reprimands while “Broke the Rules” ironically talks about him not missing these days when he in fact has on several instances.
“God’s Timing” keeps the drums out of the equation hooking up more synthesizers conveying that everything’s on the most high’s time leading into the ambient plugg heavy “TrustNo1” talking about a vast majority of the population reading off as untrustworthy from his perspective. “False News” continues the decent sampling choices tackling a breakup & hoping for a redo becoming a possibility while “inLove” carries the theme of romance over further for only a couple minutes.
The song “Life Wild” brings a bare electric guitar to the table talking about the way he’s been living lately when that hasn’t been made any more obvious by him dissing Tyler, The Creator & even Ye’s former longtime engineer Mike Dean or wishing death on KiD CuDi for testifying against Puff Daddy a.k.a. P. Diddy or Diddy while “Peacing Out” caps off Tampering with Sound taking the final moments to sing about letting it show where he’ll be.
Up until everything that happened between him & Tyler last fall, I would’ve told you that Digital Nas was a tolerable producer albeit a below average rapper/singer. Does that still ring true? Yeah, sure but he really needs to get his ego under control if he genuinely thinks that he’s a far superior performer than the former Odd Future de facto leader when he never has been & never will be. The only real thing this album has going for it a lot like almost all of his previous solo material is his pop rap, alternative R&B, experimental hip hop & art pop production because he’s a below average songwriter, a mediocre performer & an ugly spirited person outside of it all.
Legends Will Never Die 