Mr. Cliffnote – “Duly Noted” review

This is the full-length debut solo album from Detroit emcee Mr. Cliffnote. Starting in 2006 off his eponymous debut mixtape, he would form the duo Sidenotes with the homie B-Side a little bit after that & went on to drop the sophomore tape Path to Notification followed by the Note to Self EP a few years ago, the latter of which I reviewed positively. Ahead of Path to Notification 2 however, Cliff’s celebrating his born day by releasing Duly Noted.

“New Jax” produced by Foul Mouth starts with a soul sample & Cliff mapping out the heart of the city instead of tryna party with the now disgraced music mogul Puff Daddy a.k.a. P. Diddy or Diddy whereas “Built fa Dis” takes the boom rap route instrumentally thanks to Nick Speed welcoming y’all to his church & asking to sing him a hymn. “Gonzo Outside” works in more sampling talking about still collecting chickens when he’s dead & gone prior to the slow jam “What’s It Gonna Be?” discussing not hesitating to throw away the goldmine when it’s go time.

Meanwhile on “Win Man”, we have Cliff fusing elements of trap & soul together thanking the most high for collecting all the Ws in his career leading into “Dreamin’ Season” maintains the soulful chops & hi-hats to talk about now being time to put the effort in instead of daydreaming all day. “Would Not Pay” gives off a classy boom bap vibe telling the story of a woman who got him saying all types of shit he wouldn’t find himself saying, but then “We Don’t Know You” featuring Fat Ray & Stretch Money brings the trio together for a nearly 3-minute Detroit trap heater.

“Pose fa da Photo” jumps on top of this delicate sample pointing out that you can get popped in his neck of the woods hence why he always carries a .44 Magnum on him while “Fuck Shit” goes for a summery boom bap flare telling everyone coming at him as a result of Talib Kweli unnecessarily dissing him to get off his dick. “Strathmoor Kid” has my favorite Detroit trap beat on the LP courtesy of DJ Jewels cautioning not to trip when you pitchin’ & them fastballs hittin’ just before “Soul Proprietor” featuring Kuniva finds the pair giving y’all food for thought over a boom bap instrumental that Ilajide cooked up.

Pushing towards the final moments of Duly Noted, the song “Movin’ Up” returns to a Detroit trap sound flexing that they don’t make ‘em like him anymore even if Rich Starz’ auto-tuned hook does absolutely nothing for me with all respect & “Gold Chain” ends on the soulful boom bap note with the help of Sterling Totes telling everyone listening to do things for hip hop culture that others out here won’t even do for themselves.

Kweli going at Cliff was further confirmation of what I said in my Liberation 2 review about Talib & one of my top 10 producers Kanye West in the sense that both of them are established veterans with an insane amount of artistic talent who publicly make asses of themselves on the regular since the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree in the grand scheme of things other than Kanye having a bigger platform than Kweli does. Duly Noted though has now become Cliff’s best work. The production that Foul Mouth, Nick Speed, DJ Jewels & Ilajide offer a unique mix of old & new sounds within the Detroit landscape & Cliff steps up his A-game lyrically.

Score: 4/5

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Jelly Roll – “Beautifully Broken” review

Jelly Roll is a 39 year old rapper & singer/songwriter from Antioch, Tennesse who’s been hustling within the underground for over 2 decades already building up a discography of 21 mixtapes as well as 8 full-lengths & 3 EPs. His rise to international stardom began in 2020 when he signed a 2-album deal with the Strange Music subsidiary It Goes Up Entertainment, releasing A Beautiful Disaster & Self Medicated to critical acclaim. Whitsitt Chapel marked his country debut & “Need a Favor” proved to be his biggest hit, eventually signing with Republic Records for his 9th LP after making appearances for both Endeavor-owned TKO Group Holdings divisions UFC & WWE.

“Winning Streak” begins his Republic debut in the form of this powerful piano ballad singing about standin’ in the rain just trying to stay dry whereas “Burning” gives off more of a traditional country sound instrumentally asking God to show him another way. “Heart of Stone” in need of a different kind of drug carrying over the sounds of the previous cut onto here, but then the lead single “I’m Not Ok” fuses pop rock & country pop tackling the theme of mental health.

Meanwhile on “When the Drugs Don’t Work”, we have Jelly Roll asking who’s gonna drive you home once the drugs start to wear off putting a bigger emphasis on country pop just before “Higher Than Heaven” featuring Wiz Khalifa finds the 2 talking about smoking weed being their way out of the darkness. The official WWE SummerSlam XXXVII theme song “Liar” heads towards a pop rock direction calling out someone tryna be his friend for cappin’ leading into “Everyone Bleeds” explains that you can only fly so close to Heaven.

“Get By” pulls inspiration from the stomp & holler scene showin’ up Sunday morning lookin’ the same way he did the previous evening while “Unpretty” sings about resenting the man that he used to be radiating a calmer vibe to the beat. “Grace” brings back the country pop influences finding love in the heart of the darkness & hope when the times are the hardest while “What It Takes” sings about a 40 Oz. only numbing the pain.

To get Beautifully Broken’s other half going, “Hey Mama” serve as his passionate country tribute to Jelly Roll’s mother Donna DeFord & the guitar-driven “Time of Day” feels more like an MGK song since he handles pretty much all the verses & not as well as the primary artist himself. “Born Again” clarifies that you can’t kill a man that was born to be born again while “Guilty” maintains the country feeling expressing the love he has for his wife Alyssa.

“Little Light” is this country rock/country pop hybrid encouraging to leave some light since this person is on the close to the edge of letting go while “Hear Me Out” wanting y’all to tell him how he’s always feeling like something’s missin’ & we don’t know all the pain he’s felt. “Woman” gives his flowers to Alyssa once again detailing he won’t understand why she still calls him her’s while “Smile So Much” singing about one understanding why he’s been smiling a lot if you’ve seen him cry.

The penultimate track “My Cross” pushes towards the conclusion of the LP referring to hurt & trauma as a sickness, explaining that he’d rather die than to pass it to either of his 2 children since it’s his pain to bear rather than theirs hoping the apple falls far from the tree & the sins of the father stop with him while “What’s Wrong with Me” ends by singing about being fine with all his flaws. “Take a Bow” featuring Halsey starts the deluxe run promising one another the highest of highs over pianos while “Don’t Want To” featuring Keith Urban is a country duet clarifying just because they aren’t tempting that temptation or lighting up that fuse doesn’t mean they don’t want to.

“Devil Down” featuring Ernest finds the 2 sticking with a traditional country flare asking for God to help them overcome their addictions since it isn’t a strongpoint for them while the acoustic “Really Gone” featuring Russ talks about hearing the special people in their lives who’ve passed through the night sky. The stripped-back “Past Yesterday” with Skylar Grey on the hook asks not to judge him if he gets too high & the final bonus track “Lonely Road” featuring MGK fresh off being in Logan Paul’s corner when L.A. Knight finally dethroned him as WWE United States Champion at SummerSlam XXXVII couple months ago has to be one of the worst singles of the year mutating country pop & emo pop whining about feeling alone.

I’ve always found it ignorant when people say that Jelly Roll is a sellout or a culture vulture or inauthentic because the dude was grinding nonstop for the longest time working with those from Tech N9ne to more recently the closing track of Eminem’s highly conceptual THE DƎATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) & his Republic debut here stands as the best offering of his ever since he forayed deeper towards country. He’s grappling with his newfound fame during the 83 minute runtime bouncing between country, pop rock & country pop.

Score: 3.5/5

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Joell Ortiz – “W.A.R. (With All Respect)” review

Brooklyn, New York veteran Joell Ortiz is back for his 9th studio LP. Emerging after being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March 2004 issue of The Source Magazine, he went on to sign to Aftermath Entertainment for a brief period of time before leaving to drop his official debut The Brick: Bodega Chronicles under MNRK Music Group. I also can’t forget to mention when Slaughterhouse rose to prominence off their self-titled debut, which led Eminem signing the supergroup to Shady Records a decade ago already. But sadly, their major label debut welcome to: OUR HOUSE that came out the next summer would unfortunately end up being their last & everyone has been doing their own thing since. 3 years since Autograph however, The Heatmakerz are jumping behind the boards throughout the duration of W.A.R. (With All Respect).

“W.A.R. Welcome” featuring I Born starts with a bluesy boom bap instrumental allowing them to open up our minds taking us to war with all respect whereas “Mamma Loves Me” moves forward with a passionate tribute to his mother, who helped pushed him further in his music career. “Fortune 500” keeps it 100 by talking about having 100 less friends since more problems emerge the more money you make, but then “Reaper Man” strips the drums completely telling the grim reaper he’s taken enough.

The atmospherically spacious “So Lost” works in more kicks & snares talking about feeling lost sometimes as of late just before “W.A.R. (Worry, Anger, Resentment)” featuring Styles P peacefully gives thanks to God since every single one of us are in debt to Him. “Imagine That” featueing Ransom soulfully flashes back & fast-forwards into the present doing all they dreamed while “WAR” featuring M.O.P. returns to the boom bap warning that y’all don’t want beef with them.

“Please” brings the soul vibes back for a ballad dedicated to his best friend/1 true love & after the “My Childhood” skit, “All the Years” officially wraps up Yaowa’s first solo effort since H.A.R.D. or the Housing Authority Rap District no longer putting out anymore duo projects with 1 more drumless banger reminiscing over the loved ones who can’t be with him today.

I personally prefer the Signature remixes that L’Orange did for Autograph even though I appreciate the highlights off the original version. Nevertheless, W.A.R. (With All Respect) is easily my favorite of Joell’s since Monday & will arguably go down as one of the best albums that he’s ever made period. The Heatmakerz’ production sticks to their signature, soulful boom bap & drumless sound & Yaowa’s performances are better than the last couple H.A.R.D. efforts.

Score: 4.5/5

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Tha God Fahim – “Machine Gun Vocabulary” review

I’m pretty sure this is the 23rd full-length studio LP from Tha God Fahim. Starting as an affiliate of Griselda Records as well as being 1/3 of the Dump Gawds alongside Mach-Hommy & Your Old Droog, we also can’t ignore the massive discography that he’s managed to build for himself, some of the standouts include Breaking Through tha Van Allen Belts & Dump Assassins. But dude has been on a CRAZY ass EP run in 2023 with the standouts being the Camoflauge Monk-produced Dark Shogunn Assassin, the Nature Sounds-backed Iron Bull & the Nicholas Craven-produced Dump Gawd: Shot Clock King 4, the Oh No-produced Berserko, Fahim’s last EP Dump Gawd: Rhyme Pays produced by Mike Shabb, Tha Supreme Hoarder of All Pristine Wealth & more recently Supreme Dump Legend: Soul Cook Saga produced by Cookin’ Soul from a few weeks ago. Dump Goat II mixed 9 new songs with 10 previously released joints & some of the guests on Machine Gun Vocabulary produced by Cartune Beatz caught my attention.

The title track starts with a reversed sample mixed with kicks & snares so he can gut & filet all these MCs who wanna battle him whereas “Volatile Vernacular” featuring RJ Payne works in another boom bap instrumental talking about haters meeting all types of death. “Detonate” hooks up some ghostly sampling flexing that his name rings bells like Biggie kickin’ in the door until the piano-driven “Prolific Pen” featuring Cormega finds the 2 talking about their superiority in the long-awaited collab.

“Brilliance” grittily promises this as the start of something big & major leading into the hardcore “Audible Ammunition” featuring Skyzoo talking about nothing controlling them. “What You Wanna Say” featuring Lørd Skø jazzily finds the new poor Lørd Jeff Hardy & the Dump Gawd giving Stone Cold Stunners, but then ”Prove & Show” returns to the boom bap talking not slowing down because he has a family to feed. “Cleanse” nears the end of the album comparing himself to Errol Spence Jr. & “Damages” finishes up with 1 last dusty track maintaining a winning streak.

For this being the 3rd LP of Fahim’s to come out this year, I’d put Machine Gun Vocabulary above Dump Goat II & behind Supreme Dump Legend: Soul Cook Saga. Cartune Beatz’ boom bap production is incredibly consistent over the course of the 27 minute listening experience & even if it’s not a surprise that all the guests killed it with their contributions, the Dump God makes it all live up to the name comparing his lexicon to that of an SMG.

Score: 4.5/5

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Maddog McGraw – “Michigan & the Mecca” review

Lansing, Michigan emcee Maddog McGraw teaming up with Ras Beats for his 2nd EP. In the last 7 years, he’s gone from his debut EP Green Beret & both Grumpy Old Man mixtapes to the debut album Shit Talking 201 from the summer prior. His uncommon versatility whether it’s vivid storytelling, delivering sensual sexy grooves or rugged & raw bars give a well rounded spectrum of the art form and Michigan & the Mecca caught my attention with Jake Palumbo doing the engineering.

The title track starts with this boom bap instrumental with an organ-sample referring to himself as the underground greyhound whereas “Neanderthal” works in an atmospheric backdrop with kicks & snares dissing those who’re lyrically subpar. “Church” maintains a boom bap sound letting it be clear that this is the end of the search for those who’re looking for hip hop at its purest while “Disorderly Conduct” ruggedly talks about the lyrical aggression poetry packing punches.

“Magnificent Misfit” keeps it in the basement instrumentally serving Fatalities to new jacks on the mic like it’s Mortal Kombat & “Shit Talking 202” serves as a welcoming spiritual successor to his debut. “Right Here” dustily boasts that the neighbors give them studio applause once they’re done & “Rebel Yell” passionately talks about coming too far to fair at this point his career. “Black Man’s Blues” finishes the EP by showing a consciously introspective side to him.

Michigan & the Mecca showcases the different sides of Maddog McGraw’s lyrical ability as he takes you on a tour through Lansing showcasing his Southern roots, storytelling rhymes, clever wordplay & superior braggadocious rhyme schemes so Ras can bring his whole arsenal out by giving Maddog an array of chopped up synths, choirs, horn stabs, basslines, guitars & synths to express himself to.

Score: 4/5

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Glorilla – “Glorious” review

Memphis rapper Glorilla following up her 2nd mixtape EhhThang EhhThang with her full-length debut studio album. Breaking out off the viral & undeniably fun single “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” couple years ago, the ultimately resulted in local veteran Yo Gotti signing her to his Interscope Records imprint Collective Music Group a little over a week before they dropped their 2nd showcase compilation Gangsta Art a few months later, making her the very 1st female recording artist on the label. Anyways, Life’s Great… continued to have her presence felt & EhhThang EhhThang was ok, but all roads trace back to Glorious.

The intro has a gospel sample mixed with hi-hats that I find myself enjoying quite a bit promising it’ll always gonna be what it is until the very end whereas “Hollon” produced by FNZ takes the crunk route instrumentally talking about these muhfuckas wanting to bag a stupid bitch these days. “Procedure” featuring Latto pulls from the Mobb scene a bit thanks to Supah Mario telling y’all what to do when a bad bitch walk in the room & I found myself appreciating “T.G.I.F. (Thank Glow It’s Friday)” in the context of the LP blending influences from the Memphis scene with cloud rap & crunk music turning up on a Friday evening.

“Whatchu Kno ‘Bout Me?” featuring Sexyy Red works in some synths & hi-hats so both of them can carry on the theme of partying prior to the rubbery “Stop Playing” that Timbaland laced telling everyone listening to stop fuckin’ with her. “Don’t Deserve” featuring Muni Long kinda has this trap soul admitting women all go stupid for men at one point in their lives while “Rain Down on Me” heads for a gospel trap direction showing a spiritual side to herself.

Meanwhile on “Glo’s Prayer”, we have Glo continuing the themes of religion over a cloudy trap beat just before “How I Look” featuring Megan Thee Stallion gives off a Detroit trap vibe instrumentally showing off their mob ties together. The horn-heavy “I Ain’t Going” continues to detail the gangsta lifestyle she lives, but then Bossman DLow has the weakest guest verse on “Step” despite a return to the Detroit trap sound matched with the lyrics about hoppin’ on 385 & do the dash pass these bitches.

“Let Her Cook” hooks up these hi-hats & a horn sample courtesy of both Coupe & Pooh Beatz displaying a complimentary no fucks given attitude during the 2 & a half minute run while the pop rap-flavored “I Luv Her” has a bit of nostalgia to it from the DJ Montay beat to the T-Pain hook. “Queen of Memphis” ties up Glo’s long-awaited commercial debut rightfully taking the throne as the most dominant force in Memphis right now.

Regardless if I wasn’t big on Anyways, Life’s Great… or EhhThang EhhThang, I still considered Glorilla to be one of my personal favorite artists on the entire CMG roster & Glorious dethrones her last 2 projects as the most essential body of work in her career thus far. The glow-up in comparison to the predecessors is real, nevertheless let it be known that the reigning queen of crunk is still hanging out the window with her ratchet-ass friends when the opportunity arises.

Score: 3.5/5

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7xvethegenius – “Death of Deuce” review

This is the long-awaited sophomore effort & final Drumwork Music Group offering from Buffalo, New York emcee 7xvethegenius. Emerging off her first 2 EPs The Calm Before & Self 7xve as well as the full-length debut 7xve is Love, it wasn’t until she & Jae Skeese both became the first artists to sign with Conway the Machine’s very own Drumwork imprint where 7xve got her biggest break yet. She has since preluded Death of Deuce with Thy Will Be Done alongside Self 7xve 2 & most importantly the DJ Green Lantern-produced The Genius Tape. Almost 4 years after being signed, it’s finally here.

“A Lesson” produced by !llmind is this cloudy trap opener assuring that things are only gonna get crazier as time passes by & to think wiser from this point forward whereas “Triangle” featuring Papoose soulfully talking about seeing $1M before she even made it as far as she has in the game. “Graymatter” hooks up a boom bap instrumental from the titular producer asking how you gonna buy your mom a house with street credit just before the jazzily dusty “Psalm” featuring Jae Skeese that Camoflauge Monk laced gets the hurt off 1 verse at a time.

The title track maintains a boom bap edge courtesy of EYEKETYSON showing off some crazy ass rhyme schemes for 107 seconds straight leading into “Dirty Nikes” gets back to the soul sampling talking about focusing more on her craft as of late. “Moma” heads for a luxurious direction thanks to STREETRUNNER expressing gratitude for making it onto without a spoon or a fork, but then “Deuce” strips the drums completely welcoming y’all to this beach chair.

“Authentic” takes the spacious boom bap route altogether talking about wanting to be herself while “The Genius” was my favorite single from the Daringer beat to 7xve’s lyricism cautioning to say no to drugs sticking with rapping so y’all can learn what love is. “Jump” has some more jazz rap undertones from Haas Almahdi maintaining the kicks & snares cautioning that you should look before you leap while the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-assisted “Serious” flexes that she stay on top of their heads.

The penultimate song “Float” nears the end of Death of Deuce questioning God wanting to know when the first will be the last since she’s had her heart broken by these motherfuckers so many times keeping her head down focusing on work & lastly, “If I” closes the LP on some cloudy boom bap shit basically talking about if she were to pass away for roughly 5 & a half minutes.

Almost 4 years in the making & Death of Deuce begins a new era for the First Lady of Drumwork. I find myself leaning towards the production on The Genius Tape more in comparison but regardless, the elite lyricism & storytelling of that tape carries their way onto this album showing us how much she’s grown ever since Conway gave her a record deal.

Score: 4/5

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Elucid – “Revelator” review

Here we have the 3rd full-length solo LP & Fat Possum Records debut from Queens, New York emcee/producer Elucid. Since 2007, he’s been making a name for himself whether it be his 10 mixtapes & 2 EPs that he’s released by himself or becoming 1/2 of the abstract duo Armand Hammer. His debut album Save Yourself came during the spring of 2016 & he returned a couple years ago for the sophomore effort I Told Bessie. Armand Hammer released a highly acclaimed sequel to Shrines through Fat Possum last fall called We Buy Diabetic Test Strips & Elucid has inked a solo deal through the label for Revelator.

“The World is Dog” is this self-produced, industrial abstract hip hop opener with additional elements of rock and a hint of drum & bass talking about a forced past will eventually eat us all whereas “CCTV” featuring Creature maintains an industrial vibe instrumentally courtesy of August Fanon wanting y’all to tell them the lies are really the truth. “Yottabyte” hooks up a piano-heavy beat fighting fire with fire, but then “Bad Pollen” by Armand Hammer reunites the duo over a crooning vocal sample saying you’re crazy if you think you’re crazier than them.

The fusion of cloud rap & sound collages on “Slum of a Disregard” are pretty cool showing no surprise to abuse of power since Elucid’s landlord happens to be a Zionist leading into the buzzing “RFID” talking about knowing where to dig if it’s a war & where to lay if it’s love. “Instant Transfer” by Armand Hammer from the BLK LBL sessions flexing they the one’s just before “Ikebana” returns to the boom bap feeling like everyone new with him.

“In the Shadow of If” on top of this slow, guitar-driven instrumental talking about taking a chance with no reminder while “S.K.P. (Some Kinda Power)” embraces a darker atmosphere makes it clear to not confuse him at all. “Hushpuppies” serves as more of an interlude within the track listing setting out to find fried fish while “14.4” featuring Skech185 is this drumless, industrial hip hop hybrid with a switch up during the last minute telling those who wanna run up on him that’s a no go.

Starting the final leg of the LP, the song “Voice 2 Skull” takes it back to the basement mixing heavy sampling with kicks & snares flexing he gets up before everyone else & loses his mind first while “Xolo” by Small Bills hops over these blaring guitars from The Lasso cautioning to get the fuck back & stay down. “ZigZagZig” ends the album on a dark-industrial note thanks to DJ Haram talking about surviving like a moving target.

Save Yourself has always been as my favorite Elucid solo effort even above I Told Bessie. That said, the raw crackling urgency that runs through Revelator like an underground power line brimming with the energy of now with a refusal to look away is enough to have it surpass both it’s predecessors. Intellectual rabbit holes have been filled in with concrete & reverb with nowhere to hide & no off ramp from the audio Autobahn that Elucid has fashioned.

Score: 4.5/5

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October London – “October Nights” review

October London is a 37 year old singer/songwriter from South Bend, Indiana starting out in 2013 off his debut EP The Introduction & both installments of the Color Blind series. He eventually caught the attention of Long Beach icon & WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg, who signed him to Doggystyle Records for his 4th EP Please Leave a Message before Message before moving over to Death Row Records not too long after Snoop bought the label he started out at. October has since released his first 2 albums & a couple more EPs through the revived west coast powerhouse with Crypto Winter, Technicolor, The Rebirth of Marvin & The Greatest Gift. However, the singles ahead of his 3rd full-length studio LP here were generating enough buzz for people to tell me that they wanted to see me covering it & I was more than willing to do so since I enjoyed The Rebirth of Marvin the most out of his discography.

The drumless opener “Slander My Name” addressed those who’re slandering him or making it sound like he did dirt on them whereas “Touch on Me” jazzily sings about love making being natural since every single one of us are human & sexual beings at the same time. “A Beautiful Woman” produced by Soopafly shows appreciation to the amazing women in October’s life speaking beautifully to the heart of love prior to “3rd Shift” groovily singing about working 23 hours.

“Don’t Go” pleads for his romantic interest not leave since he needs her in his life over a piano instrumental while “She Keeps Calling” mellowly discusses a woman who keeps blowing up his phone & him eventually coming back to her for more lovemaking. “All I Want is You” featuring Boney James sees the 2 making it clear they don’t want any other woman besides the ones they currently have on top of a trap soul beat, but then the jazzy “Don’t Waste Your Time” courtesy of labelmate Charlie Bereal sings about life not playing the same game as us.

Meanwhile on “Kill Shot”, we have October luxuriously describing a woman who sent the final death blow straight into his heart while “Missing You” magically gets in his breakup bag reflecting on when he was with an ex-girlfriend with the help of Babyface. “Bedroom Bully” featuring Tyrese goes for a minimal approach instrumentally for a lustful duet while “The Best Problem” intoxicatingly referring to his new girl as the best distraction.

“Momma” starts the final moments with a soulful tribute to anyone listening who loves their mother while “Put You On” featuring Snoop Dogg sees the pair coming together so they can uplift & upgrade their current partners over a Mike & Keys beat. “The Reception” featuring Ledisi is another duet painting the imagery of a wedding with both artists playing the newly wedded husband & wife while “Time” closes the LP by promising he’ll love her until the end of time.

Firmly establishing himself as The Rebirth of Marvin when Death Row relaunched, October Nights here if anything proves R&B is alive & well by delivering what I consider to be his 2nd best work behind the predecessor. It has an essence of soul, vulnerability & an innovativeness that’s been missing in the R&B genre for a while, highlighting the artist’s continued evolution & natural sense of identity.

Score: 4/5

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Dom Kennedy – “Class of ‘95” review

Dom Kennedy is a 40 year old MC from Los Angeles, California who I became a fan of during my adolescence through his 4th & 6th mixtapes From the Westside with Love & Yellow Album respectively. He later made a sequel to his breakout tape as his official full-length debut studio album, going on to release 6 more & of course forming the MC/producer duo Half-A-Mil with Hit-Boy since then. From the Westside with Love III in the fall of 2021 was met with mixed reception & with it’s anniversary coming up early next week, he’s returning for the 8th studio LP in his discography.

“Rich Kids” is this sample-driven trap opener feeling closer to God than ever chasing the money whereas “Leanin’” works in a psychedelic backdrop & some hi-hats boasting he ain’t gotta floss since people tryna stealin’ the sauce anyway. “Legendary” takes the Mobb route instrumentally reaffirming his status in the streets, but then “Casablanca” featuring Polyester the Saint & TROY NoKA talking about everyone knowing he been on.

As for “Slauson Phil”, we have Dom over more atmospheric trap production reflecting on going from selling cans to buying whips leading into “Nowornever” observing that dudes be fuckin’ with the same girl & that being wild to him since it’s a small world we’re in. “Attention” had a syrupy trap flare to the beat tackling the theme of romance just before “Baby James” talks about planting a tree when he was broke & having money now.

“Miracle on 43rd” spaciously finds him mobbin’ on the plane with a Louis Vuttion tote bag while “Rollin’” brings a charming trap flare to the table talking about being as seasoned of an MC he is. “Celine” atmospherically gets boastful giving thanks to God for all the paper he’s made while “Indepedent” shows off his indie status since he’s never signed to a major label & all of his music coming out through The Other People’s Money Company.

Meanwhile on “Loved”, pushes forward the 2nd half of Class of ‘95 with a drumless loop matched with the lyrics about being influential although not as much as J. Cole & that they still love him the same while “Promise” featuring Niko G4 gets on the pop rap tip promising their lovers to stay solid like when they met. “Emergency” smoothly asking if it’s real love if it’s never been tested while “Gallery” talks never dreaming of going mainstream since he’s famous on the block.

“Lonely Hearts” gets the encore of the LP going by hopping over this soulful trap beat dedicating this joint to all the lonely hearts listening while the title track moodily talks about finding a woman that he’s been looking for throughout his whole entire life. The closer “Sketches from Westlake” ties things up keeping money on his mind considering every day to be the 1st of tha Month making it work by stackin’ now & ballin’ later.

Truthfully, it’s been quite a while since I found myself enjoying a Dom Kennedy project & Class of ‘95 surpassed my expectations ahead of it since it could probably be his best solo offering since Los Angeles Isn’t for Sale 2. The production eclectically pulls from trap to soul, Mobb music, pop rap & drumless as Dom pretty much recaps how life’s been treating him in the last 3 years since he last dropped.

Score: 3.5/5

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