B.G. – “Freedom of Speech” review

B.G. is a 44 year old rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana known for being 1/2 of The B.G.’z with Lil Wayne prior to forming the Hot Boy$ with Juvenile & Turk along with the Cash Money Millionaires supergroup with the Big Tymer$. His first 5 solo albums Chopper City, It’s All on U, It’s All on U 2, my personal favorite Chopper City in the Ghetto & Checkmate all came out on Cash Money Records until he wanted to his own label Chopper City Records. The next 5 Living Legend, Life After Cash Money, The Heart of tha Streetz, Tha Heart of tha Streetz 2: I Am What I Am & Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood would all be distributed by MNRK Music Group aside from Atlantic Records providing further distribution for the latter. He would later spend a little over a decade in prison for 2 counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm & 1 count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, returning after over 15 years for his 11th studio LP.

The title track is a guitar-driven trap intro talking about him only getting greater whereas “Rock-A-Bye-Bye” works in a vocal sample reminding us that those who’re already familiar with him know his story by now. “1st Question” featuring Birdman dabbles with the Detroit trap sound reuniting with his mentor by having the better verse while “Go Live” featuring Boosie Badazz & Juvenile brings the trio together to rep their home state.

“Thank You” profoundly thanks everyone for still standing by him after being incarcerated going through it behind bars just before “Saved My Life” gets on the Detroit trap tip again talking about how trapping is the reason that he’s still alive today. “My Hood” hooks up pianos & hi-hats to clap at all the suckas out here with no style leading into “Live from the Gutta” featuring E-40 finds the duo taking us to the trenches.

Reese Youngn’s hook on “Know Your Worth” is hilariously awful despite the average beat & the genuine message within the lyrics, but then “Been a Dog” featuring Fredo Bang is one of my least favorite collaborations on the entire album. “Real Life” makes up for it with Gizzle solemnly looking back on the way he grew up & refusing to cap as a result while “Get It Poppin’” featuring Finesse2tymes doesn’t really get it poppin’ for me all that much.

“All Nite” shows a more romantic side to the original Hot Boy to begin the final leg of Freedom of Speech keeping this woman in his mind during the evening & giving it to her all day while the song “Real as It Gets” talking about still maintaining his legitimacy even if it was ruled last summer that his future songs have to be approved by the government. “When You Come Home” featuring Fiend jazzily ends with the former No Limit Soldier teaming up with the Cash Money Millionaire.

Starting the deluxe run, “Firebomber” by The B.G.‘z featuring Busta Rhymes makes it a mission to fuck up everything in existence while “Louisianimal” comes through with an anthem to his home state. “Lost Lives” featuring Juvenile warns that no one wants to be in the jungle when it’s war time while “We in Here” takes on a more celebratory attitude. “A Long Time” looks back on his career up to this point & the final bonus track “When I” finishes with a mediocre pop rap joint.

His collaborative mixtape with Gucci Mane called Choppers & Bricks marked the first of 8 projects that the Baby Gangster had written during his time behind bars, except the 2nd albeit his first solo effort in 16 years is a tad more decent in comparison. Other than a few guests faltering with their performances & some of the production being a little spotty, it’s somewhat refreshing to hear him holding down an entire body of work by himself again & am confident he can improve with the other 6 albums he has coming down the pipe. The deluxe however improves upon itself.

Score: 3.5/5

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Nicki Minaj – “Pink Friday 2” review

Trinidadian-American rapper & singer/songwriter Nicki Minaj is celebrating her 41st birthday by putting out her long-awaited 5th full-length LP after a couple delays. Starting in ‘04 as 1/4 of the Hoodstars, she would go solo shortly after & put out a trilogy mixtapes in the mid/late 2000s, most notably her final one Beam Me Up Scotty that later resulted in New Orleans icon Lil Wayne signing Nicki to a joint deal with Young Money Entertainment & Cash Money Records. Her debut album Pink Friday in my opinion is her best full-length, as Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was trash & The Pinkprint was average as was her last LP Queen over 5 years ago already. She has since departed Cash Money, but is sticking with Young Money & it’s distributor Republic Records alongside her newly launched Heavy On It Records for a sequel to her debut that I went into morbidly curious about.

“Are You Gone Alreaady?” featuring Billie Eilish on the hook has an angelic trap sound to it thanks to FINNEAS talking about only hurting you if you let them whereas “Barbie Dangerous” shows off a speedier flow reminding that these bitches is her sons all this time later over a piano-driven trap instrumental. “F.T.C.U. (Fuck This Club Up)” pays homage to a joint on Waka Flocka Flame’s groundbreaking debut album Flockaveli over a rubbery bassline & hi-hats from ATL Jacob, but then “Beep Beep” featuring 50 Cent goes into spacious trap turf courtesy of Murda Beatz wondering if it’s beef if she don’t even know you exist

Moving on from there, “Fallin’ 4 U” professes her feelings for her childhood friend/now husband & sex offender Kenneth Petty over an genuinely luscious beat with hi-hats just before “Let Me Calm Down” featuring J. Cole goes into a cloudier direction instrumentally so both of them can talk about being taken somewhere mystical. “R.N.B. (Real N***a Bitch)” featuring Lil Wayne continues to delve further into atmospheric territory dedicated to the titular type of women while “Pink Birthday” talks about making one feel like it’s their special day over Boi-1da flipping “Pornography” by Travis Scott.

“Needle” featuring Drake is an awkward reggaeton ballad comparing life to a haystack & their romantic partners as the needles in it hence the title while “Cowgirl” talks about getting drunk over acoustics & hi-hats. “Everybody” featuring Lil Uzi Vert has this danceable groove throughout the instrumental with both of them look to spin & kill guaranteeing that TikTok will have a field day with it while “Big Difference” explains that she ain’t nothing like these other women out here over a chaotic trap instrumental from BoogzDaBeast & FNZ.

We get a bit of dancehall mixed with trap & hardcore pop rap on “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” dropping braggadocio throughout while “Forward from Trini” featuring Skeng & Skillibeng embraces those dancehall elements of the previous cut a bit more heavier describing the kind of woman who has a thing for bad guys. “Pink Friday Girls” heavily samples “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauter putting her own spin on that concept & “Super Freaky Girl” isn’t any better pretty much building itself around “Super Freak” by Rick James.

“Bahm Bahm” gives off a tropical trap flare explaining you can’t talk on the phone with her because she doesn’t like to put the cops in business prior to Don Cannon & Sean Momberger cooking up one of the stronger instrumentals on the album with “My Life” making it known to everyone tuning in that she doesn’t need any more drama in her life. The spacious R&B duet “Nicki Hendrix” featuring Future advises that feeling destructive leads to destruction while “Blessings” featuring Tasha Cobbs Leonard finds BNYX of Working on Dying stripping the drums to talk about their own respective blessings.

The penultimate track “Last Time I Saw You” blends alt-pop & contemporary R&B with pop rap alongside alternative R&B & even jersey club singing about her father Robert Maraj who passed away over 2 & a half years ago already. However to close out Nicki’s 5th album & the sequel to her debut, “Just the Memories” details that memories don’t live like people do but they’ll always remember you rather. The first of 3 bonus cuts “Love Me Enough” is easily the best from the summery sound Murda Beatz delivers to the lyrics admitting to previously believing love had to hurt while “Press Play” featuring Future teams Pluto with Roman with the fans on K. The last bonus song “Big Foot” is not only up in discussion for being the worst diss track ever made aimed at Megan Thee Stallion, but MAYBE the worst single of the decade.

There was no way in my mind that Pink Friday 2 would be any worse than Queen or especially Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, but I still came away from the final product kinda on the fence with it. Of course you’re gonna have some filler during the 90 minute or so listening period, but I can definitely hear her incorporating all the things that people love about her with a way bigger sound although the production has it’s lackluster moments such as the way some of the samples were used or even a few features.

Score: 2/5

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Blueface – “Dirt Bag” review

Blueface is a 22 year old rapper from Los Angeles, California who went viral last fall off of the music video for his single “Respect My Crippin’”. This resulted in a contract with Cash Money Records the following month but with him being fresh off the 2019 XXL Freshman Class a couple months ago, he’s continuing all this buzz with his debut EP.

It starts off with the title track, where Blueface talks about being back on his bullshit over a bassy instrumental. The next song “Bussdown” with Offset sees the 2 talking about going from being broke & being successful over a trap beat with some decent piano chords while the track “Disrespectful” talks about getting just that over a hyphy beat with some keys.

The song “Daddy” with Ruch the Kid talks about their lavish lives over an instrumental that’s somewhat similar to “Thotiana” while the track “Bussin’” with Lil Pump sees the 2 talking about you slipping & them sliding over a trap beat from Scott Storch with some faint keys. The next cut is a remix of “Stop Cappin’” with a killer feature from The Game while the penultimate track “Gang” with Mozzy sees the 2 repping their respective gangs over an atmospheric beat. The EP then finishes with “Bleed It”, where Blueface talks about his experiences in the Crips over an old school hyphy beat.

Walking away from this, it really wasn’t as bad as I would’ve expected. The features were mostly redundant, but Blueface really steps up his flows on here & the instrumentals have a great vibe to them as well.

Score: 3/5

Nicki Minaj – “Queen” review

In the light of Cardi B’s increasing popularity within the past year, New York rapper/singer & Young Money Entertainment’s First Lady Nicki Minaj is making a comeback with her 4th full-length album & her first since The Pinkprint at the tail end of 2014.

The album begins with “Ganja Burns”, where Nicki challenges her competition over an Afro-influenced beat that’s actually pretty cool. The track “Majesty” with Eminem sees the 2 getting playful over a prominently plinky piano & the song “Barbie Dreams” is Nicki’s rendition of the classic Biggie song “Just Saying (Dreams)”, but it doesn’t go over at all even with the reference to WWE Hall of Famer Mike Tyson. The track “Rich Sex” is pretty much a mediocre sequel to a Future song on his 2015 magnum opus DS2 that actually shares the same name, except that Nicki brought in a pretty solid Lil Wayne verse to give the audience both gender’s takes of the titular topic. The song “Hard White” talks about how she worked hard to get half back over an eerie Boi-1da & !llmind instrumental while the track “Bed” gets seductive over a moody beat & the Ariana Grande hook is pretty as well.

The song “Thought I Knew You” is more of a Weeknd joint since Abel takes up a good chunk of it while the track “Run & Hide” sees Nicki singing about trust over an moody instrumental. The song “Chun Swae” with Swae Lee sees the 2 getting braggadocious over a bass-heavy Metro Boomin’ instrumental while The track “Chun-Li” is arguably her best single in a long time. It sees her going back to her hardcore hip hop roots from the gritty beat to her confrontational bars. The song “LLC” is a supposed diss towards Cardi B over a bouncy trap instrumental while the track “Good Form” is about how bad she is over a Mike WiLL-Made It instrumental with a pretty cool Too $hort sample.

The song “Nip Tuck” talks about giving this person everything over a spacey beat & the “2 Lit 2 Late” interlude is prettily produced, but the auto-tune does nothing & I wish it was a full song. The track “Come See About Me” addresses his ex-boyfriend Meek Mill over a piano-heavy instrumental while the song “Sir” with Future is another braggadocious tune with a gritty instrumental from Metro Boomin’ & Zaytoven.

“Miami” talks about her prowess over a bouncy Murda Beatz instrumental while the final song “Coco Chanel” is a mediocre attempt at reviving the watered down dancehall that Drake provided on VIEWS & More Life. However, I do enjoy the Foxy Brown verse quite a bit. The “Inspirations Outro” is just Nicki shouting out her Caribbean influences for a minute & while it is interesting, it’s not the strongest of notes to end on.

Overall, this was a pretty average album. I truly believe some of Nicki’s best songs are on here & it does sound like she took quite a bit of time working on this, but it’s chocked with a lot of filler.

Score: 2.5/5

Drake – “Scorpion” review

In the midst of his beef with Pusha T late last month, Toronto, Ontario, Canada superstar Drake is giving fans his long-awaited 5th full-length album. Interestingly too, it consists of 2 discs & 25 tracks in total: first disc is all hip hop songs & the other is all R&B songs.

The opener “Survival” is a reflection of his career over a killer Lil B sample from No I.D. & 40 while the next song “Nonstop” talks about his grind over some prominent bass. The track “Elevate” talks about becoming famous & making life better for him & his loved ones over some atmospheric background vocals while the song “Emotionless” is a response to Pusha T’s nasty “Story of Adidon” diss track from last month. He’s not dissing him, but he does confirm that he has a son named Adonis over this trap beat with a beautiful soul sample. However the one line where he says “I wasn’t hidin’ my kid from the world, I was hidin’ the world from my kid” made me chuckle a little bit. I mean it’s no question that the media would’ve been all over the baby if his birth was announced prior, but I kinda laughed because of the fact that the mother Sophie Brussaux went on Twitter last fall & dissed him. The track “God’s Plan” is just as fun as it was on his Scary Hours EP from earlier this year while “I’m Upset” is one of his worst singles & I don’t blame Oogie Mane of Working on Dying for that.

The track “8/10” talks about where he’s at now referencing the current UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway over an uplifting boom bap beat from Boi-1da while the song “Mob Ties” talks about cutting people off over a bouncy beat. The track “Can’t Take a Joke” is about hanging out with the titular people in Hidden Hills & Italy over a murky beat. The song “Sandra’s Rose” talks about how his life has changed since being in the music industry over a beautiful DJ Premier beat & the track “Take Up” sees him talking about childhood over a grimy DJ Paul beat with JAY-Z’s verse kinda reminds me of his mafioso days. I also love how he ends the song by saying “I got your president tweetin’, I won’t even meet with him. Y’all killed XXXTENTACION & let George Zimmerman live, streets is done”. The first disc then finishes off with fittingly with “Is There More?”, where Drake is asking questions about life over a moody beat.

The next disc starts off with “Peak”, where he sings to an unnamed love interest over a settle beat. The next track “Summer Games” talks about a breakup over a spacey instrumental that to me sounds like it would pop up on any KiD CuDi album while the song “Jaded” is a dedication to Jorja Smith over an atmospheric beat. The track “Nice for What” is an empowering women’s anthem over a Murda Beatz instrumental with a beautiful sample of Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor”, but it feels like it should’ve been on the previous disc. The song “Finesse” is a message to his current significant other over another settle instrumental, but then “Ratchet Happy Birthday” might be the worst Drizzy track I’ve ever heard. I get that he wants this girl to have a good time on her birthday, but it’s just really corny. The instrumental is buttery as Hell, too.

The song “That’s How You Feel” talks about spending time with an unknown girl over another moody beat while the track “Blue Tint” is a response to all his haters but just like “Nice for What”, it sounds like it was made for the first disc. The song “In My Feelings” asks the City Girls if they love him, but it seems desperate & sappy. The track “Don’t Matter to Me” talks about his ex doing drugs & alcohol as a result of breaking up with him, but it actually works well thanks to the unreleased Michael Jackson vocals that’re evenly balanced.

The song “After Dark” with Ty$ sees the 2 talking about hooking up with women in the late night hours over a laidback instrumental from none other than Static Major & while the penultimate track “Final Fantasy” is probably the freakiest I’ve ever heard Aubrey get, but it’s the 3rd track on this R&B side feels like it should’ve been on the first disc. The album then finishes with “March 14”, which is a 4th misplaced rap song on the entire album. However it’s not bad, because I like how he goes more in-depth about Adonis over this moody boom bap beat

While this is definitely better than VIEWS & More Life, it’s still a mixed bag. He sounds a lot more passionate on here than he did on the last 2 projects I mentioned & I can definitely appreciate the A Side/B Side concept, but there are 4 tracks on the 2nd disc that really should’ve been on the first one & A LOT of filler. If you evenly took the best tracks from both discs & put them onto just 1, then it would’ve been pretty great.

Score: 2.5/5