Autumn! – “Golden Child” review

Autumn! is a 22 year old rapper/producer from Lafayette, Louisiana who’s dropped over a dozen EPs & a full-length album on SoundCloud since 2018. But for his 14th EP over here that just dropped, he’s kicking off a new hexalogy that should be completed about a year from now.

I love how “The Definition of Grateful!” kicks off the whole thing being a heavenly tribute to Autumn!’s whole family whereas “What My OG Told Me!” serves as a heart-wrenching tribute to his now deceased brother. Meanwhile on “The Other Side!”, we get a bassy depiction of his mental stresses while “The True Cost of Fame!” states that he give a fuck what people say about him & wakes up to make money daily in a pillowy fashion.

“Not 3 But 2!” has a wavy instrumental & lyrics about how he’s not at the same speed as this chick leading into him ballin’ like Tracy McGrady on the atmospheric “D1!”, in which the drums just hit you in the chest. The penultimate track “Keep Ya Head Up!” almost has a hyphy quality to it in the beat as Autumn! expresses the fact that some people wanna see him down & then “Now!” finishes the EP off by charmingly flexing his continuously rising profile.

I’d recommend checking this EP out if anyone reading this isn’t familiar with Autumn! because he’s easily one of the most interesting characters in the plugg scene along with SoFaygo, D. Savage, Bktherula & Summrs. The production is super chilled out & he gets at his most personal throughout the lyrics.

Score: 3.5/5

KanKan – “##B4RR” review

This is the 19th EP from Dallas, Texas artist/producer KanKan. Coming up in 2019 as a member of Slayworld, he also got his name out there by producing for a wide range of artists from Summrs to even Little Pimp. Dude just dropped a sequel to B4 AMGs & SRTs last month not even & has decided to not slow down anytime soon putting out ##B4RR in just a short matter of time.

“We Get High” is an electro-tinged opener about using drugs before going at those who’re inferior to him on the Pi’erre Bourne-influenced “Under Us”. Meanwhile on “RedEye”, we get these incredible synth passages & KanKan going on about his newfound famous lifestyle.

The song “Mad at Me” is a dystopian shot at his haters while the penultimate track “Broad Day” takes shots at his biters over a nocturnal instrumental. The EP then rounds out with “Wicked”, where KanKan & ssgkobe hop on some monstrous bass for a whole lotta fuckery in their words.

For those who’re looking to get into this kid’s discography, ##B4RR isn’t a bad place to start at all. The ideas he brings to the table in terms of sound are really interesting & he still sounds hungry as Hell despite his popularity continuously growing.

Score: 3.5/5

Ransom – “7” review

Ransom is a 42 year old MC from Jersey City who came up as 1/2 of the short-lived duo A-Team alongside Hitchcock. After their disbandment, he branched out on his own beginning with his 2008 full-length debut Street Cinema & the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore album The Proposal. But it’s safe to say 2020 was his biggest year yet so far, dropping a total of 5 EPs produced entirely by Nicholas Craven & all of them being equally stellar. And now to warm us up for Ransom’s upcoming albums with Rome Streetz as well as Big Ghost Ltd. & Pete Rock respectively, we’re getting a concept EP revolving around the 7 deadly sins.

Craven slides through behind the boards for the soulful opener “Envy” touching down on how jealousy can corrupt oneself whereas V-Don infuses keyboards & dusty boom bap drums on “Gluttony”, where both Ransom & Lloyd Banks mix spiritualism with the street shit they’re known for. Meanwhile on “Greed”, we have Royce da 5’9” tagging along assisting on the theme of selfishness with Lord Sear bringing in some horns into the production before Chup goes into a more rock-tinged sound for the vengeful “Wrath”.

38 Spesh takes things into chipmunk soul territory on “Lust”, which is about how you can see the emotions when your life’s an open book. The penultimate track “Sloth” has a weak verse from J. Arrr at the tail end of it, but I do like the sluggish instrumental as well as Ransom’s lyrics about not letting your master confuse your view. And for the self-produced closer “Pride”, we’re treated to a soul sample much like the opener & a look into egoism.

I knew exactly what I was in for going into this EP & he delivered. Not just because the production is raw yet super diverse, but the concept is executed in a way that feels natural rather than hamfisted or corny. Beyond excited to hear where he’ll take it with Rome, Big Ghost & Pete Rock just before 2021 ends.

Score: 4.5/5

BL1GHT – Self-Titled review

BL1GHT is a newly formed duo consisting of HU$H & Tech N9ne. One is a rapper/producer from Los Angeles known for his work in the EDM scene under numerous aliases & the latter being amongst the biggest independent hip hop artists of all-time. Now I’m not really sure exactly how these guys’ paths crossed, but my morbid curiosity for this eponymous debut EP of theirs got the best of me given how much of a N9na fan I’ve been since high school. Especially off the strength of albums like Anghellic, Absolute Power, Everready (The Religion), K.o.D. (King of Darkness), All 6’s & 7’s, Welcome to Strangeland and Special Effects.

”Let Lost Happen” starts the EP by going into a brostep direction as BL1GHT tell the listener that “false starts isn’t how they play” whereas the next joint “Noise Baby” sounds like a rehash of your generic EDM track from 2011 with it’s repetitive structuring. We go into a more glitchier sound on the lyrically aggressive “Move Back Right Now” before fusing elements of dubstep & trap metal with “Smiley”.

Meanwhile on “Wear U Down”, the instrumental for some reason sounds like the theme music you’d hear whenever a Blacklight: Retribution match would end as BL1GHT rap about the way they show love while the penultimate track “41 Days” is much more melodic & the lyrics are more depressing. The closer “Suffering” is a lot similar to “Smiley” in terms of the production with the duo rapping about wanting their opposition to suffer.

I have nothing against dubstep or EDM as an entire genre, but boy was it a struggle for me to sit through this entire EP for 22 minutes. The chemistry between the duo seems to be hamfisted rather than natural because as a performer, Tech N9ne is just washing HU$H on every song. On top of that, the latter’s production isn’t as invigorating as someone like Burial’s

Score: 1/5

BROCKHAMPTON – “ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE (PLUS PACK)” review

This is the surprise 2nd EP from San Marcos, Texas hip hop boyband BROCKHAMPTON. Originally emerging under the name AliveSinceForever in 2010, they put out a self-titled EP in 2013 under the radar before catching some attention off their debut mixtape ALL-AMERICAN TRASH back in 2016. However, it wouldn’t be until the following year that we saw them completely reinventing themselves by dropping the near-perfectly creative SATURATION trilogy. Then there’s the infamous sexual misconduct scandal revolving around the boyband’s most popular lyricist at the time Ameer Vann halfway through 2018, which resulted in him being kicked out of BROCKHAMPTON. A decision that to this very day resulted in many people to fall off with the boys. Their next 2 albums iridescence & GINGER were both released to moderate reception, but they eventually took 2020 off & returned to form a couple months back off ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE. However after being initially released with the box set as CD exclusive bonus tracks, Kevin Abstract & company have finally decided to make them available for streaming.

“PRESSURE” is pretty much Merlyn Wood & Dom McLennon on top of a generic trap beat showing off, but then the 2nd half “BOW WOW” is pretty much a brief ssgkobe solo cut with a summery instrumental & Kevin Abstract on the hook taking it back to the fashion style of the early 2000’s.

The next song “SEX” finds the whole gang together on top of some hi-hats & synthesizers to rap about fucking, but then the EP finishes off with the remix & original version of “JEREMIAH”. The lyrics on both versions are the same proclaiming themselves as profits, but the difference between them is that the remix has a guitar intro, the vocals are pitched up & there’s a shorter beat outro. The original is the other away around.

I’ve said before that ROADRUNNER is the most consistent BROCKHAMPTON album I’ve heard since SATURATION III & that still stands. However, I’m kinda torn on this EP. None of these joints are necessarily amazing or horrible, they just feel like mediocre throwaways to me.

Score: 2.5/5

Moemaw Naedon & Calig Kontra – “Cult Theatre” review

This is a brand new collaborative EP between Pittsburgh emcee Moemaw Naedon & New Orleans’ very own Calig Kontra. The pair have worked together on a couple of songs in the past like “Slime Volcanos” & “Old Times”, but are now joining forces with producer Pyramid Tapes (also hailing from New Orleans) to take their chemistry to the next level on Cult Theatre.

“A New Abyss” is a short yet evil opener as the duo jump on an organ-laced boom bap instrumental to talk their shit just before Lyrikill tags along the psychedelic “Lucid Fragments” to say they’re proud of their environments. Meanwhile on “Witches Sabbath”, the production has an almost industrial feel to it as Lord Goat comes in to help get boisterous before going into more conscious direction on “Magenta Brainwash”.

I think the prophetic lyrics on “Sovereign Sirens” are really great as is the cinematic beat & despite the brevity of “Pass the Vodka”, it does it’s job as an aggressive alcohol-themed banger. The song “Tortured Calculations” tells the story of both MCs pulling up to someone’s show backed by an instrumental while the penultimate track “Altered Beast” is a thunderous proclamation of being living embodiments of syllable evolutions. “Futura Dystopia” is a victorious closer telling everyone to stay late for the sequel.

Now if we really do get a follow-up to this EP at some point down the road, I’d be all for it because I happen to like Cult Theatre quite a bit. Pyramid Tapes whips up some of the best batch of beats he’s ever made & both MCs hit down some pretty provocative lyricism throughout it’s 26 minute run.

Score: 4/5

The Truth & Frank B. – “Badfellas” review

This is a brand new collaborative debut EP between New York emcees The Truth & Frank B. The pair first came together last year on the song “I Know I Can” off of The Truth’s Spring EP & with the 1 year anniversary of that project coming up this weekend, they’ve seen fit to take listener through what it means to be Italian-American hip hop fans by crafting Badfellas.

After the “Lil Mo Mozzarella” intro, the title track incorporates some harps into a boom bap instrumental as the duo take a Ray Liotta quote from Goodfellas about wanting to be a gangster for as long as he can remember & making it into their own before lacing some keyboards & an organ on the money hungry “Fuck U Pay Me”. The homie Bobby J from Rockaway tags along for “Paint Houses” as the 3 show homage to The Irishman before going into a more rubbery direction on “Funny How?” as they put their own spin on a Joe Pesci quote from Goodfellas.

Meanwhile, we have Cold Shoulda stopping by for the quasi-jazzy “Code Red” discussing that they gotta watch their backs whereas the dusty “Caruso” is more reflective in terms of lyricism. I can definitely see people getting rowdy to the penultimate track “My Cousin” given it’s disrespectful lyricism & it’s off the chart energy before “That’s It” ends things off by telling listeners not to break the code of the streets & you can definitely tell the instrumental has a strong DJ Premier influence to it.

If anyone reading this is a fan of both traditional East Coast hip hop & Scorsese flicks, then this EP is absolutely work checking out. Both emcees bounce off each other very well, the movie references are super clever & the production is incredibly gritty.

Score: 4/5

88GLAM – “Heaven Can Wait” review

88GLAM is a duo from Toronto, Ontario, Canada consisting of Derek Wise & 88 Camino. They originally caught my attention in 2018 when The Weeknd signed them to his Republic Records imprint X♥O Records, only re-releasing their first 2 mixtapes before departing last summer. But with their full-length debut Close to Heaven, Far from God on the way, they’re preluding it by dropping a 3-track EP.

“Five Stars” kicks the whole 10 minute torture chamber off with a plain instrumental, lifeless performances & lyrics that aren’t very sexy at all. In fact, this one part during the hook were 88 Camino says “she gon’ take this dick like she a virgin again” could very well be one of the worst lines I’ve heard all year. The next song right after “Clockwork” goes into more cloudier territory as the duo mopes about “I hate what happened to you but it’s all my fault” & the guitar laced closer “Wockstar” is a vapid look into their rich lifestyles.

Coming from someone who’s been a huge Weeknd fan since the Trilogy days, I could never see the appeal in these guys & Heaven Can Wait exemplifies that more than ever. I don’t mean any disrespect, but the production choices are painfully drab & it’s poorly written throughout. I’d rather listen to any ΠΔV project (specifically Emergency Tsunami) than this EP & that dude’s one of the most boring artists to blow up in the last 5 years.

Score: 1.5/5

Nametag Alexander – “The Limit” review

Nametag Alexander is a 35 year old MC from Detroit, Michigan who came up as part of the short-lived trio 10 Speed & Brown Shoe almost 2 decades back. He has since gone on to drop a slew of solo projects within the last 14 years all to pretty positive reception. Last we heard from Nametag was last spring with the release of his 8th EP Work. Win. Repeat. & to follow it up, local producer Black Bethoven is being tapped in to produce this new EP from top to bottom.

“Set Go” kicks things off with a heavy instrumental with battle bars being peppered into the mix whereas the title track takes things in a much more dancier direction encouraging listeners to push it as far as you can go. The song “Conquer” incorporates a guitar & some claps as Nametag talks about taking over the world while “The Victor” shows some ambition in the lyrics & the beat almost as a Scott Storch feel to it.

Travis Slang’s feature on the penultimate track “Believe” is kinda weak, but I do enjoy the overall message about hustling & the Japanese sample in the production. Finally, I think “Pressure Applied” is a worthy closer with Nametag jumping on a soulful boom bap instrumental to spit that weight-bench rap.

In his ever-growing discography, to me The Limit is an absolute stand out. The whole concept of it is well put together & I really like how varied in sound Black Bethoven’s production is, ranging from boom bap to dance.

Score: 4/5

Old Children – “Push Start” review

The Old Children are a trio from London, England, United Kingdom consisting of emcees Booda French & HPBLK alongside producer King Kashmere. The latter of whom has become amongst the most recognizable names in the entire UK hip hop scene with a career spanning decades while the other 2 have emerged between 2015 & 2016 respectively. So to have The Iguana Man unite both of them & get behind the boards for the group’s debut extended play had me excited of what they were gonna do.

After the intro, “1Up” hops over a lo-fi boom bap beat refusing to celebrate wack rappers when they shouldn’t be whereas “Metron’s Chair” gives off an intergalactically dusty vibe instrumentally dismantling any competitor who isn’t on the same wave they are. “Abin Sur” reaches the midway point of the EP talking about this being do or die for both performers leading into “Louder” featuring Ramson Badbonez nostalgically kicks off the 2nd half on some old school shit.

“Long Road” winds down Push Start’s remaining minutes talking about over a beat reminiscent to the late, great J Dilla at points talking about finally making it to their own destinations after choosing to take the more difficult path while the final song “Double Dragon” preceding the outro makes a dope reference to WWE Hall of Famer, former 3-time WWE Champion, 11-time WWE tag team champion, the inaugural WWE Hardcore Champion, CWA World Tag Team Champion & TNA World Champion Mick Foley.

Regardless of whether or not the Old Children plan to continue making music together going forward, it doesn’t take away from the fact Push Start still gives the world a look at what these guys can accomplish when combining forces. Booda French & HPBLK give us some of the hungriest performances of their careers whether it be depicting out of this world imagery or making left field references & unpacking forward thinking streams of thought over King Kashmere’s cosmic production.

Score: 3.5/5