Pusha T – “DAYTONA” review

With the release of Darkest Before Dawn at the tail-end of 2015, former Clipse member & current G.O.O.D. Music president Pusha T has been laying on the down low outside of a few features. However, he has finally returned with his 3rd full-length album with a new title & he has enlisted the G.O.O.D. Music founder Kanye West to produce it in it’s entirety. The album opens with “If You Know You Know”, where Push spits his signature mafioso bars over a fun beat with a faint sample in the background. The next track “The Games We Play” continues to spit drug bars albeit in more braggadocious manner over a twangy guitar & some jazzy horns while the song “Hard Piano” with Rick Ross sees the 2 talking about living in Santo Domingo over an atmospheric with some BEAUTIFUL keyboards throughout.

The track “Come Back Baby” charismatically talks about the lavish life some monstrous bass & the soul sample hook is gorgeous. The song “Santeria” gets spiritual over a beat that starts off with abrasive, but then switches into a more boom bap vibe. Also I don’t know who the female singer on the hook is, but her singing is alluring. The penultimate track “What Would Meek Do?” with Kanye sees the 2 responding to that everybody that has talked badly about them up until this point over an eerie beat & then the closer “Infrared” talks about the current state of hip hop along with reigniting his beef with Drake over a murky beat.

While it’s been a long wait, I think Push came through with his magnum opus. Despite being only 7 tracks & 22 minutes long, it sounds focused & Pusha’s lyricism is just as sharper & grittier than ever. Also, we‘re getting some of the darkest Kanye instrumentals I’ve ever heard on a handful of tracks

Score: 4.5/5

Desiigner – “L.o.D. (Life of Desiigner)” review

Ever since appearing on the 2016 XXL Freshman Class & rushing his New English mixtape shortly after, New York rapper Desiigner has been laying low ever since. However, it was announced out of the blue Thursday night that he had returned with with his 1st EP.

The EP starts off with “Priice Tag”, where he gets braggadocious over a video gamey trap beat from Ronny J. The next song “Tonka” has an instrumental with an eerie atmosphere to it, but the songwriting is lazy. Especially during the hook & the 2nd verse. The track “After Party” is a generic club banger while the song “Pop iiT” is pretty much a poor man’s “Mask Off” albeit with a spacey beat. The song “Destiination” sounds like a leftover from Future’s last album HNDRXX while the track “LA to New York” does sound charismatic & fun, the songwriting is yet again lazy. The EP finally finishes with “HOOD”, where he talks about seeing another day over a moody beat

This is definitely better than New English, but it’s still pretty bad. Not only did it take way too long to come out but even 2 years after he blew up, the production is generic trap & Desiigner himself still sounds like a poor man’s Future

Score: 1/5

CyHi the Prynce – “No Dope on Sundays” review

CyHi the Prynce is an MC from Atlanta, Georgia & this is long awaited full-length debut. The album opens with “Amen”, where CyHi’s talking about staying in your environment over a fittingly churchy instrumental. The next track is the title track, where he & fellow G.O.O.D. Music signee Pusha T talks about trappin’ another other day than the Lord’s day & the beat change from Lex Luger is phenomenal. The song “Get Yo Money” speaks on the drug game over an eerie instrumental & the track “Movin’ Around” with ScHoolboy Q isa weed anthem with a decent trap beat. The track “Trick Me” gets braggadocious over a mellow piano instrumental& the 2 Chainz verse isn’t all that bad. The song “Murda” talks about life in the streets over a decent reggae instrumental while the track “Don’t Know Why”gets conscious over a somewhat spacey instrumental. Also, the Jagged Edge feature on here is pretty great as well. The song“God Bless” is pretty much about being thankful & I️ absolutely love how it samples my favorite Roy Ayers song “Searching”. The track “Dat Side” with his mentor Kanye West sees the 2 attacking their haters over a dreary instrumental while the song “Looking for Love” is a self-explanatory love song with a decent trap beat & a mediocre auto-tune hook. The song “Nu Africa” gets pro-black over a nice boom bap beat & the track “Free” seems to be a diss towards Def Jam Recordings over a dreamy instrumental. The song “80’s Baby” speaks through the point of view of an unborn child over a jazzy instrumental & a beautiful BJ the Chicago Kid feature while the penultimate track “Closer” talks about maintaining a relationship with Jesus Christ over an instrumental with an uplifting atmosphere to it. I know both of these song topics sound corny, but CyHi’s actually able to pull both of them off. The album then closes with “I’m Fine”, which pretty much talks about livin’ life to the fullest & I really wish Travi$ Scott had a verse instead of just doing the hook. CyHi the Prynce has been long overdue with an album & I think this should give him the credit he finally deserves. Despite a few mediocre beats & hooks every here & there, it sounds focused, the features are on point & it’s just as smart as ever

Score: 3.5/5

Desiigner – “New English” review

Fresh off the hit single Panda, 2016 XXL Freshman Desiigner hits us with his first full project & it honestly could very well be the worst release I’ve listened to this year. Not just because of the beats & lyrics, but the vocals are just hilariously excruciating. However they do surprise me on Make It Out a little bit because he kinda reminds me of Tyler, The Creator (who I personally am a big fan of). On the track Overnight (which is probably the best track off the whole tape), he talks about how he wants God to help him & how hard he works. I can totally appreciate that. On the track Jet, he & Pusha T get braggadocious & Pusha’s verse on here is ok but Desiigner ruins the track really quickly. I still think Panda’s ok & I’m actually glad he put into this mixtape but other than that, I don’t really think there’s anything else interesting to point out about this thing. All I’m getting here is just a rushed, generic version of DS2 (which I felt was the most overrated album of last year)

Score: 1/5