As someone who pays close attention to this sort of thing, I can tell you that this week is borderline unbelievable … if you’re into pop music, that is. I haven’t even had time to get to it all, but other than the three releases I’m about to tell you about, Perfect Pussy, The War on Drugs and Skrillex all dropped excellent albums today that are well worth your time (yeah, I fux with Skrillex, so what).
And let’s face it, rap has had some pretty amazing releases when you look back over the past few years, but overall it’s been a pretty rough go for the genre lately. Up until now, the whole of this year has seen only two decent rap albums: Young Thug and Isaiah Rashad. So perhaps the most remarkable thing about this week’s music, is that the world of hip hop has dropped (count ‘em) three worthy albums over the course of the past seven days. Maybe you think I’ve been hitting the whiskey and Lemonata San Pelegrino perhaps a little too hard–well, I’ll give you that. Ultimately though, I would never dis you when it comes to something as important as good hip hop. I shall therefore count these albums down in order of their awesomeness, starting with the least:
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib – Pinata
You might know Madlib from when he teamed up with MF DOOM a few years back and they recorded a classic. Collaborating with various MCs–and doing the beats for the entire album is kind of his thing. The results have been a bit of a mixed bag, though, even when he worked with artists as canonical as J Dilla and Talib Kweli. This one however, turned out pretty cool actually–probably because he chose an up and coming MC at the top of his game in Freddie Gibbs.
Not every track is a stunner, but none of them are duds either. The best cuts, like “Harold’s” and “Robes” are just frequent enough to make the whole thing worthwhile. Speaking of “Robes,” Domo Genesis shows up just long enough on that joint to serve up the best verse of the album, “I feel like I’m one with the moon but that’s some other shit,” he raps, “I stopped caring how people see me and I’m loving it.”
I am too.
As for Freddie Gibbs, he’s no slouch either, and proves here that he’s willing to reach deep into his guts for his rhymes. What he lacks in humor, he makes up for with honesty. I respect that he’s got enough faith in his own manhood to not only admit that his lady leaving him for an aspiring astronaut hurt him, but to have the balls to say it, “cut a nigga deep.” So did your album, sir.
Rating: 4/5
https://www.facebook.com/gangstagibbs
https://www.facebook.com/madlib
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100s – Ivry (Mixtape)
If you’re anything like me you’re looking at the cover of this mixtape thinking, “Yeah, I’m gonna need to hear this.” It doesn’t disappoint either. Nor is this 100s first dope-as-fuck mixtape. It’s his second–a few years back he unleashed the brilliant (wait for it) … Ice Cold Perm. These days 100s is up on that Fools Gold money, and the production that comes along with it. It does his music well.
100s makes late night bootycall jams simultaneously reminiscent of both Speakerboxxx era Outkast and Street Songs era Rick James, but with more Mac than the Hamburgler. (In other words it kicks ass) This is a guy who does not give one fuck what you think. On “Ten Freaky Hoes” he regales the listener with the history of, you guessed it, Ten Freaky Hoes. Of the first Ho he raps, “Let me hit you with a tale n’ shit/White bitch named Michelle n’ shit/No lips, pretty tail n’ shit/Suck a niggas dick at the Shell n’ shit.”
Do I really need to say more? The whole thing is like that.
Download the mixtape here.
Rating: 4.1/5
https://www.facebook.com/iHate100s
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Vince Staples – Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2 (Mixtape)
This mixtape is straight fire–easily the best hip hop release of the year so far. What separates Staples from his peers isn’t just his taste for immaculate beats (most of which are handled by No I.D. here), but also his ability to rap with one eye on his demons and the other focused on vicious (and often humorous) narratives. He’s an intelligent storyteller, who knows exactly which details to share. On the closer, “Earth Science,” he tells us about the one that got away, “I should have took you to prom,” raps Staples, “Fuck whoever had did, but I was busy punching niggas in the face by the gym.”
Perhaps the most striking example of Staples’ lyrical prowess is on “Nate,” a song about (and perhaps named after) his father. It’s also a good example of one of the pervasive themes on this mixtape too: that black people are too often stuck in poverty with all of the trappings that come with it. Of course, this isn’t exactly a revolutionary idea, especially in rap music. Still, Staples makes a compelling case, with an emphasis on compelling. One of the verses on “Nate” is good enough that it’s worth quoting it at length:
“As a kid all I wanted was a hundred grand/Uncle counting money while my daddy was cutting grams/Made me promise that this shit would never touch my hands/And it never did he said it’d make me a better man/Smoking in the crib hiding dip inside of soda cans/Black bandanna on his arm needle in his hand/Mama tryin’ to wake him up so young I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t let my daddy sleep, used to see him stand/Out in the alley through my window/Drinking hen’ with his homies blowin’ cig smoke/Lights flashing now he’s running from the Winslows/Hear him screaming for my Mama at the back door/Sometimes she wouldn’t open it, sittin’ on the couch face emotionless/I don’t think they ever noticed that I noticed it.”
Now that’s some shit that you know happened. Did I mention that the beats are fucking mighty? Oh, I did? Well, it’s worth mentioning again.
Download the mixtape here.
Rating: 4.4/5