AfrikaAlbum by Blu and NottzReleased 8 December 2023Hip HopLabel – Nature SoundsRating – 7/10 Blu knows how to pick ‘em! – Blu’s collaborations with producers are snuggly hand-in-glove, but Afrika might just be the first occasion in which his beats outshine his raps. You only have to listen to first track Kuwakaribisha (Welcome) to understand […]
QuarantaAlbum by Danny BrownReleased 17 November 2023Hip HopLabel – WarpRating – 8/10 Now in his forties, Danny Brown uncovers his maturity with a different, but insightful, sixth album. – The bouncy ball that ceased to bounce, Danny Brown settles into introspection on Quaranta. Otherwise known for his Daffy Duck approach to rapping, Brown is often […]
Another Triumph of Ghetto EngineeringAlbum by Open Mike EagleReleased 25 August 2023Abstract Hip HopLabel – Auto ReverseRating – 7/10 – I’d been meaning to review Open Mike Eagle’s Another Triumph of Ghetto Engineering for a while, stalling to favour other albums with the assumption that this – one of Mike’s briefer projects – is a […]
Permanently Blackface (The 1st Expression)Album by LukahReleased 1 September 2023Southern Hip HopLabel – Raw Materials Permanently Blackface absorbs the hellishness of the black experience in America. – I’m not going to pretend to know everything there is to know on the history of the ridicule of black people in entertainment, but the more vomit-inducing portrayals […]
The PatienceAlbum by Mick JenkinsReleased 18 August 2023Hip HopLabel – RBCRating – 7.5/10 Mick Jenkins will grab a hold of your patience while testing his own. – Mick Jenkins is a deeply intelligent rapper, despite resourcing all the humility in the world – he raps under the name “Mick Jenkins” in a world of thugs […]
Magic 2Album by NasReleased 21 July 2023East Coast Hip HopLabel – Mass AppealRating – 7/10 Nas provides. – The term “victory lap” has become a bit of a cliché in online music discourse – or at least, I seem to run into it a lot. The label applies to a good, likely unchallenging album that […]
Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?Album by McKinley DixonReleased 2 June 2023Jazz RapLabel – City SlangRating – 8/10 Finding paradise in jazz. – Even if its title is taken from three individual Toni Morrison novels, Beloved Paradise Jazz is a name that embodies the ethics of McKinley Dixon’s fourth album. With love, the rapper finds paradise in jazz, […]
Glorious GameCollaborative Album by El Michels Affair & Black ThoughtReleased 14 April 2023Hip HopLabel – Big CrownRating – 7.5/10 A new module in critical thought. – I’ve seen a number of people deem Glorious Game a “victory lap” on Black Thought’s part – I say that as if that’s the consensus; I probably just spend […]
Languish Arts / Woeful StudiesAlbums by KaReleased 16 September 2022Abstract Hip HopLabel – Iron WorksRating – 7/10 – On 16th September 2022, Brooklyn rapper Ka released two surprise albums; Languish Arts and Woeful Studies. Whilst containing some similarities – to the point where the two could’ve been released as one double album, maybe, probably – […]
Raw ExtractionsAlbum by LukahReleased 16 September 2022Conscious Hip HopLabel – Raw MaterialsRating – 7.5/10 A new oxygen. – If you find yourself listening to a Lukah album, you may feel as though you’re listening to something completely different each time. The Memphis rapper’s latest project, Raw Extractions, may surface as if hazed-out, stumbling from bushes […]
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