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 […]
VicesAlbum by Curren$y & Harry FraudReleased 30 June 2023Southern Hip HopLabel – Jet LifeRating – 6.5/10 Spitta and Fraud get some work done. – Together, Curren$y and Harry Fraud have released some of southern hip hop’s seminal recent material; The Outrunners, a desirous ode to hip hop’s potential soulfulness; Regatta, an occasionally abstract vibe check. […]
Business Is BusinessAlbum by Young ThugReleased 23 June 2023TrapLabel – Young Stoner LifeRating – 5/10 Young Thug, old habits. – “If you’ve heard one of their albums, you’ve heard them all” is a statement that could be applied to a long list of trap artists. Even if he falls prey to a lot of the […]
Her LossCollaborative album by Drake & 21 SavageReleased 4 November 2022Trap / Pop RapProduced by…like fifty peopleRating – 5/10 Drake and 21 Savage evolve and devolve in one sitting. – Despite the insurgent deep house influence of Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind, the album’s defining moment of prosperity was its pugnacious southern rap closer, Jimmy Cooks, in […]
The Party / TMAlbums by BrockhamptonReleased 17 / 18 November 2022Hip HopLabel – Question Everything / RCA – Brockhampton have often swatted threats of finality. The southside boyband’s third release of 2017, Saturation III, was initially declared their “final album”, before admitting the jest behind the statement. The album’s final track Team even included a […]
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 […]
The Forever StoryAlbum by JIDReleased 26 August 2022Hip HopLabel – DreamvilleRating – 7.5/10 Bell-to-bell sincerity pays off on The Forever Story. – JID – Atlanta rapper and crown jewel of Dreamville – is not necessarily a storyteller, but a conductor of stories. Every life lesson, every aching thought gathered over his career and upbringing, pours […]
Melt My Eyez See Your FutureAlbum by Denzel CurryReleased 25 March 2022Conscious Hip HopLabel – Loma VistaRating – 8/10 Let it all out. – Is Walkin Denzel Curry’s most humanising song? If the Floridian rapper’s canon were a cannon, he’d already have provided enough mood-bending, self-evaluating ammunition – this is a guy who matched Zak […]
ContinuanceCollaborative album by Curren$y and AlchemistReleased 18 February 2022Jazz Rap / Southern RapLabel – Jet LifeRating – 6.5/10 There’s no need to change much when results are so pleasant. – Curren$y and The Alchemist see infinite worth in a winning formula. Their first collaboration, 2011’s Covert Coup, innovatively poured a number of East Coast-isms into […]
Why Look Up, God’s in the MirrorAlbum by LukahReleased 24 September 2021Hip HopProduced by Walz (and SB11)Rating – 7.5/10 If you’re likening yourself to God, you better back it up. Here comes Lukah to do just that! – When Lukah discusses his southern drawl, he speaks of a power that stretches far beyond dialect. His […]
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