BlocBoy JB – Simi
This is by far my least favorite album I’ve heard this year. I’m going to try and keep this short because I want to get it out of my mind as quick as possible. The whole album lacks pretty much everything besides one thing, hard beats. Almost every track I thought “wow, *insert rapper* would kill this.” That’s the last thing you want your listener to think when listening to your album.
His delivery is extremely simple and one-sided. He doesn’t try to make an effort to explore other tones or actually interesting flows. His main delivery isn’t interesting enough, like a 21 Savage’s, to garner excitement. The album isn’t even good enough for background noise when working out or anything because it’s just boring. “Look Alive” is a fun enough track, mostly because of Drake, but when you find out that the whole album is the same but minus Drake, you get bored.
3/10
Rae Sremmurd – Sremm Life 3
The dynamic duo presents this project to be three separate “albums” in the same package, so I’ll treat it like such. The first part of the project being their much anticipated Sremm Life 3.
The duo seem to overestimate their actual entertainment value on this project. The songs go on entirely too long given that most of the instrumentals seem to be built for quick three minute tracks, given their lack of beats switches. “Powerglide” would have been fine if it wasn’t a five-minute drag. Not to mention the duos complete lack of actual lyrical dexterity. Some lines kill most of the connection to the track and leave the listener wondering if their little cousin wrote for Sremmurd. The highlights are the fantastic choruses due to their knack to create catchy rhythms and melodies. The vibe/energy that is unmatched in many other places makes it a decent listen.
6/10
Swae Lee- Swaecation
Swae Lee has been the front-runner of the group for most of their careers. He’s the Quavo of Migos, as he’s the one artists try to get featured, yet this project is really empty. The beats are euphoric and feel almost like beats for an interlude. Yet, Swae Lee doesn’t do much vocally. Extremely undynamic, the songs often resort to repetitive hooks that would be catchy but are left monotonous after the fifth time he says them. It’s also notable that Lee can’t really hold a track longer than four minutes, but he tries-multiple times. The middle of the three project album is sort of a pretty stale, long interlude that doesn’t do anything.
2/10
Slim Jxmmi – Jxmtro
Slim Jxmmi is like the Takeoff of Rae Sremmurd. He’s under appreciated. Maybe people will come to the realization that he really is better than his singing group-mate of Swae Lee (Quavo). His solo project really proves that in spades. Swae’s solo project is boring due to its generic nature and repetitive pattern. Slim’s is very similar in that it’s generic and not a great stand-alone project, by any means, but it provides a level of entertainment that I missed on Swaecation. His charisma gives a good energy and most of the songs are short enough to where that energy doesn’t run out before the end of the track. This still doesn’t overwhelm the monotony of trap beats and ceaseless hooks.
5/10
Royce Da 5’9’’ – Book of Ryan
I adore the concept of the album in its entirety. The biblical aspect, the idea of teaching your children about what shaped you, and the overall self-awareness to paint a complete picture. It’s a stunt that needs real skill to pull off, something Royce proves he has in spades. The album feels heavy despite its large husk of a track listing, much due to the lack of many filler lines. The songs do what they are there for and get out.
There’s been a lot to say about the pacing of the project given the use of skits. The pacing, to me, is made more for a story rather than a traditional music album. This can make it feel choppy and leave the listener in a point of uninterest. You have to go into the project ready to listen for the long haul both sonically and emotionally. Also, the “Caterpillar Remix” angered me due to Logic’s corniness, accentuated due to a real lyrical rapper (Royce) being on the track.
8/10
Tee Grizzley – Activated
If you could sound husky while rapping, you would sound like Grizzley. There’s a raw aggression in his voice that draws interest. When he uses that to his advantage, the songs just work. It’s when he tries and extends into other spheres of hip-hop that he leaves you rather bored. Due to this, the project never really feels together. It has pockets of continuity, until a song breaks the hype feeling you’ve pent up over the last songs. Instead of exploiting the raw nature in his voice, he cleans it up. Grizzley may prove with this project that he’s a feature rapper.
4.5/10
Pusha T – DAYTONA
A veteran of the game, Pusha T may have come through with his best project to date. At 41, he’s worked on his craft for decades, and it’s obvious. His bars are sharp, flow is immaculate, and his delivery is dripping with intensity that only a former drug dealer could deliver. The raw pressure is increased exponentially by the untouchable production by Kanye. The beats carry the sound and attitude of the 90s crack dealer with modern undertones, a perfect compliment to Push. The duality in “Come Back Baby” between the calming chorus and disgustingly heavy verses is awe inspiring. “Infrared” is everything you want it to be in terms of Drake disses.
The biggest complaint of Pusha his whole career has been his complete dedication to rapping about moving drugs. It’s almost the only topic he talks about, but that doesn’t seem to slow him down. The project has the hard-hitting bars, even if they all share the same topic. The only complaint would be the lack of a real concept surrounding the album. It doesn’t have a specific direction that it’s pushed towards. Every song is a different experience instead of the album being one whole idea.
9/10
Ski Mask the Slump God – BEWARE THE BOOK OF ELI
Ski Mask is by far the most intriguing of the new generation of rappers, due to the possession of a skill many of his peers don’t have-technical rapping abilities. It’s this skill that makes the prospect of his career more promising, yet it isn’t the main reason he’s so interesting. His quirky approach to flows, explosive cadence, and random ad libs gives a child like nature to the mature music he makes. When he exploits this, he makes energetic, charismatic bangers, and that’s what most of this album is. The songs are short and packed with enthusiasm, enough to maintain the new novelty each song created for you.
With that said, Ski Mask falls into a very awkard lane, the lane of rappers that have technical abilities but choose to rap about nothing. This can be found in others like Rich the Kid. Yet, he doesn’t have the mindless hits that those artists have. This makes his fan base a very specific set of people and makes some songs (where his energy fails) feel meaningless and empty.
7/10
R.I.P. Drake
In response to Drake’s “Duppy Freestyle,” which is irrelevant now, Pusha T released “The Story of Adidon.” The track attacks Drake in some of his softest places, his blackness, mother/father relationship, and alleged baby mother. Performed over Jay-Z’s “Story of OJ,” Push doesn’t beat around the bush, gunning off diss after diss. He even goes after OVO 40’s (Drake’s producer) chronic disease, something that many fans saw as too far. Also, yes, that is a real image of Drake in “black-face.”
“The Story of Adidon” is something Drake could never have seen coming. The sheer boundless savagery Pusha T dives into is something that Drake couldn’t pull off due to his image. The “good-guy” image he has created for himself limits himself on what he can really say in these cut-throat beefs.
These limits don’t exist for Push, as his fan base understands the nonexistent limits in rap beef. This lets him release a track like this one. With the rumors that Drake won’t respond for multiple reasons, one being that J Prince told him not to, it seems that Drake may have finally been truly defeated in a beef.
Now whether this will affect album sales is still up in the air. His large female fan base may be hurt by learning of his treatment towards Sophie Brussaux (his baby mother). Yet, they could’ve also ignored the situation and not grasp it, considering that his female fanbase is mostly very casual rap fans.