“Cheat Codes” is a great album from Black Thought and Danger Mouse and features insane performances from Black Thought and fantastic production throughout. The features are also really good, and I can see this album having a lot of replay value and growing on me even more. But even if it doesn’t, it’s still one of the best rap albums of the year for sure.

While this is a pretty solid and enjoyable project overall from Megan Thee Stallion, it’s just yet another inconsistent and kinda messy project where she doesn’t fully capitalize on her potential and stays pretty stagnant artistically.

Ever since Fever, I thought Megan Thee Stallion had a lot of potential. However, while she has had some pretty great singles and features since then, the projects that she released have been pretty disappointing, even if they were at worst just ... read more

“Sleepy Soldier” has some solid production and decent ideas, but I think Tanna Leone has a lot of room for improvement.

I listened to this because Tanna Leone signed to pgLang and is opening for Kendrick Lamar on his tour, but unfortunately I’m not all that impressed with this. This album is not bad at all, but it’s really indistinguishable from most modern trap in this lane. Tanna Leone doesn’t have much of a presence, and these songs just are not very memorable ... read more

On this EP, TDE’s newest signee Doechii continues to show why she’s one of the most exciting and promising new artists in rap, and gets me even more excited for her debut LP.

While “Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2” isn’t bad and has some solid aspects, its overall just really inoffensive and safe, and as a result it ends up being pretty underwhelming and disappointing.

Coming into this album, I was actually pretty intrigued. I thought Vol. 1 from 2017 had some really great highlights, and I was hoping that this would as well. However, I really wasn’t into the singles for this album outside of “New To You”, which was completely carried by ... read more

Edit: Almost a month later and this album has grown on me so much. I already thought it was great, but now I have it about even with Lemonade. So good.

Original review:

While “Renaissance” may not be Beyoncé’s best project, it’s still a pretty great body of work with a ton of highlights.

It’s been a while since “Lemonade”, which is among my favorite albums of all time. I also really liked her self-titled album, and both albums have some of my ... read more

REVISITING BEYONCÉ’S DISCOGRAPHY #2

In anticipation of Beyoncé’s new album “RENAISSANCE”, I decided to revisit two of her albums: her self-tilted and Lemonade.

Lemonade is one of my favorite albums ever. Not only is it a great album, but it is very iconic and was a huge pop culture moment, and for good reason. Her best songs ever are on this album, and from front to back the songwriting and production are fantastic. There are a few weaker cuts towards ... read more

REVISITING BEYONCÉ’S DISCOGRAPHY #1

In anticipation of Beyoncé’s new album “RENAISSANCE”, I decided to revisit two of her albums, starting with her self titled album. And while it’s not a perfect album by any means, it’s just so enjoyable and is filled with great highlights, production, and vocal performances throughout. This album has has also aged pretty well, and it has proven to be a very influential album in music.

Fav Tracks: Pretty ... read more

“You Still Here, Ho?“ is so fun and Flo Milli just has so much personality and charisma that it mostly makes up for the issues I have with the project as a whole.

A short but fun project from Uzi that isn’t necessarily anything new or special for them and has some occasionally weak songwriting, but is enjoyable nonetheless and has me excited for The P!nk Tape.

While “Las Ruinas” still has many flaws and might not be the classic that I hope Rico Nasty is capable of, it’s still a very enjoyable mixtape that sees Rico Nasty tackle many styles and take many interesting risks, even if not all of them completely work and the result can be kind of a mess.

Rico Nasty is an artist that I think has so much potential, but she has never really capitalized on it fully in project form. I loved “Nightmare Vacation” more than most ... read more

While “2000” may not be anything we haven’t heard from Joey Bada$$ and may not be my favorite project from him, it’s still a really enjoyable project with solid production and good performances throughout from Joey.

This is like EXACTLY the direction I was hoping Billie would go in and I absolutely love it

I need more time with this but I’m sure it will grow on me even more like their last album did.

“Special” is a major disappointment and is a huge drop in quality for Lizzo.

Lizzo can be a very polarizing figure in pop culture, but I really liked her last album “Cuz I Love You”. I thought it had some of the best pop songs of 2019 and it rightfully propelled her to being one of the biggest names in music. I was excited to see what she would do next, but I was worried it was a fluke. And after hearing the singles for this album, I was even more worried. And with it ... read more

WASTELAND features some of Brent Faiyaz’s best written and produced music to date, with some absolutely stellar highlights and beautiful vocal performances. It still has its flaws, as it’s too long and has some songs that don’t stand out like others, but I really appreciate the growth and artistry shown here.

Roddy…what happened?

I was a big defender after “LIVE LIFE FAST” and overall liked that album despite its massive flaws and huge dip in quality, but now I’m just starting to worry “Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial” was a fluke. Because the great production, interesting vocal performances, and pretty solid songwriting are just not here anymore. It’s still decent and listenable, but just so not on the same level.

On “The Inspection”, Cochise is able to transcend the Playboi Carti comparisons for me and use that style to make a very fun and enjoyable project, even if it’s derivative and pretty one-dimensional.

Edit: this has grown on me more. 80 to 85

MUNA is a really fun and great pop record with catchy songwriting and fantastic highlights, even if as a whole it doesn’t necessarily hit the level I hoped it could.

MUNA was a group I had heard about before, but only really listened to after seeing them open for Phoebe Bridgers. They were great live, and I added a bunch of their songs when checking them out before the concert. I didn’t listen to either of their projects in full, but I ... read more

Beyoncé still makes this song enjoyable with a great vocal performance but this instrumental is really generic and is like a Royalty Free house beat from YouTube.