'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' is Injury Reserve's sophomore album and it's guaranteed to take your breath away, but not guaranteed to give you a good time. The singles to the album were perfect, with both singles creatively capturing the effect of anxiety using outstanding, overwhelming sounds that sound like nothing I've heard before, with the album building on the picture those singles painted but failing to fully color it in. Probably the most ambitious album I've heard so far this year but ... read more

'The Melodic Blue' is Baby Keem's debut album and it's surprisingly more boring than crazy, with Baby Keem creating basic trap music and not much else. Most of these songs lack Baby Keem's fun personality and cool cadence, being much more emotionless which was something I wasn't worried about much before the album dropped, but something I should've seen coming as it was teased through the two singles. What I was expecting was some messy experimentation, but looks like Baby Keem played things ... read more

'star-crossed' is Kacey Musgraves' fourth album, coming after her critically-acclaimed album, 'Golden Hour', which managed to win GRAMMY's Country Album and Album of the Year awards, with this album essentially being the end of the golden hour, moving towards something darker. The album is all about her divorce with Ruston Kelly, telling us how her marriage unraveled and how she found motivation during those dark periods, being based on 'Romeo and Juliet' I believe. Kacey hasn't moved as far ... read more

Mercury - Act 1 is the fifth album from Imagine Dragons, my brother's favorite band, with the album catching me by surprise as it perfectly captures how it feels to lose everything you love, leading yourself to lose yourself. The album moves away from the generic sounds we've known them to recycle over the years, serving as a compilation of 'golden sounds', sounds that stay true to their roots while sounding gorgeous. You feel like you're falling down an endless pit, dealing with addiction and ... read more

After plenty of delays caused by Drake hurting his knee, we receive 'Certified Lover Boy' and it's a huge disappointment. The album's based around Drake's adventures through love and lust, basically being a toxic playboy, a character Drake fits better than I could've ever imagined, with the concept remaining strong in the first half but being broken in the second half by random songs that don't fit the album as well as the first few songs. Drake's goal with this album was to highlight the ... read more

I really don't want to be the person who ruins the fun, but I have to give my honest opinion, this is overrated but still outstanding. Highly anticipated album, 'Sometimes I Might Be Introvert' by Lil Simz has dropped and it's certainly quite different to any other hip hop record that I've listened to in 2021, being quite conscious in nature which was a pleasant surprise. To talk about the sounds used on the album, they're quite majestic, with plenty of orchestra seeming to be used in a strong, ... read more

'We Love You Tecca 2' is the sequel to the project that blew him up, coming after a disaster in the form of his debut album and even though he didn't improve much on this mixtape, his team did and it can clearly be seen through the music.

The vocals from Lil Tecca are great, seeming to have fixed some of the issues he had on 'Virgo World' while expanding his vocal variety which was much needed. The mixing problems have disappeared on this mixtape, while any problems with the inconsistency of ... read more

Didn't think that Lil Yachty would take the sixth installment in the Birthday Mix series seriously, but he actually does, coming up with a creative project in the form of 'Birthday Mix 6', showing listeners what he's been working on over the last few months, ranging from rage songs to even a return to his melodic roots. Definitely a step forward for Lil Yachty as his last few projects have been so rap-focused, moving completely away from his dreamy pop rap which was what blew him up, trying to ... read more

'Superman That' is Injury Reserve's second single to 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' and it absolutely blows my mind, managing to match the quality of 'Knees'. The vocals sound hopeless, frustrated that they couldn't do anything to prevent them from leading to the state they're in currently, but being the factor of the track that drags down the track as I would've liked the vocals to be a bit more melodic as they're quite bland on the track, although the distortion in the middle was nice and ... read more

Wasn't feeling the snippet of the song but the actual song is so much better, with 'Pass Out' being a nice, acoustic track with a spacey touch to it. Lil Mosey's vocals aren't his best, but sound so relaxing, not using much autotune which works well along with the acoustic beat. The production of the track from Royce David is almost perfect, using an okay instrumental and crisp drums, supported by spectacular counter melodies as the development of the beat is outstanding. The lyrics on the ... read more

'Let's Lose Our Minds' is SoFaygo's highly-anticipated lead single to 'Pink Hearts' and his first song dropped since he joined Travis Scott's label, Cactus Jack, ending up as a huge disappointment. The vocals from SoFaygo are okay, lacking some of the melodic magic that he usually brings to his vocals, being a bit too bland. The production is pretty bad as the instrumental sounds super cheap, having nothing that makes it stand out, being especially underwhelming when you compare the beat to ... read more

IT'S FINALLY OUT! DONDA IS A GOOD MESS!

Donda, Kanye West's tenth album, has finally dropped after multiple delays and three listening parties, being an album where Kanye takes the back seat and puts on some of his peers. The album dives into the darkness and aims to pull people out of the darkness through the music, giving us a glimpse at how dark the world can be, using generic, gorgeous sounds, but at the end of the day, after all the bumps and breath-taking moments, I feel like Kanye still ... read more

'Smoking on your top five tonight'
Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem finally collaborate on 'family ties', being the return of Kendrick Lamar as both rappers come together to create a banger. The vocals from Baby Keem are playful and unbothered, rapping like he doesn't care about anyone or anything while Kendrick Lamar sounds decent but worse than Baby Keem as he sounds so much more serious but does thankfully change up his vocals to something a bit more fun scarcely in the middle of his verse. The ... read more

'Sharing Locations' is the highly-anticipated collaboration between Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and Meek Mill, having strong chemistry between all three rappers. Meek Mill to my surprise has the best vocals, sounding so excited to be rapping along with Lil Baby and Lil Durk, wit Lil Durk sounding decent as he switches between his aggressive vocals and melodic vocals throughout the track, with the switches being a bit rough, while Lil Baby brings in vocals that sound like they're not recently recorded ... read more

'Justified' does not impress me like the intro of 'star-crossed' did, being just another generic country, pop song I'd hear on the radio as there isn't the sparkle that was on the last track. Kacey's vocals are boring, not having a huge amount of emotion unlike what I expected, instead sounding stale as she doesn't seem very interested in her story, with even the drop of the chorus not improving Kacey's vocals significantly. The production of the track does have a few dreamy elements, but the ... read more

Thought I'd give BTS another chance with 'Butter (Remix)', marking the first collaboration between BTS and Megan Thee Stallion, clearly using the 'Dynamite' formula as it just sounds like an updated version that comes along with a Megan feature. The vocals from the members of BTS are above average as the vocals in the first half were smooth and showed promise, with the second half being a bit bumpy, not sounding pleasant, while Megan Thee Stallion sounded close to tremendous, with her slightly ... read more

'If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power' is Halsey's fourth studio album, joining hands with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross from Nine Inch Nails to create an album that isn't as ambitious as I was expecting but is still an intriguing listen due to the topics she dives into over the course of the album, using a weak storyline to support the topics, while the vocals and production don't have as many moments to shine. The album doesn't follow a medieval theme in any aspect, something I was actually ... read more

'Trip At Knight' shows Trippie changing styles again after the beautiful, dark 'Pegasus' and the chaotic, pop punk 'NEON SHARK', coming back with an album built from rage/hyperpop beats. Trippie Redd executes the album better than I could've ever imagined as the switch to emo-rap to rage/hyperpop is a significant style switch, with Trippie Redd swiftly and spectacularly adjusting as he sounds like he's having fun creating music for the first time in a long time as the album contains banger ... read more

'NEON SHARK vs Pegasus (Deluxe: Presented By Travis Baker)' isn't trash, but it sounds really rushed. I had much higher expectations after actually liking Pegasus, but this doesn't come close to what I wanted to hear when Trippie Redd announced that he was switching genres for the deluxe. The album being presented by Travis Barker certainly boosted the credibility for the switch in genre and made the listening experience a lot more exciting than I expected. Like the original version of the ... read more