Taking a break from hardcore hip hop to rate my 1,600th album, "Kagayaki" by Masakatsu Takagi.

Takagi is most well known for his soundtracks of Japanese film legend Mamoru Hosoda, but here Takagi takes a step into chamber folk and neoclassical new age to create one of the most peaceful and serene projects I've heard all year. Being over 2 hours long, there's a lot to unpack here, but his piano work combined with the amateur vocals of local Hyōgo villagers really brings a ... read more

MUCH better, but not his best.

Peggy's "Offline Version" for "LP!" is absolutely amazing. It's trippy, dark, but also super creative. His usage of samples and blending them together works a lot better and adds a lot of atmosphere than the label version. It's not too aggressive but the sampling makes up for that. The feature on "TIRED, NERVOUS & BROKE!" and "REBOUND!" make the tracks much better and the cut tracks like "HAZARD DUTY ... read more

GET LOW!

Peggy blends hardcore hip hop with the subtleties of cloud rap and glitch hop to create a fire and upbeat project. I do wish there was more aggression in the tracks, I felt like Peggy was held back when the labels stepped in.

I'VE SEEN FOOTAGE!

I gotta admit this is one of the most off the wall bonkers hip hop records I've tapped into. Every track is just full of noise and some of the most aggressive rapping ever. The hints of glitch hop just add on to the industrial hip hop sound and its chaos, but it works SO well. Overall just a fucking insane album that just does not let off the gas. I get why people fuck with this because GODDAMN.

This one's for @TheRealKozmos!

Danny Brown's magnum opus is a badass, dark, and chaotic album that perfectly encapsulates hardcore hip hop. It's aggressive, experimental, and manic. His rapping sounds calculated but also haphazard. The lyrics here are clever--being half funny and half fucking insane wordplay. Overall a fucking insane album that was nonstop fun. Good shit!

Sexy as hell!

Jalen Ngonda embraces the fucking soul and essence of Marvin Gaye here with his sophomore album, "Doctrine of Love". Honestly this album has some of the smoothest vocals and production of this year. Throwback artists like The Lemon Twigs or Jalen here tend to ride the line of cringe to really damn good and this year it seems that both of them knocked it out of the park.

Hopping on Def Jam Recordings for this one off album was definitely an interesting choice, as you can hear the pop rap sound in this album.

"Ways of Knowing" sounds great, for sure and it's still full of that drumless jazz rap sound, but there's a lack of production quality that I found in his own label, Freedom Sounds. There's more neo-soul infused in the tracks here which is fine, but also kind of takes away from his smooth sultry rapping that I heard in "Song ... read more

Book II of the Sage Saga comes in as an interesting project. It's definitely great, with his wholesome and uplifting rapping being the biggest highlight here, but the lower quality of the recording is noticeable. It's probably because the recording I used was a rip from the vinyl record. His production is still really great, and I would say "Crypt of Carlos: Onward!" is better than "Arc of Atreyu: Neverending!", being richer and more lush.

This man makes the sexiest music I've ever heard in hip hop.

Navy Blue's "Navy's Reprise" is a fantastic followup to his debut and slight precursor to his "Quadrilogy". The production here is FUCKING INSANE. At 24, he was cooking something up that I don't think he's replicated in his last two projects. Does he in "Gift of Gabriel: Rain's Reign!"? For sure, but it's still refreshing to see such creativity and richness in the ... read more

Before we start this review thank you for just the insane amount of followers as of recently... I ended May with 800 followers and now I'm starting June with almost 900!

Anyways, Westside Gunn has shows a lot of talent here in "Pray for Paris", a great blend of drumless jazz rap with boom bap hardcore hip hop. It's smooth, but also aggressive with carefree lyrics. The samples are great, having that nostalgic sound to them. I think the biggest turn off for me would be ... read more

Run The Jewels Discography #2

Shitttt okay lads!

RTJ's second album is a fire, aggressive and punchy album that's more introspective than their debut. El-P's production here is hypnotic and Killer Mike's rapping is so powerful. Aside from a few tracks, it's top to bottom bangers that pushes hardcore hip hop towards a more electronic sound.

Run The Jewels Discography #1

The debut studio project by El-P and Killer Mike is a generally fun album with great lyrics and beats. The production of this album is great and take on a hardcore sound that's closer to industrial hip hop. The only shitty song is "Twin Hype Back", but that's only because of the weird ass lyrics. Overall a great debut.

Hardcore hip hop comes in many forms, and in "DUMP GAWD: DIVINO EDITION", we see the drumless and jazzy rap sides of the subgenre.

Unlike other drumless artists like Navy Blue, Ka, or Mach-Hommy, Vino takes a more aggressive sound to the genre and infuses his music with rich and often chaotic samples and rapping. I do wish the concepts in "52 HANDBLOCKS" and "LUCHINI LUCIANO" were more developed however overall the album was extremely enjoyable at only 21 minutes.

@JohnyBoy this one's for you.

Starting off our newest week, Hardcore Hip Hop Week we have the iconic "The Marshall Mathers LP".

Talk about a classic and from the great city of Detroit, Eminem has a lot to say about his harsh upbringing through the lens of his alter ego, Slim Shady. Creating an alter ego for your frustrations to fuel an outlet is brilliant, as it allows Eminem to have this double life. One where he's an angry killer and the other a loving father. ... read more

It's time to end Disco Week with a fucking classic.

Michael Jackson is not my favorite pop artist by any means but his classics are classics for a reason, they're bangers.

His success and fame all starts here, with "Off the Wall", his 1979 project. Obviously the one thing we have to talk about are his vocals. They are electrifying and mesh so perfectly the disco-themed production so well. Perhaps the lyrics aren't the best, but who fuckin' cares... it's ... read more

A revolutionary album for Brazilian pop music, Fernanda Abreu's debut is a funky disco dance-pop album that might've made an impact in the 90s, but in 2026, does it stand up?

Kind of. I think this album definitely sounds unique for the time, with influences of disco and funk Carioca. The cover of "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas was really nice, giving it a more tropical and synth-funk sound to it. I thought the vocals were really sweet and had that lush 80s dance-disco ... read more

Donna Summer's take on the four seasons is both dreamy and groovy. Each track flows into each other like butter and her songwriting just gets you want to dance. My only gripe comes in the vocals. I wasn't a huge fan of her breathy tone in "Summer Fever" and I wish the album just ended on "Winter Melody". Overall a great, classic disco album.

What I love about this album is how it's just so different from her other music of the time. It's really upbeat and blends the soft rock sounds of the time really well with disco and pop rock. The sophisti-pop sounds are also present with the vocals and instrumentation. What killed it for me were those last two tracks. "Arrombou a Festa Número 2" was definitely a nice groovy track but "Maria Mole" was just so bad 😭. Overall a nice album that splices ... read more

Disco Week is almost over! Today we have a gem in "From Here to Eternity" by Giorgio Moroder.

First of all let me say that this has some of the most impressive production and synth work of any album I listened to for this deep dive. It's smooth, funky, and gets your head and body moving. You can hear the instant influence that Daft Punk had when creating "Random Access Memories".

This album is repetitive, but that repetition keeps the beat and flow going which allows ... read more

And the award for the most underrated 2024 project goes to... a white boy?

Yeah, this is just amazing. Malcolm's lush vocals just pop off here. His lyrics are just lighthearted but also sad at the same time. He creates this amazing balance in "Sweet Boy".