Little Simz releases a six minute sonic extravaganza in which every single ounce of it pieces together perfectly. In terms of purely skill, I've always considered Little Simz to be up there with the all time greats. I'm always in awe for one reason or another when listening to Little Simz, and that's especially prevalent within this track. It's proven to be incredibly difficult to make a song of this length that maintains impeccable quality all the way through, but here Little Simz made it ... read more

Big K.R.I.T is an artist who has been letting his immense amounts of skill go to waste for a few years now, and with this track he continues to show that he's still far behind his prime. Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoy the track, however it's a pretty lackluster release regardless of how entertaining it is. The production on this track is pretty decent all around. The beat is incredibly reliant on the very vibrant and intense bass as it really takes over for a majority of the track. ... read more

BROCKHAMPTON releases one of the most surreal and entertaining listening experiences I've had in quite some time.

It's always becoming clearer and clearer that BROCKHAMPTON is nothing short of an amazing group. Their ability to tackle numerous different styles in such an incredible way is truly unparalleled to any other groups out there, especially in hip hop. While there have been tons upon tons of hip hop groups out there who've gained recognition, none of them are comparable in any way to ... read more

Quadeca releases a project that, while ambitious, still has its fair share of flaws.

First off, I think Quadeca deserves credit for venturing outside of his comfort zone and experimenting with some styles that are brand new to him. While most rappers on YouTube stick to the same old meaningless fast rap style, Quadeca took a whole other approach to this project and I think that's pretty respectable. Prior to this release, Quadeca was looking just like your stereotypical fast rapper that's ... read more

Billy Woods, ELUCID, and The Alchemist work together to perfectly tackle numerous rap styles at the same time.

It's truly amazing how many different types of rap they pulled off throughout this project. This project was upbeat yet dark, jazzy yet distorted, and abstract yet smooth and conscious. It's mind blowing how well all these different directions and approaches are able to blend together. Heading into this release, I knew everything these artists were capable of. With that being ... read more

This track is an intense, trippy, absolutely bizarre ride and I'm here for every second of it. The more recent releases from BROCKHAMPTON prior to this gave me the idea that they were looking to shift directions stylistically. I wasn't expecting this to be nearly as great as it was and I honestly wasn't expecting them to return to what they're best at. Regardless of my expectations, I was still blown away by pretty much everything on this track. The production on here is amazing and lays a ... read more

Some hip hop duos are simply incapable of flopping when they get together. Siifu and Anakin are one of those duos. They've really mastered their combined sound and whenever they get together they truly bring out the best in each other. This track is no different as the more lo-fi and somewhat relaxed heavenly sound that can be heard on here sounds amazing and really stands out from anything else I've heard so far this year. The production on this track is incredible. The very light-toned ... read more

(Thank you for 200 followers!)

Earl Sweatshirt releases a multiple part track/EP which perfectly details the feeling of struggle and depression.

After thinking about what I wanted to review for a 200 follower review for quite some time, I had a realization. I've explained how helpful Kid Cudi has been to me throughout my life a couple of times before, but Earl has had just as large of an impact and that's something that I've never brought up. Due to this I thought it would be a good idea to ... read more

Smokepurpp releases a project with the same issues that every Smokepurpp project has.

Just like everything else he's done, this is nothing more than a messy release that's loaded with heavy resemblance of other artists throughout this entire project. Out of all six tracks, Tic Tac is the only track that I'd say Smokepurpp sounded like himself on. As for every other track on this release I was able to think of an artist he sounded just like almost right away. On Prom Queen he resembles ... read more

Freddie Gibbs is one of the best current rappers out there and for me that's not even up for debate. There aren't a lot of better examples of stylistic mastery than Freddie Gibbs and he's proven it time and time again. With that being said, he definitely stays consistent here, and while it's far from what was expected, this is still a really great track. I really like the production that's displayed here and I actually think it's one of the better aspects of the track. The guitar strums ... read more

Conway and Big Ghost combine for yet another impressive classic gangster release.

It's already becoming clear that Conway and Big Ghost have really amazing chemistry from what I've heard. An artist and a producer who really know each other's styles will always produce quality releases and that's definitely shown here. Gangster rap is without a doubt the most consistent subcategory of hip hop currently as you'll almost always be impressed with what you hear. I've been staying away from the ... read more

Artist Breakdown #1

Tom MacDonald: Feeding Off Hate

I decided to start this off with Tom MacDonald because I think the way he goes about gaining attention really stands out. While his music is terrible by all means, it's how he gets his popularity that really interests me. During a time in music like this where mainstream artists go out of their way to desperately try to remove hate or criticism, the idea of someone building his entire career off of a mass accumulation of hate sounds crazy. ... read more

Out of all the tracks I've listened to so far this year, this is easily the most relaxing and has the best overall vibe to it without a doubt. Brent's vocals are incredible and the production brings a really great lo-fi sound that really elevates this track. This is my first time listening to Brent's music and I'm wildly impressed by what I've heard from him here. The production on this track is amazing and incredibly smooth alongside Brent's captivating vocals. The lo-fi chords that ... read more

Although more effort was put into here than most of his work, Rich the Kid still came through with a very flawed and unfocused trap project.

If there's anything about this project that's good, it's probably the length of the release. Rich the Kid is an artist who gets to be very boring very quickly and because of that the short run time is actually a positive. While the record still has numerous issues, I didn't get too bored during this listen because of the abundance of features and the ... read more

Through the beginning of the track, I thought it was good, but not great. The mixing in the beginning really could've been better as some of the louder bass patterns really covered up El-P and Killer Mike's vocals and bars a few times which really didn't make a good sound. However, as the track went on that quickly got fixed, and after that trumpet kicked in I thought the track was amazing. The production on here was pretty great regardless of the rough start it brought. The trumpet ... read more

Randomly encountering a track this good always feels nice. I found this track through my release radar on Spotify, and while normally Spotify doesn't lead me to anything interesting, I definitely hit a good track this time. This is easily the most badass track I've listened to so far this year. The production is pretty hardcore and makes for a really nice gangster sound to the whole track. The dark piano melody brings a really nice feel of intensity to the track and every artist here really ... read more

Heading into this, I already knew I was going to get an amazing listen. When Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman get together, you're pretty much guaranteed to get a quality track from them. However, I wasn't expecting something this good. This track dropped as a tribute song for MF DOOM which is also where the instrumental comes from. The instrumental found here is from a DOOM produced track titled Datura Stramonium. It's an absolutely incredible beat and really showcases DOOM's signature ... read more

(This review will be shorter than usual because there's not a whole lot about instrumental records that I can really talk about)

Madlib and Four Tet team up for an enticing instrumental hip hop record that finds a nice balance between cultural variation and classic groove.

With instrumental hip hop records, I feel that there's a certain limit to how impressive one can truly be. Even considering that Madlib and Four Tet have both earned legend or near legend status, I still don't think there ... read more

JPEGMAFIA really is a wildcard with his releases. You can never really predict what type of track he'll come out with, and while that does make for some pleasant surprises, it can also bring forth some disappointing releases, which is what this was. The instrumental was pretty average. The horns along the melody give off a pretty triumphant feel that sounds pretty nice. There's nothing really special about the horns as we've heard a melody along those lines thousands of times, however it ... read more

Smino has always been a really interesting artist to me. There truly aren't a lot of artists you can find that are like him and on this track he really puts all of his stand out qualities on full display. The production on here is incredible. The pleasant and spacey synths that glide across the instrumental sound fantastic and make for an incredible feel and tone for this track. The synths make this beat into one of the best instrumental I've heard this year as it really adds an ... read more