Edit: 82 -> 84: This grew on me; an example of why forcing out a review early on is stupid, as you haven't given yourself time to digest the album and its ideas. Run, Run, Run Pt. II I've grown to adore even more than I did before, and tracks like Sugar Water, Recitatif, Listen Gentle, Magic Alive, and Could've Been Different, while not perfect, are wayyyy more enjoyable than I felt previously.

Old review:

I can't help but think this is incredibly overrated. A song ... read more

I'M IN AWE - y'all must be jealous since I'm only just discovering these crazy ass songs

Oh pleaseeee woowwoowowoowwow the climax starting at 2:53 is just insanity jesus freaking christ

Jeesusi christuusi this is criminally good

This should be a 90+ album but it isn't because of the sheer amount of ignorant pricks unwilling to give this a proper chance and giving it a fucking 25 even though all they listen to is pop and folk. Also, how are people rating Egotrip higher than this? EGOTRIP? Please, the writing is garbage. Smh

Thoughts I had about Jumpscare, the intro:

I'm sitting here diving into Jumpscare, and brother... This fucker is fucking deep as a fucking sewer (fucking terrible comparison, skip over it ... read more

Doesn't do anything he hasn't done before. Like this guy repeats the same formula each and every time he drops, both sonically and lyrically.

Solid UK jazz rap, almost reminiscent of some of Tom Scott's Home Brew material.

Kanye is not a good rapper, and it shows on here. More often than not, the lyrics are MID and his cadences annoy me. The album is overrated. But.

THIS PRODUCTION ACTUALLY KICKS INEXPLICABLY GINORMOUS AMOUNTS OF ASS

Probably the most soulquarians-esque album not to come out during that specific time period. The swing and soul is so evident - just like in LWFC, Voodoo, or just projects that were released during that time in general - and Dilla, one of the main figures of the movement, even produces a track on here. It is no wonder the outcome is good.

A track like Gettin Up brings out the purest of happiness in any human, WeFight/WeLove is so goddamn swingy, catchy, and trademark Dilla, and Believe ... read more

Shit, this was way better than I remembered it being.

An album like this perfectly illustrates how brilliant the pairing of Guru and Preemo is, both on paper and in practice. Guru, while also being an amazing technical rapper with great rhymes, spits so much freaking knowledge - his performance on this album is definitely among the greatest ever on any rap album. And Preemo, good lord. His misses are RARE, and such an insane amount of incredible beats find place on this album - not only the ... read more

"My grind's 'bout family, never been about fame
Them days I wasn't able, there was always 'caine"

Fucking bars.

Beloved! Paradise! Jazz​!​? is nothing short of a BEAUTIFUL album.

In what is quite a weak era for hip-hop dominated by vibe-over-substance rap and stylistic redundancies, artists like McKinley Dixon who stays true to their craft and embraces elements of traditional hip-hop stick out like a sore thumb. Since his entrance in the game in 2016, McKinley Dixon has formed a respectable discography and is even due to release his fifth album, Magic, Alive!, in about a week, which, going off of ... read more

Regardless of this boasting plenty of enjoyable songs, incredibly personal writing, and an impressive, cohesive album concept, it's not an album I revisit all that much. In fact, it might just be *the* 90+ album I revisit the least. The sound simply doesn't appeal much to my taste, and the slower, more spoken word-ish songs can make this album feel VERY prolonged, not to mention the 73 minute runtime. It is definitely from a writing point of view that this album shines.
That being ... read more

Some of it is textbook G-Funk, some of it is not the best G-Funk. I would've really wished we got some better singers on some of these songs too, K-Ci & JoJo are great but man... if some of the others didn't make my ears *bleed*.

Listen to Book 1 though + track 1, 2, 3, 7, and 10 on Book 2, the rest isn't really worthwhile.

LB = peak music. This a crazy underrated mixtape too, it's even on streaming.

Favorites: The Honorable, Nobody Like Me, Welcome To Durham, I See Now

It feels like a compilation, the songs are short, and the production is mostly uninteresting. Pretty unambitious project, no? Luckily, Rome Streetz, being the great rapper he is, turns the fuck up, mostly saves the project, and further stamps him as the best technical rapper in Griselda.

(RE)LISTENING TO AOTY'S TOP 100 ALBUMS OF ALL TIME:
GOOD KID, M.A.A.D CITY - #2

While I do think a #2 placement is pretty wild and unjustified, there's no denying how absolutely AMAZING this project mostly is. The album only really shows generational potential when The Art of Peer Pressure starts rolling, an incredible storytelling song about how he's a totally different person - 🎵 WITH THE HOMIES 🎵. After that comes Money Trees, a fucking incredible song and vibe - the ... read more

(RE)LISTENING TO AOTY'S TOP 100 ALBUMS OF ALL TIME:
TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY - #1

I'm starting a series where I (re)listen to every album in the top 100 on AOTY, review them and discuss whether or not I find its placement justified.

Coming off of GKMC, Kendrick seems so unbelievably confident here. It's as if he can do no wrong - and throughout all of the 16 tracks, he doesn't. The combination of masterful, detailed, and funky jazz pieces and Kendricks incredibly ... read more

The jazz-rapping sensation that is Tom Scott might just be the most underrated emcee out there. He has so much quality material, and this is definitely some of his best. It might drag at some points due to its 90 minute runtime, but it's very few tracks that aren't worthy of getting one's listen. The first 3 tracks being kinda unmatched by the rest of the album *is* a gripe I have with the album though, but that just goes to show the pure brilliance of those tbf.

I'll also ... read more

Me spinning a trap album has become a rare sight these days, seeing how my music taste has unfolded. This one shows a pretty vast amount of diversity compared to a Thug or Future project for instance though, with cloud rap and psychedelia being some of the most frequently explored sounds here, so I'm more inclined to give this my attention. And it is justified.

90210 and Nightcrawler are obvious heavy-hitters (not literally for 90210), but most of the tracklist is pretty great still. ... read more