This was kinda a bit long for a Tems listening experience, however an album was the next step for her career trajectory. Her EPs was so good and raw for her to display her talent and arsenal. This album didn't play that safe for me, the soundscapes of the afrobeats and other darker sounds helped elevate her voice or find some pockets to pick. I enjoyed this project overall, maybe this could've been cut from a few tracks I don't care about. But this is a good sense of direction for her career

The two singles are some of my favorites drops of the year in that KPop hemisphere. I can't really choose a favorite just yet til more time passes. How Sweet was more like Ditto and sticking to that concept and soundscape. Bubble Gum was city pop esque. I need them to drop another EP or at least a lengthier project. Crazy how they emulated popularity off a short catalog because they're very easy to listen to and make good music for the public to also enjoy while not straying away from their ... read more

TripleS is such an interesting group. I really enjoyed whatever they've released up to this point. They were able to really compact 24 members into an album for 10 songs with 3 min run time. Although you'd think the individual members aren't given a spotlight, the song structure and execution of line distribution does enough for me to highlight that they didn't take a step down to their identity and vision. Clearly one of the best releases of the year and I enjoy going back to the album

I'm very happy that Yves made her solo debut and comeback. She was able to grab my attention with the first two track which is very vibrant KPop indie music. While the last two are more slower paced. I would love to see her explore her sound and style as she continues to release but so far what she's proved she's extremely creative and adventurous with her vision. Can't wait to see what she displays over the course of her solo career

Aespa is so good. I really enjoy their music. They aren't for everyone but this album has a lot of sounds that appeal to everyone here. The title track is one of my favorite KPop songs of the year. They have some hip hop sound driving tracks, some rock elements, some kpoppy elements. It's not as focused as one would want on an album, but for a first full album, this is a good way to put your foot on the gas. I would like for them to keep a distinct sound for their next release which I'll be ... read more

Vince dropped a top 5 project of the year for me. Idk if it'll get bumped out from at least the top 10. His writing was leveled up from even the previous project. The introspection was always there however the awareness factor was so direct and honest. The messaging of this album of his struggles with anxiety, depression, street life was very inspiring not condoning and promoting the lifestyle. Production is also so good and perfectly captivated the energy Vince went for. I appreciate this ... read more

Billie is really back with this drop. This is one of my favorite drops of the year. The production to her vocal range getting even better than the last project. Her last project didn't get the best reception from critics but she bounced back very well. She should be very proud of herself

It's a bit bloated and I felt it overtime, however she dropped an AOTY level album. This is how you execute a long hip hop listen even if it's obvious there needed to be a few cuts off this. Her rapping was great. The content matter was very personal and introspective. The particular feature curations was really good. Best female rapper in the game rn, she keeps telling y'all, y'all ain't tapping in!!

The amount of replay value this has is insanity. Similar to the Burning Desire album Mike dropped last year, there's so much variety in the song structure and the transitions are so smooth. Possibly AOTY winner for the meantime with more listens. His lyrical intricacy and flow are still top notch and the feature placements and curating was nothing short of great. Idek my favorite song off it, it might vary from day to day

Ghostface :(( this was not a good album sadly. I was excited too because that Nas feature track, Scar Tissue, gave me a ton of hope and I was actually looking forward to the album. Then we have a few performances from features that are lackluster, uninteresting and Ghostface rapping took a dip off. He didn't seem interested in making this. What was that Ye feature. His 2024 feature run is one of the worst of the decade by far with last years Travis Scott and 21 Savage for me... 🕊️🕊️

Gunna.... seriously? He fooled me so bad with this release. Especially with the first 5-6 tracks. They were very good- great with his versatility and pockets he picked with flow switches and his rapping and writing was actually up to par. But then as soon as Treesh comes on, it falls off hard and extremely flat. Like only a few more songs I liked and everything else was redundant, boring and or horrendous. Roddy Ricch at least had the highlight feature performance, somebody that pops in and out ... read more

This was a very solid first listen. He produced everything himself which is very impressive. His ability to find his taste for beats and vision his soundscape is very good. Although too lengthy for me to consistently go back to and not worth a billion delays, he's done a very solid outing on being able to still showcase who he is, while displaying his art in a way he envisioned even if it means having a couple features as well I'm not buying into

Peak peak peak peak and peak music. This is one of my favorite first listens ever I've done earlier. Everything from instrumentals, the progressive and cinematic type of sounding chords. The content matter is very deep too reading lyrics and attaining insight. For an album that has 5 songs And 45 mins of run time I was completely engaged with the musicality from start to finish. Mostly because I knew what I expected from a band that's known to push boundaries and bend genres of rock and synths. ... read more

Genuinely one of the best pieces of Hip Hop music I've heard in my entire life. I've been able to sit with this album more overtime and really appreciate the craftsmanship of how Krit was able to construct this album. From production, with some chopped soul samples, to the lyrical content matter which was personal in some songs to the replay value which is practically a lot of songs here. This one of the only albums where I can find so many songs with a lot of value to revisit. I cannot tell ... read more

This is one of those albums where it's obvious it's bloated but that's the entire intention. It wasn't supposed to be a comfortable listen. It's a rough listen but the eerie production throughout with the sequencing makes this one of, maybe, Danny Brown's magnum opus. Although Atrocity Exhibition is one of my personal favorites ever. His voice and cadence is something you have to indulge with more than just one or two casual listens. He talks about his drug addiction, especially coke, his ... read more

Some bloat
Some bloat
And... bloat again

This was my listening experience after a few tries. Why did they have to do a 25 track album with 2 discs??? They went a more r&b and melodic approach similar to Hndrxx which I like mixed bags at times. However for the sequencing of the album, it was not good. Metro had more creative cuts on production compared to last output, not enough to feel the bloat. As a critical remark, they would've had better press if they took more time with this compared ... read more

One of the most interesting listens I had this year. Hidden features and although Metro didn't do alot with production and Future was minimal on most tracks, his rapping performances on some tracks was good and his curation of the features was better than I anticipated. Like That one of the best songs of the year for me to this day and we'll see how that stands even a few months from now

This is one of Travis best works although I was heavily critical on some of the filler tracks. I know the highs on here are pinnacle of the Travis iceberg, ex My Eyes, Til Further Notice. Some of his best songs/cuts in his entire career are on here. Don't think it's better than Astroworld but even if you hypothetically say cut some tracks, that wouldn't relieve a realistic conclusion. Some of the songs on here level up next to Astroworld from world building to transition cuts. Travis' ability ... read more

I liked it a little more than I did the first time. I totally seen why people like him for the vibes and his performances like on Vampire Hour and Me n My Kup. However if it's for the vibes then I would've wanted for my listening experiences to have more interesting cuts. And alot of the production is the same ole cookie cutter copy and paste rage beats. And I despised the mixing on majority of the tracks. Hence why most of the cuts aren't for me. At least have some flavor added if you're gonna ... read more

I have to give this a relisten eventually, however this was a hard listen. There wasn't really any awful tracks per say. Alot of the soundscapes and her performances wasn't clicking for me. This album is much personal and was set up to be that way. I didn't understand what happened through half of this track. A selected sum of songs was great and some songs was just there to be there. Will have to update another listen to see if anything clicks or changes