Truth be told, I never actually listened to the original, unfinished version of this album, ‘3.15.20’, and so cannot compare any differences in mixing or production between the two, but as a first listener, this is a great album. For the majority of tracks here, I love how their longer runtime allows Gambino to flesh out each song with varying segments that develop the instrumentation and vocal performances. One such track is ‘Sweet Thang’, my favourite from the whole ... read more

Seeing the cover art for this new Gunna album, it’s fine art, painted design made me really excited for the possibility that we might see this more stylish, thought-through process go into the album’s music too. This was my first time listening to a Gunna album on its release day, and I would say I definitely built up too much faith in this album to be superior to his previous releases. There are definitely some enjoyable tracks across the project- with ‘collage’, ... read more

The final installment in Texas-founded, boyband/rap collective Brockhampton’s SATURATION trilogy is ‘SATURATION III’, an album that ties up one of the greatest trilogies in modern rap with fantastic rapping and colourful production that is full to the brim. In my opinion, this last installment comes across as the most sombre out of all three albums, which makes for some of the most heartfelt lyrical performances seen from the group so far, whilst continuing to show off just ... read more

Calvin Harris’ 2017 album ‘Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1’, to me, is one of the greatest collections of music to encapsulate the summertime. The first half of this album especially is pretty exceptional with tracks that meet radio friendly checkboxes but also feature a selection of artists for the more avid, hip-hop listeners. My favourite song on this album, and possibly from the entirity of 2017, is ‘Slide’- a track I just can’t get enough of, especially during ... read more

Nas’ debut and now classic album, ‘Illmatic’, turned 30 years old this year, and to this day is regarded by many as one of, if not the best rap records of all time. Listening through it makes it pretty easy to see why this album is praised highly by so many, as each track is packed full of spectacular verses, production and flows- with the first being especially impressive considering that Nas wrote some of this album at just. 16 years old. After the album’s intro, ... read more

5 years ago; talented artist, rapper and Brockhampton founder Kevin Abstract released ‘ARIZONA BABY’ as his third studio album as a solo act. The album released during Brockhampton fame, between the ‘iridescence’ and ‘GINGER’ album in April 2019 and, in my opinion, is just as good if not better than these projects. The album features production from both Romil and Jack Antonoff which is absolutely stellar on most tracks, with Kevin being able to showcase his ... read more

Kanye’s best selling album, ‘Graduation’, is definitely one of my favourites in his entire discography. Whilst its success can be attributed to the record’s stronger pop appeal, many of the songs still contain excellent production and some of West’s best songwriting ever. Kanye uses sampling across this album to a really high calibre, with songs like ‘I Wonder’, ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Champion’s refrains being iconic and instantly ... read more

I discovered brakence at the end of 2022, conveniently just a few days after this album was released. There are a number of Quadeca fans who have likened his work to brakence’s for similarly ambitious production and an alternative sound, so my interest for this project was heightened. I definitely found good pieces of that across this album, with song such as ‘deepfake’ showcasing very thoughtful production choices- especially with the synergy between the guitar and drums in ... read more

‘No Pressure’ was released in 2020 and promoted by Logic as his retirement album, from which he would leave rapping behind to raise his family. In the end however, that turned out to not be true, but that doesn’t change the fact that if it were his last, he would have had an amazing close to his career. The album is packed full with incredible beats and production thanks to the work of Logic’s team and No I.D., allowing Logic to flow in a variety of styles; from chill ... read more

I’ll preface this review by saying that this is my first time listening through a full album by Future, and whilst I have enjoyed some of his features and collaborative tracks (some with Metro in the past), I’ve struggled to really connect with any of his solo work. This issue does come across in this album, albeit slightly less so. First of all, the production across the album is pretty solid, with plenty of great sampling choices and that classic instrumentation Metro has become ... read more

Having only become a fan of Tyler, the Creator’s music around early 2021, ‘Call Me If You Get Lost’ as well as its follow up deluxe 2 years later, ‘The Estate Sale’, was my first time listening to one of his albums on release. The record features a plethora of incredible tracks, and particularly sees Tyler back in his rap-bag, with loads of great flows, verses and lyrics from the artist on this album- something we saw less of on his more alternative, 2019 release ... read more

I was first introduced to ‘The Low End Theory’ last summer by my dad on a car journey back home, when he played ‘Check The Rhime’. After listening to how great the song was, he then told me how much he enjoyed the whole album, from which I then listened to the entire album and found my own appreciation for the classic, hip-hop record. The production, particularly its sampling, across the album is arranged spectacularly and creates some of my favourite beats in recent ... read more

I first found ‘Ctrl’ after listening through different songs that featured Travis Scott, leading me to find ‘Love Galore’ and the entire album from there. To me, ‘Ctrl’ is one of those records that I enjoy listening to on almost any occasion- thanks mainly to how easy it is to listen to in terms of its lyrical content and production, as well as its smooth sounding RnB melodies that I think most people enjoy. SZA’s performance across ever track is ... read more

The tightly packed ‘Kids See Ghosts’ is one of the best examples of what happens when two of music’s greatest artists collide. Across the album, there is so much depth in the production, energy in both Ye and Kid Cudi’s performances and a sense of finesse and cohesiveness between each track. I find the sampling and song progression in ‘4th Dimension’ particularly astounding, with its reverse vocal refrains perfectly complimenting Cudi’s relaxed tone and ... read more

This was my first time listening to a ScHoolboy Q album from front to back, and I must say I really enjoyed it. I love the rough and almost disjointed aesthetics this record has through its track list, created through a variety of unconventional beat switches and dramatic tone variations. There are some spectacular highlights across the record too, including the fiery and powerful tune ‘Pig Feet’ towards the back end, as well as ‘Lost Times’ which features both a ... read more

Tyler, the Creator’s ‘Flower Boy’ to me is marked in his discography as a landmark or turning point in his career from being a good artist, to become one of the best in recent times. Since listening to this album in lockdown, I have adored it to the point now where it is one of my most played albums ever- thanks to its sheer depth and variety of song styles and moods, making it palatable for almost any music fan. ‘Flower Boy’ also has some of Tyler’s ... read more

Admittedly, it has been a while since I first listened through Mac Miller’s ‘Swimming’ from front to back, but returning to the record was nothing but enjoyable. This was sadly the final project from Mac before his passing in the same year, especially considering I found myself liking and connecting to this style of songwriting and rapping Mac was heading towards. The album has gorgeous production through and through, from the heavenly keys and bass on its opener ‘Come ... read more

The ‘Lemonade’ album is frequently referred to as one of the greatest albums of the 2010s, and after listening, it’s easy to understand why. Beyoncé’s sixth studio album is my favourite of hers I’ve listened to so far, thanks to its incredible display of personal emotions the singer experienced during her fall out with husband and rapper Jay Z- through its unique production (some of the best on any Beyoncé record) and, of course, her standout singing ... read more

The 'Scrapyard' project first began in October last year with a series of 3 short EP's, featuring some of the 'scrapped' tracks that don't quite correlate with the tracklists in Quadeca's previous album, 'I Didn't Mean To Haunt you', and his forthcoming one. I really enjoyed these releases for just how much musical variety we got in each- from the exceptional, distorted-sounding production found on 'Dustcutter' to Quadeca returning to ... read more

I was surprised on Saturday to wake up and see the first volume of Vultures had actually been released on Apple Music, convinced it was delayed once again, and instantly plugged in to see what this project sounded like following the various listening parties and mixed reception to its lead single, ‘Vultures’. From my first few listens, what I was most impressed with on the record is its grungy and bold production choices almost from front to back. In particular, the unique and ... read more