Carnage's "Battered, Bruised, & Bloody" is a largely forgettable collection of generic trending beats, repetitive songwriting, and weak features.
Flytrap was an unexpectedly dope album for me; fusing traditional East hip-hop with modern Southern influences to create some of the best modern East coast hip-hop I've heard in a while. Pro Era just might have their next breakout artist.
Check out our sit down with NJ rapper Don Michael Jr. We talked about his new album 'The Wolves Smell Joy', producing for Fat Joe & Terror Squad in the '90s, rapping in your 40s, cracking the social media code, Billboard's 50 Greatest Rappers list, and much more.
Check out our sit down with S-Wrap and Rashad thaPoet, musicians and spoken word artists as we talk to them about their latest album The Other Side Too, modern day spoken word, being recognized by the Grammys, and much more.
One Night Only is a project full of great vibes and catchy hooks but it still lacks much of the depth or out of the box creativity that will be needed to take his career to the next level.
If you've had a hard time keeping up with the endless stream of music Curren$y puts out and skip one or two projects here and there, make sure you don't miss this one.
No Dope on Sundays once again reinforced Cyhi The Prynce's immense ability as a lyricist but still left me with uncertainty about him as a true 'star' in hip-hop. Despite this, it's still a very good album and the fact that it finally saw the light of day is a big first step in the right direction.
'Beloved' is solid core NY hip-hop and while it is yet another non-essential collab, more Styles P is always a welcome thing.
Lyricism and his respect for the culture and tradition of hip-hop is still front and center but with a modern NY sound and feel that doesn't feel too contrived like it did at times on Paranoia. This is the Dave East I've been waiting for - full of lyrical venom, vivid storytelling, and street wise gravitas, yet still in touch with the times.
It's volatile, angry, aggressive, and unrelentingly experimental - basically everything we've come to expect from a Death Grips project.
There's definitely some interesting concepts on the project, but as whole it didn't really deliver something very compelling - still leaving Denzel Curry on the outside looking in.
Juggling both musical genres and professions, Devin James Fry doesn't drop a single ball on this double single of "Purple Glue"/"No Hope."
It's been a long road to redemption for Charles Hamilton, but one monkey has been lifted off his back. His long awaited debut, Hamilton, Charles, didn't quite live up to the immense expectations, but it was a solid start. Full of bright, bouncy beats that evoke a feeling of hope and positivity; emotions that carry over to his still strong lyricism. His style and delivery however, you either love it or you hate it.
Black America Again is angry, emotional, politically charged music that's unapologetically black. Basically, it's Common back to his roots, toeing the edge of being too heavy.
Check out our sit down with the enigmatic, mask-wearing, rapper/singer-songwriter RMR, where we talk about his new single "Crazy" with renowned producer Ryan Lewis, his mega-viral hit "Rascal", tearing down genre boundaries, his mysterious persona, and much more.
Check out our sit down with rising rapper West, where we talk about his new single and video "Checks", going viral with his previous song "Euro$tep", Chinese rappers and influence, writing vs freestyling, and more.
Effected is a really solid introduction to the world at large for Cozz and shows massive potential and room for growth, but ultimately it runs into the same problems a lot of the more 'conscious' rappers run into. Much like his label owner's early days in his career, Cozz is still trying to find that fine balance between serious and entertaining but he's got all the tools at his disposal and I expect he'll learn a lot from this project.
Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs, & The Alchemist create a strange but enjoyable combination powered by Gibbs' ferocious delivery and Alchemist's psychedelic-tinged production.
CZARFACE & MF Doom put out a generally competent, but not particularly exciting, project that aims to please the hip-hop purists out there. But it's largely lethargic feel and average rhymes probably won't satisfy even the staunchest traditionalists out there.
'Karma 2' doesn't do much in terms of pushing Dave East's craft forward but it is a very solid project that delivers on that signature gritty NY sound that his core fans expect from him.
Dave East's second album isn't a giant leap forward from his debut but there is much more of an immediacy to his songs that will likely appeal more to a wider audience and it's refreshing to see that bars still matter.
December 99th will undoubtedly infuriate some of his die hard fans, as there's few remnants of what used to be Mos Def. However, as an experimental album there are some very interesting pieces in here that are worth a listen to.
Although it's titled Life of Desiigner, we don't learn much about him as a person but we do get a much better feel for who he is as his own musical entity. None of the seven songs here are as good as even the loosies he's released over the past year but their even to keep me interested in a proper debut.
Rapper Ice Spice first broke onto the scene with her Brooklyn drill song "In Ha Mood," but did she actually steal it? Let's chat.