Nicki Minaj's latest wasn't all hits but it far exceeded expectations and there's more than enough present to remind everyone why she blew up to such extraordinary heights in the first place. It's a shame though that she won't just let the music speak for itself.
Iggy Azalea's latest is a bit better than all the other generic, run of the mill, hyper-sexualized rap that floods the airwaves, but it's nothing that will really leave a lasting impact.
'Stay Dangerous' doesn't really elevate his career to any new heights but it doesn't negatively impact it either. It's a YG album full of everything you'd expect from a YG record and it does enough to keep things coasting along.
'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.
Like all of Wiz Khalifa's recent projects, 'Rolling Papers 2' has it's fair share of noteworthy moments, but that gap between the really good and the really bad is still wide as ever.
It's far from his best tape but it's still high quality mindless music that you can vibe and turn up too. If you're not expecting anything different from Future, then BEASTMODE 2 is right up your alley.
It’s a good listen (Drake doesn’t put out bad listens), but there’s a whole lot that I like on 'Scorpion' but almost nothing I loved. I don’t think I’ve ever skipped through a Drake project as much as I have here. There’s still quotables for days but you gotta get through a lot of uninspired filler to get to it.
Where as others have typically used these beats to glorify the streets and 'trap' life, Lecrae takes aim at talking about the perils of that lifestyle and advocating for a better and at the least different way. It's not as jarring as you'd expect it to be as he's very subtle in the messaging and the focus is more on the musicality of it all.
Phresher's got a nice flow and voice and at times uses it to great effect to really elevate a song, and the production is generally solid throughout, but 'PH' ultimately comes off as feeling like just another collection of nondescript bangers.
There's not much more that can be said about the tape other than if you love bars and you love the true essence of hip-hop which came from the heart and truly having something to say, then there's no reason you shouldn't be listening to this project as we speak. Black Thought & 9th Wonder are hip-hop to their core and the Vol. 1 implies that he's only just begun coming for his respect.
Nas wastes no time in getting right to the issues as most of the album is about subjects he's been addressing for years even before this newfound 'wokeness' and the production, while done by Ye, still feels very true to Nas stylistically, not overly commercial but with a more substantial bounce and rhythm. After 6 years it still would have been nice to get more than 7 tracks from Nas but even in those 7 songs he's able to say a lot and leave a strong impression regardless.
'Kids See Ghosts' is almost impossible to categorize the sound they've crafted but it's wholly their own it's got some very strong vibes. Not quite on Daytona levels, but definitely better than Kanye's own offering out of the bunch.
I'll give Trippie Redd credit for crafting some genuinely compelling stuff on 'LIFE'S A TRIP' that shows there's more to him than meets the eye. That soundcloud sound still isn't my forte but LIFE'S A TRIP is one of the better offering out of this wave.
Travis Scott finally put together all of the pieces of his immense talent and crafted his most realized project yet. 'ASTROWORLD' is a complete experience from front to back that transports you to a world all of Scott's own making, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.
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.
Dramatic piano-driven soul and uplifting lyrics make Logic and Ryan Tedder's "One Day" a very enjoyable listen.
It's volatile, angry, aggressive, and unrelentingly experimental - basically everything we've come to expect from a Death Grips project.
Meek Mill's shown a ton of growth both personally and as an artist; no longer is everything just about rollies, cars, and women, but he touches on some real issues and does it exceptionally well.
If you know Freddie Gibbs then you already know his music is unapologetically hard, and 'Freddie' might be his hardest one yet. It's at the least, his most focused one. Only coming in at 10 tracks, there's not a moment, verse, or instrumental wasted.
Apollo Brown definitely coasted on this one and it showed. It'll still make the catalog because I still love a good Apollo Brown beat but 'No Question' is one of his weakest efforts yet.
If I didn't know better and I just heard Allan Kingdom's last two projects together, I would assume that 'Peanut Butter Prince' was the one that came earlier in his career; it's that much of a step back.
Sonically 'Everything Is Love' is as good as you'd expect from Beyoncé & Jay-Z but I don't think there's anything here that's mind-blowing or different than what we've heard from them before (mostly like throwaways from the 'Lemonade' and '4:44' sessions). 'Everything Is Love' doesn't push either one of them artistically but it answers a lot of questions and lives up to their high musical standards.
On 'Redemption' Jay Rock has clearly pulled out all the stops and it's resulted in his best, most complete project to date and a perfect pairing of his more traditional gangsta rap sensibilities and rap's more modern sounds. This is the definitive Rock album we've been waiting for and it stands tall even among this summer full of giants.
It's not a bad album - the production is good, although not as good as Daytona, and more of an extension of TLOP - but ye was a major letdown for anyone looking for something more behind the self-centered, PR shtick we've gotten for the past month.