Album Review: It's Almost Dry - Pusha T

New York native and skillful rapper Pusha T cemented his spot as one of the hardest-hitting and aggressively passionate rappers alive in 2018 with the release of his critically-acclaimed album DAYTONA. Part of Kanye West’s legendary run of producing albums for other artists, Daytona’s lightning-in-a-bottle production saw Pusha T delivering ruthless bars over powerful instrumental beats. Luckily for fans of DAYTONA, Pusha T’s newest album also enlists Mr. West’s production skills while also calling upon Neptunes legend Pharrell Williams to make beats for the project. Pusha has given fans exactly what they wanted from this project, which is a slightly more playful but still impressive cropping of songs that stay true to the rest of his discography.

The album’s opening track “Brambleton” utilizes a bouncy trap instrumental and lets Pusha air out grievances about his previous manager Geezy. Pusha T has never been one to avoid confrontation or conflict, and by setting the tone so directly as early as track one, he’s reminding his colleagues to never forgot who they’re dealing with when interacting with him. Pharrell’s production is immediately recognizable on this track with his signature sonics again making an appearance. The next track, “Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes”, takes inspiration from the sounds of classic rap tracks from the likes of RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan. Notoriously known for his many references to cocaine, Pusha T brings out one of his funniest drug-related bars yet as he calls himself “Cocaine’s Dr. Seuss.” “Dreamin Of The Past (feat. Kanye West)” is one of my favorite songs on the project, as it uses a soulful sample flip similar to those found earlier on in Kanye’s discography. braggadocious and the furthest thing from humble, this track lets Pusha and Kanye emulate the self-important energy that fueled the confident DAYTONA four years ago.

“Neck & Wrist (feat. JAY-Z and Pharrell)” uses its features extremely well, and lines like “Summertime, Winterfell / I’m the Night King” demonstrate Pusha T’s occasional tendency to work in niche pop culture references into his verses. I’m also a sucker for JAY-Z features, as he’s consistently able to prove why he’s considered one of the best rappers of all time. “Just So You Remember” uses an instrumental that sounds to me like it was left on the cutting room floor of Kanye West and Kid Cudi’s KIDS SEE GHOSTS and features some of the most savage lines on the entire project. “Seein’ you rappers apply for the stimulus / Livin’ a lie, but die for your images” and the intense delivery of “Just so you remember who you’re dealing with” stand out as highlights on this track. “Diet Coke” was the lead single for this project, and I still see it as one of the best Pusha has put out in years. Kanye’s production is immaculate, and Pusha’s singing delivery on the chorus is a nice change of pace from his typical cadence.

“Rock N Roll (feat. Kanye and Kid Cudi") is probably my favorite song on the album, bringing back the members of KIDS SEE GHOSTS together for one final collaboration according to Cudi. It seems that whatever beef the two of them are having is serious enough to commit to avoiding each other over tracks. Drama aside - the playful production on this track is addicting. The Beyoncé sample, passionate verse from Ye, and great contributions from Pusha and Cudi result in a fantastic track overall. “Call My Bluff” is one of the more forgettable cuts on the album, but it’s hard to tell if that’s just because it’s in the shadow of the song coming before it. Its production is still clean and simple, but Pusha’s lyrical delivery seems more subdued here than I would’ve preferred. “Scrape It Off (feat. Lil Uzi Vert & Don Toliver)” is another oddball for me, as it sounds completely out of place on the tracklisting. The features make for interesting collaborations, but It’s Almost Dry has established an aesthetic up to this point that just doesn’t match this song’s vibe.

“Hear Me Clearly (feat. Nigo)” is the same track found on Nigo’s most recent album I Know Nigo!, and while I enjoy the song, it feels like Pusha’s verses would instead be found on one of his features instead of one of his tracks - the same criticism I had on Nigo’s project. “Open Air” features one of the hardest beats on the project, and while this song is only 2:12, it makes the most of its short runtime with killer bars and confidence. “I Pray For You (feat. Labrinth & MALICE)” is likely Pusha’s strongest closing track to date, with hymnal and gospel-esque production. Appearances from Clipse are few and far between, so I’m glad that their collaborations here lived up to my sky high expectations. Pusha closes the project discussing his accomplishments and how far he has come - great introspection from an often ruthless artist.

Pusha T has done exactly what I look for from artists, which is growing thematically and sonically while retaining the fundamental elements of what makes them who they are. One of the most lyrically intricate and skillful artists in the game, Pusha has yet again proved that he has what it takes to hang with the best. Great features, a refined tracklisting, and stellar production make It’s Almost Dry another great album from Pusha and one of the best hip-hop records of 2022 so far.

Favorite tracks: “Brambleton”, “Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes”, “Dreamin Of The Past (feat. Kanye West)”, “Neck & Wrist (feat. JAY-Z & Pharrell Williams)”, “Just So You Remember”, “Diet Coke”, “Rock N Roll (feat. Kanye West & Kid Cudi)”, “Open Air”, “I Pray For You (feat. Labrinth & MALICE)”

SCORE: 8/10

Album Review: Call Me If You Get Lost - Tyler, The Creator

After the release of his two most recent albums Flower Boy and IGOR, fans and critics wondered which direction Tyler, The Creator would take his music next. The critical acclaim and mainstream recognition that these projects received were bittersweet for Tyler, as his genius was finally being acknowledged but the pressure was mounting for his next project to deliver. Artists who are able to consistently raise their own standards while exploring new sounds should be praised, and that is exactly what Tyler does on Call Me If You Get Lost. Each of his projects has a unique aesthetic, rollout, and mood, giving listeners a unique experience every time a new album is released. Just as expected, this newest project is quite an experience.

Tyler has mastered the art of the album rollout. Often announcing new projects just weeks out from their release date, he is able to immediately establish the album’s aesthetic and vibe for fans to analyze. The lead singles “LUMBERJACK” and “WUSYANAME” were great selections, as they capture the essence of the album without showing the best that it has to offer prematurely. The artsy era of Flower Boy transformed into the mysterious and alter ego defined IGOR, and now Tyler has come full circle with essentially a matured version of what put him in the first place, sprinkled with the personalized motifs and sounds that he has created.

The album implements skits, features, and shorter transitional tracks well to bridge bangers together. The album isn’t as cohesive of an experience as an IGOR, but it didn’t set out to be; instead, Call Me If You Get Lost is a traditional rap and hip-hop project that allows Tyler to return to spitting bar after bar as he did in the Cherry Bomb and Wolf days. We see this right away with tracks like “CORSO” and “LEMONHEAD”, which incorporate noisy and industrial-type beats that complement Tyler’s delivery perfectly.

The album isn’t top-heavy, either, with the tracks toward the middle delivering just as much as the openers. Lil Wayne’s feature on “HOT WIND BLOWS” is one of his best in years, Tyler absolutely snaps on “MASSA”, and intricate lyrical schemes are found all throughout “RUNITUP”. For fans more interested in the longer, episodic tracks that Tyler has gotten so good at writing in recent years, “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” absolutely delivers. Somehow, this track feels familiar and brand new at the same time.

“RISE!” and “BLESSED” are solid tracks, but feel unnecessary for an album that could have been refined to create a complete experience as IGOR did. The closing, tracks, however, make up in some part for these shortcomings. “JUGGERNAUT” features incredible industrial production from Pharrell Williams, who absolutely blesses Tyler here. “WILSHIRE” is a compelling story, and its 8:35 runtime goes by in a flash. “SAFARI” is a strong final track that lets Tyler go harder than he has on previous closers.

Overall, Tyler yet again delivers the project that I didn’t know I wanted from him. While less cohesive and experimental than IGOR, Call Me If You Get Lost is a unique and well-executed rap album that sees Tyler continuing to mature artistically and musically. This will be on a heavy rotation for the summer. What did you think of this project?

Favorite Tracks: “CORSO”, ““LEMONHEAD”, “WUSYANAME”, “LUMBERJACK”, “HOT WIND BLOWS”, “MASSA”, “RUNITUP”, “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE”, “JUGGERNAUT”, “WILSHIRE”, “SAFARI”

SCORE: 8/10

Album Review: From King To A GOD - Conway the Machine

Hip-hop collective Griselda is made up of hard-hitting rappers Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine, and more. Under Eminem’s record label Shady Records, Griselda has consistently released relatively surface-level east coast hip-hop albums, none of which have blown me away. Of the core members of this group, Conway the Machine has been my favorite, but similarly, I hadn’t yet heard a cohesive and impactful album release from this artist up until this point. On From King To A GOD, however, Conway and his accompanying features offer an array of highly refined and mature tracks. At just under fifty minutes in length, this record packs a punch without overstepping on what it has to offer, and because of that, it is one of my favorite rap albums of 2020 so far.

Braggadocious drug lord bars only do so much for me. Without any introspection, song after song about this lifestyle can become dry rather quickly. On From King To A GOD, Conway the Machine certainly doesn’t abstain from sharing the details of his lifestyle, but he does so with an underlying grief and remorse from the impact this life has had on him. I see many similarities in this regard between this album and Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist’s Alfredo from earlier this year. This self-reflection is enticing to me and luckily, it is abundant on this project.

“From King” serves as an adequate opening track which generally sets the tone for the following album, but I find it could have used some work to strengthen its initial attention-grabbing appeal. The production is solid on this track, but substantively it lacks a depth which is thankfully made up for as things move along. “Fear Of God (feat. DeJ Loaf)” is a head-banging and magnetic track which benefits from Conway’s incredibly writing and flows. The following “Lemon (feat. Method Man)” is a bit spooky, with an unsettling and stripped back instrumental. Method Man’s feature is incredibly well-placed, as he and Conway play off of one another wonderfully. Lines like “Ain’t got to tell you I’m dope, just stick the needle in” are simply cool. “Dough & Damani” is a 5 minute track backed by a simple drum and piano instrumental which doesn’t overstay its welcome due to a smooth midway beat switch and highly entertaining lyrical content.

“Juvenile Hell (feat. Flee Lord, Havoc & Lloyd Banks)” features pretty surface level coke bars from its accompanying artists, but it sounds so good that I just don’t mind this traditional Griselda sound. “Words From Shay (Interlude)” continues a recent trend of voicemail testimonials from contemporaries praising one’s work. This interlude does serve as a necessary thematic break, however, since from here on out each track is more substantive than those before it. “Front Lines” features another simplistic instrumental which provides the perfect backdrop for Conway to drop one of the best verses on the entire project. Without mincing any words, Conway reflects on the police brutality against Black people which has continually plagued this country for centuries. “Anza (feat. Armani Caesar)” initially comes off as a typical misogynistic rap track, which I’m not too much of a fan of, until Armani Caesar’s feature redeems the song. The production is nice here, but the substance is disappointing to some degree until the feature comes along.

“Seen Everything But Jesus (feat. Freddie Gibbs)” is one of my favorite tracks on the album, bringing the comparisons I drew earlier to life through a killer collaboration. Instead of featuring overly confident lyricism, this track features both Conway and Gibbs lamenting the pitfalls of the lifestyles they’ve chosen for themselves. “Words From Shay (Interlude 2)” is another interlude, which is fine, but I’m not sure it was entirely necessary for the flow of the tracklist. “Spurs 3 (feat. Benny The Butcher & Westside Gunn”) features Griselda in all of their glory, spitting bar after bar over a funky and chaotic instrumental backing. “Forever Droppin Tears (feat. El Camino)” clocks in at just under eight minutes and provides an emotional fragility rare in the genre. Remorseful instead of idealistic, this song depicts the grim realities of loss due to a sometimes dangerous lifestyle.

The penultimate track “Jesus Khrysis” is short but packed full of dense lyricism. “Lyrics written in braille, you gotta feel it to understand” is one of my favorite bars on the project due to its creativity. “Nothin Less” is a solid closer to wrap up all of the themes of the album, particularly the rest in peace shoutouts to close things out.

Overall, I was somewhat (pleasantly) surprised by the quality of this album. Conway the Machine differentiates himself from his colleagues with this record, which is a massive step up in production, sound, and lyrical content from the projects he has released previously. I’m excited to see where he and Griselda go from here. I hope this is a sign of good things to come.

Favorite tracks: “Fear Of God (feat. DeJ Loaf)”, “Lemon (feat. Method Man)”, “Dough & Damani”, “Juvenile Hell (feat. Flee Lord, Havoc & Lloyd Banks)”, “Front Lines”, “Seen Everything But Jesus (feat. Freddie Gibbs), “Spurs 3 (feat. Benny The Butcher & Westside Gunn)”, “Forever Droppin Tears (feat. El Camino)”, “Jesus Khrysis”, “Nothin Less”

SCORE: 7/10

Album Review: Jesus Is King - Kanye West

After over a year of build-up, false release dates, and politically charged rantings and ravings, Kanye West has finally released his 9th solo studio album Jesus Is King. If you can’t tell by the title, Mr. West is proclaiming to have been recently saved by the Christian faith, and his most recent album is meant to tell his fans and listeners “what Jesus has done for him”, according to him during a conversation with esteemed interviewer Zane Lowe for Apple Music. In usual Kanye fashion this album is completely unique from any of his previous projects, but it still left me scratching my head and unsure of how we got to where we are with one of the most hard-to-understand artists in the genre. To put it bluntly, I miss the old Kanye.

Kanye West was once, in my opinion, one of the most creative artists in all of pop culture. A revolutionary producer, social provocateur, and always-unpredictable presence, Kanye represented the best qualities of a “woke” performer. His music was never too overtly preachy, but his older albums were packed full with well thought out social commentaries reflecting issues not only in his community but of those felt by millions across the country. Every album seemed purposeful, intentional, and crafted to a specificity only he could achieve, and unfortunately that magic has dissipated to the point of being nearly non-existent. Even if you remove the cultural context from Jesus Is King (which I think you never should - context informs all art), it just isn’t up to the high standard Mr. West has previously set for himself.

To clarify: I have absolutely no problem with Kanye West releasing religiously-themed music. Artists should feel free to share their life experiences with their audiences, and it’s becoming apparent that the last year has been a rebirth for Kanye personally. Some of my favorite Kanye songs, “Jesus Walks”, “Ultralight Beam”, and “Saint Pablo”, directly invoke religious imagery and symbolism in a beautiful and compelling way. The problem with Jesus Is King is that, to me, these themes feel hallow. There is a lot of musical potential on this project, and not every song is terrible (a couple are actually very enjoyable to listen to), but for some reason the project as a whole just totally falls short for me. Most of the lyrics on the album are nonsecular, but for some reason, I don’t feel like there’s a lasting message like there has been on previous faith-based Kanye tracks. I think there needed to be more thematic substance for this project to be successful in my eyes. I’m not going to go into too much depth about why I find this album problematic contextually, but I would also like to clarify that any disagreements I have with Kanye’s ideologies and opinions have nothing to do with his identity, but instead have to do with his logical inconsistencies and substantive shortcomings. That’s all I’ll say there… let’s not get riled up.

The worry I had for Kanye’s mental stability is starting to lessen as he seems more and more comfortable in his own skin with every public appearance he makes. I’m glad that he’s making music that seems to be speaking to a lot of people, but it just isn’t doing so for me. The intellectual artist that I enjoyed for so long seems to be of the past now, and I will still enjoy his older projects, but this just completely missed the mark for me.

Good tracks: “Selah”, “Follow God”, “Use This Gospel”

Bad tracks: “Closed On Sunday”, “On God”, “Hands On”

Score: 3/10

Album Review: uknowhatimsayin¿ - Danny Brown

Detroit rapper Danny Brown has returned with his newest album offering uknowhatimsayin¿, and he is as wonderfully funky and comedic as ever. While not nearly as inventive as Atrocity Exhibition was, this project spends some of the well-earned freedom Danny Brown has previously garnered through his prior projects and doesn’t disappoint. This isn’t his best album, but it’s certainly very enjoyable.

The highs are very high on this project. “Dirty Laundry”, “3 Tearz”, and Savage Nomad” are standout tracks that I can see myself listening to on a regular basis. The production, bars, and brevity of this album are all appreciated for their excellency, but there’s just something missing from this project that doesn’t push it to the level of amazingness that his earlier projects have provided for me.

I’m wondering if I was expecting a certain level of experimentation and novelty that just wasn’t bound to come from this project. Atrocity Exhibition was so fresh and outlandish that it immediately stood out and set itself apart, and this album just doesn’t do that in the same way to me. Danny Brown is one of the more consistently solid rappers in the field right now, but part of me wishes he would continue pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable and expected in the genre right now. This album is conventionally very good, when I was looking for something unconventionally great.

Brown’s return to a sort of classicism is surely to be appreciated by those who aren’t impressed sheerly by experimentation. Instead of standing out from the well-produced instrumentals behind him as he previous has, Brown melts right into their grooves and finds a comfortable place to flex his ingenious lyrical abilities. This album is more heartfelt and playful than it is guttural, and that is okay because it’s such an easy and enjoyable listen. Danny Brown has earned his right to make whatever kind of music he wants, and this album is further proof of how that is a good thing. Excited to see what comes next from such an eccentric presence in hip-hop.

Favorite Tracks: “Dirty Laundry”, “3 Tearz”, “Savage Nomad”

Least Favorite Track: Change Up

SCORE: 8/10