Album Review: The Off-Season - J. Cole

Fayetteville, North Carolina native J. Cole has established himself as one of the strongest rappers in the genre’s modern era. The self-described “middle child” of hip-hop, Cole embodies the aesthetics of modern styles while staying true to the roots of rap. The result of this dedication is a philosophical, lyrically talented artist with well-produced beats and a contemporary delivery. In the lead-up to The Off-Season, Cole released two singles and a viral freestyle on LA Leakers, along with a mini-documentary that captured the recording process for this newest project. These teasers had fans excited, expecting Cole to return to form and to deliver one of his strongest albums yet. Luckily, that is exactly what we received, as this 12 track offering clearly demonstrates Cole’s maturation and growth as an artist with many great songs to choose from.

Cole wastes no time setting the stage for things to come with the project’s opening track “9 5 . s o u t h”, which features lyrical accompaniments from Cam’ron and Lil Jon. A hard-hitting bass pairs well with Cole as he spits bar after bar, introducing the audience to his newly refined and intricate skills. The one-liners are strong right off the bat, with “Krispy Kreme dreams, sometimes my dogs wanna kill 12” standing out. “a m a r i” is a strong second song, featuring more of a modern and casual delivery style from Cole who still comes off as hungry. Again, we see him switch things up with autotuned and sung sections throughout. “m y . l i f e (with 21 Savage & Morray)” is one of my favorites on the album, utilizing its features incredibly well. The instrumental here reminds me of 21 Savage’s “a lot”, and goes very smoothly with his verse. Each artist discusses the benefits of persevering through hardship, which is something both of them have had to do throughout their careers and lives.

“a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e” sees Cole reflecting on the insincerity of rappers who tout false wealth through material goods without having the funds to justify them. The instrumental is somewhat one-dimensional here for me, so I’m glad this track is less than 3 minutes long. “p u n c h i n ‘ . t h e . c l o c k” is another short track that lets Cole discuss the many hours he has put into his craft, featuring an audio soundbite of a Damian Lillard interview, which is one of the many basketball references found throughout the album. This makes sense considering that Cole is now playing basketball professionally in Africa. “1 0 0 . m i. l ‘ (with Bas)” features Cole reflecting on how far his music has come despite his previous successes, which haven’t discouraged him from still always refining what he does best.

“p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l . (with Lil Baby)” is one of my favorite songs on the album, featuring the same instrumental as Aminé’s “Can’t Decide”. As the title suggests, this song discusses the damaging nature of pride in different social environments. The transitional handoff to Lil Baby’s feature is seamless and thoroughly impressive, as he becomes one of my favorite feature artists as of late. “l e t . g o . m y . h a n d . (with Bas & 6LACK) is one of the most substantively mature songs on the project, echoing the themes of “4 Your Eyez Only”. Cole reflects on his doubts and fears, and what it’s like to be the father of a Black son in America. This is another great track.

We heard the next two songs before the album’s release, and luckily “i n t e r l u d e” and “t h e . c l i m b . b a c k” still hold up well in the project’s tracklisting. “c l o s e” reflects on a friend who fell into the pitfalls of drugs, but unfortunately this track is less than memorable to me for some reason - something’s missing on the penultimate song. Finally, the closer “h u n g e r . o n . h i l l s i d e (with Bas)” ties up any loose ends wonderfully. Here, Cole declares that he will always be the same person no matter how far his artistic career takes him. Bas closes the project with fantastic contributions, and Cole’s hard work proves paid off.

The Off-Season is a lot of what I wanted from a new J. Cole project. He has clearly reflected on what works for him as an artist, refining and practicing his craft to produce introspective, hard-hitting songs with lyrical depth and complexity and mass appeal, but there is still room to grow. It seems that he will soon be dedicating more of his time to pursuing other forms of expression besides rap, but I don’t think this is Cole’s final project. I highly suggest that you check this album out, as it’s my favorite of his since 2014 Forrest Hills Drive.

Favorite tracks: “9 5 . s o u t h”, “a m a r i”, “m y . l i f e (with 21 Savage & Morray)”, “a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e”, “1 0 0 . m i l ‘ (with Bas)”, “p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l (with Lil Baby)”, “l e t . g o . m y . h a n d (with Bas & 6LACK)”, “i n t e r l u d e”, “h u n g e r . o n . h i l l s i d e (with Bas)”

SCORE: 7/10

Album Review: So Much Fun - Young Thug

So Much Fun is the first full-length album from Atlanta’s beloved Young Thug since he released Beautiful Thugger Girls in 2017. The album finishes at just over an hour in runtime, features other Atlanta rappers such as Future, 21 Savage, and many others, and will appeal to passionate Young Thug fans. Unfortunately for me, this album’s novelty wore off rather quickly and has me wishing that Young Thug had made some small improvements that would’ve been to this project’s betterment.

I’ve come to the realization after posting as many of these reviews posts as I have up to this point that I’m much more forgiving the sooner that I write reviews after I first listen to a project. This recency bias has led me to giving undeservedly high scores to inadequate projects, such as Chance The Rapper’s The Big Day or Ed Sheeran’s No. 6 Collaborations Project. Had I given these projects more time to “sink in”, I would’ve scored them significantly lower. I suppose my initial optimism is both a blessing and a curse. Having recognized my own inherent biases, I decided to give Young Thug’s project a few days before I gave it a score. I’m hoping that my confidence in the score doesn’t change over time, despite how it may be controversial and harsh to some.

One of Young Thug’s most appealing and defining characteristics is his instantly-recognizable voice. An instrument of its own, Thug’s voice and adlibs have become synonymous and in close association with Atlanta rap. That appeal, however, doesn’t help overcome what I found to be stale instrumentals and lackluster bars throughout this project. After the bangers that are “Ecstasy” and “Hot” early on in the track listing, things start to slow down pretty significantly. 19 tracks of incredibly similar tracks become droning at a point, and while this album generally is as much fun as its title suggests, it does nothing to differentiate itself from the other music being put out right now. Taking more creative risks, trimming the filler around the edges and reducing the runtime for this project could’ve made it something special and noteworthy.

This is an average album to me. While some of the highs are very high, the project as a whole didn’t keep me entertained and focused all the way through until its conclusion. I completely understand the appeal of this project to some, it’s just nothing special to me. Except for “Ecstasy” and “Hot”… those tracks really are so much fun.

SCORE: 5/10

I Think My Taste In Music Is Changing... And Why That Isn't A Bad Thing

If you had asked me in either middle or high school which musical genres and artists I enjoyed listening to at the time, I would’ve quickly and resoundingly responded with rap and listed whichever rappers were popular at the moment in the music scene. While a bulk of what I was listening to at the time is completely radio-driven and surface level, some of the artists I listened to back then still hold a place in my musical library. Those artists, Kendrick Lamar for example, are still relevant to me today because of the lyrical complexity in their music and their willingness to take risks in sound and production. If you ask me what kind of music I’m listening to now, I have a different answer for you. The only rap that I listen to is introspective, lyrically complex, and has a message bigger than anything surface level. What I’ve been discovering recently is newer hip-hop and rap music just isn’t delivering the emotional depth, story-telling, and soul that I look for in good music, but there are other genres that do supply just that. In short, my tastes are changing.

I first heard Father John Misty’s music when he was a guest on Saturday Night Live in March of 2017. His chilling performance of “Total Entertainment Forever”, one of my favorites of his, intrigued me because it was lyrically complex and unlike anything I had heard before. Misty’s indie folk music performance that night opened a door for me to the rest of his brilliant discography and before long I was at the front row of one of his concerts singing along to every word of every song. Spotify’s recommendations led me to similar artists like Fleetwood Mac, Jason Isbell, and Sara Bareilles, and over time my tastes were slowly moving away from rap and hip-hop. Don’t get me wrong, I still love and listen to a lot of rap music like Travis Scott’s Astroworld and BROCKHAMPTON’s SATURATION trilogy, but these and similar offerings often don’t paint pictures as vivid as a lot of the Americana, indie, folk, and old country music (none of that country pop crap and especially not Old Town Road, don’t even get me started on country rap) that I’ve been listening to lately. For example, Jason Isbell’s “Anxiety” hit me in an emotional spot that no rap music has been able to in a very, very long time.

The point I’m trying to make in this post is that middle school Andy never would’ve pictured that his music tastes could change so dramatically and so quickly, but they have, and that is a good thing. As we garner new life experiences, meet and make connections with new people, and develop in character, our tastes grow and change to reflect that. I find comfort in the fact that I’m maturing and evolving as a person to be able to appreciate new art and music that causes me to feel things and relate to artists that have gone through similar experiences. If you aren’t really listening intently to the music that’s playing, why listen at all? Sure, some music can serve as good background noise at times, but I now think that I relate more with the overall message and contents of the folk/Americana/indie I’ve been listening to than I do with rap, and that is completely okay.

Linked below is a playlist I’ve made featuring the kind of music I’ve been listening to lately. I may be biased, but I highly recommend it. Some of the artists include Father John Misty, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Sara Bareilles, Chris Stapleton, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and many more. Enjoy, and don’t be afraid to evolve!

SPOTIFY LINK: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0rBGrVqtatPXMLPUnbPqiz?si=SMsdK5pnSkWU-le2ELYQdA

Album Review: ZUU - Denzel Curry

Fresh off of the critically acclaimed album TA13OO which released in 2018, rapper Denzel Curry is back and making his presence known with his newest project ZUU. I had forgotten that this album was releasing today, May 31st, so when Spotify alerted me that there was new music with Curry’s name on it, I was pleasantly surprised and knew that I was in for a treat. I was, fortunately, correct in this assumption. The initial impression that I had seems to be similar to that of many other fans on sites such as Reddit and Twitter, which is one of abundant praise and admiration. Denzel certainly ended the evening with a better night than Stephen did yesterday (Curry… get it? Raptors in 7.)

While not as jarringly creative and relevant as TA13OO was, Curry still delivers a project with replay-ability and stellar production here. The album cover channels late 90’s/early 00’s rap era style, and that is reflected throughout the track listing appropriately. Even by Denzel Curry’s pre-established standard of releasing high quality bangers, ZUU goes above and beyond in this regard. A modern spin on traditional southern rap instrumentals is surprisingly refreshing and sets Curry above his current competition in the scene. The intermittent skits are appropriate and further the playful tone Curry sets with his catchy flows and lyricism, which however can unfortunately be childishly simplistic at times.

It will quickly become clear as I review music on this blog that one of the biggest gripes I have with music, particularly rap, is a lack of complexity. I appreciate surface-level bars to a certain degree, but I especially enjoy lines with double or triple entendres that require multiple listens to fully grasp. This album lacks that complexity, but that isn’t to fault Curry too harshly. ZUU isn’t an instant classic, but its enjoyable production, features, and flows will keep its highlights (“ZUU”, “BIRDZ Feat. Rick Ross”, “P.A.T Feat. PlayThatBoiZay”) in the summer playlists for 2019.

SCORE: 7/10

My Top 3 Albums From 2019 So Far + An Explanation of My Rating System

I figured that posting something directly after my introductory post explaining how ambitious I am planning to be with this blog made a fair amount of sense and insures that, at the very least, this site will have at least ONE substantive post -- this one -- discussing my 3 favorite albums from 2019 so far and explaining/defending why I am so harsh when it comes to a grading scale and rating system. Let's dive in.

*disclaimer, these brief analyses of the selected albums will not be as in-depth as my later album reviews which will be standalone posts.*

Let's start with my favorite album from 2019 so far which is Tyler, The Creator's IGOR. This experimental project further demonstrates Tyler's willingness to evolve past an immature sound in Wolf and Cherry Bomb, into a more introspective Flower Boy, and then eventually into a conceptual and rough-around-the-edges project like IGOR. Thematically sound and sonically hypnotizing, Tyler's break-up album fully familiarizes the audience with the IGOR character while disorienting them with never-before-heard instrumental combinations and synth perfection. Many of the songs on this project are catchy to the point of endless repetition, and the transitions in-between them encourage keeping the album on loop, which I have done happily since it's release. Slight hiccups throughout keep me from giving this project a perfect score, but it is fairly close to the coveted and very rare 10/10 rating from me. SCORE = 9/10

Secondly is James Blake's lovely project Assume Form. This one caught me by surprise. Blake was on my radar mainly from collaborations with rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott as well as a handful of selections from his previous album The Colour In Anything, but until the release of Assume Form I hadn't fully listened to one of the musicians projects from beginning to end, which is how I typically consume projects. Assume Form changed that, as its beautiful and sometimes haunting sounds found themselves trapped in the recesses of my mind and the insides of my headphones. Constantly. What adds to this simply revealing and beautiful album is the fact that I was able to see James Blake open his Assume Form tour at The Tabernacle here in Atlanta with my wonderful girlfriend. James' clear humbleness and gratefulness toward the crowd accompanied with his incredible singing ability lead to a fantastic show that completely sold me on a fantastic album. SCORE = 8/10

Finally is an album that completely blindsided me, which is Billie Eilish's WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? I was familiar with Eilish's viral presence online mainly because of her remarkable success at such a young age of 17. An artist releasing their debut album simply should not have such a distinct and established sound as that of Billie Eilish. Some of the themes present on this project, especially in the album's closing tracks, demonstrate a very weathered and mature performer whose age shouldn't be used as a point of criticism. Radio friendly songs such as "bury a friend" and "bad guy" are fun listens, but the heavier listens like "listen before i go" and "i love you" keep me coming back to this project. Its lack of thematic cohesiveness is expected from a debut album and is intentional from what I've seen from Eilish's interviews, but it unfortunately takes away from the start to finish replay-ability for me. Again, a great album that completely blindsided me and greatly surpassed my expectations. SCORE = 8/10

So there are my top albums so far from 2019, none of which have a perfect 10/10 score. Fret not -- that is expected with me. I only have a handful of albums that I have given a perfect score to. Some find my rating scale a bit harsh, which is a fair critique. I describe it as fair, though. Here it is, as follows:

- 10: Perfection with nothing in need of change.

- 9: Extraordinarily amazing.

- 8: Great.

- 7: Good.

- 6: Above average.

- 5: Average.

- 4: Below average.

- 3: Bad.

- 2. Terrible.

- 1. Extraordinarily awful.

- 0: No redeeming qualities, as bad as possible.

We'll see if 2019 brings a perfect 10/10 for me. Stay tuned as I continue to share in-depth album and track reviews here on this blog.