What I’m Listening To

Future – Future

This is a great album, probably up there with DS2 for me.  The production is more diverse (no more Metro Boomin tags on the tracks which sucks), but the whole album has the same cohesive and drugged out feel that I loved about DS2.  Future hasn’t really progressed as a rapper, and he’s still almost exclusively rapping about drugs and women, but the more I listen to him, the more I like him.  I hope he never changes.

Apollo Brown & Skyzoo – The Easy Truth

Another head nodder from Detroit producer Apollo Brown, with Brooklyn MC Skyzoo.  This is just really high quality hip hop, and I am not sure how else to describe it.  But I can put this on and play it all the way through.  AB’s beats are so mellow and soulful, and Skyzoo has a consistent flow and solid lyrics all the way through.  This is an all around great record, that gets a lot of play from me.

The Weeknd – Starboy

This is a pop album.  Anyone looking for the Trilogy era Weeknd will be disappointed. But unlike Beauty Behind the Madness, his last album, this is actually a good pop album.  He seems to have found the sound he was looking for in BBTM, and put it in a cohesive, almost flawless pop package.  I really like the rapping too, which is kind of a new thing for him.  If anyone told me Kendrick Lamar was getting smoked on a feature by an RnB artist, I would call them insane.  But that happens on Sidewalks.  Future shows up twice, and make me wonder why these two haven’t made an album yet, because everything they do  together is amazing.  This album has been in my rotation since it came out, and I don’t see it going anywhere any time soon.

Aesop Rock – The Impossible Kid

New Aesop Rock!!!! I’ve loved this dude since the Def Jux days, but he’s always been a Salvador Dali painting to me.  I know it’s great, I love it, but I could not explain the meaning, or even tell you why I like it.  He kind of just flows these words together, they sound amazing, and sometimes they make sense.  He’s always relied on cadence, flow, alliteration, abstract metaphors, and amazing production (El-P has made such a huge impact on hip hop), sometimes in place of coherent lyrics.  That is not the case on this album.  He still has the aggressive flow, abstract metaphors, and incredible production.  But the songs have a linear structure, and they all make sense to me.  He tells stories about family, reflects on getting old, goes over the regret of letting the world take away his passion, and even talks about baseball games! This ranks up there with my favorite of his projects, with Bazooka Tooth.  I am really happy with the progression of this dude’s career, and hope he can keep up the pace, as well as maintain his mental health.

Lana Del Rey – Honeymoon

I love sad music.  The Smiths, The Weeknd, Drake, Ruiner, and of course Lana.   I got in to LDR right around when Ultraviolence came out, and that is still my favorite album of hers.  This is a really solid follow up though.  She has all but abandoned the really poppy sound that she had on some of the songs on her first album, and what is left is the sad, sultry sound that I love her for.  There are only a couple misses on this, and the rest just plays all the way through.  I love it.

All Out War – For Those Who Were Crucified

The heaviest band of all time.  Fast as hell, heavy riffs, breakdowns, lyrics about the failure of society, government, and religion.  Everything about this band is awesome.  I don’t know if anyone captures the anger and despair of today’s world like these guys.  This album is perfect front to back.

Apollo Brown – Grandeur

Apollo Brown is a producer from Detroit, and is absolutely killing it right now.  This is my favorite of his projects.  The whole album is an all-star lineup of great MC’s, from vets to rookies, over Apollo’s soulful beats.  If this doesn’t make your head nod I don’t want to know you.

Future – Dirty Sprite 2

 Metro Bommin’s trippy and repetitive beats and Future’s monotonous, almost robotic voice are hypnotizing.  No one will accuse Future of being eloquent, but he makes great music (and picks great producers), and I love him for that.  Some of his projects are hit and miss, but this is solid all the way through, and one of his better projects in my opinion.

Converge – Jane Doe

I hated this album when I first heard it, preferring Petitioning the Empty Sky, or their newer stuff, but I keep coming back to it.  People who actually know about music really respect and love these guys, this album especially.  I think it’s the most chaotic and upsetting music I’ve ever heard in my life, and sometimes I love that.

The Roots – Undun

The Roots dropped an era defining classic in the 90’s (Things Fall Apart), yet somehow their best album was released in 2014.  That is how amazing this group is.  Undun is an incredible concept album, with a diverse range of musical influence (this is The Roots of course).  Every song is amazing.

Gucci Mane – Everybody Looking

The godfather of trap music came out of prison, got sober, got engaged, and released 3 great solo projects in 6 months (plus 3 more collaborations)!  This is my favorite of the bunch, and I think it stands up to some of his best work. Zaytoven and Mike Will deliver the classic trap sound they’re famous for, and Gucci gets surprisingly personal.

The Weeknd – Trilogy

I didn’t even know I liked RnB until I heard Trilogy, which is a collection of The Weeknd’s first 3 mixtapes.  The whole project plays well all the way through, as each of the 3 mixtapes have a different vibe and story, and provide a very dark and disturbing atmosphere for Abel’s amazing voice and depressing, often disturbing narrative.  It might be one of my favorite pieces of music ever made.

Juicy J – Stay Trippy

Another staple of Southern rap.  With production from Mike Will, among others, this album has that same Southern sound I love from Gucci Mane’s projects, although a lot more aggressive.  The whole album is really just hard Southern beats with Juicy J rapping about strippers and drugs, with features from Pimp C (RIP) and The Weeknd (and the Pimp C feature is over a Weeknd sampled beat, so you kind of get The Weeknd twice!).  This is all awesome.