Important news for the hip-hop world – Badbadnotgood will be releasing their debut album next week. Get excited.
Over the past couple of years, the instrumental jazz/hip hop trio from Toronto, Canada has released a couple free mixtapes that have been very well-received by critics and fans alike. III, the title for their debut, has recently been announced as dropping to the masses on May 6th, 2014.
To specify, that’s next Tuesday. Don’t forget.
With the announcement of their album’s release date, BBNG also released a new single, titled Can’t Leave the Night. Listen to it below. I think it’s great. You should, too.
Jazz is integral to hip-hop’s history – however, it seems that it’s influence is less evident in the genre today. BBNG does well to remind us how well these two genres come together. Although these guys are young (their ages range from 19 to 21), their musical ability extends beyond their years.
Do a quick google search of these guys to pick up some more of their material. You have no excuse not to. It’s free, and it’s great. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Even though Pharoahe Monch’s newest LP PSTD is due out in less than a week, we’ve been treated to a new track that has leaked in advance of the April 15th release date.
“Rapid Eye Movement” features Black Thought, the MC and frontman (Alongside ?uestlove) of The Roots.
It’s a great song, and it has definitely got me excited for PTSD. Listen below.
We’re about a week into April now, so I figure it’s a good idea to touch base on some of the projects that’ll be seeing (or have seen) the light of day this month.
First and foremost, on April 1st, Mobb Deep released The Infamous Mobb Deep –A Double LP that contains a new album on one disc, as well as an album’s worth of unreleased tracks from their debut The Infamous on the other.
April 8th sees a couple of noteworthy debuts. SZA, one of Top Dawg’s newest signees, releases her label-first EP Z alongside Chuck Inglish and his debut album Convertibles.
For the 20th anniversary of his classic Illmatic, Nas will be releasing Illmatic XX on April 15th. Illmatic XX will include a remastered version of Nas’ debut, as well as a bonus disc of demos, remixes, and unreleased material.
Lastly, another item on my radar is Big Pooh and Roc C’s Trouble in the Neighborhood. Big Pooh comes from the acclaimed group Little Brother, so keeping an eye on this one is a no brainer. Trouble in the Neighborhood drops April 29th.
This Wednesday *, I’m listening to Piñata, the new LP from Freddie Gibbs and Madlib. In my opinion, this is definitely one of the best releases of 2014 thus far. The music video for Thuggin’, the first single off the album, can be found below.
* Don’t worry, it is actually Thursday. I’m just a day late. My apologies.
Run the Jewels was one of my favorite albums of last year, so I’m really excited to see what El-P and Killer Mike can cook up for us on their second go-around.
No word on exactly when it’ll be out, but the duo is looking towards putting the record out this year. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Killer Mike has gone on the record as saying that RTJ2 is “much darker and much harder” than he originally anticipated it would be.
I just made a Last.fm profile, so if you’re interested in what I’m listening to AT THIS VERY MOMENT (why wouldn’t you be?), you can keep tabs on me here: My profile.
Also, if you have Spotify, feel free to follow me. I regularly create/update monthly playlists.
Great news – Black Milk has released his new EP, Glitches in the Break, a day early via stream. I just talked about it yesterday so you shouldn’t need too much info on it, but in any case, you can listen to it HERE.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Top Dawg Entertainment’s Anthony Tiffith shared that Kendrick Lamar is shooting towards a September release for his follow-up to 2012’s Good Kid, M.a.a.d. City. On top of this, Co-President of TDE David Free revealed that fans should expect solo projects from Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and new signees Isaiah Rashad and SZA also within the year. Free went on to express his belief in a 2014 release for a Black Hippy album, as well.
I know that’s a lot of information to digest at once, but do your best to get yourself together.
I’m always hesitant to get invested in pre-release talk and speculation, but as of right now, 2014 is looking to be a huge year for both TDE and the hip-hip world.
Right off the bat, lets get something out of the way: I’m a hard sell when it comes to gangsta rap. I’ve always found the majority of it to be, for the most part, quite repetitive. That being said, there are some really fantastic gangsta rap albums out there that I’m a huge fan of (see: The Infamous by Mobb Deep) – particularly those that feature more diverse beats and inject a fair amount of introspection and societal/lifestyle/cultural awareness into the work. The same can be said for me and trap rap, if I’m being honest. Variation is key.
Enter Schoolboy Q.
As a member of the Black Hippy camp alongside Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock, Q has had a lot of hype riding his first major label release, Oxymoron. With Good Kid, M.a.a.d. City still fresh on everyone’s mind, fans have been anxious to see if anyone in the group can reach the incredibly high bar that Kendrick set with its release over a year ago. In the meantime, while we haven’t seen any recent solo work from either Ab-Soul or Jay Rock, they’ve made some waves as well; Ab-Soul with his early-2012 project Control System, which was very well received (and one of my personal favorite albums of the year), and Jay Rock with his great feature on Kendrick’s track Money Trees. Admist all the in-house competition, Schoolboy Q has made it known that he’s gunning for greatness with this new release.
Deluxe Edition Cover
Hello? Hello?! Fuck rap, my daddy’s a gangster.
Schoolboy Q’s daughter, Joy, makes a short cameo to start the album (the first of several) before a heavy bassline and ferociousvocal delivery kick off Oxymoron’s lead track, Gangsta. Lyrically, Q exuberates the gangster persona that he illustrates, and flow-wise, he handles Nez and Rio’s production rather effortlessly. Los Awesome (ft. Jay Rock) and pre-release single Collard Greens (ft. Kendrick Lamar) follow respectfully, with each proving to be just as attention-grabbing and loud as their predecessor.
Oxymoron, you had my curiosity…
Supplementing the great start, Oxymoron has a number of tracks spread throughout that do well to maintain energy and persona, while also being different enough so that they each stand out. Break the Bank and Man of the Year do well to demonstrate this; they’re both bangers in their own right (Man of the Year moreso, simply due to subject matter), and they’re right next to each other on the tracklist, but the variability in production and character react in such a way that they supplement each other very nicely. Produced by Alchemist,Break the Bank laces a simple, yet chilling piano loop and gigantic bass in with raspy, aggressive lyricism to create a harrowing tale of Q’s grind to be financially successful. Meanwhile, Man of the Year, with its Chromatics sample, acts as Q’s celebratory party anthem. While wildly different from Break the Bank, the production here is catchy as hell, to the point where you can’t help but chime in with Q.
One particular track that I’d like to point out is Prescription/Oxymoron, which is far and away the most introspective and revealing song on the album. Sounwave’s production for Prescription layers the background of the instrumental with a warped, atmospheric melody that complements Q’s drug-addled confessions beautifully. Emotionally, Prescription hits all the right notes, and Joy’s appearance here is the icing on the now tear-covered cake. I put so much emphasis here on the first half because while Oxymoron is in no way a bad song, I just don’t think it covers the same kind of ground that Prescription does.
With Prescription/Oxymoron as my segway, herein lies the problem with Oxymoron as an album: It’s inconsistent within itself. Schoolboy Q has created a fair amount of great songs on here, but the rest range from just so-so to pretty intolerable. What results is, more or less, a roller coaster of a project.
For example, lets go back to the beginning. Gangsta, Los Awesome, and CollardGreens make for a great start, but they’re followed by What They Want (ft. 2 Chainz) which is, to be blunt, pretty unenjoyable (my bid for worst track on the album). Typical trap rap beat with a relatively awful 2 Chainz feature. Nothing else really needs to be said.
Following that we have Hoover Street, which is decent (the first portion features some pretty groovy bass guitar and synth work), but drags on a tad too long for my taste. Studio (ft. BJ the Chicago Kid) comes next and, despite a smooth hook from BJ, I can’t help but feel that it sits really awkwardly in with the rest of the tracklist. It doesn’t feel real or believable like anything else on Oxymoron, it just ends up sounding like Q wanted to make a gangster love song and couldn’t find an appropriate place for it.
We have another high point with Prescription/Oxymoron, trailed by an immediate dip south with The Purge (ft. Tyler, the Creator and Kurupt). Things pick up a little with Blind Threats thanks to a great feature from Raekwon, before, again, dropping off with Hell of a Night. I’m sure you can see the pattern by now. Break the Bank and Man of the Year do a great job to breathe some life into the tail-end of Oxymoron, but the last three tracks end the album on a pretty bland note.
With all of that said, Oxymoron still gets a lot of things right. It’s not the groundbreaking addition to the genre that Schoolboy Q had hoped it would be, but he still managed to piece together a good collection of solid tracks. There’s a lot of great production to be found, and although the majority of the tracks lack any true substance (lets be honest, you don’t listen to Q/gangsta rap for substance), Q punctuates his lyricism with some generally exceptional and fitting vocal delivery. The few tracks that do make a real shift towards introspection hit their goals with flying colors, conveying a side of Q that isn’t seen too often.
Bottom line? Despite its fallacies, Oxymoron is a pretty enjoyable listen and deserves at least some of your time.
7/10
Pros:Gangsta, Los Awesome, Collard Greens, Prescription/Oxymoron, Break the Bank, Man of the Year. The production, for the most part.
Cons:What They Want, Studio, Hell of a Night. Some of the hooks are pretty filler.
Half-Day Hip-Hop 