The Bat Cave

HEAVY ROTATION (3+ listens)

BJ the Chicago Kid – 1123

Dreamville – Revenge of the Dreamers 3

Nas – The Lost Tapes 2

SOLID ROTATION (1+ listens)

Big KRIT – K.R.I.T. IZ HERE

Blood Orange – Angel’s Pulse

Chance the Rapper – The Big Day

YBN Cordae – The Lost Boy

Devin the Dude – Still Rollin’ Up Somethin’ to Ride With

Ed Sheeran – No. 6 Collaborations

Maxo Kream – Brandon Banks

SOME ROTATION (haven’t heard whole album)

Berner & Curren$y – Pheno Grigio

Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire

Murs and 9th Wonder – Brighter Daze

Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains

Various Artists – The Lion King soundtrack

TOO NEW

DJ Muggs & CRIMEAPPLE – Medallo

NF – The Search

Scarlet Parke – Flight Risk

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Dreamville – Revenge of the Dreamers 3 – There’s a chance that YBN Cordae made the best album of July (it’s dope), but I’ve only listened to it once all the way through so far, so I guess I’ll go with the album I listened to and enjoyed the most. J.Cole and co. just make good music. Buddy, JID, and Cozz are all over this album and if you’ve been sleeping on them, it’s time to go check out their last projects because all three of these dudes can RAP. It’s possible that Dreamville has even taken over Top Dawg Entertainment as the label I’m most excited about.

TOP FIVE

2. YBN Cordae – The Lost Boy – This is a smooth ass album with solid production. YBN Cordae sounds at home on the mic and has plenty of content. I’ve only made it through the album once so far, but I really liked it and I can see multiple songs making my Bangerz playlist. The track with Anderson.Paak is already on there. I’d never heard of this guy and wouldn’t think to check for him, but I read some good stuff and he has really surprised me by making a very enjoyable and cohesive album.

3. Nas – The Lost Tapes 2 – This is some unreleased material from a top 10 rapper of all-time and it’s pretty good. His first Lost Tapes was an instant classic and this one doesn’t match up to that, but there’s still plenty of good stuff on here.

4. Maxo Kream – Brandon Banks – Another dude I’ve never heard of that is pretty damn good at rapping. I’ve only listened to this once through so I’m still digesting, but there wasn’t much I didn’t like the first time through. A definite recommendation.

5. Devin the Dude – Still Rollin’ Up Somethin’ to Ride With – 21 years and 10 studio albums in and Devin is still going strong. I’m not a weed smoker so I’m not vibing with Devin’s music on that level, but it hardly matters. This is chill background music that’s perfect to have one while playing poker. “Somethin’ to Ride With” is insane. It has about a two minute stretch in between vocals with just the beat playing and it is AWESOME.

2019 Bangerz Playlist Additions

Berner & Curren$y ft. Kokane, “Gangsta S**t”
BJ the Chicago Kid ft. JID and Buddy, “Get Away”
Devin the Dude, “Somethin’ to Ride With”
Dreamville, “1993”
J.Cole (Dreamville), “Middle Child”
Nas, “Tanasia”
Reason and Cozz (Dreamville), “LamboTruck”
YBN Cordae ft. Anderson.Paak, “RNP”
YBN Cordae ft. Arin Ray, “Family Matters”