Posts Tagged ‘shady records’

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November 2019 New Music

November 30, 2019

I always hear people complaining about how bad music is nowadays and they couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, there is more quality music flooding the industry than ever before. It’s impossible to listen to it all, but… I try to. I give everything a chance and at the end of every month I’ll post everything I listened to and how much, what my favorite album was, what the other must have albums are, and what songs I added to my 2019 Bangers Playlist.

Stop complaining and take some guidance!

Because some albums come out later in the month and I don’t get much of a chance to listen to them before making my post, I’ve decided to make my new music posts containing all albums I’ve listened to over the last two months.

November Notes: Midway through the month, a great hip-hop Twitter account I follow – @HipHopNumbers – started a countdown of his top 15 albums of the decade and I spent a good portion of my month either relistening to those albums or giving a few I skipped past another chance (I’m looking at you IGOR). It’s a list I have a good amount of agreement with, so I’ll put it at the end of this post. Also, if you’re on Twitter, you should give this account a follow. He does all sorts of statistical analysis of pretty much any relevant hip-hop release and I’ve found his work to be very entertaining.

Also, check out my 2019 Albums page. I added rankings for D Smoke, Danny Brown, Emeli Sande, Raphael Saadiq, and Emotional Oranges… and one of them is an Album of the Year contender.

* indicates albums I added in October

HEAVY ROTATION (heard whole album many times)

*D Smoke – Inglewood High
*Danny Brown – uknowwhatimsayin?
*Emeli Sande – REAL LIFE (added in October, released in September)
Griselda – Wwcd
*Silas – 1998 (added in October, released in August)
Tyler, The Creator – IGOR (added in November, released in May)

SOLID ROTATION (heard whole album at least twice)

03 Greedo & Kenny Beats – Netflix & Deal
Brother Ali – Secrets & Escapes
Emotional Oranges – The Juice, Vol. II
Gang Starr – One of the Best Yet
*Kanye West – JESUS IS KING
Michael Kiwanuka – KIWANUKA

COURTESY ROTATION (heard whole album)

Action Bronson & The Alchemist – Lamb Over Rice
Apollo Brown – Sincerely, Detroit (added in November, released in October)
Beck – Hyperspace
BENNY THE BUTCHER – The Plugs I Met (added in November, released in June)
Bishop Briggs – CHAMPION
Earl Sweatshirt – FEET OF CLAY
FKA twigs – MAGDALENE
*G-Eazy – Scary Nights
IDK – Is He Real? (added in November, released in September)
Kota the Friend – Foto (added in November, released in May)
Lana Del Ray – Norman F*****g Rockwell (added in November, released in August)
Larry June – Product of the Dope Game
Rod Wave – Ghetto Gospel
Salaam Remi & Joell Ortiz – BoxTalk – EP
Smoke DZA & BENNY THE BUTCHER – Statue of Limitations – EP (added in November, released in October)
*Summer Walker – Over It
*Tobe Nwigwe – THREE ORIGINALS (added in October, released in March)
Trippie Redd – A Love Letter to You 4
Various Artists – Queen & Slim Soundtrack
*Wale – Wow… That’s Crazy

SKIM ROTATION (haven’t heard whole album)

*Angel Olsen – All Mirrors
CRIMEAPPLE – Viridi Panem
Dave East – Survival
*Flawless Real Talk – 24Flaw7 (added in October, not sure when released)
Jacquees – King of R&B
Kembe X – I Was Depressed Until I Made This (added in November, released in October)
Tory Lanez – Chixtape 5
*Tuxedo – Tuxedo III (added in October, released in July)
YNW Melly – Melly vs. Melvin

Out of Rotation (removed from my current playlist)

TOO NEW/NO LOVE (zero listens)

Fabolous – Summertime Shootout 3: Coldest Summer Ever
Jvck James – DETOUR – EP (added in November, released in October)
Smoke DZa & Curren$y – Prestige Worldwide
The Game – Born 2 Rap

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Griselda – Wwcd

I was having a tough time coming up with a truly standout album from the November releases, but then Griselda dropped a genuine banger at the buzzer. Normally, I don’t get around to listening to last minute album drops before making this post, but I must have listened to this album five times in a row the day after it dropped. Let me note something real quick: historically, I have not been a giant Griselda fan. They have tons of content and I’ve listened to a decent amount of it, but I’ve never thought of them as the second coming of Wu Tang like their biggest fans seem to think they are. However, I hadn’t ever listened to BENNY THE BUTCHER before this month and I’m definitely a fan of his and the more I listen to Conway the Machine, the more I like him. Westside Gunn is my least favorite in the group and he’s also the guy I’ve had the most exposure to, which could explain why I was lukewarm on the collective as a whole before this album dropped.

I was pretty shocked when I heard these dudes signed with Shady Records and you have to give Eminem some credit because Shady now has two huge wins this year (Boogie being the other). This album is 13 tracks deep but only ten of them are actual songs. However, all ten songs are pretty damn good and even the non-songs have a vibe to them. This album has only been out a few days and I’ve already added two tracks to my Bangerz Playlist and I expect more to be added in the future. I don’t think this is an Album of the Year contender like I’ve been reading from some people, but it’s undeniably good from top to bottom and has no real weak spots. The thing about Griselda, in my opinion, is that they make good songs and execute above average in all the key areas of making rap music, but I don’t really think anything about them is exceptional. Still, I give Wwcd a very strong recommendation and it’s probably the best new album I listened to in November.

2019 Bangerz Playlist Additions – Follow me on Apple Music @DarkKnight1717 to add my playlists

BENNY THE BUTCHER ft. Black Thought, “Crowns for Kings”
BENNY THE BUTCHER ft. Pusha T, “18 Wheeler”
Brother Ali, “Father Figures”
Danny Brown, “Combat”
D Smoke, “Lil’ Red”
D Smoke, “Honey Jack”
EARTHGANG & Tiana Major9, “Collide”
Emeli Sande, “Honest”
Emeli Sande, “Human”
Emotional Oranges, “Not Worth It”
Gang Starr ft. J.Cole, “Family and Loyalty”
Gang Starr ft. Group Home and Royce da 5’9″, “What’s Real”
Griselda, “Cruiser Weight Coke”
Griselda, “Freddie HotSpot”
Kota the Friend, “Foto”
Larry June, “Something Gotta Change”
Michael Kiwanuka, “Rolling”
Raphael Saadiq, “This World is Drunk”
Raphael Saadiq ft. Rob Bacon, “Something Keeps Calling Me”
Raphael Saadiq, “Rikers Island”
Tyler, The Creator, “IGOR’S THEME”
Wale ft. 6LACK, “Expectations”

@HipHopNumbers Top 15 Albums of the Decade:

15. Rapsody – Eve
14. Joey Badass – ALL AMERIKKAN BADASS
13. Lupe Fiasco – Tetsou & Youth
12. Jay Rock – 90059
11. Mac Miller – Swimming
10. Pusha T – DAYTONA
9. Kid Cudi – Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’
8. Tyler, The Creator – IGOR
7. Earl Sweatshirt – Doris
6. Mac Miller – Watching Movies With the Sound Off
5. Kid Cudi & Kanye West – Kids See Ghosts
4. Isaiah Rashad – The Sun’s Tirade
3. Kendrick Lamar – Good Kidd M.A.D.D. City
2. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
1. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly

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Eminem – Relapse

May 15, 2009

Eminem’s career path has been an interesting one to follow: after bursting onto the hip-hop scene in 1999 and surprising the world with his shock value tactics and ability to rhyme, he had cemented himself as one of the best and most talented emcees ever by the time 8 Mile came out in late 2002. For whatever reason, starting in 2003, Slim Shady just suddenly stopped caring about his craft and we watched his skills rapidly decline, ultimately resulting in an incredibly disappointing album called Encore in 2004. Then… he just disappeared off the face of the earth and the very few appearances he did make (The Re-Up) showed that he was still just a shell of his former self. Thankfully, that disappearance has given the hip-hop community enough time away from Marshall to have some of us optimistic enough to be thinking that Relapse could be a return to form.

The first couple of tracks leaked from Relapse were cause for concern, however. “Crack A Bottle” is a pop-rap track that has Eminem rhyming nonsense over a candy ass beat, forgettable guest appearances from Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, and an incredibly corny, albeit catchy, hook. If that song wasn’t enough reason to sound off the alarm bells, Em decided to follow it up with “We Made You,” which is arguably one of the worst songs ever made. The rapping is actually much better here, but the hook is some painful shit to listen to and Eminem is using what online hip-hop forums have affectionately dubbed his “Osama Bin Shady” voice. Eminem once again attacks random pop singers and B-list celebrities and shows that artistic growth was not on his list of concerns during his hiatus. “Old Time’s Sake” leaked early also and is right on par with the first two tracks. Dre sounds terrible once again and while Eminem sounds kinda dope over the beat, the lyrics on the song are boring and forgettable.

Fortunately, the rest of Relapse is much better. The first thing that Eminem makes clear on this album is that, vocally, he is still one of the best rappers in the game from a technical standpoint. “Bagpipes From Baghdad” is a terrible song with juvenile lyrics and cheap shots at Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, but the rapping is so good on it that I can’t stop myself from playing it: “Nothing will stop me from molesting you, titty-fucking you ’til your breast nipple flesh tickles my testicles.” Words can’t describe how dope it sounds when he says that. I doubt anyone wanted to hear another song about Debbie Mathers, yet “My Mom” finds Eminem placing blame on his mother’s drug habits for causing his own Vicodin addiction. Despite the content being incredibly tired at this point in Em’s career, the lyrics and delivery make it a very enjoyable song anyways. Just look at the way this guy is putting syllables together in these lines: “‘Mrs. Mathers, I think your son has been huffing Ether/ either that, or the motherfucker’s been puffing reefer’/ but all this huffing and puffing wasn’t what it was either/ it was neither, I was buzzin’, but it wasn’t what she thought.” Again, dude just tears the track to shreds.

I think listeners will come away slightly disappointed after the first couple times they listen to Relapse all the way through. While it’s evident that Eminem hasn’t matured much as a musician since 2002 and that he may never release a sure-fire hip-hop classic, Relapse is at least a scathingly dark album. Between “3 A.M.,” “Same Song & Dance,” and “Stay Wide Awake,” Eminem shows that he may actually be a little nuttier than we all thought he was–if that’s even possible. He’s gone from saying “raping his own mother” in comical fashion to describing his fantasies of murdering Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears in extreme detail while abandoning the tongue-in-cheek tone of voice that used to make his outlandish behavior acceptable; he’s legitimately scary on this album. “I said, yeah baby, do that dance… it’s the last dance you’ll ever get the chance to do/ girl, shake that ass, you ain’t ever gonna break that glass, the windshield’s too strong for you.”. Yikes. I’ve heard this album described as “American Psycho on wax” and I think that’s a fitting description. With “Kim,” Em had the excuse of saying it was his way of handling his emotions and with “Kill You,” we all knew he was just joking around… but when Eminem gets asked about the inspiration behind this trio of songs on Relapse, I don’t think he’s going to have any excuses this time. It’s like he says on “Medicine Ball”: “Man, they don’t understand, I’m just a sick man.”

So where does Relapse leave Eminem in the scope of the hip-hop world? It’s not his best album, by any means, but it’s infinitely better than Encore and certainly a step in the right direction. On Encore and all of his appearances during his hiatus, Eminem just sounded like a soulless shell of his former self. I can say with confidence that the man has found his passion for music again. How he still managed to make a song as bad as “We Made You” I don’t understand, but Relapse as a whole, is a return to form for Slim Shady. Don’t expect artistic growth here or a huge change in focus as far as content is concerned. Simply put, Relapse is a reminder that Eminem is not to be fucked with on the microphone and that the man still has it. Let’s all hope Relapse 2 is even better.

Grade: 7 out of 10 (Must Own)

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