In evolving as an artist, you’ll often need to get away from “what works” and grow your sound–even if it doesn’t always come out right. I went through that personally in stuff after Baltimore Commercial Break, an album that was heavily based and steeped in samples and interpolations (again, I hope it was used in […]
Read moreSOTBMusic: Jay-Z’s 4:44 – A Brief Review
Jay-Z (he put the hyphen back in, so you know it’s business time) recently dropped 4:44, the album that was partly conceived as a response to Lemonade and (possibly) partly because we hadn’t heard much from Jay aside from rando appearances in the last four years and he needed an exclusive release to get people to […]
Read moreNew SOTBMusic: @Donnynnon – ARORA
I got this one in my email saying “if you don’t like it, I’ll PayPal you a dollar for your time.” That’s a dope marketing strategy. But, if my ears are what I like to think they are, DONAVON won’t be giving much money out that way anytime soon. The track, “ARORA,” is a combination […]
Read moreNew SOTBMusic: @KiariTheStone – Wrong Reasons
This one immediately got my attention because of the horns, played by Fendi Sean (the production is handled otherwise by Freddie Gibbs contributor Blair Norf). From there, we’re taken on a track that discusses many of the “wrong reasons” people act the way they do. It’s a short, but chilling track mainly because of the […]
Read moreNew SOTBMusic: @brownboimaj x @billion_ballout – IDK
BrownBoi Maj switches up the flow on this new release. Evolving his original “slush shit” sound to fit with Chicago artist Billionaire Black’s flow, we’re given a hypnotizing track calling out the fuckery in the game. The track, produced by CashMoneyAp, serves as Maj’s lead single from the upcoming Friend$ EP, due out this summer. […]
Read moreNew SOTBMusic: @AugustAlsina – Don’t Matter
This is quite the tasty jam from one of my favorite artists (even when he falls back into the shadows from time to time because of illnesses or familial issues or what have you), August Alsina. Recently, as you probably know, Alsina revealed he has a liver disease and doesn’t want people to treat him […]
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