Enter the Sensei’s of Rap: How Wu-Tang Definitively Influenced Hip-Hop

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by Giovanni Recinos

Both off the mic and on, the group of nine New Yorkers known as the Wu-Tang Clan would each bring their own different backgrounds, styles and influences to hip-hop culture. Wu-Tang would hit the scene in ‘93 with lyrics about chess, street slang, and marvel comics, all of this while sampling kung-fu flicks. Though these were not common themes in hip-hop at that time, for every reason that the Wu-Tang Clan should not have worked, was another reason that it did. On November 9th, 1993, hip-hop would be changed forever with the release of Wu-Tang’s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

Before the album’s release, the group’s formation would be as chaotic as you would probably expect from a group of that size. With Ghostface Killah and Raekwon initially starting as street rivals, or RZA and U-God recently leaving incarceration, and members such as Method Man just narrowly escaping death, getting them all into the studio had to be some sort of fate at work. One of the members, RZA, would play a great role in this formation. After being dropped from the label Tommy Boy, he would swear to no longer succumb to the industry’s standards of “hit-making” and would begin producing music that he believed in. The next step in achieving this goal would be bringing together the superpower team to rap over these beats. RZA started in the family, with his cousins, the GZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

The album plays out as a sort of calculated chaos, with no member sounding like another. Though this is the case, they are able to find chemistry through their obvious competitive hunger to deliver the best verse for each track. Whether it was Ghostface Killah’s blunt delivery, Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s sporadic personality or Inspectah Deck’s street knowledge, the groups' varying archetypes were able to find orchestration through the RZA’s guiding direction. While on paper the many topics on the project together could be seen as nonsensical, each members’ ability to bounce energy off one another turns it from just a bunch of ingredients, to a dish. With the Wu-Tang’s choices of themes and styles playing the critical “spices and flavors” that made their “dish” stand out from the rest. It should also be noted that a large percentage of the album’s success should be accounted towards Wu-Tang’s style and branding. With their grimy and low budget music videos, the iconic “W” logo, and chants including the famous, “SUUUU.”

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) would be an instant hit launching the careers of every member exponentially. Many labels including Def Jam Records would aim to sign the nine piece, but many of them would fail as they wanted to sign the group as solo members along with the group deal. RZA, who played the main role in deal making, would not allow this to happen as he wanted to infect the Wu-Tang brand through the entire industry, not just through one label. The group would eventually sign a group deal with Loud Records, with that solo deal freedom included. Method Man would be first, signing to Def Jam Records.

The Wu-Tang debut album would mark the beginning of Wu-Tang and RZA’s powerful streak of solo and group projects. With Method Man’s catchy Tical, following in 1994. Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s grimy and oddball personality on Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, Raekwon’s mafioso movie inspired, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, and GZA’s lyrical masterpiece, Liquid Swords in 1995. Ghostface Killah would bring back his back-and-fourths with Raekwon on  his debut, Ironman in 1996. Lastly, ending with Wu-Tang’s more mature follow up project Wu-Tang Forever in 1997. A majority of these projects would be almost solely produced by RZA. All of this does not even include the great list of features provided by the members to classic albums including Moment of Truth by Gang Starr, All Eyez on Me by 2Pac and even newer records all the way up to the recent release of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar.

The Wu-Tang debut set the groundwork to inspire generations with each of these projects further creating their own sub-genres and sounds. For example, RZA would be one of the first, if not the first, to adopt the “chipmunk samples” that would become a staple to early Kanye West production. Ghostface Killah would also adopt the persona Tony Starks or “Ironman” which would inspire artists such as MF DOOM or CZARFACE to adopt their own comic book inspired identities. Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s chaotic sound would open the floodgates to many experimental rappers including Mos Def, Danny Brown, JPEGMAFIA and others. Raekwon would help establish mafioso rap in New York and beyond, which would be carried into classic albums like Jay-Z’s, Reasonable Doubt, Notorious B.I.G.‘s, Life After Death and Pusha T’s, DAYTONA. The Wu-Tang Clan were not lying when they said they were for the children, as they would become strong idols and influencers to all kinds of future artists, whether they were from the East or West.

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Giovanni Recinos is a staff writer.

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Letting Go Of Love With Steve Lacy: “Gemini Rights” Album Review

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by Luke Modugno

Duality is a quality that seems to plague the entirety of humanity. In a reality constructed on subjective truths, an immeasurable amount of perspectives and an incalculable abundance of contexts, perceiving with consistency has been an ageless challenge to our species. That challenge is clearly amplified for people like Steve Lacy. 

The Compton native has returned from a two-year hiatus, bringing with him his second studio album Gemini Rights. Lacy isn’t embracing the role of an activist for a specific astrological sign on this record, as the title may suggest. In fact, he’s precisely and loudly presenting the stereotypical, infamous vice of a Gemini: indecision. 

We’ve seen rap megastars (and fellow Gemini) Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar illustrate their own internal strife as it relates to social issues, their world views and ego’s. However, Lacy’s chronic issue with irresolution has put him in an unfavorable spot on Gemini Rights. 

From track-to-track, Lacy is decidedly over his ex-lover. Then, in a whiplash of an instant, he’s head-over-heels for them. Because of Lacy’s flawless and skilled songwriting, Gemini Rights conveys a flurry of romantic feelings. With regret, sorrow, passion, lust and anger snapping into focus across the record, Lacy gives listener’s emotional motion sickness in a way only a bonafide poet could. While Lacy has never struggled to touch on romantic subjects throughout his discography, Gemini Rights approaches the subject with unprecedented nuance and thoroughness. 

“Static,” the opening track, sets the table for Gemini Rights, as Lacy serenades his ex with such elegance that it’s almost as if he isn’t vilifying them and their transgressions against their shared love. “If you ever had to stunt your shining for your lover, dump that fucker” is sung with a particularly intense vitriol that makes it seem that Lacy is finally over them. 

The funky distraction from post breakup depression that is “Helmet” sews the seeds of doubt in the listeners head that Lacy may be an unreliable narrator. Although trying his best to seem unphased and unbothered by their split, when Lacy feels down, his instinctual reaction is still to lean on this person. The cheery guitar plucks paired with cleverly foreboding writing makes “Helmet” a clear standout of the tracklist of Gemini Rights.   

Both “Mercury” and “Bad Habit” stand to support the thesis of Lacy’s lingering love for his ex. As he stares blankly at his ceiling while “writing an ‘i’m sorry’ text” and asks his ex-lover “you think i’m two-faced? I can name 23,” Gemini Rights exudes the crushing anxiety that comes with feeling stuck, inactionable and alone. 

The record culminates with its penultimate track “Sunshine,” featuring the silky-smooth Foushee who plays the part of Steve’s ex in a conversation between the two. Steve let’s us know that it’s been a couple months since their split. Hastily engaging a defense mechanism, Lacy becomes combative, adding “safe to say after me you peaked.” Foushee enters on a high-horse, telling Lacy that she’s taken the highroad despite his criticisms, imploring him to stop attempting to fabricate the intensity of their love with other people. Mutually agreeing to drop the hostility, Foushee asks “why can’t we just get along? Or at least get it on?”

Ending with the two harmonizing in unity “I still love you,” “Sunshine” is just one of many backtracks, reconsiderations and flip-flops on Gemini Rights. Although presenting the complication with this breakup through the lens of the ever-conflicted Gemini mind, Lacy knows his listeners are empathetic to the struggle.

If you were to reorder the tracklist of Gemini Rights, you would likely be able to formulate what a traditional grieving process of a romantic split is supposed to look like. But what Gemini Rights presents is a more authentic illustration of the unpredictability of human emotion, especially an emotion as potent as love. Feelings aren’t linear and they’re fickle. While Steve may not think so, the Gemini’s uncertainty isn’t to blame here.

Sonically, Gemini Rights is a soulful blend of the experimentation of Lacy’s 2020 effort The Lo-Fis, the groovy chord progressions of Apollo XXI and the early knack for engaging songwriting displayed on Steve Lacy’s Demo. In other words, Lacy brings together the whole of his assets as an artist to deliver his highest quality production on Gemini Rights. Additionally, Lacy’s pen is on an entirely different level here. Crafting hooks, progressions and vocal harmonies that stick in your brain like plaster (“Bad Habit,” “Mercury,” “Helmet”), Gemini Rights is the best R&B record to release this year. 

In a year filled with smash records like Dawn FM and WASTELAND by The Weeknd and Brent Faiyaz respectively, Gemini Rights simply outclasses it’s R&B contemporaries. Despite the conflicted nature of man, the superbness of Gemini Rights will ensure discussion of this record and its deserved inclusion in the album of the year conversation. 

Favorite tracks: 

Helmet

Bad Habit 

Sunshine (feat. Foushee)

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Luke Modugno is the editor-in-chief.

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From Fashion to Live Shows, “Whole Lotta Red’s” Early Influence on Rap

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by Quintin Hollomand

When thinking about the most influential hip hop albums in history, it’s easy and deserving to acknowledge albums like 808s and Heartbreaks by Kanye, or Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest, but what is harder, is to acknowledge the more recent work that is arguably just as influential, if not more. 

It’s hard to imagine an album that has had such a forward thinking and culture shocking grip on the rap community than Whole Lotta Red by Playboi Carti. Since its release at the very end of 2020, Whole Lotta Red has proven to be one of those albums that changes the course of hip hop forever. From its early rejection by many fans and critics, to its ripple effect still almost 2 years later, Playboi Carti has implemented new approaches to hip hop aesthetics, rollouts, and live performances that have solidified him and this album as the bar for future projects. I’m going to be talking about his process of making this album, what happened in the rap community upon its release, and the amazing influence it has had on hip hop since 2020. 

Less than a year after Carti’s prior album, Die Lit released, he mentioned his new project set to come out titled, Whole Lotta Red. As Carti wrapped up his Neon tour and many festival performances, the rap community had Carti in somewhat of a spotlight. His music was already known for being subject to leaks and snippets, but what would come in the next year and a half would alter the progress of his album and change the course of what he eventually put out. 2019, 2020, and 2021 were filled with Playboi Carti leaks left and right. Songs like Bouldercrest, Skeletons, No Lie, and Molly amongst countless others flooded SoundCloud and Youtube. The infamous Pissy Pamper leak would top the Spotify charts as an unofficial release by a fan, and crowds would sing the lyrics to unreleased songs at his shows word for word. This was the WLR v1 era. These songs were all very reminiscent of Die Lit, with many of these leaks being produced by Pi’erre Bourne. At this point, this was what fans wanted and hoped Carti released, but the more songs leaked, the more apparent it became that these would never make the official project. 

Next came the WLR v2 era with more commercial sounding songs like SRT ft Lil Uzi Vert, Movie Time, and Act a Fool. These were audibly different than v1 and the Die Lit era, and we now knew Carti’s sound was changing. 

Constant snippets and song leaks held the album back to the point where Carti rethought the entire theme and aesthetic of himself and album. This is where we begin to see his semi-feminine and vamp persona come to life. With a rare social media presence and practically no up to date interviews, fans had no idea when to expect WLR other than a vague, ‘in 2020’ statement he made prior. Finally, with hints from DJ Akademiks and other outlets, fans expected the album to come on Christmas of 2020, which it did. 

The album was met with mixed feelings from his fans and the rap community. It received actual hate(not to be taken lightly) online and many vowed never to listen to it again. However, many saw this as a new direction that had never been taken before and were open to this new idea. The punk-rock inspired album was something nobody expected to come from Carti. The production was new; his lyrical delivery was new; everything was unapologetically new. It took a few weeks for it to really sink in, but the energy it brought was undeniable. 

Production came mainly from F1lthy and Art Dealer, who with along other loopmakers, curated the aggressive synths and distorted drums. A great deal of credit falls on these producers for experimenting with such gritty synths and dark yet happy chord progressions; they provided Carti the opportunity to try new things vocally. The song Stop Breathing is truly in its own subgenre of rap. The compressed/distorted 808, crunched hi hats and snares, paired with lyrics centered on Carti’s involvement in gang life, make one of the most energetic songs of all time; one that few can actually relate to, but all can mosh to. Control provides us with one of the more introspective songs in Carti’s discography. It gives us an emotional break from the aggressiveness of the album. 

A year into its release, it had still never been performed due to it being in the midst of COVID-19. However, hype around the Narcissist Tour (which became the King Vamp Tour), began to increase steadily. The constant scrapping of ideas made Playboi Carti that much more in demand, as fans couldn’t even get a good idea on his next move. The King Vamp Tour began, and with it, came countless viral internet moments that showcased just how impactful this album that was at first hated on, really was. At multiple tour dates, inspired by the album’s rager theme, fans rushed security checks and mobbed venue doors. At the Arizona stop, Carti played one song before the speakers blew out, canceling the rest of the show. It was moments like this that turned the album and live performances into more than just music, and into a right of passage for fans. The emphasis on live music is something that this new wave generation of rappers took and made their own.

The influence of Whole Lotta Red can be seen across the landscape of music. Not only did the solidified artists in the industry try their hand at rage inspired beats, but the new buzzing underground also took Whole Lotta Red ideas and made their wave a spin off of Carti and the album. Underground artists like Kankan, sgpwes, heygwapo, ssgkobe, and Yeat can trace a lot of their music ideas back to the blueprint Whole Lotta Red left. The synth leads, distorted 808s, aggressive lyrics, and emphasis on the performability of songs all come back to this album. At live performances these days, artists use the same lines Carti does to hype up crowds; I even heard The Kid Laroi yell, ‘open that sh*t up!’, which I didn’t expect but can respect. Social media has also been altered by Carti’s ideas. It’s now ‘in’ to have a mysterious and minimal Instagram presence. Blurry and poorly lit 0.5 lens photos are now in and here to stay. 

The influence that Whole Lotta Red has had on hip hop in the recent two years is undeniable. It played out to be much larger than music and has inspired an entire new generation of artists that borrow from its ideas and themes to make it their own. The drastic acceptance of this album after its initial hate by many is amazing to realize and think about. It’s still very early in the album’s life, but I feel comfortable saying that Whole Lotta Red is one of the most influential hip hop albums in history.

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Quintin Hollomand is a contributor.

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How J Dilla's "Donuts" Permanently Reshaped Hip-Hop Production

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by Luke Modugno

Art is fluid, everchanging. Altered by powerful voices and minds, potent creatives seem to always carve out new paths and directions within the artistic bounds of their medium. However, you seldom see a singular composition definitively erase the once unnavigable borders of art and delineate new ones. Circumstance, unmitigated creative fearlessness and a willingness to adapt are required in order to shift the tectonic plates that lie beneath the surface of an art as ancient as music. All of those requirements were met when fabled rap producer J Dilla left the world of art with his groundbreaking beat tape Donuts.

Donuts was born out of circumstance. J Dilla emerged in the late 90’s as a prominent underground producer for local rappers, until breaking through with the notable rap collective Slum Village. Working with acts such as A Tribe Called Quest, Common, The Pharcyde and more, Dilla quickly made a name for himself with the complexity in which he chopped and looped his beats. Dilla’s production wasn’t just unique and ear-catching. There was distinct warmth, vibrance and vivaciousness erridating from the way Dilla’s kicks, drums and loops sat. 

Whenever Dilla decided to hop behind the boards, his beats exemplified personification of the human experience. The intimate guitar on “Didn’t Cha Know'' projects the image of a dawn sunrise peeking through a window with the curtains flapping in the wind, especially paired with the silky-smooth vocals of Erykah Badu. The kicks draped over the melancholic vocals of The Pharcyde on “Runnin’' sounds like a comfortingly warm summer night. Uptempo, drawn-back, soulful or bouncy. Dilla was a chameleon that could shape-shift his production style to fit the artist he was working with flawlessly. Dilla didn’t just produce, it was more than that. His dense hip-hop orchestras reverberated with listeners at a deeper level. 

It was this boundless talent, along with tragedy, that allowed for the creation of Donuts. In 2005, Dilla was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder known as Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Unfortunately, TTP is extremely deadly, with a fatality rate of 70-80%. Despite at first continuing to tour and work, Dilla was eventually confined to a hospital bed as his symptoms continued to worsen. Understanding his mortality, Dilla brought his MPC3000 and a record player to accompany him in the solidarity of his hospital bed. The goal? Use his ingenious, renaissance-level production skills to create a project that acted as a love-letter to his family, friends, fans and his time spent on Earth. 

As friends and family came to visit Dilla, they would contribute to the creation of Donuts, by gifting him new records to chop, loop, manipulate and organize into his cacophonously intricate production style. Being the chronic sampler that Dilla was, his ear became immensely picky.

In a documentary made about the album's creation, Dilla’s mother illustrated just that, “When I took the crate up, and he looked through it, I think out of a whole milk crate full of 45s, I think he might have taken a dozen out of there and set them aside. He said 'you can take that back to the house'. He said 'none of that's good'." Using inspiration and direction from the people he loved most is a wholly tangible and immediate feature of the record, as Dilla cycles between a diverse set of genres and sounds for his samples, demonstrating the crate digging done on his behalf. From 70s soul records to traditional African drums, Donuts sounds what it would feel like if the complete contents of a dusty, out-of-date record store smelted the entirety of its stock into a singular vinyl disc. Borrowing literal milliseconds of various records for miniscule portions of songs off of Donuts, Dilla’s patchwork style blends and pairs endearingly well with the tools his family provided him with. 

Throughout the final year of his life, Dilla’s condition worsened considerably. His legs and arms would periodically swell, hindering his ability to work on Donuts. If the pain of using his fingers to operate his MPC became too much to handle, his mother would massage his fingertips, he was simply bent on finishing the record. His sheer determination radiates from each track. From the roaring, vigorous guitar that defines the blood-curdling opener “Workinonit,” spry dance tracks such as “Dilla Says Go” and “Light It,” somber love songs like “Stop”, to signature soul loops on “One for Ghost” and “U-Love,” “Donuts” is a 31-song exhibition in sampling mastery and pushing the boundary of what it means to produce into uncharted territory. This isn’t hyperbole either. Think John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Wolfgang Mozart, this is the company J Dilla stands in with just how innovative projects like Donuts are. Let me explain.

Dilla wasn’t just chopping samples in a way that made your head bop, he was tinkering with and altering our conception of music time. Thanks to the compositional study done by author Dan Charnas in his novel “Dilla Time: The Life and After-Life of J Dilla,” we have a genuine understanding of just how indelible Dilla’s mark on music is. Let’s take a deep-dive into some music theory.

The vast majority of European music counts its rhythm evenly, meaning every beat is of equal length. This is otherwise known as straight time.

Things changed with the introduction of jazz, particularly African-American jazz. Early jazz goliaths such as Louis Armstrong started introducing the concept of beats coming long-short, long-short, which then became known as swing time.

None of that meant anything to J Dilla. With the technological revelation of the MPC, rules like that were nothing more than a musical custom. Thus brought the creation of Dilla Time, fusing both swing and straight time simultaneously. Effectively shredding the shackles of hip-hop producers for eternity, Donuts quite literally reimagined how we view music. 

Donuts was officially released on February 7, 2006 to immediate critical acclaim. Sadly, Dilla passed away just three days following the release of the record, unable to revel in the musical feat he had just accomplished. Although Dilla was relatively underground at the time of his passing, the hip-hop world has never glossed over the significance of his work.

“We have to make music and think ‘if Dilla was alive, would he like this?’” said Kanye West in an interview with HYPEBEAST. “It was like he was making Quincy Jones production sessions out of his MPC. His music just felt like drugs.” Frequent collaborator, friend and fellow member of the Mt. Everest of legendary hip-hop producers Madlib has been outspoken in his praise of Dilla. “ “[His production was] like that human feel, and the selections that he chose to sample. Every producer bows down to Dilla whether they like it or not, because everybody took something from him like Coltrane.”

Madlib isn’t wrong. Dilla’s influence reaches well beyond the borders of hip-hop. From modern jazz to R&B, to funk, to lo-fi, Dilla’s bold defiance of musical rules continues to inspire waves upon waves of producers who think outside-the-box. Every off kilter drum, kick or vocal sample that sounds uniquely out-of-place can be traced back to this record and the mind of Dilla. In that way, much like the shape that a donut embodies, Dilla’s impact on hip-hop will be never ending. Rest in Peace Jay Dee.

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Luke Modugno is the editor-in-chief of StereoVision.

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A Hip-Hop Landmark: How “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” Created the Next Generation of Rap

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by Sydney Fluker

It is an extremely cold take to say that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is one of the greatest hip-hop records of all time. From shattering previous records and making history with its release to the hold it has on hip-hop today, the release of Miseducation is a prominent black line on hip-hop’s historical timeline. 

Released on August 25, 1998 by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records, Miseducation was an instant hit. With Lauryn Hill already having fame from her previous group Fugees, Miseducation was the breakout solo album her fans were waiting for. The record was an instant hit, selling almost 425,000 copies in its first week and reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. 

“[I wanted to] write songs that lyrically move me and have the integrity of reggae and the knock of hip-hop and the instrumentation of classic soul," she said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1999. "[My engineer and I worked on] a sound that's raw. I like the rawness of you being able to hear the scratch in the vocals. I don't ever want that taken away."

The rawness has been received well. Since its release, Miseducation has sold 20 million copies worldwide according to Sony Music, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. In 2021, it became a certified diamond record by the Recording Industry Association of America, earning Ms. Hill the Guinness World Record for being the first female rapper to reach diamond status. 

Miseducation is a glorious combination of neo soul, R&B, hip-hop and reggae. While the story of its creation plays out like a movie (check out this Rolling Stone interview for the full story), it's clear that this record is a Ms. Hill original through and through. Creating her own team after being effectively blacklisted by Fugees partner Wyclef Jean, Ms. Hill blazed her own path in her early twenties, using unknown producers and being pregnant while creating an industry-changing record. 

Her relationship with Rohan Marley, the father to her five children, led her to move to Jamaica for a part of the album’s production to find peace of mind. “Forgive Them Father” and “Lost Ones” were made at the Bob Marley Museum on 56 Hope Road, which Ms. Hill references on “Lost Ones.” Both feature singing in patois, the common dialect in Jamaica. 

One of the largest influences apparent in Miseducation is the influence of Christianity in her own life. Much of the song “Tell Him” is based on 1 Corinthians 13, while “To Zion” discusses her decision to carry her unborn son based on prayer. Perhaps the most obvious is “Forgive Them Father,” where she invokes Luke 23:34 and confirms her biblical references are intentional.

“Gospel music is music inspired by the gospels,” Hill said in the book “Lauryn Hill: She’s Got That Thing.” “In a huge respect, a lot of this music turned out to be just that. During this album, I turned to the Bible and wrote songs that I drew comfort from.” 

Even in “non-religious” tracks, the influence is felt. D’Angelo, whose feature on “Nothing Even Matters” was laid down in the course of an hour, noted the importance of that song in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. 

“Churches were substituting God in the lyrics [for “Nothing Even Matters”],” D’Angelo said. “Whenever they make a gospel version from a secular song, that’s significant.”

Ms. Hill and Miseducation made history at the 41st GRAMMY Awards, being nominated for 10 GRAMMYs heading into the ceremony and walking out with four. “Doo Wop (That Thing)” won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song, and Miseducation took home Album of The Year and Best R&B Album. She herself won Best New Artist, making her the first female artist to ever win five or more awards at the GRAMMYs in one night. Miseducation was the first hip-hop album to win Album of The Year, making the world respect the art of hip-hop a little bit more. 

Ms. Hill has done more than inspire the next generation of music — she’s helped create it. The vulnerability presented on Miseducation opened the door for more emotional records. An unknown John Legend started his career by playing piano on “Everything is Everything” before eventually signing to Kanye West’s GOOD Music, another Ms. Hill inspiree. 

“Lauryn is innovative,” Janelle Monáe told British magazine NME. “She was hip-hop and R&B, but nobody had used [the combination] in the way she did. She created something that we had never tasted before. There was already a Lauryn Hill, there was already an Erykah Badu – but there was not a Janelle Monáe. They inspired me to create my own lane.”

Miseducation is a sample haven for all sorts of genres, but has mainly been used across hip-hop. Kanye West has been open about how Ms. Hill inspired him in his music, using her samples on multiple albums throughout his career and shouting her out in his 2007 song “Champion.” Drake’s chopped-up use of “Ex-Factor” for the chorus on “Nice For What” is one of the most notable samples, but his 2014 “Draft Day” sampled “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” is an equally impressive manner. From PnB Rock to Cardi B, “Ex-Factor” has been sampled over and over since its initial 1998 release. 

Fabolous’s “Summertime Shootout” featuring Jazzy samples “Lost Ones” and shouts out Ms. Hill’s time in Fugees with “Heard she in between dudes, just like Lauryn.” J. Cole’s “Can I Holla At Ya” uses Santana’s rift from “To Zion” to talk to his father figures, remixing a Ms. Hill original with an equally emotional track. Ms. Hill has even been shouted out by rappers from other countries, as up-and-coming Portuguese rapper Pete Mcee compares the power of his girl’s lips to the music of Lauryn Hill. 

“You use music as your vehicle to reach people you feel need to hear your message,” Monáe said. “That album gave me the fuel I needed to bring out the things that made me unique.”

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Sydney Fluker is a staff writer.

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How “Pieces of a Man” Became the Socially-Conscious Voice of a Generation

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by Asher Ali

When George Floyd was murdered, Americans dusted off their shoes and marched to fight for justice in a system that was ever-more glaringly built on discrimination and racism. Many different phrases and taglines were prominently featured at the forefront of 2020’s push for change, namely among them a particular truism first uttered from the mouth of poet and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron.

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is one of the most used and also distorted lines in times of tumult, and it originates from Scott-Heron’s prominent song of the same title. First used as part of his introduction to his inaugural album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, the song made greater waves on the Chicago native’s second project, Pieces of a Man in 1971. 

The album became an underground success with its jazz poetry breaking down the perspective of a beleaguered man desperate to break free from the chains of oppression. In particular, “The Revolution will Not Be Televised” has been at the vanguard of fights for social justice from London in 1983 to Mumbai in 2009. 

The album as a whole has also remained consistently relevant to this day through the instrumental impact it had in establishing the sound of hip-hop and jazz rap. Scott-Heron never agreed that he was the forefather of rap, calling his association with the genre “a mistake,” but the state of hip-hop today would be unfathomable because of who the poet and the famous Pieces of a Man inspired. 

The groundwork of the album’s sound is laid out by jazz composer, keyboardist and producer Brian Jackson who was a decade-long collaborator with Scott-Heron. His wavy drums, flute and keyboard sounds served as simply a backdrop to Scott-Heron’s whimsical dictation, which was a more novel concept of the time as it gave the lyrics space to stand out on their own instead of forcing them to meld together. 

The juxtaposition of gentle rhythm against fluid, yet hard-hitting lyrics inspired Ali Shaheed Muhammad of a Tribe Called Quest to seek out jazz samples to put up against the bars of his fellow group members. Muhammad got together with Jackson in 2021 for a collaborative jazz project, but as a fan of Jackson’s in the early 90s, Muhammad emulated the sonic ideas from Pieces of a Man in a range of Tribe tracks, from “Excursions” to “Keep it Rollin’”. 

Free expression of difficult themes was also championed on the album by Scott-Heron and also became a distinguishing factor for A Tribe Called Quest as the group ascended. Even in their younger years, the young emcees of Q-Tip, Jarobi White and Phife Dawg were politically and socially outspoken, talking about xenophobia, veganism and religion in their rhymes. Scott-Heron’s grand influence on hip hop has helped some deem him as the progenitor of the genre; a hard nomination to argue against when you pay attention to how much he’s influenced perhaps the greatest zeitgeist in the genre’s history. Kanye West was maybe one of the most outspoken musicians in the early 2000s, both inside and outside the studio, as the mutual Chicagoan saw his genius as a reincarnation of what Scott-Heron had preached before him. 

West has always been proficient at analogizing tropes in the commercial world to dig at something deeper within the human condition, something Scott-Heron was masterful at doing in his poetry as well. Kanye gave clear credit to this on Late Registration’s “My Way Home” which sampled “Home is Where the Hatred Is” from Pieces of a Man, but in a way that was unique for West’s production style at the time. 

Instead of chopping it to pieces and reverbing the song to make it beautifully unrecognizable, West loops the hard-hitting piano chords from the song leaving it nearly untouched, while then featuring Scott-Heron’s powerful vocals at points to break through the bars that both West and fellow Scott-Heron studier Common are laying down. 

West’s track concludes with 44 seconds of unbroken phrase from Scott-Heron’s classic, where his powerful voice echoes a sentiment about how returning home after suffering can cause more pain. The world knows Kanye West to be someone who rarely lets others tell his own story, yet here Ye was clearly proud to let someone of Scott-Heron’s pedigree describe how he felt. 

On Late Registration’s very next song “Crack Music”, Kanye put down an introspective and socially conscious line right out of the Scott-Heron handbook where he said, “You hear that? What Gil Scott was Heron / When our heroes or heroines got hooked on heroin.” Conveying a period of time so vividly is incredibly emblematic of what Scott-Heron was known for, and not only Ye, but Kendrick Lamar out of Los Angeles was able to articulate deep personal narratives in rap, much like the spoken word of the renowned jazz poet. 

Much like how Pieces of a Man tells the story of Scott-Heron and his father trying to escape cultural discrimination and injustice, good kid, m.A.A.d city was Kendrick’s tale of how he tried to overcome poverty and extreme dysfunction as a kid living in Compton. Kendrick’s prose would only become more poetic in To Pimp A Butterfly as he ornately paints a tableau of how this country tries to break Black Americans in hopes of conformity. It’s an expansion of the themes expressed in the interpersonal story of Pieces of a Man. 

From “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” to “Peace”, the sounds, rhythms and themes of Pieces of a Man are the ideals that have underpinned hip-hop since DJ Kool Herc. And as recently as 2020 when the ugly head of racial inequality was front and center in this country, the message of Scott-Heron’s art resurfaced in full bloom. Perhaps nobody in modern rap has embodied how the duality of Scott-Heron’s message still resonates with the world today quite like Freddie Gibbs. The gangster poet first used the line, “The revolution is the genocide / my execution might be televised,” in Alfredo’s “Scottie Beam” and later on released his own rendition of the soulful and sorrowful “Winter in America” which Scott-Heron and Jackson wrote as they saw first-hand how democracy can fail this country. 

The best art is that which transcends time with the message it brings, and Pieces of a Man has not just reached multiple generations but inspired them too socially and artistically.

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Asher Ali is a staff writer.

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Continuation of Excellence or Lack of Innovation? “It’s Almost Dry” Review

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by Asher Ali

Pusha T’s status as one of the most preeminent figures in “cocaine rap” has been in the work since he went under the moniker of Terrar as one half of the duo Clipse. Layered over beats almost exclusively produced by none other than Pharrell Williams, Terrance Thorton and his brother Gene slang bars like they were on a street corner.  

Push then caught the eye of Kanye West, and after signing with GOOD Music label in 2010, Thorton was promoted to company president two years later, and has been guided by Ye’s production and industry insight to a fruitful solo career. Push’s “DAYTONA” in 2018 was an elaborate composition arranged by West that took Push’s sound to new heights far and above what other coke rappers were doing then.  

Now, the duality of Push’s past career has conjoined on his newest project “It’s Almost Dry,” featuring six songs produced by Pharrell and six songs produced by West. The two hip hop maestros go toe to toe bringing some of the most solid beats heard this year, but outside of a few of tracks, this album doesn’t advance Push’s sound, much less the sound of contemporary coke rap.  

Pharrell immediately kicks it back to the Clipse days with “It’s Almost Dry’s” first track “Brambleton.” A smooth kick drum driven beat comes with Push’s malfeasance bars that cover his young life in Brambleton, Virginia where his mother worked and his adverse feelings toward ex-Clipse manager Anthony Gonzalez, who aired some dirty laundry with Push in a recent interview Gonzalez did with VladTV.   

Push immediately jumps onto another, more bombastic Pharrell beat with “Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes” where Push paints himself as the “coke game’s Dr. Seuss.” 

The first Ye backed track is introduced third on the track list with “Dreamin Of The Past” which is both lifted and brought down by Kanye. The track soars thanks to a well-pulled sample from Donny Hathaway’s “Jealous Guy” that lifts Push’s fluid drug-laced bars to a euphoric plane. As Push’s final verse fades, listeners are bombarded with an unwelcome verse from West, an awkwardly mixed 30 second feature the West rounds out with an uncomfortable line about how his family is currently unsafe.

Ye once again manages to be the greatest advocate and detriment for Push on “Rock N Roll” the alleged final song with Kid Cudi and West. Once again, a beautifully assembled beat on Ye’s end comes with a heinous guest verse from him, this one sounding more like the nonsensical bars that Kanye gave on the first rendition of DONDA 2. Cudi’s hook sounds muffled and over-produced as well, while Push delivers some strong verses about his premiere status at the top of the rap and the drug-dealing game.  

At his best on this album, Pusha T is elaborating on the narrative of authenticity, or lack thereof, in a world of glamor and fame. The two singles on the project, “Neck & Wrist” and “Diet Coke” address the lengths that people will go to fabricate a glamorous drug lifestyle in order to avoid actual hardships.  

“Neck & Wrist” sees Push and feature Jay-Z spitting over a whining synth and sharp piano key beat while they boast about a lifestyle they live but others pretend to have. HOV’s cutthroat line, “y’all spend real money on fake watches shockingly,” getting to the core of the absurd lengths people will go to construct facades.  

“Diet Coke” then expands on why people aspire to have a certain kind of life but aren’t willing to assume the risks.  

It seems on the latter portion of this project that Thorton lost motivation to push any boundaries however, which is disappointing when listeners come to expect that from him and his pen constantly. Not only did Push lose interest, but it appears Pharrell did too on “Call My Bluff” which is completely dry of energy and motivation.  

“Scrape It Off” is definitely this album’s attempt at a top charting club banger, featuring Don Toliver on the hook and Lil Uzi Vert. Toliver is as reliable as ever giving an ethereal hook, but Uzi phones in his verse and Push doesn’t bring an interesting flow to spice up the track on its back end.  

The final three songs on the albums are decent in their own right, but all come off as watered-down versions of more innovative cuts Push had earlier on the album. Even the final track “I Pray For You” doesn’t do much despite a beautiful intro and a Malice feature to rekindle a Clipse cut.  

“It’s Almost Dry” comes out strong to show that Push is still among the one of the most elite in the game, but a weak back half of the project doesn’t propel him to the new heights that people wanted to see. 

Favorite tracks: 

Just So You Remember 

Neck & Wrist (feat. JAY-Z & Pharrell Williams)

Dreamin Of The Past (feat. Kanye West)

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Asher Ali is a staff writer. Follow him on Twitter.

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Does Money or Music Talk? Examining Marketing & Branding in Music

By Luke Modugno

Let’s take it back to last summer. The sun peeked over the clouds of spring, pandemic mandates were being lifted left and right, and the music industry was being set ablaze in Los Angeles. No, it wasn’t due to the record high temperatures or the arid Santa Ana winds emblematic of June in California. The music industry was brought to a grinding halt by a simple set of billboards that read “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” plastered over a pair of pastel stars with a phone number below. 

Courtesy of r/tylerthecreator on Reddit

After calling the number, you can hear Tyler, The Creator’s mother ranting about the trials and tribulations of raising her son. Thus began the concentrated frenzy of a rollout for Tyler’s latest classic record CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST. Besides the genius production, intricate, vivid world-building and luxuriously braggadocious bars, the album’s succinct and memorable rollout was the unexpected recipient of heaps of praise from fans and industry execs alike.

Despite encapsulating fans in a universe brought to life by vivid lyrical images of Swiss lakes, music videos akin to fully-fledged Wes Anderson films, and accompanied by the launch of a luxury brand that just smells of opulence, Tyler, The Creator was simply trumped by a masked Kanye West as he began a rollout of his own. Seared into the very fabric of social media dialogue for months on end, the summer of 2021 was home to two of the most remarkable marketing campaigns the contemporary music industry has witnessed. The unmitigated and astounding success of both campaigns begs the question: what’s more important? The music, or the marketing?

Well, if you ask Kanye West, the answer is very simple: rollouts. A Billboard report from 2021 showed that between just two of the three listening parties Ye hosted for Donda in Atlanta, the rapper generated between $1.5 and $2.7 million. Additionally, the pure spectacle of the listening events drove his streaming numbers up 37% in just two weeks according to the same report. According to MRC data, that equates to $350,000 on top of whatever he took home from the listening events. Conversely, Donda recently reached one billion streams on Spotify which after both Spotify and his label take their piece of the pie, equates to less than $2.5 million net revenue in seven months.

Of course, we all understand marketing occupies a significant space in the selling process for any item, good, or service. However as it pertains to music, the marketing scheme can often directly contribute to the product overall. “[Tyler] creates these worlds that people are obsessed with,” said music marketer and artist coach Amber Horsburgh on the Trapital Podcast. “Everything from the teasers, to the passport on the cover, the billboards, music videos, everything he posted on Instagram, it was all from the same world. And that world was very different from the ones he built for ‘IGOR’ or ‘Flower Boy,’ so it became this really compelling artistic reinvention.”

Courtesy of Complex

Geniuses of the marketing game like Tyler or Kanye generate such compelling worlds and realms of artistic vision that their fans buy into the music with their ears and their wallets. At both of the Donda listening parties in Atlanta, Kanye was seen donning a baggy Yeezy Gap puffer jacket. Simply due to the iconic nature of the moment and performance, Yeezy Gap made $7 million overnight following the release of the jacket according to Yahoo Finance.

Similarly, Tyler’s new luxury line, GOLF le FLEUR*, accompanied the release of CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST. While the financial data isn't available yet, if a $225 fur ushanka hat is selling out in minutes, it's safe to assume it was a massive success. Fueled by each respective rollout, fans not only wanted to passively spectate the universe created by Ye and Tyler, they wanted to be a part of it physically.

This is all to say at the end of the day, if the music is subpar, the spectacle of an album’s rollout will be unquestionably diminished. However, an effective campaign can make a listener have plenty of positive predispositions about a record, in turn upping the chances that an artist strongly resonates with a listener. “Your brand is way more than just your music,” states Puris Music Consulting’s website. “Your brand has to consist of everything from your name, your wardrobe, your messaging during your sets, your nonverbal communication from the stage, your album art, your community service platform, your story of why you are an artist and so on.”

Plenty of an artist’s focus in the modern music industry is or should be locked on branding correctly. Why? According to a study conducted by a marketing strategy consultancy group, 78% of anything you and I buy, as music consumers, isn’t about the content of what we are buying, it’s about how we feel about the content. Think about how artists are introduced to us. Oftentimes we view multiple pieces of branded content before hearing a second of sonic content. Whether it’s cover art, an artist’s profile on a streaming service, a concert set, or their social media presence, artists work just as hard on their music as their marketing agencies do on promoting their branded content.

Unless you’re a business savant and musical genius in an all-in-one package like Tyler or Ye, hiring a consulting or marketing agency is the most common, yet most costly strategy for upcoming artists. Thankfully, the most efficient form of marketing is free. According to Nielsen Holdings, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. While artists with established and lengthy discographies are able to utilize word-of-mouth marketing more immediately, it’s not an impossibility for smaller artists. It’s proven that out-of-the-box ideas are more than capable of matching the efficacy of a fully-fledged campaign.

Look no further than Soulja Boy’s initial utilization of YouTube, which revolutionized music marketing for years. At the time an innovative strategy, Soulja was the first artist to successfully promote his music through the platform, sparking conversation industry-wide. Generating over half of a billion views (510 million), viewers were captivated by music’s integration into the internet. Shared hundreds of thousands of times and generating heaps of traditional media coverage, “Crank That” flew to the top of the charts. And considering a study conducted by Swedish researcher Guy Madison and Gunilla Schiölde found that repeated exposure to music categorically increases your enjoyment of it, regardless of its complexity or your “taste,” Soulja’s strategy has been copy and pasted by the entirety of the industry since.

Let’s be honest, we can all agree “Crank That” isn’t a musical masterpiece. But its promotion strategy, however, was nothing short of brilliance, allowing it to be one of the most successful smash hits of the 2000’s.

While potent and timely case studies, Tyler, Soulja, and Ye are far from the only successful campaigners. The music industry is constantly searching for innovative ways to captivate fans beyond the traditional product. In some ways, the money is talking just as loudly as the music is playing.

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Eazy // Kanye West x The Game Reaction & Review

Ye is back and it's getting personal. Today, Miles and Spencer sat down and listened to The Game's new song "Eazy" which features a tell-all Kanye West verse where he speaks on the current state of his divorce, buying a house next door to Kim, and fighting Pete Davidson. The beats by Hit-Boy and the song is an absolute must-listen.

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2021 YEAR END SPECIAL!!! // TheStereoVision Podcast Ep. 29

In today's episode, Miles and Spencer discuss some of the top music and events of 2021. Thank you everyone for a great year, and we have much more in store in 2022!

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StereoVision's Favorite Albums of 2021

By StereoVision Staff

Although 2021 seriously left something to be desired, the music that was released this year did not. Our favorite musicians put us in their backpacks and create worlds for us to live in while disease, hate, and ignorance plagued ours. From some of the most celebrated artists of our generation dropping new albums (Tyler, the Creator, Kanye West, Drake) to exciting newcomers making a serious claim for the throne (Baby Keem, Don Toliver, Yeat), 2021 was jam-packed with exciting releases and excellent music. Without further ado, the StereoVision team is proud to present out top 30 albums of 2021:

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30. Mercurial World by Magdalena Bay

I’ll be real with you - I love weird shit that isn’t afraid to build worlds, push music forward, and most importantly, take risks. Luckily, Magdalena Bay was able to check all of those boxes with their debut album Mercurial World - an album equally concerned with existential terror, time, space, and crafting insanely-detailed indie-pop anthems for our enjoyment. It would be impossible to boil down everything I love about this record in the few sentences allotted to me, but this album truly is a modern pop masterpiece that somehow balances a careful love for pop’s past, present, and future. Take tracks like “Hysterical Us”, “Dawning Of The Season” or “Secrets (Your Fire)” - do those songs not sound like they were written in the year 3000? Whether or not you have a strong affinity for pop music, Magdalena Bay’s Mercurial World stands alone amongst the pile of new releases we got this year. -Carter Fife

Favorite Tracks:

Hysterical Us, Secrets (Your Fire), & Prophecy

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29. Navy’s Reprise by Navy Blue

The budding voice of the underground, Navy Blue’s consistent output of refreshingly personal raps over avant-garde production continues with Navy’s Reprise. Behind the boards or using his pen, Navy puts his oozing talent on full display here. Quickly becoming one of the most talented acts in rap music, Navy Blue is a name to remember going into 2022. -Luke Modugno

Favorite Tracks:

My Whole Life, Not a Lot to Fear, & Suite 11

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28. Do it for demon by sahbabii

For an artist who prefers to stay out of the spotlight, the release of this album reminded us of his talents, and put him at the center of attention once again. Sahbabii perfected his sound on this album, giving us a new version of himself while also sticking to his roots that are reminiscent of his 2018 tape, Squidtastic. Songs like “Dickalasionship” and “Crosswalk” were flooded with lines that made me laugh at how unexpected yet hard they were at the same time. It’s moments like these that make a project memorable and shareable with friends; Sahbabii kept an upbeat and hopeful vibe throughout the project, celebrating the life of his late childhood friend, ‘Demon Child’, for whom the album is dedicated to. This pleasant listen is light on the ears and is easy for you to zone out to, just appreciating the melodies and ambient vocals. -Q Hollomand

Favorite Tracks:

I see, Crosswalkk & Bread Head

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27. 1 Night I Took Acid by Bigbabygucci

BigBabyGucci truly used his 2021 release to evolve from SoundCloud rapper to overall musician and mogul and the experienced ear can tell by simply listening. There is so much to say about this artist and this album. For those unaware, BigBabyGucci is tearing up the underground with his barrage of albums and versatility on different beats. On this album, Gucci takes a step back from the grunge, dark beats he had on his previous tape Assume the Worst and makes this one much livelier and inviting. He incorporates dancehall beats and makes his music more personal with song intros and a banger with Coldhart. All in all, be on the lookout for Gucci, he is only getting started. -Drew Jenkins

Favorite Tracks:

Hotel California, Tuesday, & Before Us

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26. Cinema by The Marias

Cinema is the long-awaited debut record from LA-based indie rock group The Marías, a record that seamlessly pulls influences from indie rock to ethereal pop, classical, and latin music. Tracks like “Hush” and “Calling U Back” are hard-hitting and perfectly-polished bangers that somehow fit on virtually every playlist, and tracks like “Spin Me Around” will make you feel like you’re literally floating above your body. Their sound is hypnotic, and whether they’re delivering you a seductive and downtempo bilingual groove like “Little by Little”, or a transcendental wall of dream-like sound on “All I Really Want Is You”, every second is a perfectly polished moment from one of LA’s most promising acts. -Carter Fife

Favorite Tracks:

All I Really Want Is You, Calling U Back, & Little By Little

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25. Van goghs left ear by zelooperz

 Though it might be shallow if you are looking for an album to bump while cruising and want heads to turn immediately, Zelooperz has blessed you. Each track has an insane beat that matches a voice that could only come from Detroit. Crash bandicoot samples to ones that will make you research a blind opera singer Zelooperz brought the range to this album. He even took advantage of his vocal prowess by singing which only added another layer of complexity. -CJ Allen

Favorite Tracks:

Bash Bandicoon, Essential Worker, & Don’t Leave

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24. Still Over It by Summer Walker

The energy that Summer Walker carried into her second studio album was undeniably that of a star. Her debut album Over It established her as a force in the industry, and she took it a step farther on Still Over It. There are moments where this project feels straight out of the early 2000’s in the best way possible, but it is backed by a very modern bounce. She never shies away from her experiences, positive or negative, and makes it all sound incredible. The lyrics are cutthroat and empowering at the same time. On a track like “No Love”, she and SZA make it apparent just how quickly they will cut off all emotional contact once they feel mistreated. Songs like this don't feel like heartbreak anthems, but rather they feel like the product of putting yourself first and understanding personal needs. Summer has one of the best voices in the industry, and she is able to float over slow sexy ballads like “Unloyal '' with Ari Lennox as well as bouncy club records like “Dat Right There” with Pharell. With Still Over It, she sent a very clear message to the next man that tries to play with her. -Miles Hagan

Favorite Tracks:

No Love, Switch A N***a Out, & Toxic

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23. sixtape 2 by blxst & bino rideaux

At this point, there’s no denying that Blxst and Bino Rideaux are the West coast’s most dangerous duo. With one joint project under their belt (2019’s Sixtape) and a handful of excellent tracks, the LA duo was already aiming for the afro-mentioned title before solidifying their claim with Sixtape 2, the infectious 12-track project that was the undisputed soundtrack of the summer in Los Angeles. The project is as bouncy as it gets and Blxst’s ear-worm melodies perfectly complement Bino’s mesmerizing flow. On songs like “One of Them Ones” the duo is able to inspire and communicate confidence in a similar way to that of their mentor Nipsey Hussle well making that confidence as accessible as ever. Songs like “Program” and “Stressful” are obvious standouts in both artists’ discography due to an absurd amount of replayability. All-in-all, Blxst and Bino did it again and crafted one of the most fun projects of the year. -Spencer Lobdell

Favorite Tracks:

Program, One of Them Ones, Stressful

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22. Right Now by willie Jones

If there is one album you must listen to that may be outside of your usual music taste, it has to be this one. Willie Jones killed his album debut and personally ignited a flame in me that is now constantly searching for the next country star. Even though the album involves a mixture of many styles, that will allow even the most intense country hater a chance to enjoy it. There is no doubt that this is a unique country album. It will be evident once Willie’s baritone voice transports you to the backroads of some wheat field. -CJ Allen

Favorite Tracks:

Down for it, Trainwreck, & Back Porch

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21. epiphany by ka$hdami

epiphany: the epitome of a plugg album. This 17-song album truly brought plugg music to a broader audience, making Dami one of the first artists in a while to have more mainstream success in this subgenre of rap. The progressive production, paired with a direct vocal delivery by Dami makes for a euphoric listen; each song having its own ear candy that makes you go back for another song. This album solidified Ka$hdami as a staple in the underground youth culture. His rise this year is linked to countless songs going viral on Tik Tok, but in a cool way, avoiding his songs being ‘ruined’ by the app’s abilities to sometimes do so. Features from SSGKobe, BabySantana, Riovaz, and more do not disappoint, making this album a star-studded collection that unites the underground scene. -Q Hollomand

Favorite Tracks:

Reparations, Wake Up, & Receipts

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20. to hell with it by pinkpantheress

Pinkpantheress shows out on her first album. In an online age where everyone has heard almost everything, pinkpantheress homage to an expired British music scene and homey sounding garage beats stands out from the overall mainstream crowd. The sound feels familiar but not repetitive. Pinkpantheress’ lyrics are also a vital part of her sound; songs centered around love, emotions, slight existential crises’, and mental health hit a soft spot for today’s generation. pinkpantheress is this generations artist, and tiktok was only her vessel. I see many good things to come from this artist, and I hope they keep pushing forward with whatever sound they find. -Drew Jenkins

Favorite Tracks:

nineteen, passion, & break it off

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19. This Thing of Ours Vol. 1 & 2 by the alchemist

Very few artists have reached the legendary status that Alchemist has obtained in his career. He is a testament to consistency and always cultivating new relationships in the industry. His genius on This Thing of Ours is in his subtlety. These are not concept albums yet they feel undeniably cohesive. The album feels like we are listening to old vinyls we didn't know we had, in a dusty attic, and having the time of our lives for about 30 minutes. From Earl Sweatshirt, to MAVI, to Zeloopeerz, everyone shines and sounds perfectly at home. While there is no consistent subject matter from song to song, there are no wasted bars from anyone, and that intentionality keeps the listener focused. On a project where every song is a moment we are left asking, “How did Al do it again?” -Miles Hagan

Favorite Tracks:

TV Dinners, Loose Change, 6 Five Heartbeats

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18. USEE4YOURSELF by idk

There are many words that you can use to describe IDK, but luckily radio-silent is not one of them. Having released a project every year we’ve known him, few hip-hop artists have developed their style and sound as quickly as IDK. USEE4YOURSELF is a reflection of this, because it doesn’t just feel like a yearly release at this point. A conceptual album tracing IDK’s troubled relationship with love and traditional masculinity to his childhood, USEE4YOURSELF is a heartfelt and vulnerable meditation on intimacy and self-reflection. Aurally, the album is packed to the brim with bangers, and with Mike Dean helming most of the production, perhaps hip-hop has it’s newest dynamic duo. Tracks like “Pradadabang” with Young Thug and “Peloton” are decorated with forward-thinking mixes and writing that effortlessly moves IDK into a lane of his own. It’s hard to summarize this record in a few sentences, but take it from me - USEE4YOURSELF is one of the strongest releases this year, and I’ll be anxiously awaiting what IDK does next. -Carter Fife

Favorite Tracks:

Puerto Rico, Pradadabang, & Shoot My Shot

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17. BO JACKSON BY BOLDY JAMES AND THE ALCHEMIST

Hip-hop has always been about collaboration, and nothing elevates the genre quite like when a producer and emcee have undeniable chemistry. Detroit's own Boldy James and the legendary Alchemist linked up once again this year for a follow-up to their 2020 masterpiece The Price of Tea in China, with Bo Jackson. This time around, the duo brought a seriously upgraded guest list, including Freddie Gibbs, Earl Sweatshirt, Benny The Butcher, Roc Marciano, and Curren$y. A pairing of artists who just can't quite seem to miss, Bo Jackson was one of the best projects hip-hop's underground scene had to offer in 2021. -Luke Modugno

Favorite Tracks:

Brickmile to Montana, Fake Flowers, & Turpentine

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16. Sometimes I might be introvert by Little Simz

Meaningful introspection is something that can be a confusingly-difficult learned skill for artists. This is not the case for the UK’s rising rap star Little Simz and her fourth studio album. Production and unmitigated honesty are the strong points here, as Simz contemplates her journey of self-discovery under the limelight. -Luke Modugno

Favorite Tracks:

Miss Understood, Two Worlds Apart, & Woman

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15. WEIGHT OF THE WORLD BY MAXO KREAM

When you have Tyler the Creator, A$AP Rocky, Freddie Gibbs, and more well-known heavy hitters on a project and don’t lose your own spotlight, you know you’ve made something special. Maxo Kream has been a prominent artist, but this album felt different. Once you have heard the song that tells the story of his brother a new tone is added to the album. Maxo was even able to make a bop about the words he’s been hearing from his haters. Talented storytelling and an overall level of wittiness helped create a masterpiece. -CJ Allen

Favorite Tracks:

They Say, Trips, & Believe

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14. TWOFR 2

Although Kalan.FrFr has been a familiar name in Los Angeles since 2018, the Roc Nation artist really established himself as one of the most exciting rising artists on the West Coast with the spring release of TwoFr 2. The 13-track project was so exciting to music fans everywhere because it’s got a little bit of everything. From undeniable bangers (“Look at Me” & “Scorin”) to emotional cuts (“Never Lose You” & “Run Away”), on TwoFr 2 Kalan asserted himself as a versatile artist that is excited to push the boundaries of LA hip-hop and innovate at every turn. -Spencer Lobdell

Favorite Tracks:

Look At Me, Big Dog, Never Lose You

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13. THE LIFE OF PI’ERRE 5 BY PI’ERRE BOURNE

Pi’erre did nothing but deliver on his 5th edition of the TLOP series, this one being the standout amongst the five. What made this album such a relief was Pi’erre’s choice to include fan-favorite leaks; songs like ‘Switchin’ Lanes’ ft. Playboi Carti and ‘Drunk and Nasty’ ft. Sharc made the final cut. The signature Pi’erre production on every beat and his nonchalant, but catchy vocals create a mind-numbing effect on the listener. Every song transitions into the next one, making each listen feel like a new experience(I think that “Groceries” into “Butterfly” is the best transition). Pi’erre is finally getting the recognition he deserves as a vocalist as he continues to display his simple, yet intricate production. -Q Hollomand

Favorite Tracks:

Butterfly, YNS, & Drunk and Nasty

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12. CERTIFIED LOVER BOY BY DRAKE

From the moment Drake shaved a heart in his hair the music world was waiting for Certified Lover Boy. After some leaked versions, clothing line drops, and renting out Dodger Stadium for a date night, debatably the biggest rapper in the world dropped his latest project. Drake sounds as hungry as ever on “Knife Talk '' and “No Friends in the Industry ''. These tracks are high energy and filled with high hats, and the latter provided us with one of the best 21 Savage features of the year. Then, two songs later, we get “Pipe Down” and “Get Along Better”, over lush production and with lyrics that undeniably live up to the persona he has created. All of this while still giving us an epic intro and heartfelt outro, one-liners that will be captions for years to come, and everything else we have come to expect from The Boy. Drake and 40 were able to curate an amazing list of guest features and some of the most influential producers in hip-hop. While it was going to be nearly impossible for the album to live up to the hype that was built for it before release, Certified Lover Boy was still able to capture some of the best moments of the year. -Miles Hagan

Favorite Tracks:

Papi’s Home, Fair Trade, Pipe Down

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11. UNTOURABLE ALBUM BY MEN I TRUST

Released amidst a global pandemic, the aptly-titled Untourable Album is the newest release from the dream-pop powerhouse Men I Trust. Though the world has turned upside down since their last project Oncle Jazz dropped in 2019, Men I Trust put their best foot forward by returning with a fairly-sized collection of new tracks. Seamlessly blending elements of dream-pop with jazz and indie rock, Untourable Album is the perfect album to get lost in when you need a break from 2021’s chaos. From the record’s delectable downtempo basslines to Emmanuelle Proulx’s dulcet vocals, this year Men I Trust came through with an album that sounds like they never left. -Carter Fife

Favorite Tracks:

Tree Among Shrubs, Sugar, & Oh Dove

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10. UP 2 ME BY YEat

Yeat’s parade truly is a marvel to behold on Up 2 Më.  Yeat starts to perfect the gloomy and eerie sound he is going for (like on '“Swërved It”) and begins to experiment with his sound on the last two tracks of the album. Yeat shows continual progression and adaption to an ever-expanding rage music scene along with him beginning to compete with his previous self. Yeat notoriously limits his features to friends and confidants, and on this tape, he only has a feature with his label partner and good friend Septmebersrich. This ability to control a song without having multiple voices or people truly goes to show how groundbreaking Yeat is for not just the underground but hip-hop in general. The way he goes about distorting his voice, and how he is getting more into the production side of his music, we will be seeing a lot greater things from this young artist. -Drew Jenkins

Favorite Tracks:

morning mudd, money so big, & told ya

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9. MICHIGAN BOAT BOY BY LIL YACHTY

Lil Yachty's Michigan boy boat mixtape was his only tape in the year 2021. With this, he shows his versatility and genuine connections in hip-hop by creating a mixtape that attempts to encapsulate the niche underground Detroit/Flint rap music scene. This mixtape was a surprise to many avid hip-hop listeners, Lil Boat and Detroit music fans alike. This was not a total commercial stunt as Yachty has had multiple songs with Tee Grizzley and Sada Baby in his past years of being a mainstream rapper. The scene, rampant with notorious Hitmakers like a BabyTron, Rio da Young OG, and the previously mentioned Sada Baby en-captures a grimy but flavorful stab at what it looks like to be a lyrical rapper in today’s hip-hop. Historically, his music is quite contradictory to a Michigan style of rap, which made fans skeptical but also hungrily await what the MC was cooking up. -Drew Jenkins

Favorite Tracks:

Never Did Coke, Final Form, & Concrete Goonies

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8. VINCE STAPLES BY VINCE STAPLES

It is fitting that his self-titled album is his most personal. Vince Staples is one of the most complex figures that music has to offer. While he is loved by the masses for his slick comedic timing and unrelenting honesty, there are parts of himself and his life that he clearly keeps away from the public eye. He slightly pulls the curtain back on this album, but in the most Vince way possible. He paints pictures with his lyrics and the tone is perfectly set from the opening track “ARE YOU WITH THAT”, where he is honest about how he moves and the things he comes from, but makes it very clear that this life is not for everyone. There is not a bad song on this album. The entire tape is produced by Kenny Beats and he shows his full range. Vince has never rapped over a stripped-back beat like “TAKE ME HOME”, but he sounds like a match made in heaven next to the beautiful singing of Foushee. If you still want to question if he’s really about that life, there are also songs like “LIL FADE” and “MHM” to reassure you. -Miles Hagan

Favorite Tracks:

Law of Averages, Sundown Town, Taking Trips

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7. AN EVENING WITH SILK SONIC BY Silk Sonic

Since the announcement of this collaborative tape, we knew exactly what we were going to get: a masterpiece, plain and simple. Paak and Bruno complement each other incredibly well, with Paak shining lyrically and Bruno crafting hooks that get stuck in your head like gorilla glue. After listening to a track like “Smokin Out the Window,” there’s really only one valid conclusion a listener can come to: Silk Sonic is a duo sent to us by the music gods. -Luke Modugno

Favorite Tracks:

Smokin Out The Window, Fly As Me, 777

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6. LIFE OF A DON BY DON TOLIVER

There’s no feeling as gratifying as seeing someone reach their true potential. From the first time I pressed play on Don’s 2018 mixtape Donny Womack it was obvious that the Texas artist could be incredible but after an underwhelming follow-up project (Heaven or Hell) I was unsure what the future held for the Cactus Jack artist. I’m so happy to say that with the release of Life of a Don this year, Don Toliver has finally become the artist I always knew he could be. From top to bottom, the 16-track album is packed with biting flows, a psychedelic aesthetic, undeniable range, and everything fans love about Don. In my opinion, no album had better beat selection than Life of a Don in 2021, and when you combine that with Don’s killer vocals and a feature list containing Baby Keem, Travis Scott, SoFaygo, and Kali Uchis, it’s clear to see why this is one of the best albums of the year. Well I don’t think that Life of a Don was the best album of 2021, I do think it was the album I pressed play on the most this year (and it’s not close). -Spencer Lobdell

Favorite Tracks:

Swangin’ on Westheimer, OUTERSPACE, Flocky Flocky

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5. THE MELODIC BLUE BY BABY KEEM

From dropping one of the best albums of the year, to being featured on Kanye West’s Donda, to being brought out by Kendrick Lamar at Day N Vegas, Baby Keem made a serious claim for 2021’s MVP, an absurd feat at only 21 years old. The epitome of his explosive year was undoubtedly the release of The Melodic Blue, a project that was released in the same two-week period as Certified Lover Boy and Donda but still managed to command the moment. The Melodic Blue is undoubtedly this year’s most exciting body of work as Keem experimented with sounds throughout the whole album, taking necessary risks and delivering fans music that sounded like nothing they’d ever heard. Songs like “Family Ties” and “Vent” showcased Keem’s innate ability to make a crowd lose their mind whereas slower tracks like “16” and “Lost Souls” exemplified Keem’s ability to craft beautiful, genre-bending pieces of art. Nothing sounded like The Melodic Blue in 2021 and it absolutely deserves to be sitting with the big dogs in our top 5. -Spencer Lobdell

Favorite Tracks:

Scapegoats, Trademark USA, & 16

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4. THE HOUSE IS BURNING BY ISAIAH RASHAD

“What am I supposed to do outside but get rich”. It is almost arrogant that despite Rashad being reluctant to embrace the spotlight his talent demands, he is aware that the second he does step outside it's over with. These are the first words Isaiah Rashad utters on The House is Burning. He may be the most self-aware figure we have in music, and may even argue that it is to a fault at times. That is what makes this one of the best albums of the year. Before its release, he went on a press run and spoke to multiple publications about his struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse, which landed him in rehab before he could release this project. All of this comes through on The House is Burning. This album is honest, vulnerable, and a celebration of taking life and the healing process a day at a time. This all culminated in some of the rawest music of the year. -Miles Hagan

Favorite Tracks:

RIP Young, Headshots (4r Da Locals), HB2U

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3. WHOLE LOTTA RED BY PLAYBOI CARTI

It is with no doubt that I say that this album has changed the sound and aesthetic of rap more than any other album has. With countless false release dates, anxious fans, and entire album versions leaking to the internet, Carti finally brings us an already classic album that has ushered in a new era of hip-hop. Dropping on Christmas of 2020, its life in 2021 started out rocky, with the rap community split on the controversy of his new ‘vamp’ style and punk-themed music. Now, a year later, the album still feels as fresh and new as ever, with the majority of people now in positive favor of WLR. The standout production of F1lthy and Art Dealer bridges the gap between rock and hip-hop; the sharp synths and aggressive drums bring a new addicting sound to the genre. Whole Lotta Red’s influence on pop culture will continue to play out over the next few years, solidifying it as 2021’s best album. -Q Hollomand

Favorite Tracks:

Stop Breathing, Control, & Over

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2. CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST BY TYLER, THE CREATOR

Which genius concept would you rather see fleshed out by one of our generation's best: an album all about traveling the world released during a global pandemic, or a heartbreaking yet morally-confusing story about being involved in a passionate love triangle? How about both, but we disguise it in a DJ Drama-produced Gangsta Grillz mixtape to give every level of fan a different theme to latch onto? This is exactly what Tyler, the Creator did with his sixth studio album Call Me if you Get Lost, a project that is undoubtedly my album of the year and honestly probably the best album I’ve heard since Mac Miller dropped Swimming in 2018. Despite being on repeat for the entire year, the album continued to take on new meaning as 2021 progressed and although I’m sure I’ve spun the record over 100 times this year, something tells me that this album still has more to teach me about myself and the world around me. -Spencer Lobdell

Favorite Tracks:

Sweet / I Thought You Wanted to Dance, Safari, Massa

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1. DONDA BY KANYE WEST

Albums that possess the ability to command the attention of pop culture are truly legendary. Whenever Kanye West has new music to share, of course we are willing to lend an ear, but this time was decidedly different. With an album rollout that completely defined social media dialogue for months, Donda's musical content matched the unparalleled hype generated by its marketing strategy. Concretely pivoting from the religiously-centered JESUS IS KING, Ye takes center stage as he struggles with the absence of his mother, divorce, and passing of close friends. With a whopping 32 songs over 2 hours, Ye makes yet another solid entry to his already stacked catalog of classic records. -Luke Modugno

Favorite Tracks:

24, Believe What I Say, & Come to Life

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Music as Utility: Donda Album Review

By Luke Modugno

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

While most view music as a form of artistic expression, others use it as a means to an end.  Kanye West’s latest studio album “Donda” is perhaps the most potent example of music as utility. Ye finds himself again at a low-point in his life with 27 beautifully cathartic, solace-seeking songs which see the 44-year-old confronting the death of his mother and a failed marriage with Kim Kardashian. 

Since the death of his mother in 2007, Kanye has hardly had time to cope with her passing. Around the same time, Ye and his fiance Alexis Phifer split dramatically. About a year later, Kanye was thrusted into what was one of the most infamous periods in his career after interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMA’s. For the next several years, Ye fought an uphill battle to stay in the good graces of the public. Later entering into the fashion industry, meticulously building a multi-billion dollar business and returning to religion, Kanye’s life has been running at nothing short of lighting speed since his ascent to stardom. 

Perhaps the fact that the pandemic forced everyone (yes, even Kanye West) to slow their lives to a staggering halt is why 2021 is the year we receive a cathartic tribute to Donda West, nearly 14 years after her passing. 

Coming off what was widely considered Kanye’s weakest project, JESUS IS KING, Ye takes many of the gospel-inspired elements and fuses them with avant-garde trap-soul sound he honed in projects like “The Life of Pablo” and “Yeezus.” However, the project has influence from nearly every other album in Ye’s discography. 

“New Again” sounds as celebratory and futuristic as something scraped off of 2007’s “Graduation.” 

The guest appearance of Kid Cudi on the alluringly spacial “Moon” sounds like the sonic brother of “KIDS SEE GHOSTS.”

The visceral soundscapes employed on “God Breathed” are akin to many that can be found on both “The Life of Pablo” and “Yeezus.” 

​The track “Junya” with Playboi Carti represents a creative and somewhat stunning trap gospel fusion, a sonic direction that seems to guide much of “Donda.”

Duality has been a continual motif in Kanye’s music and “Donda” is no exception to the rule. During the first half of the project, Ye seems to be basking in sin. “I’ll be honest, we all liars/guess who’s going to jail tonight?” Ye sings on the second track featuring Jay-Z titled “Jail.” Donda's first twelve songs are reactionary, they paint a picture of a broken man who gave way to sin in the face of grief and despair. “I was out for self, I was up for sale but I couldn’t tell/Made the best tracks and still went off the rail” harmonizes Ye on “Hurricane.” 

Sonically, the first twelve tracks on “Donda” are uptempo, energetic and boast some of the most notable guest appearances on the record. “Off the Grid” and “Junya” see Ye recruit Playboi Carti’s infectious trap intensity, while Baby Keem and Travis Scott deliver aggressive features on the trunk-rattling “Praise God.” 

“Donda” noticeably pivots starting with track 11 titled “24.” The ever-impressive Sunday Service Choir joins Kanye as he mourns the passing of a close friend, Kobe Byrant. Kanye opened up about the shock of his sudden passing in an interview with GQ Magazine, “He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him,” West said. “We came up at the same time, together. Kobe was one of my best friends.” The grandiose organ requires a high-level signing performance which Kanye delivers. The track represents a paradigm shift of how Ye approaches the rest of “Donda.”

Instead of numbing his pain through sinful deeds, Kanye surrenders to Christ in order to heal himself following the string of traumatic events that have left an indelible scar on his soul. The shift in perspective also comes with a shift in the musicality, as gospel influence seeps into tracks like “Lord I Need You,” “Keep My Spirit Alive,” and the angelic closer “No Child Left Behind.” 

Although the tracklist is littered with what will become timeless Kanye West songs, the definitive penultimate track “Come to Life” encapsulates the “Donda” era both sonically and philosophically.  

With a spine-tingling piano and roaring synth played by Tyler, The Creator gracing the background of the record, Kanye expresses his regret and sorrow in the face of losing his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, asking “Ever wish you had another life? I’ve been feelin’ low for so long.” Singing about how he wished he had listened closer to her dreams, aspirations, wants, and needs, Kanye feels empty in her absence. “I'm free,” Ye sings repetitively in the closing seconds of the song. It's an expression we’ve heard from him before (“Ghost Town”). However, this time feels decidedly different. Kanye has overcome the death of his mother, best friend, and the loss of his family. Somehow, someway, he has continually found peace in religion despite how low life tends to bring him. He’s willing to put his ego and pride aside for his family, a realization clearly years in the making. “Come to Life'' is vulnerable, despondent, telling, gorgeous. 

While mostly polished, Donda is not free of criticism. Ye’s latest project is by far his longest, clocking in at one hour and 48 minutes. At times, the album is bloated, insisting upon itself on multiple occasions. The outro of “God Breathed,” is dragged on far too long, while the remix versions of four of the tracks don’t offer much, simply extending Donda’s runtime. Additionally, the mix on plenty of songs sounds incomplete, including “Tell the Vision,” “Pure Souls,” and Kanye’s verse on “Hurricane.” 

Donda is the acceptance of duality for Kanye. The conflicted Gemini, Kanye is willing to move past his former life, leaving behind the pain, hurt, and struggle of it in order to preserve the peace he has found through his family. “New me over the old me,” sings Ye on “24.” Somewhat unsurprisingly, Kanye West has produced brilliance yet again.

Favorite Songs:

Junya pt. 2 (feat. Playboi Carti & Ty Dolla $ign)

Lord I Need You 

Come to Life

Rating: 8.5

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Kanye West // Donda Reaction and Review

YEEZY SEASON IS HERE. Yesterday, Kanye West dropped his 10th studio album 'Donda" which included features from The Weeknd, Lil Baby, Jay-Z, Baby Keem, Playboi Carti, Jay Electronica, DaBaby, Roddy Ricch, Lil Yachty, Kid Cudi, Young Thug, Don Toliver, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, and more. In today's video, Miles and Spencer sit down and react to their first listen through the highly anticipated body of work.

Part One:

Part Two:

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Breaking Down Kanye West vs. Drake // TheStereoVision Podcast Ep. 24

Welcome back to StereoVision! In today's episode of TheStereoVision Podcast Miles and Spencer break down the bubbling beef between superstars Kanye West and Drake

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Is Sampling Stealing? A Look Into the Politics of Sampling in Hip-Hop

By Luke Mudugno

As hip-hop fans, we would call producers like Madlib, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, and J Dilla masterminds and geniuses. But others in the music industry would call them talentless thieves. 

The year is 2015, and alternative-rock artist Beck has just won album of the year at the Grammys for his project Morning Phase. As Beck approached the mic to give his acceptance speech, Kanye almost had another Kanye moment, approaching the mic as if he had a gripe with Beck, but then hesitantly pulling away and rushing back to his seat. Later, West claimed that Beck should’ve given his award to Beyonce instead. “Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé, and at this point, we tired of it," said West. 

Following standard procedure after an inflammatory Kanye comment, Ye’s comment made the media rounds, as each outlet took their turn belittling West. None of this is news, as Kanye has a long, documented history with the antagonization of his character by the mass media. But an important debate stemmed from the response to Ye’s comment. 

Music media and social media alike pointed out that Beck made original music through his inherent talent as an instrumentalist, while West simply “steals” real music through his sample-heavy production. 

Although sampling has been around before the conception of hip-hop as a genre, it has always been a polarizing subject in the music industry. Sampling is defined as the reuse of a portion of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise rhythm, melody, speech, sounds, or entire bars of music, especially from soul records, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated.

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Producers who frequent sampling walk a legal tightrope. In order to sample a piece of music, you generally are required to get permission from both the owner of the copyright of the music (usually record companies) and the owner of the sound recording. Without this permission, an artist who utilizes a sample is liable and can be sued for copyright infringement. Getting this permission can often be an intricate mixture of legal procedures and industry politics. When an artist requests permission to use a sample, the answer hinges on their relationship with the artist’s work they’re using. For example, In 2018, Drake put his widely celebrated mixtape So Far Gone on streaming platforms for the mixtape’s 10th anniversary. Before the project hit Spotify or Apple Music, Drake requested clearance from Kanye West, for his sampling of 808s & Heartbreak standout “Say You Will” for So Far Gone’s “Say What’s Real.” At the time, Ye and Drake weren’t on good terms, as Drake accused Kanye of telling Pusha T about his secret son, leading to his nuclear diss record “The Story of Adidon.” Due to their strained relationship, Ye denied clearance for the sample, posting a screenshot of Drakes's request on Twitter with the caption, “This proves s**t faker than wrestling… By the way, not cleared.” Although the track appeared on streaming platforms months later, it wouldn’t have come without a change of heart from Kanye and Def Jam (owner of the copyright). Relationships between artists and record companies play a significant role in the clearance of samples.

Plenty of notable artists have been sued for unauthorized samples, including JAY-Z for samples used on hit song “Big Pimpin,” Vanilla Ice for his legendary song “Ice Ice Baby,” and Baauer, the artist behind the viral sensation “Harlem Shake.” 

Besides the legal factors, sampling is viewed by some outside of the music industry as stealing or a production quality that isn’t creative. But sampling is simply not stealing. If used in the incorrect way, at worst, it’s copyright infringement, which is implicitly different than theft. And at this point in music, how can anyone be entirely creative in anything they do? In an industry as saturated as the music industry, nothing an artist does is truly 100% original. Every flow, rhyme scheme and even some lyrical content has been derived and developed from the styles and trends established by prior artists. Even the most creative artists of our generation are inspired by artists of the past, taking certain attributes of their artistry and incorporating it into their own, and sampling is no different. 

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2020 Preview: A Look Ahead at What Could Be a Legendary Year in Hip-Hop

By Luke Modugno

With 2010’s coming to a close last month, we leave behind a legendary 10 years of hip-hop. The genre grew leaps and bounds, becoming arguably the biggest category of music in the world. As we embark on the new journey of the next decade, 2020 seems to be shaping up as one of the best years in the recent history of hip-hop. Here are the albums we’re looking forward to, speculating about, dreaming of, and practically begging for.

Coming Soon: 

Drake 

For the first time since 2014, Drake had a relatively slow year, neglecting to release a new album in 2019. But Drizzy fans weren’t completely deprived. Day-one fans were treated to Care Package, a compilation of the 6 God’s greatest hits not on streaming platforms, and a two song EP titled The Best In The World Pack, celebrating the Toronto Raptors’ NBA championship. Last year, Drake appeared to hint at an album slated for 2020 a few times. The first time was last April, when Drake revealed to his crowd in London that he aimed to return to England with new music in 2020. Additionally, in December, Drake made a surprise appearance at DaBaby’s show in Toronto, telling his hometown that 2020 was a target year for new music, “I’m going to go back to the crib and try to finish this album up so we can turn up in 2020,” Drake told the crowd before he exited the stage. On top of that, Drake and Future have been heavily teasing a follow up to their legendary joint project What a Time to be Alive. Last month, the duo released a new track titled “Life is Good,” with the pair emulating the success and chemistry they’ve formed over the years. And considering Drake was booed off stage at Camp Flog Gnaw 2019, we have to believe the Toronto native has something to say this year. It’s an exciting year to be a Drake fan, I’m expecting both a solo project and another collaboration album with Future in 2020. 

J. Cole

The head-honcho of Dreamville had a remarkable year in 2019, continuing his legendary run of features and exceeding expectations with the Dreamville compilation album Revenge of the Dreamers III. Back in November of last year, Cole previewed a trailer for his upcoming project titled The Fall Off at Day N Vegas. The video, styled like a political campaign ad, shows Cole as the savior of America, during “these turbulent times,” and schedules the album to drop sometime in 2020. Considering the final track on Cole’s 2018 effort KOD was titled “1985 (Intro to ‘The Fall Off’),” the album is being speculated as a direct follow-up. The teaser for The Fall Off doesn’t feature the serious introspection featured on KOD, so Cole may be looking to go in a completely different direction for this project.

A$AP Rocky

2019 was a genuinely scary year for A$AP Rocky. After being arrested and accused of assault, at the time, it was unclear if Rocky would be coming home anytime soon. The situation caught the attention of President Donald Trump, as he stepped in and influenced Rocky’s release and return home. 2020 has been a positive contrast to last year for Rocky, as he seems in a good place. The New York native announced late last year that his album All Smiles is on the way. All Smiles will be Rocky’s first solo album since his 2018 LP Testing. As the title suggests, Testing was certainly an experimental venture, which split fans and critics alike on the quality of the project. Rocky released two new singles in 2018 and 2019, “Sundress” and “Babushka Boi,” it is unclear if either will make the album. It will be intriguing to see if Rocky continues his sonic tinkering, or if he reverts back to his old sound established in his earlier albums. Expect new music sometime in the first half of 2020. 

Joey Bada$$

Besides a group project with East Coast collective Beast Coast, Joey has been relatively quiet since the release of his second studio album ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$. Following the release of his classic debut mixtape 1999, rap fans have hung on Joey’s every word. Joey has shown a lot of maturity and development as an MC since then, developing his sound and subject matters to become a fairly undisputed top five rapper in the game at the moment. Last month, Joey confirmed new music is on the way, “JUST GETTIN’ A FEW MORE DUCKS LINED UP FO I START BUCKING THESE N****Z. WORLD NEED NEW BADA$$ & ITZ COMING#LP3.” During the Beast Coast tour in 2019, the Brooklyn rapper released a series of vlogs and on the first episode, Joey tells A$AP Rocky, “New album, almost done bro.” He further hinted at a new project in an Instagram post, “Might be a few album snippets in there,” referring to the vlog series. Expect new tunes from Joey very soon. 

Hopefuls (fingers crossed): 

Kendrick Lamar

We last heard the crowned king of West Coast hip-hop in 2018, when he curated and produced tracks for the Black Panther movie soundtrack. Since then, it’s been radio static on Kendrick’s end, with no singles, few features and no concrete plans for a new album. The good news: Kdot performed his last DAMN. show at Day N Vegas in November of last year, and with Kendrick headlining 12 festivals across Europe starting in June(Lollapalooza Stockholm, NOS Alive, etc.), there’s a good chance new music is on the way. Multiple reports have speculated that the album may have a heavy rock influence, something we saw glimpses of on DAMN. Former Billboard editorial director Bill Werde added fuel to the fire last month when he tweeted, “Did anyone not named Beyonce release better, more meaningful back-to-back albums last decade than Kendrick Lamar? Are you interested to know that I hear from several friends that recording on the new album may finally be done? And that he’s pulling in more rock sounds this time?” With 1,041 days passing since the release of DAMN.,this has been the longest running wait for a Kendrick album since the time between good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly, making it seem like a lock that Kendrick drops in 2020.

JID

Cole’s label partner at Dreamville has been making some noise the past two years. After impressing listeners with lightning quick raps and witty punchlines with his debut album The Never Story and turning heads in 2018 with his sophomore album DiCaprio 2, JID has as much potential as any rapper in the game. JID has tweeted multiple times over the past few months hinting at a new album this year, however in an interview with Revolt, the 28-year-old spoke on his recent writers block, “My grandmother just passed,” J.I.D told REVOLT TV. “I haven’t been able to write a verse since. Everything has been blank, which is weird.” Legendary producer NO I.D. is reportedly a large part of the album. Considering it's been 2 years since a solo project from JID, I see it likely we will get an album from him later in the year.

Lil Uzi Vert 

Perhaps one of the most anticipated artists in 2020, Uzi has kept fans waiting for almost two years for his upcoming project titled Eternal Atake. From threatening to quit music to making a diss track against his own label Generation Now, Lil Uzi had a very trying year in 2019. However, Uzi has been positive on Twitter as of late. After releasing a single from the album, “Futsal Shuffle 2020,” Uzi has been teasing Eternal Atake heavily, suggesting it’s 16 songs, saying it “slaps way harder” than Luv is Rage and hinting at Tyler, The Creator’s production involvement on the album. In addition, Uzi has constantly compared 2020 to his break out year of 2016, saying it will be “2016 part 2.” During that year, Uzi was a XXL freshman, gave one of the most iconic freestyle cyphers, and dropped two albums in Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World and The Perfect LUV Tape. Considering the delays on the album, the expectations for Eternal Atake are sky high. If we learned anything from last year, we know Uzi is a terribly unpredictable artist, so nothing is really concrete until the album arrives on streaming services. 

Playboi Carti

Incredibly, Playboi Carti has had more songs leaked than songs in the entirety of his discography (125 leaked, 34 released). Despite this, Carti’s supposedly upcoming album Whole Lotta Red is still one of the most coveted potential drops of 2020. In October of last year, Carti posted on Instagram, captioning the post “red incoming.” Since the announcement, heaps of leaks have surfaced, including songs, potential tracklists, album artwork and some possible features. Even Drake posted about the album on Instagram, captioning the post “Nobody:   Me: Somebody play Whole Lotta Red.” Considering it's been nearly two years since Die Lit, Carti will most likely feel the pressure to drop this year. Whether he will or not, is still a mystery. 

Pipe Dreams: 

Kanye West

The past few years have been a rollercoaster ride for Ye. From his constant donning of the MAGA hat and his head scratching slavery comments in 2018, to a steady batch of delays on his now released album JESUS IS KING, Kanye was back to being one the most hated figures in pop culture. Although JESUS IS KING got very mixed reviews, Kanye is supposedly planning a JESUS IS KING sequel. Last November, Ye tweeted a picture of him and Dr. Dre in the studio with the caption, “Ye and Dre Jesus is King Part II coming soon.” Before you get too excited, let's pump the brakes on the hype train for Jesus is King Part II. Kanye and Dre are infamously known for torturing their fans with delays, postponements and scrapping albums all together. Dr. Dre’s highly anticipated solo album Detox has been delayed for nearly two decades. Kanye has a slew of unreleased projects that were scrapped and later leaked, including Yandhi, So Help Me God, TurboGrafx16, Donda’s Boy and more. Don’t expect this album anytime soon. 

Isaiah Rashad

It’s been 1,265 painful days since the release of Isaiah Rashad’s last solo LP The Sun’s Tirade. With two terrific projects under his belt, TDE’s most reserved member has potential to be a household name in hip-hop. In June of last year, Isaiah took to an Instagram livestream where he announced the title of his upcoming album to be The House is Burning. He also claimed the album will be “as tight as Aquemini.” Since then, there has been no update on a release date of any kind. With Zay constantly previewing new music on his Instagram (Including songs with JID and Zacari), an album is presumably coming this year. TDE tends to spread out the release dates of their albums, and with Reason, ScHoolboy Q and possibly Kendrick Lamar dropping this year, we could possibly expect The House is Burning in the second half of 2020. But due to how tight-lipped TDE is about their upcoming projects, we can’t be sure new Zay music is coming this year. 

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Sin, Salvation, and Sacrilege: Jesus Is King Album Review

By Carter Fife

Photo from shoot with GQ

Yeezy season is upon us once again, as last Friday Kanye West finally released his greatly-anticipated ninth solo studio album, Jesus is King. After numerous delays, tracklist changes, leaks, and radio silence from the Chicago rapper, the album finally hit streaming services to mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. 

Initially announced as YANDHI in the Fall of 2018, West’s newest record has gone through a multitude of extreme changes since its earliest inception. When YANDHI failed to release after several missed release dates in September and November, it seemed as if the album was scrapped entirely for reasons outside of fans’ control. In January of 2019, West began arranging exclusive events called ‘Sunday Service’, which featured a mix of church music, sermons, and acoustic gospel interpolations of tracks spanning the past fifteen years of West’s discography. Every Sunday, West would invite a small handful of Hollywood’s elite to witness a relaxed performance by him and an ever-growing choir directed by James White, until he brought the event to Coachella in April. Dressed in faded earth tones and accompanied by artists like DMX, Kid Cudi, and Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye performed at Coachella on top of a large grassy mountain that invoked themes of nature and grace (like YANDHI).

In the months that followed, YANDHI in its entirety leaked online in various forums that made users participate in a “group-buy”, a process that would lead to the well-known leaks of songs like “New Body” and “The Storm”. Despite this, in September West tweeted a new tracklist and a new release date for his ninth album, which had been renamed to Jesus is King. After another failed release date, radio silence and Sunday Service events in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Salt Lake City, and even Kingston Jamaica, Kanye West reappeared to finally release the album coinciding with the release of his newest IMAX film Jesus is King: A Kanye West Film at the end of October. 

Jesus is King clocks in at just-over 27 minutes across the record’s eleven tracks, and features what many outlets are describing as the most dramatic Kanye change yet. While Kanye West has always been a very religion-oriented rapper, this is his first record that is absent of profanity. While some argue that this is the next step in the rapper’s career, it seems much more likely that this album is simply reactive to the past 1-2 years of Kanye’s life. Between West’s mental illness diagnosis and increased presence in “church”, Jesus is King is a love-letter to the force that West attributes his ‘saving’ to: God. In interviews with Zane Lowe and Big Boy, West notes constantly about how he feels like he has been a slave to hip-hop culture, and this record is a catharsis from the person he was a year ago, attending the Pornhub awards and rapping with Lil Pump about sex on the track “I Love It”. Today, West stands liberated from the culture that he has been consistently redefining for the entirety of his career, though whether or not Jesus is King will withstand the test of time is yet to be seen.

The album begins with “Every Hour” featuring the Sunday Service choir. While the track is a beautiful gospel arrangement with bright and powerful piano melodies, it seems to begin out of nowhere, abruptly beginning the album by dropping us into the middle of church. This is a small complaint however, as the track is enjoyable while it’s on, though the chance it will see play at the next party you attend is probably unlikely. The track precedes “Selah”, an ambient and cinematic track with ominous pad harmonies and West both rapping and citing Bible verses. The citations paired with West’s line “If you woke don’t wake up” may roll eyes, but this track has a very strong emotional register that persists throughout the album as a whole. There is a religious message here that wasn’t present on the version of Selah that leaked online weeks prior, one that is almost critical of the fans and culture that he perceives as limiting to his own growth. 

Though there is a seed of truth in this observation, West is trying to send a well-intentioned personal message using a comically poor universal metaphor of religion. This is not the first time he has fallen victim to putting his foot in his mouth like this, as he has been guilty of this exact sentiment numerous times whether it arises from supporting a poor political candidate in order to preach tolerance, or by drawing parallels between the behavioral limitations of the status quo and *actual* slavery. It is important in these instances that we go beyond the initial shock of these poorly phrased statements in order to extract a deeper message for several reasons, most notably to gain some insight inside West’s commentary that the media may not provide. 

Next on the record is “Follow God”, a formulaic Kanye West banger that synthesizes soul samples and hip-hop percussion. West criticizes his relationship to hip-hop culture with the lines “Only ever seeing me / Only when they needed me ... Searching for a deity / Now you wanna see a freak”, and in doing so provides an interesting look at what it is like to be the person that has been the centerpiece of hip-hop for over a decade. Though this may seem like an exaggeration to the listener, it forces a kind of mindfulness into the relationship between consumer and artist, as the song title perhaps mirrors West’s desire for the consumer to follow God instead of a celebrity. There are a few glaring shortcomings with this track: the tone and delivery of West’s rapping does not deviate too much throughout the track, and the mixing seems to be fairly poor as the 808s and kicks get drowned out by the soul sample. Despite this, “Follow God” is an energetic and fun track that features West doing what he does best.

Very few tracks on the record have received criticism like “Closed On Sunday”, a beautifully composed track whose Achilles heel is found in the pseudo-humorous lyricism. The fated chorus “Closed on Sunday / You my Chick Fil-A” attracted a huge amount of attention during the public listening events held before the album’s release, and though many reduce the song to that one irony, there is something about this track that reads as entirely new. While it could be the dramatic aural profile bestowed upon the song by its haunting gospel choirs, acoustic guitar, and synthesizers, it could also simply be the Jezebel and Chick Fil-A references in tandem. Though West is almost certainly being tongue-in-cheek with this one, it is strange to hear “No more living for the culture / We nobody’s slave” in one moment, and “You my number one / With the lemonade” together. The impressive production features guest efforts from legend Timbaland, and the track ends as quickly as it began with A$AP Bari yelling “Chick Fil-A!”.

The fifth track on Jesus is King is “On God”, a futuristic and sleek track produced by none other than Pi’erre Bourne. The song features rapid arpeggiated synths and chiptune melodies existing in harmony alongside sparse percussion and West’s rapping, as he begins the track by rapping "‘How you get so much favor on your side?’ / ‘Accept Him as your Lord and Savior’ I replied”. The track is a fairly straightforward, and though West’s verses feature clever one liners, like “Follow God” the flow rarely features any variation.

“Everything We Need” follows, featuring Ant Clemons, Ty Dolla $ign, and even production from Ronny J. Though the track was leaked long ago as “The Storm” which also featured a verse from the late XXXTentacion, this version feels much more coherent. West has an additional verse, the lyrics seem much more consistent, and though Kanye’s vocals come off as a little rough, the track is much more consonant with the theme of Jesus is King. 

The following track, “Water” featuring Ant Clemons, was first debuted at Coachella, and though many fans were worried, it managed to make the final cut of the record. Ant Clemons’ vocals sound amazing, the instrumental and gospel harmonies are beautiful, and the track’s unique vintage feel gives Jesus is King some much-needed variety. For whatever reason, it seems like West and camp decided to squeeze in a new verse last-minute which sits on the track unmixed, poorly written, and monotonous on an otherwise powerful emotional track. West’s begging to Jesus for strength and wealth makes their relationship seem much more toxic and overly dependent, and stands at odds with the message of their mutualistic relationship that is found in so many other moments on the record. Though this new verse is as unwelcome as it is confusing, a CDQ version “Water” was worth the wait.

“God Is” is a bouncy and upbeat track laden with Pharrell-esque 808s and heavy choir usage. There is not too much to note about this song, as West’s line “I know Christ is the fountain that fills my cup” encapsulates the entire theme of praise on this three and a half minute performance. While enjoyable, “God Is” feels like filler because there is not too much on this track that is not able to be found elsewhere, and the timbre of West’s vocals feels rough and poorly-executed. “Hands On” featuring Fred Hammond and Francis and the Lights is similar in this respect because though the track helps provide a window into West’s mind, it does little more than highlight West’s messiah/victim complex. The track features vocoder vocals and lurching synth melodies, both of which serve to convey a dejected and menacing emotional tone. Neither of these two tracks take away from the record, but neither of them contribute too much to Jesus is King either. 

The penultimate track “Use This Gospel” is one of the highlights of the album for many. The song is a handful of random elements: Kanye sings about God on the hook, Clipse reunites with both Pusha T and No Malice delivering great verses, Kenny G has his own saxophone solo, and the instrumental even samples a car chime sound with West’s classic transposed vocoder-esque vocals along with it. Despite this, the track actually comes together pretty well, though the weak link is definitely West’s unmixed hook about gospel music. This track initially leaked as “Chakras / Law of Attraction”, and featured a much stronger hook by Ty Dolla $ign. Though Clipse did not appear on that earlier YANDHI demo, West did have an erratic and hype verse where he yells about “Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto! / We in the game, we in the game!... / Money ain’t real! / Time aint real!”. Though some prefer the older version, the updated vocals during No Malice’s verse were beautiful and the additional drums on the closing moments of the track gave the song a much more enjoyable feel to it. 

The album ends with “Jesus is Lord”, a brass heavy track where Kanye sings about Jesus and how he is lord. At under a minute, it ends quickly, and Jesus is King is over. 

Many of the complaints of this album stem from it feeling ‘unfinished’ (an intentionally vague term that I hate to use), but there is truth to this judgement. Some of the verses are unmixed, and feature weak writing full of religious platitudes and moments that feel dissonant with the album’s coherent message. It seems obvious that this record went through a strong period of rushing to get it finished on time, and because of that many fans are left unsatisfied wishing that they had received YANDHI, and tracks like the leaked “New Body” (featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj) instead. While those criticisms are all valid, it seems apparent as well that many of the negative judgements surrounding this album exist in the realm of comparison and hypotheticals. It does not take a Kanye West apologist to stand back and appreciate the album for what it is, as many of the tracks on this album are still largely enjoyable despite having glaring flaws. Overall, this record marks what could be a strong turning point in Kanye’s career, and though this album will likely receive mixing updates (it has already received one, mere days after its release), many tracks still stand strong and leave many optimistic for what Kanye has in store for the future.

Favorite Tracks:

On God

Everything We Need (Feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Ant Clemons)

Water (Feat. Ant Clemons)

Rating: 7

Listen to Jesus Is King here:

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Kanye West’s Powerful Sunday Service at The Forum in Los Angeles

By Carter Fife

Last Sunday Kanye West provided Los Angeles with its very own Sunday Service event, the first since the release of his ninth solo studio album Jesus Is King. Hosted by The Forum, the faded gloss of the vermillion floors was obstructed by a multitude of different flora and in its center: a large grassy circular platform surrounded by lush and colorful flowers, all directly underneath a rounded screen. Astounding scenery aside, it was as if the diverse crowd of hypebeasts and older LA natives had accidentally come upon a secret oasis in the middle of Inglewood. 

This event was the first time West had performed many of the tracks off Jesus Is King live, and after following the rocky release schedule over the past year, there seemed to be an air of relief in the venue. Since West announced the release date for his latest project (then called YANDHI) in September 2018, the album went through multiple delays and transformations, many of which were attributed to West not feeling satisfied with the sound or progress of the record. As the year ended, many fans speculated that YANDHI had been scrapped, but feelings of hope began to rise when in January 2019 West began to privately host “Sunday Service” events, where he and a choir would dress in similar white garb and perform soulful gospel tracks for a select audience of the industry’s elite. Many of these tracks were softer and more religious interpolations of West’s previous work, which made these private events a joy for fans to track. After bringing his Sunday Service to Coachella, and a summer full of YANDHI leaks trickling out of the G.O.O.D music camp, West would later announce a tentative release date and tracklist for his new album Jesus Is King in the fall of 2019. 

Despite having Sunday Service / listening session hybrid events in Detroit, Salt Lake City, New York, Chicago, and even Kingston Jamaica, the album failed to arrive when West promised, and fans’ hopes were dashed again. At these events West also premiered portions of Jesus Is King: A Kanye West Film, an IMAX film created at the Roden Crater featuring performances from the Sunday Service choir, which received mixed reviews from attendees. A month later, ticket sales for the IMAX film appeared seemingly out of nowhere, West tweeted a new tracklist and release date for the record along with its new cover art, and as quickly as the promotion started, it ended Friday morning when Jesus is King released on streaming services. 

Sunday’s event was in part a spiritual successor to the events that preceded it: Sunday Service at the forum was part sermon, part Sunday Service choir performance, and part Kanye West show. Merchandise was available for purchase, including a garment that was designed in collaboration with AWGE, and a multitude of expensive garments that made some cry sacrilege. What set this event apart, however, was the sheer cinematic power that West’s performance had on its attendees. This was not a private gathering of Hollywood’s elite witnessing a shotty mess of hardware and plastic chairs, this was a public multimedia event that was West’s first show of the JIK era, complete with elaborate costuming, sound and stage design, guest artists and a setlist that had a little bit for everyone.

To put it lightly: the event did not disappoint.

Surrounded by around 50 performers including vocalists, percussionists, keyboard and brass players, West performed powerful renditions of his newest material, including beginning the event with an incredible performance of ‘Closed On Sunday’. Since Jesus is King’s release, this track has been under a large amount of scrutiny from critics and fans alike for the seemingly vapid hooks about Chick Fil-A and lemonade. While lyrically the humor in the song may be at odds with its other layers, there is no denying that this song has some powerful melodies that are accentuated heavily by the presence of a choir. The harmonic conversations created by West’s impassioned singing juxtaposed against the choir’s haunting aural register made my jaw drop, as before then I had given little attention to this song. 

This was not the only moment that West’s coordination of choir, instruments, and song choice captivated the crowd, as over the course of the two hour performance fans were treated to rare performances of church classics like “How Excellent”, improvised beat sampling by Kanye West, and even a religious themed rendition of Damian Marley’s legendary reggae anthem “Welcome to Jamrock”. This Sunday Service also featured the first live performance of “Saint Pablo”, guest appearances from Francis and the Lights (performing “Take Me To The Light”), and perhaps most notably, an unforgettable reunion of Clipse on “Use This Gospel” which also featured two solos from the legendary Kenny G on his soprano saxophone. 

Clipse and Kenny G join Kanye on stage for an awe-inspiring performance of “Use This Gospel”

Sunday Service at the Forum was visually striking as well, with each member of the choir being draped in bone-colored garments that featured the occasional splash of faded pastel coloring. Women danced in unison with long and beautifully decorated braids underneath a circular screen that projected different colored lights, and even a cloudy sky at various moments in the show. It was refreshing to see a stage that was in many ways an inverse of Kanye West’s stage design on 2016’s Saint Pablo tour. Before, West stood alone on the panopticon stage, hovering above his fans performing to them. On Sunday, West was under his fans performing for them, and aside from his performances of the tracks, there were many moments in the production where West was far from the focal point. Jason White, the service’s choir director, took the spotlight for the majority of the show while West would simply blend in with the performers. 

Whether or not one believes Kanye West to be a ‘true christian’, or a real supporter of the conservative party, or whether or not one boxes West to a caricature of a misguided celebrity plagued by mental illness and a growing distance between himself and reality, there is no denying that this event was powerful. Though the merchandise was expensive (LA Apparel / Yeezy Blanks cost far more to produce than Gildan Tees), entry to the event was only 15$ a person, as it was clearly designed to be a spectacle for the public to not only consume, but to be a part of as well. Audience participation was encouraged and never before have I been to a show where there had been such a tangible sense of elation both social and spiritual. Between seeing Kanye’s daughter playfully sing while on Kanye’s shoulders, and witnessing the reunion of one of hip-hop’s most powerful duos, Sunday Service at The Forum was an event I will not soon forget.

Listen to Kanye West’s new album Jesus Is King here:

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Five Highly Anticipated Albums We're Excited For in 2019

By Miles Hagan

Kanye West - Yahndi

Yahdi has been talked about since November. Kanye has pushed back the release date multiple times for many reasons in typical Kanye fashion. All of that being said, the music world is still waiting on what is coming next from Yeezy. Last year he released a solo album (Ye) and joint project with Kid Cudi (Kids See Ghosts), both which were well received by the general public. He closed the year with some pretty average performances with some artists like Lil Pump (“I Love It”) and 6ix9ine (“MAMA KANGA”). Kanye has given us a lot of interesting features, singles, and albums over the years, and his opinions will always be questionable, but one thing is for sure; Kanye will always have the public’s interest.

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Childish Gambino - TBA

Awaken My Love was a huge step in Gambino’s career. He had already established himself as a force to be reckoned with on Because the Internet, but fans were unsure of what the multitalented rapper would do next. He proceed to launch one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows in recent memory, Atlanta, and show his impressive skills as an actor in many major roles in films. Aside from these two things, he began to change his music style from mainly rap to a mix of R&B and Neo Soul. He released two solid singles at the end of the summer in “Feels Like Summer” and “Summertime Magic”. This was more of the sound from Awaken My Love rather than his other huge single of 2018, “This is America,” which showcased him going back to his roots of rapping. Though Childish has not directly said he's putting out a project his fairly steady output of content hints that he's still in the studio, so fans should be look forward to whatever he has planned for 2019.

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Isaiah Rashad - TBA

The young TDE rapper showed a ton of promise on his last record The Sun’s Tirade. This came after the scare of being dropped due to the break he took from music after his debut album Cilvia Demo. Ever since, the rapper has seemed focused and poised for another, even bigger release for his next project. Rashad has hinted at releasing new content for some time now especially on his social media. Aside from the occasional feature he hasn't put out anything to really give fans an idea of what new sounds he's working with. That being said his potential is undeniable especially with the team backing him in his label.

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Tyler the Creator & A$AP Rocky - Wang$ap

This is a project that has a lot of conflicting information regarding the release from the two main parties in A$AP Rocky and Tyler, the Creator. Rocky made it seem like project was well underway and fans should be expecting a release in the near future. Tyler almost immediately dismissed these remarks via Twitter saying that the album wasn't even full flesh out year and was still in the idea stages. The only real information that the public knows is that the two friends have been working together for a while now sporadically on music. “Potato Salad” came out in July of 2018 and had fans excited for more content from the two excellent rappers.

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Dreamville - Revenge of the Dreamers III

The young TDE rapper showed a ton of promise on his last record The Sun’s Tirade. This came after the scare of being dropped due to the break he took from music after his debut album Cilvia Demo. Ever since, the rapper has seemed focused and poised for another, even bigger release for his next project. Rashad has hinted at releasing new content for some time now especially on his social media. Aside from the occasional feature he hasn't put out anything to really give fans an idea of what new sounds he's working with. That being said his potential is undeniable especially with the team backing him in his label.

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Bonus: A Non Hip-Hop Release We’re Excited For

Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

Vampire Weekend has been quite for a number of years now after they took a break from making music after their 2016 Modern Vampires tour. Key member Rostam Batmanglij was rumored to be leaving the band, though it has since been confirmed he is still a partial collaborator on their upcoming record. Talk of a new album was on and off till lead singer Ezra Koenig officially announced via his instagram that the group would be releasing a new album titled Father of the Bride September 6th of 2019. Leading up to the project there will be two new songs per month till its official release. The first two singles “Harmony Hall” and “2021” have received high remarks from fans and critics alike. They feature great vocals per usual from Koenig, and feature beautiful instrumentation and captivating lyrics throughout. From all that we have seen Vampire Weekend seems just as sharp as ever and prepared to make their way back into the forefront of music.

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Songs of the Week: Jan 20th

By Spencer Lobdell

Welcome to “Songs of the Week” a weekly segment where I highlight three of the best new songs released the week prior along with one throwback song of the week. To stay up to date on all new music, follow my Spotify playlist “What I’m Feeling” which is updated weekly to always include the freshest new music. Always 30 songs, hottest always at the top. Stream it here:

A playlist updated weekly with whatever new songs I'm feeling at the time. Always 30 songs and in order with what I'm feeling the most at the top.

New Songs of the Week:

“Ingredients” by YNW Melly (Feat. Fredo Bang)

Ingredients (feat. Fredo Bang), a song by YNW Melly, Fredo Bang on Spotify

“Ingredients” is an early standout on YNW Melly’s excellent new album We All Shine. This up-beat infectious banger is ridiculously fun and Melly’s smooth vocals are a fit so perfectly with the bouncing major piano chords in the instrumental. Three or four tracks off this project were in consideration for songs of the week but “Ingredients” edged out the win due to it’s pure hit-potential.

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“Wait Up” by Thutmose

Wait Up, a song by Thutmose on Spotify

Nigerian rapper Thutmose is one of the most exciting up-coming talents in the rap game. This summer he scored big when his single “Run Wild” landed on the FIFA 18 trailer. While this was a huge break, “Wait Up” sounds like it could be the breakout song he’s been waiting for. The song is insanely catchy and his sing rap style mixed with gliding 808s is a perfect recipe for a hit. This song is super exciting to me and has me eagerly waiting Thutmose’s next release.

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“Real Ties” by Lil Skies

Real Ties, a song by Lil Skies on Spotify

On his first release of 2019 Lil Skies gets back to work right where he left off with a hard hitting single with quotables galore. While the lyrics are as basic as any Lil Skies song, the back and forth ABAB rhyme scheme that he rocks for majority of both verses contrasts so well with his flow on the hook and makes the song impossible to get out of your head.

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Throwback Song of the Week:

“The Glory” by Kanye West

The Glory, a song by Kanye West on Spotify

Can I talk my shit again? “The Glory” is Kanye West at his absolute best. Every piece of this song is classic Ye from the sampled beat to the braggadocios lyrics. This song feels so damn good and is defiantly a top 3 track on the hit-filled Graduation. If you don’t know this deeper cut on Ye’s third album, it’s a must listen. He did it for the glory!

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Thanks for reading! Check back in next week for three new hot songs and one new throwback! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to get notified when we post:

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