Review: Yella Beezy - Baccend Beezy

The past year for Yella Beezy has been busy to say the least. After getting shot three times at a freeway in Texas this past October, Beezy recovered quickly and would release Ain't No Goin' Bacc the following month. It was his best project yet, stuffed with effortlessly catchy melodies over hard hitting beats. Baccend Beezy, the rapper's latest project, utilizes a different approach but it isn't nearly as rewarding.

Beezy has made a career using his ear for melodies to his benefit. It's his strong suit, but it's not as prominent on this project. He goes for a straight rap approach this time around which surprisingly enough benefits him very well. Tracks like Madder, Baguettey, Hittas and Big Shit have a braggadocio tone about them and Beezy raps with clear energy. When he does decide to go back to his more melodic driven comfort zone, he excels, of course, on tracks like Trust, See Me Fall and On A Flight, a collaboration with fellow melodic master Young Thug. 

But while he does well on those tracks, he wastes a chunk of the mixtape on lazy attempts at getting radio play with club songs. Restroom Occupied, Slow Motion, One Time, and Throwed are all repetitive and ultimately uninspired. Chris Brown on Restroom Occupied and K. Michelle on Throwed don't add anything beneficial with their appearances either. His melodies on those tracks also either take a step back or aren't used at all. As a result, Beezy is left to fully rap awkward lines like "Fuck you down 'til I'm cracking your bones/Hit you from the back and you moan" from Slow Motion and "You sick of dealing with your nigga, so you hit up my line/'Cause you know that I'ma hit it, make you scream out, "Oh my" from One Time. Due to the radical approach and grating results of those songs, the project is brought down heavily. The sequencing doesn't do any favors either, as those weak tracks are sprinkled throughout the project. 

Baccend Beezy ends on a high note with Bacc at it Again, the project's clear standout track. "My diamonds like Fiji, bitch, I'm Yella Beezy/Iced out in this freezer, just copped a Luigi" Beezy proclaims. It's the most boastful track on the entire project with Beezy, as well as guests Gucci Mane and Quavo, confidently rapping about their success. It's similar to That's On Me, the first track that gave Beezy mainstream exposure, in terms of being a high energy anthem. But while its corresponding project, Ain't No Goin' Bacc, kept that energy up almost the entire way, this project doesn't. Beezy attempts to get out of his comfort zone but it feels forced and proves that he's better off sticking to what he knows best.

Final score: 6/10

Review: Maxo Kream - Brandon Banks

The birth name of Maxo Kream's father is Emekwanem Biosah, a name that Maxo Kream himself also shares. Yet that name was hard to pronounce and spell, so his father came up with the alias Brandon Banks, a simpler name for himself. Brandon Banks is not only an alias for his father but the title of Kream's major label debut. 

Brandon Banks is pieced together with interludes from his father, like on Kream's last album Punken. But the interludes come up more frequently this time around and his father is the central topic to more of Kream's raps than on previous projects. He's even on the cover and a part of promo photos and press for the album. 

But his father isn't the only running theme on the album, songs such as Spice Ln., Murda Blocc, and Brothers are odes to the rest of his family and the neighborhood where he grew up in Houston, Texas. "Remember posted on the Spice I had a Carbon and four fifths/When Reload, J-Bo, and Door Hinges took the plug down for a lick" Maxo spits on Spice Ln., one of the many examples of vivid storytelling throughout the album.

Due to Brandon Banks being Kream's first major label project, he has the most loaded selection of producers than on previous projects. Notable producers D.A. Doman, Chasethemoney, Chuck Inglish, Supah Mario, Zaytoven and Mike Dean provide beats on tracks such as Meet Again, Still, 8 Figures, 3AM, and Spice Ln. and make either their first appearance or a return to a Maxo project. Even more lowkey producers Apex Martin, Felipe Spain, Kal Banx, Ryan ESL, Smash David, Teej, and TJ OSINULU all prove themselves on tracks such as Drizzy Draco, Bissonnet, Brenda, and Change, which features a sample of Gunna's hit song Sold Out Dates.

But while the production list is stuffed, there are only five guest features on the entire album. Travis Scott, who has been on a recent stretch of mediocre guest features, provides lifeless adlibs and raps an uninspired verse on The Relays, one of the weakest songs on the album in general. But the rest of the features from Megan Thee Stallion (She Live), ScHoolboy Q (3AM), A$AP Ferg (Murda Blocc), and KCG Josh (Brothers), all provide great verses on their respective songs.

The album's penultimate track, Dairy Ashford Bastard, is most important to the album's themes and is the most powerful track as a result. The track describes Kream's father and the role in his life, as well as Kream's overall upbringing, in raw detail. "He cheated on my mom a lot, called her a ho, called her a bitch/And then got set up by a thot, they robbed the Rollie off his wrist" Maxo raps as he puts his father in a different perspective compared to the rest of the album. 

Despite all of the previous glorification from Maxo, his father wasn't perfect. Maxo himself wasn't perfect either, he followed a life of crime just like his father. But now those times are behind both of them and they're able to appreciate each other more than ever now. As a result, Maxo has released his most personal project and another impressive addition to his growing catalog of work. 

Final score: 8/10

Review: BANKS - III

BANKS' latest album III is titled as such not only because it's her third album but also because it applies to a part of her life that now has "beginning, middle and end" according to an interview with Apple Music. Her struggles with relationships and an emphasis on self love have always been documented in her music but while her previous attempts were amateurish and overall mediocre at best, III shows that BANKS is finally capable of making a good, almost great body of work.

Across 13 tracks and less than 50 minutes, BANKS explores her typical themes of heartbreak and constant self care over dark, brooding electropop beats. Sometimes the vocals are distorted, meshing almost seamlessly with the production like on Till Now and Gimme, the demanding 1-2 punch to start the album. Sometimes they're stripped down and laid bare on the track like on Sawzall, Hawaiian Mazes and What About Love. The album's mix of uptempo and slower tracks works in the artist's favor due to its sequencing, which is the best BANKS has had on any of her albums so far. BANKS' sense of melody on III is also her best yet, with songs like Alaska, Propaganda, and Gimme having very catchy rhythms that are definitely playlist ready. 

Look What You're Doing to Me, a duet with Francis and the Lights, the first guest feature to ever land on a BANKS album, is one of the highlights on III. While Francis is cut from the same cloth as Bon Iver and his brand of dark and almost haunting electronica, this track is surprisingly upbeat. Francis and BANKS blend very well together vocally with smooth transitions from one artist to the other.

A couple of filler tracks such as If We Were Made of Water and Godless are uneventful and add little to the album but the rest leads to an almost great album, the first for BANKS in her career. In her first album over the age of 30, BANKS is obviously maturing and growing more comfortable with her artistry. She's also as strong as she's ever been with her confidence. "And you should know, I never needed your advice/I should've known back then, now I know it's right" BANKS declares on Hawaiian Mazes. "That bitch" as she calls herself on Gimme is feeling more powerful than ever before and her latest work is proof of that.

Final score: 7.5/10

Review: Big K.R.I.T. - K.R.I.T. IZ HERE

Nine years ago, Big K.R.I.T. released K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, his sixth mixtape but his first to get reviews from publications such as Pitchfork and DJBooth and earn critical acclaim in the process. The mixtape not only gained attention from critics but from a man named Sha Money XL, former president of G-Unit Records and current Senior VP of A&R at Def Jam Records who signed K.R.I.T. to the label as one of his first priorities in his then new position. But over the years, tension between K.R.I.T. and Def Jam grew and they parted ways in 2016. Since then K.R.I.T. has been independent and has released his second album under his Multi Alumni label entitled K.R.I.T. IZ HERE. 

This album is notable for not being produced by K.R.I.T. at all which is an idea that the rapper first spoke about back in 2013 when he was still on the Def Jam label. Producers DJ Khalil and Rico Love make a return for K.R.I.T. on the album but there are many producers that are working with K.R.I.T. for the first time such as Danja, Wolfe de Mchls, DJ Camper and Tae Beast. But while K.R.I.T. takes a full backseat on producing for the first time ever, the beats still work in the rapper's favor. 

Songs such as K.R.I.T. HERE and Make it Easy are based around soul samples that K.R.I.T. is used to rapping over. Obvious, Everytime, and Blue Flame Ballet are more stripped back and fit into K.R.I.T.'s smoother area of work. And while tracks like I Made, Addiction, and Learned From Texas have the typical late 2010s style approach with rattling hi-hats and 808s, the beats still avoid being generic and K.R.I.T.'s rapping sounds as natural as ever.

The album's list of guests includes Lil Wayne, Saweetie, Rico Love, Yella Beezy, Baby Rose, J. Cole, Wolfe de Mchls, and DJ Camper, all of which attempt to match K.R.I.T.'s energy with varying degrees of success. Wayne and Cole add electric verses to Addiction and Prove It respectively. The hooks provided by Saweetie, Beezy and Love on Addiction, I Made, and Everytime respectively are simple, yet effective. But features from Wolfe de Mchls and DJ Camper on High Beams and Life in the Sun respectively, are either grating or blend into the track so much that it ultimately becomes a forgettable appearance and K.R.I.T. is left to pick up the slack. 

A couple of weak hooks aside, this album proves to be great in every other aspect. And while the approach is slightly different from the rapper's breakout mixtape almost ten years ago, the overall message is still there. "They pump-fakin' when they hatin', they ain't passin' the ball/When I get it, Kyle Watson, I ain't passin' at all" K.R.I.T. boasts on I Been Waitin, just one of the many examples of the rapper's unwavering confidence. K.R.I.T. still has a chip on his shoulder and it won't go away anytime soon.

Final score: 8/10

Review: Westside Gunn - Flygod Is An Awesome God

"There's God and there's my daddy, praise both" Westside Gunn's daughter says to start the album. Her father, the gritty and charismatic rapper out of Buffalo, uses a variety of aliases, the most notable one being "Flygod." Gunn's latest album Flygod Is An Awesome God is the newest chapter to the rapper's "Flygod" persona.

The sequel to Gunn's critically acclaimed debut album Flygod, which dropped over three years ago, is meant to expand on the persona created by the rapper. Gunn has always been about tenacious tales of robbing and drug dealing over beats that are styled after 90s boom bap along with chopped up soul samples but anything that has to do with "Flygod" has more braggadocio attached to it lyrically. Take the beginning lines to Gunnlib for example, "Ayo, street sweepers hanging out the Corniches/Walked on water way before Jesus/Cooked the brick with no stove, pushed the gold Demon." Those lines are blunt and vivid and are just one of the many examples of how he takes his grimy imagery to the next level on this album.

The track Gunnlib is notable for being the first ever collaboration between Westside Gunn and Madlib. Gunn proves himself worthy with his raps and Madlib continues his stretch of top tier production as well. The rest of the production comes from two other first time collaborators, Al.divino and Denny LaFlare, along with usual collaborators, The Alchemist and Daringer, and Sadhugold, JR Swiftz, DJ Muggs and Evidence adding to their recent catalog of work with Westside Gunn. But regardless of the producers experience with Westside Gunn, the beats all have the traditional sound that Gunn raps over and the album's cohesiveness stays intact as a result.

All of the features are uncredited on the album, which is different from the rest of Gunn's projects. Nonetheless when listening to the album, typical collaborators such as Keisha Plum, labelmates Benny the Butcher and Conway, and fellow New York rapper Meyhem Lauren all make notable appearances and fit well as they always do when coupled with Gunn's raps. But a first time collaboration with Houston rapper Sauce Walka, on the last track Lakers vs Rockets, is the biggest standout.

Gunn and Walka come from different regions and have different production choices as a result but Walka is able to detail his lifestyle of crime and luxury vividly just like Gunn. "The jacket Bathing Ape, but my shoes Al McQueenin'/My bulldog a pimp too, 5K for his semen/His stud fee worth your plug fee/I'm in the Maybach, curtains lifted up, watchin' rugby" Walka boasts as he raps the last verse on the album. Those lines, as well as the rest of Walka's verse, are encompassing of the themes that "Flygod" represent as well. He's grimy, flashy, and most importantly, he's awesome.

Final score: 8/10

Review: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana

Back in 2014, when Freddie Gibbs & Madlib collaborated for the release of Piñata, it was seen as a one off event in time, just like Madvillainy, MF Doom's collaboration with Madlib a decade before. But then two years later, Madlib announced that him and Gibbs were working on a sequel. After three years of recording and a five year wait overall, the album, entitled Bandana, is finally here.

Madlib is known for his use of his samples on his work and his flips shine the most on Freestyle Shit, Education, Crime Pays and Palmolive. Due to his choice of samples from artists such as Donny Hathaway, James Brown and The Sylvers, the beats are smooth and show that Madlib hasn't lost his touch when it comes to chopping up samples.

Beat switches are a main part of the production as well, with songs like Fake Names, Cataracts and Half Manne Half Cocaine utilizing them. The first half of Half Manne Half Cocaine is a striking difference from Madlib's traditional production though, with the producer utilizing trap drums for the first time ever. Madlib's dabbling into the trap sound doesn't seem forced though and instead sounds very natural. As a result, he showcases his diversity and growth as a producer.

Only five features are on the album which are spread across fifteen tracks. This is a stark contrast from Piñata which had three times as many features over seventeen tracks, and six features on the album's title track alone. But just like how the features on Piñata were beneficial to the track they were on, the same goes for Bandana. Anderson .Paak delivers a soothing hook and verse on Giannis, Pusha T and Killer Mike flex their rap muscle on Palmolive and Mos Def and Black Thought do the same on Education, the album's penultimate track.

Due to the amount of features on the album, Gibbs has more room to let his raps shine. Situations showcases his rap skills the most, with the use of a flow that's reminiscent of a prime Bone Thugs-N-Harmony track. Gibbs also taps into his introspective side on tracks such as Cataracts, Education and Soul Right, the last track on the album.

While Piñata felt cinematic due to its use of samples from 70s blaxploitation movies, Bandana utilizes a different approach to attain a cinematic vibe. With smoother production, as well as more introspection from Gibbs, the cinematic approach is refined without sacrificing the quality of the album.

The final verse on Bandana ends with, "I can't hold no grudges, my hands is too busy catching blessings." For a man who came back to the States mentally and physically stable after he was extradited to Austria for a crime he didn't commit, as well as taking care of his only child and watching her grow, that last line is the most fitting for Gibbs during the past five years.

Final score: 9/10

Review: The Black Keys - "Let's Rock"

Eighteen years ago, two childhood friends Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney formed The Black Keys, an ambitious garage/blues rock outfit. The band came from humble beginnings, starting out as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their records. Their popularity, as well as their connections, slowly grew as they started recording in actual studios, trademarking their music and even landing multiple collaborations with legendary producer Danger Mouse before attaining their first ever #1 album on the Billboard 200 with the release of Turn Blue. After finishing the tour for that record, they took a self imposed break that lasted almost five years but now they're back with the release of their ninth studio album "Let's Rock".

This album is notable for not featuring any keyboards and the only outside contributions are from two backing vocalists, Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson. The absence of keyboards, little outside contributions and full self production are all techniques that the band has used before but their approach is now different. Their earlier albums all featured those techniques but while those albums were rawer and grittier in terms of sound, "Let's Rock" is poppier and accessible, similar to their critically acclaimed, Grammy winning album El Camino.

The two backing vocalists are prominent on songs such as Sit Around and Miss You, Get Yourself Together and Lo/Hi but they don't overpower Auerbach's voice and instead compliment it very well. They give the album a more vintage feel as well which is also reminiscent of the vibe on El Camino.

"Let's Rock" is the first album produced fully by The Black Keys since the release of Magic Potion almost thirteen years ago but despite the gap in time, their production is just as solid as before and it's clear that they haven't lost a step in that regard. Auerbach's voice is soothing, similar to his delivery and inflections on their previous record, Turn Blue. This time around though, the lyrics are more hopeful and promising with songs like the electric opener Shine a Little Light, the empowering Get Yourself Together and Go, and the lovely Walk Across the Water.

The Black Keys are at their best when the two bandmates are in sync with each other and despite an almost five year break, their chemistry doesn't suffer in the slightest. In fact, they're the most loose and comfortable that they've been in a long time. Before, the band were constantly grinding with extensive touring of small clubs, frequent album releases and music festival appearances, yet were consistently underrated and overlooked. Now, they've proved once again that the grind has paid off and that they're here to keep rocking.

Final score: 7.5/10