Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: Tyler, The Creator is a California rapper, singer, producer, and all-around creative who has been an iconoclast of music for 15 years now. Though he's certainly had his ups and downs along the way, albums like his timeless embrace of pop, 2017's  Flower Boy , have stood the test of time remarkably well. DON'T TAP THE GLASS  is Tyler's 9th album, and it arrives with virtually no rollout less than a year after 2024's CHROMAKOPIA . That album dug further than ever before into Tyler's vulnerabilities and insecurities, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But on his new album, Tyler insists that you leave the feelings at home and try dancing instead. While the results aren't as memorable, a lot of his charm persists.  The first song in the tracklist that really blew me away was "Sugar On My Tongue." Longtime Tyler fans will recognize this immediately for what it is: a munch anthem. I love the rumbling drums in the beat and the extremely una...

Clipse is the hip-hop duo of brothers Pusha T and Malice. The pair first broke through with a pair of killer albums in the early 2000s, but called it quits when Malice retired from hip-hop for almost a decade while Pusha T pursued a critically acclaimed solo career. Now the duo has re-formed with Malice fully coming out of retirement for their first new album in 16 years. Also along for the ride is Pharrell, a longtime collaborator of Clipse, who dishes out some of his best production in years throughout the record. All parties involved are amazingly still operating at their peak, and with a combination of new ambitions and timeless techniques, the pair crafted a comeback album that most artists can only ever hope for.  We will talk about the album's lead single later, but I want to start off with its stunning second single, "So Be It." It has this eerie beat that is some of the best production work Pharrell does across the entire album. It also has a hook that has been a...

Review by Lavender: Tyler, The Creator really needs no introduction. The rapper, fashion designer, and one-time TV-comedian has been a pop culture staple since the early days of his edgelord rap collective Odd Future. He first broke through as a critical darling on 2017's Flower Boy  an album that embraced pop sentimentalities and personal vulnerability in a far more digestible way than Tyler had ever done before and was rightly a massive success. It's what happened following that record where I get off course with Tyler's fans and rap fans in general though.  To many his follow-up album IGOR  in 2019 is seen as his true masterpiece, something I couldn't disagree with more. My middling review of the record got me in a LOT of trouble at the time and yet I stand by pretty much every word of it. In fact, I even prefer Tyler's follow-up CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST  which dropped a few years ago and delivered an equally strong collection of features with a much more consis...

Some HIGH profile new singles dropped this week, see how they shake out against some underground favorites.  5.  Afterlife  - Sharon Van Etten I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical from the moment this song kicked off with its anthemic drum beat and even after I heard the fluttering keys backing Sharon's chorus. While you would think inherently that the grandeur would rob her music of the power it has in its intimacy, she seems to have taken a queue from some of her singer-songwriter contemporaries who impressively expanded their sonic range. This track isn't perfect, but her writing and energy shines through.  Listen 4.  Noid  - Tyler, The Creator Tyler's newest single has justifiably been met with quite a bit of acclaim for both its sound palette and compositional dynamism. Even if some of the altered vocals and MANY of the song's lyrics leave quite a bit to be desired, there's still plenty here to grab onto as potential green flags for Tyler's new a...

As the pendulum does swing, last week was a bit dry by singles standards but this week featured a flood of new tracks to choose from. Enjoy <3 5.  Because  - Danger Mouse & Black Thought (Feat. Joey Bada$$, Russ & Dylan Cartridge) Before I broke down every single element of this posse cut I will just say that yes the contributions are inconsistent among the various rappers as to be expected. But the song still has so many great facets starting with another killer retro instrumental from Danger Mouse that Black Thought and Joey in particular sound excellent over.  Listen 4.  Skin Of My Teeth  - Demi Lovato I never thought I'd say it but this Demi Lovato punk song actually has some grit to it. While it never fully leaves the realm of pop flavored punk compared to many of their contemporaries Demi proved they can really up the ante. The song is not only unafraid to touch on some of her past controversies and traumas but it does so with a vengeful venom t...

The Weeknd has spent the last few years transitioning from an influential voice in commercial R&B to a full blown pop superstar. The massive success of his After Hours  album and its resulting singles in 2020 turned him into one of the biggest stars in the music industry and he looks to continue the upward momentum on this new album which was dropped with only one pre-release single and a week of promotion. Review By Lav: I've loved The Weeknd for a long time. For years the narrative surrounding his music was that of a singles artist, who had hit after hit but his albums never quite lived up to the quality standard of his original trio of mixtapes. He bucked those trends on After Hours  dropping a genuinely fantastic pop record with commercial high points and a deep selection of compelling album tracks. This combined with his excellent single last year Take My Breath  had me incredibly excited for what he would do in 2021. Turns out I didn't have to wait long because ...

Every year it just seems like there are WAY more rap albums than I can listen to and review. I've had rapid fire reviews for rap collaborations, trap albums, conscious rap, abstract hip hop and even one that was just for Griselda. Yet there are still mountains of rap albums I want to cover. I'm taking on these four in an attempt to make a dent in that pile with some of the most pressing of the available choices.  The Color Blu(e)  - Blu After having not heard much about Blu in quite a while he has entered an incredibly prolific and acclaimed stretch across the past few years. His last two collaborative records have both been fan favorites and the latter, last year's Miles  was one of my favorite rap records of the year and one of the smartest rap albums I've ever heard. So I was excited going into this concept album because it's clear how talented Blu is and if anybody could stretch a concept album about a single color to nearly 45 minutes it's him. While I do h...

Tyler, The Creator is a California rapper and multi-medium superstar. After first emerging as the main brain behind the Odd Future hip hop collective Tyler cultivated a brand for himself that included numerous solo albums, TV shows and an imprint into the fashion industry and that's just a start. Since first breaking out Tyler has drastically changed the sound of his music, transitioning from his edgy lo-fi brand of provocative hip hop into the sounds of pop, R&B and soul music starting with 2017's Flower Boy  and expanding even further on 2019's Igor . Review By Lav: Hello! If you're a Tyler, The Creator fan reading this it's probably the first time you've seen one of my reviews since I covered IGOR  in 2019. You most likely bookmarked a tweet about it or followed my account with a burner so that you could periodically send me provocative DMs because I made the unforgivable mistake of calling out the album for the elements of it that failed to translate wit...

All year I've gotten requests to review new albums from Griselda records big three artists Benny the Butcher, Conway The Machine and Westside Gunn. Given the heads that the trio have turned in 2020 I didn't want to let the year slip away without talking about their projects. The difference between these projects can often be slight aside from which MC is taking point, they are all reminiscent of classic hip hop, they all dive into personal history of street life and they all feature Freddie Gibbs. But there's a surprising amount of variance between the Mc's styles that made some of the records far more enjoyable than others.  Westside Gunn - Pray For Paris This is the one Griselda record from this year that I'm already seeing pop up on year end lists from major outlets so I thought I would take it on first. It's easy to see why the record has stuck with people so much since it's release all the way back in April starting with the fantastic instrumentals. A s...

Kali Uchis is a pop and R&B vocalist who first emerged with a number of high profile features in the second half of the 2010's. She followed this up by releasing her debut album in 2018 to massive critical acclaim for its refreshing songwriting and infectious genre blending. After releasing a quarantine EP earlier this year she announced the release of her 2nd studio album just two weeks before its release date.  Review By Lavender: I really enjoyed Kali's debut album and it's best tracks Miami , Just A Stranger  and Your Teeth In My Neck  haven't left my summer rotation in the two years since the record came out. While I wasn't a huge fan of the lo-fi bedroom pop songs from Kali's EP earlier this year I was excited for this new record given the singles taking a distinctly latin direction in sound. The resulting album isn't perfect but is isn't bad either and at a breezy 34 minutes doesn't bring much of anything it doesn't need.  The record ...

Lil Yachty is an Atlanta trap rapper who first emerged in 2016 with his own very unique personality in his breakout Lil Boai The Mixtape . Since blowing up much of Yahcty's unique characteristics have been replaced with more conventional trapisms. Lil Boat 3  follows Yachty's critically panned 3rd studio album Nuthin To Prove  in 2018.  Review By Lavender: I have been pretty vocal in my insistence that Lil Boat The Mixtape  is one of the most unique and charming stylistic interpretations of modern trap music and has continued to be a favorite for me. Since then it has been kind of a mixed bag culminating in his worst release yet the generic and underwritten Nuthin To Prove . Yachty took a long time off in the greater scheme of trap music before returning with this record which I had hoped would be another good one in the line of Lil Boat mixtapes, But while the record has good fundamentals it is way too long and very little of Yachty's charming and unique personality...

Freddie Gibbs is a Gary, Indiana rapper who spent the last decade dropping some of the most explosive and hard-hitting rap records around, highlighted by a pair of collaborative releases with Madlib in 2014 and again in 2019. He first collaborated with California produced The Alchemist in 2018 alongside rapper Curren$y on their Fetti  project and has now surprised dropped his long awaited official first true collaboration with Alchemist on record.  Review By Lavender: Freddie Gibbs has been one of my favorite rappers in the modern day. With his hard-hitting blend of lyrically sharp and thematic bars and a knack for choosing great production. Even though he has managed to impress me with solo material plenty of times the best Gibbs projects have come when he works in tandem with a legendary producer for an entire record. Given that Freddie has worked with Alchemist effectively before and he released one of my favorite albums of 2019 I was very excited for this album the moment ...

Rex Orange County is a British singer-songwriter who grabbed some attention in 2016 with his self-recorded and self-released debut bcos you will never b free  before attracting the attention of Tyler, The Creator and landing two spots on his Flower Boy  record in 2017. Around this time Rex Orange Country released his second record, the also self-released Apricot Princess , which was noticeable more popular after his boost in attention on Flower Boy . Now after a string of singles highlighted by the big success of Loving Is Easy  Rex is dropping his debut full length album with Sony Records and his first full project since 2017. Review By Lavender: There are moments where I really, really enjoy the music of Alex O'Connor, AKA Rex Orange County. His debut album was an internet cult classic and while it spotted some major flaws it was overflowing with personality that had me excited for his future. His two features on Flower Boy  excited me as well hoping he woul...