Soft Spot Rap with Amine, Open Mike Eagle, Pink Siifu, Rico Nasty, Saba & No ID: Rapid Fire Reviews
Reviews by Lavender:
For this week's rapid fire reviews, I'm taking a look at some rap albums I missed from earlier this year, with the underlying theme of artists who I absolutely adored at one point in their career. That's pretty much it, glad I finally got to talk about a lot of these. Enjoy!
13 Months Of Summer - Amine
My soft spot for Amine has been around for basically his entire career. Since the moment I first heard his song “Caroline,” overflowing with Amine's own charm and charisma, I was hooked on his catchy flows and sense of humor. On the flip side of that, I think most of his projects tend to be on the inconsistent side, including the last time we heard from him on a collaborative record with Kaytranada that seemed like a slam dunk, but didn't quite live up to it. In fact, 2020’s Limbo remains the only time in Amine's career that he's put it all together and made a truly great album.
13 Months Of Sunshine led off with a pair of vibey singles that didn't read as all that ambitious but served as perfect summer bops. “Arc De Triomphe” and “Vacay” both nestled a spot directly in my summer playlist, specifically for the catchy flows and sense of humor I've already praised Amine for. “Feel So Good” is a summery bop all about how Amine can't resist temptation in its many forms, which became an instant deep cut highlight. “Raspberry Kisses” is a late-tracklist banger that emerges just at the right time to rope me right back in. And the finale, “Images,” is a good combination between the ultra-slick stylings of the singles and the actual core of the album, which is vulnerable and personal introspection.
Occasionally, that style really suits Amine. Opener “New Flower” sees him waxing poetic about his pre-fame struggles with detail-rich verses I love right out of the gate. “History” is one of the better lovelorn songs on the record, mostly due to a dreamy sound palette and a well-placed assist from Waxahatchee of all people. The best of the bunch is “Be Easier On Yourself,” which sees Amine giving himself advice through the conduit of someone else's struggles. It would have also made a great closer to the album, given how much of the album's themes it hits on.
But unfortunately, for each song that goes introspective to good results, there's one that's devastatingly boring. Tracks like the ham-fisted “I Think It's You” and the sonically flat “Doing The Best I Can” sap some of the momentum out of the already weirdly assembled tracklist. So while 13 Months Of Sunshine does have an exceedingly inviting vibe and plenty of moments that highlight Amine's talent, it's once again an inconsistent bunch of tracks that don't feel like they truly live up to his highest potential. 6/10
Neighborhood Gods Unlimited - Open Mike Eagle
Open Mike Eagle has always been a personal favorite of mine, largely because his best era of material happened to coincide with the time I was first getting into music. From 2014-2018, he dropped a trio of albums and a pair of EPs that were consistently excellent, highlighted by the personal and razor-sharp 2017 album Brick Body Kids Still Daydream. The three albums he's dropped so far this decade have still been interesting and worth hearing, but no doubt a drop in quality. That's why, after hearing the lowkey but whip smart lead single for this new album, “contraband” I went into the record hoping it was his best in years. Even if it still may not be as good as his work in the latter half of the 2010s, I think I may have gotten my wish with Neighborhood Gods Unlimited.
The record's thematic highlight is “ok but I'm the phone screen.” Though it sounds a little silly, the track is a story about Mike dropping his phone in the street and it getting run over. The narrative details he conjures are compelling and add to the weight of the eventual reveal that he lost recordings and notes about new songs that he'll never be able to get back. I also love the performance he gives on “relentless hands and feet” with his word-bending vocals that sometimes sink into straight-up spoken prose. It contrasts really well with the omnipresent pulsating beat that doesn't even manage to put a dent in Mike's control of the song.
One problem I've had with other OME records in recent years is the presence of really inconsistent and bizarre features. Thankfully, this time around, some of the features represent huge highlights. Even though the repetition on the front end of “me and aquil” is annoying, the feature on the second half is great. STILL RIFT has appeared on Mike's albums a couple of times before, but he's never performed as well and had as much chemistry alongside Mike as he does on the highlight “almost broke my nucleus accumbens.”
One problem I was worried about on the record was the underlying dorkiness that exists in a lot of Open Mike Eagle records. Though it's something he used to have a pretty tight handle on and even an ability to use it to his benefit, it's one of my bigger issues with his recent records. The second single, “my co-worker clark kent's secret black box,” is literally about him being Clark Kent’s co-worker and having to pretend it isn't obvious that he's Superman. Despite the fact that it made me outwardly cringe the first time I heard it, the song actually grew on me once it was in the context of the full album. I can't say the same for the dorky outro on “rejoinder” or the hyper-literal and aimlessly silly “a dream of the midnight baby.”
But those moments are in the minority on Neighborhood Gods Unlimited. Though it isn't the tightest tracklist Mike has ever served up, he is honing in on some of his strengths across the record. Through that lens, his storytelling and intimate performances are highlighted, and his unique cadence and lyricism mostly shine. Whether or not this is a stepping stone to a record as good as his heyday, I'll always remember it fondly. 7/10
BLACK'!ANTIQUE - Pink Siifu
For Pink Siifu, my favorite era of his career spans 2020 and 2021, where he collaborated with Fly Anakin and released, far and away, my favorite of his studio albums: Gumbo. But he's one of the many underground rappers who take a stunningly quantitative approach to their releases, and with so much material, it's hard to keep up as a critic and hard to maintain that consistency as an artist. That's part of the reason why I didn't get around to BLACK’!ANTIQUE earlier this year. The other reason is also the album's biggest flaw, its 77-minute length. Songs on the record warp and wander through 5 and 6-minute compositions regularly, and while it makes for some excellent highlights, it also drags out some of the weaker moments.
For the sake of being succinct in this short review, I'll focus on what I enjoyed because it really is the majority of the album. It gets off to a strong start with a pair of muddy and compositionally dynamic cuts that set the tone for how the entire album will unfold. Though the record's most intense moments are often my favorites, there are still more murky highlights in the mix. “FACECARD” and “LOCKED IN” are smoother, R&B-flavored cuts. They're a little too raunchy to actually be sensual, but I like them regardless. Plus, there's “LAST ONE ALIVE,” a wandering jazz rap cut with loose rambling flows that actually manages to serve up some of the record's most quotable moments.
The biggest highlights on the record come when Siifu cuts through the noise and makes a throttling banger. “V12” has a bizarre intro but eventually morphs into the hardest-hitting song on the entire album, building to a fiery and relentlessly quotable final verse across the last minute. Speaking of building intensity, “SCREW4LIFE” has a killer beat drop where Siifu crashes into the track ready to absolutely hit the ground running. He feels genuinely angry on the song and intent on putting his hip-hop rivals in their place. Finally, there's “Girls Fall Out Tha Sky,” a really interesting shift into a contemporary trap crooner. Surprisingly, though, it has damn good performances all around and comes out the other end feeling like the best case scenario for a Gunna song. BLACK’!ANTIQUE certainty has moments I wish were slimmed down into a more digestible tracklist, but quantity has always been Pink Siifu's style. Through that lens, the album's brooding demeanor, quotable lyrics, and mix of vocal intensity throughout keep the record surprisingly fresh. It may not be the best I've ever heard Siifu, but he's certainly still a voice underground rap fans should be attuned to. 7/10
LETHAL - Rico Nasty
For Rico Nasty, the story is a little more complicated. I've always been a big fan of Rico, and her singles discography can go toe-to-toe with almost anyone. But on the other hand, her album output has been frustratingly underwhelming and inconsistent. I don't really think a single one of her projects manages to be consistently good throughout, and several of them even serve up some truly stomach-churning lowlights. Unfortunately, despite my belief going into the record, LETHAL features every problem of Rico's previous album and a few more added for good measure.
This era started with the bizarre announcement that Rico had signed to Fueled By Ramen records of all places. And the pair of singles that followed were fittingly annoying. “TEETHSUCKER” is the worst of the two, which certainly has a lot of energy, but delivers it in the most annoying way possible. I'm slightly more tolerant of “ON THE LOW” because I actually kind of like the hook in spite of its repetition. But the verse pattern is patronizingly basic and features some of the dumbest lyrics Rico has ever written. The aggravating FBR influence is all over this record. It pops up on tracks like “BUTTERFLY KISSES,” which features even more of Rico's worst bars ever. It also features songs like “CRASH” and “SMILE,” which mostly just sound like the vault tracks from Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION that their labels dropped as cash grabs after they died.
Thankfully, there are silver linings. The best song on the album by far is the throttling opener “WHO WANT IT,” which features some of Rico's classic intense and instantly recognizable vocals. They pop up again in an even more ferocious way later on the record with “EAT ME.” But aside from a few bangers, LETHAL feels like another disappointment from Rico Nasty. Despite proving beyond all doubt that she's one of the most talented and interesting MCs around, her lack of ability to channel it into a good record needs to be studied. 4/10
From The Private Collection Of Saba And No ID - Saba & No ID
Finally, there's Saba. He's a rapper for whom my affinity spans pretty much his entire career. Though his 2018 narrative-driven masterpiece Care For Me certainly represents a high point, I've enjoyed pretty much every stop on his artistic journey so far. Teaming up with a rap legend like No ID seemed like an absolute slam dunk, and for the most part, it is. While neither artist necessarily pushes themselves into entirely new territory, the pair confidently stride through one piece of slick, verbose jazz rap after another to great results.
The pair have been dropping singles for a while now, but two of my favorites made it onto the record. “Woes Of The World” is a razor-sharp meditation on how struggles can compound and build on each other until you feel like you're drowning. Somehow, “How To Impress God” is an even stronger lyrical display. Saba faces down all of his accomplishments and what they actually mean in the grand scheme of things in a move that flaunts the braggadocio conventionally associated with hip-hop at large.
The album also gets off to a really strong start. “Every Painting Has A Price” is the gospel-tinged opener that sees Saba reminding fans how vulnerable and human he is. Even if his singing isn't perfect, I can forgive it because of how much I like everything else on the song. It also serves up “Breakdown,” which doesn't waste a minute with jazzy instrumentation cut off, but these soaring horn crashes during the verse. The instrumentation builds up as the song goes on in an absolutely gripping way I can't get enough of.
I can also compliment the record for its great use of features. Several tracks have singers come in for warm, inviting hooks that consistently soar. The track “Westside Bound” is a fitting posse cut tribute to the Westside. It's actually interesting how loose and playful Saba is with the song, and it highlights the chemistry he has with all the artists he brought in. But the real feature highlight comes on the excellent “30secchop,” where Jean Deaux ends the song with a killer stand-out performance that's one of my favorite moments on the entire record.
So yeah, From The Private Collection is a rock solid rap album. Even if it feels like it orbits around the same sound and subject matter throughout, it still conjures several highlights along that journey. By and large, it sees a pair of rap veterans teaming up to do exactly what they do well, and I find it hard to have any complaints about that. 7.5/10
