Lav's Music Corner

Joey Bada$$ is a New York rapper and member of the Pro Era collective who broke onto the scene a decade ago with a now-classic debut mixtape 1999  which was released when Joey was still a teenager. After pivoting from his NY boom-bap style into a more conscious and political focus on is 2017 album All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ , Joey is returning with 2000 , a sequel to his original breakout mixtape. Review by Lav: Despite a discography that is pretty slim compared to some of his contemporaries, largely due to the 5-year gap between studio albums, Joey Badass has carved out a place for himself among the top-tier artists of today. He did this by emerging as an extremely talented individual at a very young age and continuing to impress with both his music and his far-reaching collaborations. Even though I've enjoyed some of his side work ultimately this is what I was waiting for, not only a full-length return from Joey but also a project that's thematically connected to his still legenda...

Gunna is an Atlanta rapper signed to Young Thug's YSL Records label. He broke out a few years ago on a string of features alongside Young Thug and a successful collaborative album between himself and fellow 2018 up and comer Lil Baby. DS4EVER  is his 3rd proper studio album and comes two years after his first #1 album Wunna  in 2020. Review By Lav: I was late to Gunna. When I first heard him on the back of his affiliation with Young Thug I was so sure that his prescence would be a passing fad that I passed on reviewing some of his early mixtapes. It wasn't until his Lil Baby collab Drip Harder  which spawned the first big hit of his career that I realized I couldn't ignore him forever. The first highlight of my interaction with Gunna's music and his fans was when an intern from his record label called me "an LGBT" on Twitter and used that as an explanation for why I didn't enjoy Drip or Drown 2  which honestly still makes me laugh to this day. Believe it o...

Pop Smoke was a New York drill rapper who was tragically murdered last year, and has since proven to be a force of commercial music. Faith  is Pop Smoke's 2nd posthumous album and likely to be his 2nd #1 album, following last years Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon . Just a few days before the record the tracklist and production credits for the album were revealed, showing off a myriad of talented features.  Review By Lav: It's always difficult to review a posthumous record, since it can often have so little creative input from the artist whose name it's released under. In the recent years, hip hop in particular has frequently been criticized for it's posthumous records which either release recordings that are clearly unfinished and shouldn't be heard by the masses, or packing the songs full of trendy features that the original artist would have never worked with. This record does both, but it isn't quite as bad as it seems like at the outset. The biggest pr...

YG   is a Compton based rapper who first emerged in 2013 with a contemporary hip hop sound and a few mainstream hits. He changed course with his sophomore record 2016's critically acclaimed Still Brazy  which adopted a 90's g-funk hip hop approach. Since then he has released two more records, each of which took a much more contemporary trap flavored approach. With a few singles leading up to My Life 4Hunnid  he forecasted a transition back to his g-funk sound and generated significant hype in doing so.  Review By Lavender: This is the most excited I've been for a YG album, well ever really. Still Brazy  blindsided me and emerged as one of my favorite rap records of the 2nd half of the 2010's. Since then YG hasn't blown me away with another record even though his most recent release was an improvement over its predecessor. The singles were primarily what made me so excited for this record, not only because they were so good but also because they called back to th...

Chris Brown & Young Thug are a pair of veteran music industry players who have come together for a surprise collaborative mixtape. Chris Brown is a controversial but successful R&B singer who has been around for nearly 20 years now and Young Thug is one of the more unique and critically acclaimed voices in modern trap music, so it is safe to say the pairing is a slight surprise. Review By Lavender: I didn't really have any time to prepare my expectations for this mixtape give that there were no real singles for the project and it was basically surprised dropped in the middle of the week. But had I had the time to develop expectations for the record I think I would have ended up anticipating this thing to be exactly what it is. The beats here are simple and the songs are inconsistent but when Thugger and Chris Brown bring their strongest personality to the fold they can make some great tracks.  The opening track is an example of the pairing going right. The song Say You Love...

Drake is a Canadian rapper who really needs no introduction at this point. He ascended to be one of the biggest stars on earth over the course of the last decade and has been keeping his fans fed since his 2018 double album Scorpion . Last year he released a collection of loose end songs that had been up on platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud officially for years. But this time around Dark Lane Demo Tapes  is a collection of songs that haven't been officially released, though many of them have appeared as leaks of snippets in one way or another over the past few years.  Review By Lavender: When it comes to Drake I am in the same boat as most people. He has some great projects and songs but also some pretty mediocre moments, somewhere between the people who refuse to accept his songs no matter how great they can be and those who worship the ground he walks on even when he's at his most mediocre. I didn't have super high expectations going into this as it was clearly labell...

What a shitty week for the credibility of whoever writes WALK THE MOON lyrics. Boy am I happy to see a personal favorite come back in such great fashion this week, I can't wait for 2018 to be the ultimate neo goth comeback year. A girl can dream right. 5. High End - Chris Brown (Feat. Future & Young Thug) I didn't start the week expecting to see Chris Brown, Future and Young Thug release a track together but now that it's out I'm not sure how I didn't see it coming. It's wavy distant trap vibes fit perfectly. Future does what he always does, Thugger brings a typical verse and Chris Brown handles the chorus. Sure there's not enough here to top the billboard charts but it's made to be background noise, and it does that so so well. 4. Heartstruck (Wild Hunger) - Hamilton Leithauser (Feat. Angel Olsen) Apparently collaborations are Hamilton's new thing now. He doesn't do a ton to separate this single from the rest of his catalogue but...