Lav's Music Corner

This week was headlined by a major new release in the electronica world. See where it laded among a series of promising indie singles.  5.  Point Him Out  - That Mexican OT (feat. DaBaby) I was late coming around to That Mexican OT's big hit Johnny Dang  last year but eventually, the song grew on me a lot as I continued to hear it on the charts. So far this year he's shifted away from the faster and more slick flows that made the track so unique into something harder-hitting. I wasn't crazy about it on his first new single but it works better here with an assist from DaBaby who fits right into this style.  Listen 4.  Sideways  - JT On her second solo single JT continues to experiment with a colder and less expressive demeanor than much of her City Girls music. On Sideways  it's even more of an embrace without some of the confident interludes and attention-grabbing jokes involved.  But what results may be an even more focused and impressive di...

Kanye West is an artist who really needs no introduction. One of the biggest and most controversial figures in popular music who has maintained a devoted fanbase and commercial success for nearly two decades. After a trio of stadium shows where unfinished versions of his 10th studio album were played to fans, Donda  finally dropped at the ever so unconventional time of 8 am on a Sunday morning.  Review By Lav: Well here it is, the record everyone has been talking about. For the better part of a month the general music community has been caught up in the tailspin of Donda  that Kanye's biggest fans have been toiling in for months if not even years going back to Yandhi . So what are my credentials. While I'm not a Kanye stan who defends his actions regardless of quality or context, I am a big fan of his music with records like College Dropout , My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy  and The Life Of Pablo  being among the best high profile hip hop records of their era....

Megan Thee Stallion is a Houston based rapper who has had as consistent a viral presence across 2020 as just about anyone. It started off with her Tik Tok anthem Savage  which eventually garnered a Beyonce featuring remix and had a Billboard #1 shootout with Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj. Musically she also lent a feature out to one of the most talked about songs of 2020 Cardi B's WAP . Not to mention she made headlines for months after allegedly being shot in the foot by Tory Lanez. She is following up last years Fever  mixtape and this years Suga EP with her studio debut album Good News . Review By Lav: There are few voices in the modern hip hop game as hilarious, charming and overwhelming as Hot Girl Meg. From last years Hot Girl Summer  becoming an anthem before it was even released to her near constant presence across every facet of the music industry and social media one thing is clear, nobody can get enough of Megan. I felt the same way despite coming off pretty mild o...

 

Pop Smoke was an up and coming rapper from New York who became one of the most prominent voices of the cities drill scene off of his hit song Welcome To The Party last year. Pop Smoke was tragically murdered in February of this year, a crime for which arrests were just made this week. Shoot For The Stars  is his posthumous debut album which was unfinished at the time of his death and was completed under the guise of executive producer 50 Cent. The record also attracted some controversy directed at designer Virgil Abloh for his original album cover design, which was changed before the records release.  Review By Lavender: Just typing the words posthumous debut album is something I find difficult, especially in the case of an artist like Pop Smoke who had so much creative and artistic potential ahead of him. While I have never outright loved any of his music he was carving out a unique lane for himself with unmistakable vocals and a thirst to push further beyond the mundane soun...

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...

Future is an Atlanta trap rapper who really needs no introduction at this point. He has been around for almost a decade now and has frequently released commercially successful projects that have heavily influenced the popular psychedelic trap sound. High On Life  is technically Future's 8th album but with a dense catalog of mixtapes and EPs we have had no shortage of music from the man and at 70 minutes long this record is no different.  Review By Lavender: For somebody that has been popular and influential for nearly a decade now it can be kind of difficult to narrow down Future's music to just the good stuff. While there is certainly enough Future tracks for a greatest hits album or two that is just a drop in the ocean of content he has released and with the exception of DS2  those tracks rarely align into a cohesively great record. Just last year Future wowed me with a handful of tracks on his The WZRD  album and even more on his Save Me  EP yet I consider th...

DaBaby is a Charlotte based rapper who blew up last year with a couple huge singles, and has kept his profile high through 2020 off of a number of successful features. Review By Lavender: If you'll refer to my last review you may remember that DaBaby was an artist I was pulling for initially. He's from my home town and gave Charlotte a chance to get on the map for hip hop and some of his biggest singles are not bad songs, particularly the excellent Intro from his last record and his marquee feature on Camila Cabello's My Oh My . But DaBaby's short time in the spotlight has shown off two things very quickly. Firstly he is quite the problematic character as he is constantly embroiled in new controversy just about everywhere he goes, and secondly and much more importantly for our purposes here he has proven to be a pretty one note artist and Blame It On Baby  shows that even further. The record had two singles that didn't have me very confident in Baby's vers...

Camila Cabello is a Cuban born pop singer who first garnered attention as a member of the pop girl group Fifth Harmony, before breaking off as a solo artist and finding success with singles like Crying In The Club  and Havana  which featured trap music staple Young Thug. She released her debut album early last year and it became a breakout commercial success, and after a series of singles throughout the second half of this year she is back with a second studio record. Review By Lavender: Given that I was never a fan of the music of Fifth Harmony I was surprised to have enjoyed Camila  as much as I did. I gave the record a six and acknowledged how many mediocre pop tunes it had to offer, but in its best moments songs like In The Dark and She Loves Control  showed a lot of promise for her future. I was hoping that Romance  would be a step in the right direction that saw her work on consistency and establish herself as more of a unique voice in pop music. U...

Trippie Redd is an Ohio rapper who has become one of the most recognizable stars of the SoundCloud trap era of rap music. His Love Letter To You series of mixtapes helped tremendously to put him on the map and he has returned one every year since 2017. Review By Lavender: Trippie Redd has always been an artist that can be tough to pin down. I enjoyed him when he was first breaking out with his hugely popular feature on XXXTENTACION's Fuck Love  and his 6ix9ine diss track Dark Knight Dummo. Despite my enjoyment of them I wasn't a huge fan of his ojnly mixtape at the time, the first A Love Letter To You . But later in 2017 he made a big improvement on the second edition of the series and I thought he was going in the right direction. 2018 was surprisingly identical as he started off with the disappointing studio album Life's A Trip , but later in the year turned out his best project yet with A Love Letter To You 3 . While many reacted quite negatively to his second stu...

DaBaby is a Charlotte based rapper who has blown up in 2019, scoring a top 10 single on the hot 100 with Suge  a number of high profile features, and an impressive spot on the XXL 2019 Freshman list. Baby dropped a record earlier this year Baby On Baby  that was commercially successful and turned around quickly to transition into Kirk . Review By Lavender: I've wanted to like DaBaby since he first showed up on the hip hop scene, he's from my home town of Charlotte after all and I have to represent. However I have been pretty mixed by what DaBaby has brought so far. I'm not in love with his breakout hit Suge  and I ended up choosing to skip reviewing his first record Baby On Baby  because it didn't do nearly enough to stand out from the sea of trap records that come out seemingly every day now. I have enjoyed a few of his tracks and a handful of his features this year though so now that he is more popular than ever I figured I would give this album a fair shot,...