Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: billy woods is simultaneously one of the most prolific and most acclaimed voices in the rap underground. Releasing multiple projects a year, pretty much every year, with a variety of collaborators, he seemingly never runs out of clever turns of phrase and stories to tell. While his talent is obvious, I've often expressed my issues with his prolific output, which often creates multiple solid records when one great record could have easily sufficed. That's not the case with GOLLIWOG , an album whose conceptual ambitions and frequent highlights feel like they come from another world than even some of the more acclaimed billy projects in recent years. It's why I can recommend the record full stop, even to those who haven't been as in love with billy woods as some critics, as I think it's his best album of this decade so far.  I went into GOLLIWOG already more excited than I would be for any old billy woods record. Much of that was because of the lea...

And Then You Pray For Me  - Westside Gunn The main core of Buffalo-based rap collective Griselda releases a LOT of music. So sometimes you just have to pick your battles and only cover the most relevant releases. That's why I wanted to make sure to get my opinion out on this album after missing some of Westside's other work last year. The biggest reason being that from the album art and sonic motifs of the record it is clearly meant as a sequel to Gunn's 2020 album Pray For Paris . That project is one of my favorite in the entire Griselda catalog and I had high hopes for him returning to that well of icy, spacious, and vintage instrumentals with his lethal, detailed and distinctive flows. Unfortunately though, And Then You Pray For Me  delivers a full 75 minutes of music and much of isn't Gunn's best work.  That doesn't mean that the album doesn't have highlights. Mamas PrimeTime  is an early standout on the record with a chilling JID verse that might be my ...

Earl Sweatshirt is a California rapper who originated as a member of internet famous rap collective Odd Future. After being a predominately commercial figure early in his career e firmly transitioned into the world of underground hip hop on 2018's Some Rap Songs . Since then the massive acclaim of the record and a number of high profile features have helped cement Earl as one of the premiere underground rappers of the 2020's. Review By Lav: Watching Earl's sound evolve has been fascinating. From the edgy but undeniably talented and intense early work to his more accessible but lyrically pointed debut album and then fully transcending into one of the darkest sounds of underground rap ever since, he's been fascinating at every point along the way. It's no secret that I really enjoyed Some Rap Songs  given that I gave it a 10/10 review and called it my 3rd favorite album of the entire last decade, so obviously I was excited to see what this project was going to sound l...

Moor Mother is the musical project of Camae Ayewa a Philly based artist who has dabbled in numerous experimental takes on hip hop, jazz and spoken word across 4 studio albums. In 2020 she ramped up her output with a pair of collaborative records, first teaming up with Mental Jewelry for the Moor Jewelry record True Opera . Then followed it up with the billy woods pairing BRASS . Her experimental sound and sonic fusions have made her a critical darling across the last few years.  Review By Lav: I was late on Moor Mother I'm willing to admit that. 2016's Fetish Bones  slid by me and I didn't hear it until 2018 at which point I still didn't fully get it. Last years Moor Jewelry project was what really made it click for me and revisiting some of Moor Mother's older records at which point I really came around to her discography. That plus a couple of singles that I really dug got me excited for Black Encyclopedia Of The Air  and that proved to be for good reason. The rec...

There is more great rap music out there than I can possibly cover in full reviews, or even in rapid fire reviews. With many of the years most talked about releases being hip hop crossovers I decided to once again return to some records I didn't get the chance to review in full to make sure I don't fall behind with plenty more great rap music surely coming in 2021 Haram  - Armand Hammer & The Alchemist Armand Hammer is the New York duo of Billy Woods and Elucid who have spent the last decade releasing some of the most abstract and indulgent rap music around with highlights coming in the form of projects like Paraffin  and Race Music . The Alchemist is a producer with a resume that rivals just about anyone with a number of great collaborative projects in the past few years, most notably the Freddie Gibbs meetup Alfredo . For fans of The Alchemist you'll find these instrumentals mostly recognizable if not a bit more grimey than usual. There are those classic moments of spa...

As we round the corner towards the end of the year it's time to start catching up on records that I didn't get a chance to review earlier before it's time to write my end of year lists. In this first set of more concise reviews we will cover a collection of hip hop records from 2020 by artists who made noise in their respective niches. Shrines - Armand Hammer On the newest collaboration from rapper Billy Woods and producer Elucid you really know what you're in for. The beats here work with a jazz rap fundamental but consistently push it into other worlds crafting some harsher and more abstract beats across the album than you may typically hear on a conscious rap project of the like. Billy Woods intoxicating and confrontational voice adds grit to some of the more narrative driven or politically charged moments on the album and guests like R.A.P Ferreira and Earl Sweatshirt make notable appearances. The only major problem I have with the record is Billy's constant sl...