Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: JID is an Atlanta MC who spent the latter half of the 2010s establishing himself as a versatile and endlessly talented MC with a series of memorable mixtapes and features. His rise all culminated in the 2022 album The Forever Story, one of the best rap albums of the entire decade so far. In the 3 years since, JID has risen drastically in popularity due to a bizarre crossover with Imagine Dragons and an unpredictable TikTok hit in the Forever Story deep cut “Surround Sound.” Now he's back with a frequently promised new record, God Does Like Ugly.  The lead single is as good a place as any to start because it affirms the level of talent JID is working with. “WRK” didn't necessarily blow me away, mostly because its beat feels painfully standard and the chorus is very much nothing. But the longer JID goes on in his verses, it feels like he develops more and more to say. So even though the song is far from a highlight, it's a great example of how, even at th...

Editors Note: Hello angels, Lavender here. I'm about to tell you the full story of this Nav review. I've been hard at work on this review of the new Jane Remover album Revengeseekerz   for Ringtone Magazine , something that took quite a bit of time and attention away from this blog, but was worth it because I'm REALLY happy with the final piece. In the meantime, I started to speak to some friends about contributing guest reviews for projects I didn't get the chance to cover while I was busy. Surprisingly, the first to come through was from a 100% unserious joke request for one of my girlfriends to review the new Nav record. Transparently, I find the record exhaustingly boring and hadn't considered covering it myself at all. To my surprise, she leaped at the opportunity to suffer through its 36-minute runtime and collect her thoughts into a review. It's my honor to present to you the debut album review from my girlfriend Megan, in its entirety, below.  Review by ...

Kali Uchis is a versatile Columbian-American singer whose blends together R&B and pop with classic influences from the worlds of jazz and soul and even splashes of latin music worked in. Her impressive fusion of styles led to her breakout success as a featured artist in the early 2010s and led to her massively acclaimed debut album Isolation  in 2018. In 2021 she scored the biggest hit of her career so far with the tik tok fueled smash telepatia  and is following it up with Red Moon In Venus  the first of two albums she promised for 2023. Review by Lav: It's impossible not to like Kali Uchis. She's a wonderful singer with a blend of styles that has something for everyone and a list of collaborators that includes as much talent as anybody. Even if I wasn't in love with her second album nearly as much as her first it still had some massive highlights and I'm not the least bit surprised that it led her to have a big hit. I had no reason to expect anything but another g...

SZA is one of the most beloved stars of modern R&B whose 2017 album CTRL  has become one of the genre's most endearing modern classics. After releasing singles here and there for years it's all come together on her highly anticipated follow-up album SOS . While hype has been building for the project for years the actual release cycle was relatively short with SZA announcing the record's release date on SNL less than a week before it dropped.  Review by Lav: If you've followed me on ANY of my social media for the past month you know that I don't just love SZA, I'm obsessed. An album that I liked and reviewed positively in 2017, CTRL  slowly became one of my favorite records of the 2010s as her journey from side-chick to self-actualized and empowered modern woman scratched an itch over and over again. Not only that but I have LOVED almost every single she's released in the years since most of which do end up on the tracklist despite being years old. That w...

Pusha T is a Virginia Beach rapper with a history in the genre that rivals almost anyone. He broke out as a member of Clipse alongside his brother and was a frequent Pharrell collaborator throughout this era. His solo career took on a new life alongside his association with Kanye West and his G.O.O.D Music label and this is where some of his most acclaimed records show up, including his most recent in 2018, Daytona . Review By Lav: If you know me, read this blog often, or follow me on any social media you know how much I love Pusha T. That admiration comes first and foremost from a long running and extremely consistent creative output across his entire career. While I've only gotten to review Pusha T once so far it was a hell of an album and perfectly representative of his consistent execution and unmatched lethal delivery. So I was obviously very excited for what was coming next and after two singles I really enjoyed, wall to wall production from Pharrell and Kanye and some positi...

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....

Rico Nasty is a Maryland based rapper who first rose to prominence in 2018 off of some hard-hitting trap singles fuzed with hard rock and metal music. In the years since she has expanded her profile, sound and range of collaborators specifically with a spot on the XXL Freshman list in 2019 and a collaborative mixtape with beat wiz Kenny Beats . With a number of mixtapes under her belt Rico released a number of singles in the lead up to Nightmare Vacation  which is serving as her debut album. Review By Lav: I expected to have this review out sooner but gathering my thoughts on the record has been surprisingly difficult. I should start by saying that this record is incredibly samey, at least 10 of its 15 tracks run along a nearly identical formula of short trap bangers with explosive beats and a mix of shouted and rapped vocals. There is also a similarly homogenized but smaller collection of tracks on the record that take a more R&B style approach and are rarely successful. What ...

Don Toliver is a Houston based rapper and singer who blew up off of some huge features on Travis Scott's Astroworld  in 2018, alongside Eminem earlier this year and a staring role in the Jackboys label mixtape late in 2019. With a strong industry backing and a very unique vocal style Don Toliver's debut record was one of the more highly anticipated among hip hop fans in 2020. Review By Lavender: It's fair to say that I had some expectation going into this record given how much I loved Don Toliver on one of the many highlights from Travis Scott's Astroworld , Can't Say . He was one of the only solid parts of the Jackboys  record last year and he was even tolerable on this years new Eminem record. With such an infectious and recognizable voice I think Toliver has the potential to drop a truly great record but on Heaven Or Hell  he plays it so painfully safe that none of his personality or charm is able to shine through. The record had three songs released in ...