Lav's Music Corner

Every year it just seems like there are WAY more rap albums than I can listen to and review. I've had rapid fire reviews for rap collaborations, trap albums, conscious rap, abstract hip hop and even one that was just for Griselda. Yet there are still mountains of rap albums I want to cover. I'm taking on these four in an attempt to make a dent in that pile with some of the most pressing of the available choices.  The Color Blu(e)  - Blu After having not heard much about Blu in quite a while he has entered an incredibly prolific and acclaimed stretch across the past few years. His last two collaborative records have both been fan favorites and the latter, last year's Miles  was one of my favorite rap records of the year and one of the smartest rap albums I've ever heard. So I was excited going into this concept album because it's clear how talented Blu is and if anybody could stretch a concept album about a single color to nearly 45 minutes it's him. While I do h...

Ka is a Brownsville, New York based rapper whose minimal and introspective brand of hip hop has become massively acclaimed across a series of highly conceptual albums which deliver narrative rich metaphors relating to topics like Japanese samurai, Greek mythology and Christian theology. A Martyr's Reward  was surprise released on Ka's personal website and carries the themes of Christian lyrical references over from last years  Descendants Of Cain . Review By Lav: I have been enamored by Ka's brand on introspective hip hop since years before I started reviewing music. Records like Honor Killed The Samurai  and Orpheus vs. The Sirens  were not only packed full of incredible wordplay but had overarching themes that were far more creative and literary than you'd typically expect from even the most high brow rap albums. I was pretty impressed by high dive into Christian metaphors on last years record and expected that it may be a while before we hear from him again ...

The Alchemist is a legendary hip hop producer whose discography really speaks for itself at this point. He is a veteran of the craft but has maintained a pretty prolific output both of solo material, collaborations and one off production credits pretty much every year. In 2020 The Alchemist wowed alongside Freddie Gibbs with Alfredo  and even earlier this year saw another collaboration released with New York underground hip hop duo Armand Hammer.  Review By Lav: The Alchemist's discography really does speak for itself, and any hip hop fan will likely tell you the same thing. He puts out so much music that not every single thing he touches necessarily turns to gold but when he is on, there is almost nobody better. Historically his solo material hasn't always provided necessarily the best of the best Alchemist work but with this short EP recruiting a stacked feature list there was no reason to believe it wouldn't be another hit, and for the most part he delivers Nobles  is ...