Lav's Music Corner

Common is a Los Angeles based rapper who was very influential in the world of jazz-centric conscious rap in the late 90's and early 2000's. Albums like Be  and Like Water For Chocolate  are sounds of a specific era in hip hop they are among the best in that era. Common has had a more difficult time recreating that success in more recent years, coming the closest on his last record Black America Again  in 2016 but now that he is back many old school hip hop fans are hoping he has something substantial to say on this new record. Review By Lavender: Common has some great songs, albums and features in his back catalog that are among the best of his era in hip hop. Be is a fantastic record and if you've never heard it before I highly recommend it. Unfortunately since this great record Common has failed to really impress me and even when many were justifiably impressed by his socially conscious 2016 record Black America Again  he was still sounding to me like a rapp...

Your Old Droog is a New York rapper and predominant old head who rose to popularity across 2014 and 2015 when many believed his early mixtapes were Nas rapping under an alternate persona. After revealing himself to the public Droog dropped his first big breakout album Packs  in 2017 and has released a number of features and a set of looseys since then, as well as one single leading up to this album. Review By Lavender: Droog is truly an old head's rapper, more so now than ever before. Coming from New York he matches stylistically with the conscious and lyrical flavors of rap music that came out of the east coast in the 90's, carrying the torch for artists like Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep and of course Nas. Packs  actually surprised me with its variety in sound and consistently sharp performances, this was the album that proved to me just how capable Droog was of blended the sounds of new and old into sharp and intelligent hip hop for the ages. But on It Wasn't Even Close ...