Lav's Music Corner

Andre 3000 is famous, quite obviously, for being a rapper. The ATL legend served as one half of Outkast one of the best and most influential rap groups of all time. But since the pair called it quits between them Andre has been remarkably quite musically only making a handful of appearances in the nearly 20 years since. Though he is surprising fans with his long-awaited debut solo album its definitely not the album that many fans were hoping for. New Blue Sun  is a long and very indulgent ambient jazz album which prominently features Andre playing flute alongside a variety of expansive and occasionally quite minimal compositions.  Read More:  I had a lot of thoughts on this album before I even got the chance to hear it. Unlike a lot of the more idiotic rap fans online I don't hold any resentment against Andre for going in this direction artistically as he's always been very clear with fans on where their expectations for a new album should actually be set. But as someone ...

Earthgang are an Atlanta based hip hop duo comprised of MC's Johnny Venus and Doctur Dot. They released a number of mixtapes in the first half of this decade building up their profile through features and their association with hip hop and R&B supergroup Spillage Village. After signing to J. Cole's Dreamville label they featured a number of times on the labels compilation record earlier this year and spring-boarded that into their major label debut Mirrorland . Review By Lavender: While Earthgang have been on my radar for a while and I've been stopping in to check on their music routinely I made the choice to skip reviewing the records until they dropped something more substantial or popular and ultimately I do wish I had reviewed them. But retrospectively they were mostly the process of a duo finding themselves musically and evolving up to this moment, where they have signed to J. Cole's Dreamville records and got the spotlight on their compilation project...

Anderson .Paak is a multi-talented rapper and singer who has been thrust into the limelight in recent years following a series of critically acclaimed releases that helped the rapper build up a committed fanbase and score multiple crossover hits.  Review By Lavender: .Paak continues to surprise me. A few years after it came out I revisited his first album Venice  and while it was clearly not the project its follow-up was, I was shocked to find out just how good it was and that I hadn't heard it at the time. But after hearing Paak's excellent guest spots on Dr. Dre's Compton  and listening to his excellent 2016 project Malibu  I was already hooked on the multi-talented artist. Paak had a very memorable collaboration with Knxwledge as NxWorries on the album Yes Lawd !   and then took 2017 off of studio work for the most part in order to watch and wait as his fantastic music became more and more popular each day. 2018 was a busy year for Paak as early on...