Lav's Music Corner

Because I moved last week I just combined the two weeks into one, enjoy <3 10.  It Won't Be Like This Forever  - Neck Deep Don't make fun of me. I've been waiting for neck Deep to return to their catchy meets angsty brand of pop-punk bliss since 2015 and this is among the better tracks they've released in the past 8 years. In no way is this rewriting the book on any element of their sound or style but come on, it's catchy and explosive and fun. Listen 9.  Murder At The 18th St. Garage - The Mountain Goats You have to respect the hustle of The Mountain Goats. Dropping a new album pretty much every year the band doesn't have the most stylistic versatility to them but they play to their strengths occasionally. On this track they absolutely nail their dorky and occasionally over-written style with a simple energetic instrumental and some lyrics fans will love pouring over.  Listen 8.  SHAQ & KOBE  - Meek Mill & Rick Ross Am I crazy or is Meek soundin...

Freddie Gibbs is an Indiana rapper who has spent the last decade establishing himself as one of the most cutthroat rappers in the genre today. After a series of collaborative records including Pinata  with Madlib and Alfredo  with The Alchemist Freddie is back with his first solo album since 2018's Freddie , Review by Lav: Dishing out praise for Freddie Gibbs is just something I've done on this blog pretty much since I started it. Once he released Fetti  in 2018 it started a run of great records and features that had me sprinting to put out positive reviews of Freddie every few months. After hearing some of the singles from this record I though that streak might be approaching its end. But I shouldn't have doubted Freddie, this album is as solid as ever.  Let's talk about those singles because I'm still not totally sure about them. Too Much  is certainly a song I've flip-flopped on mostly because hearing Freddie's singing on the track doesn't do much for...

Conway The Machine is one of the principle members of Buffalo hip hop collective Griselda who has bee prolifically releasing material for nearly a decade. Conway had a breakout past two years, releasing his debut studio album in 2020 and following it up with the acclaimed La Maquina  mixtape in 2021. God Don't Make Mistakes  is officially Conway's 2nd studio album and it's his first being released by Eminem's Shady Records. Review By Lav: Conway The Machine doesn't know who I am and doesn't give a shit what I think about anything. BUT, I'm fully content on pretending that I sparked a fire in him in 2020. When I reviewed all the Griselda albums from that year his debut was my least favorite of the bunch and I specifically mentioned that I was still waiting on Conway to release something that was on the same level as the best work from his contemporaries Westside Gunn and Benny The Butcher. Well last year he did just that with the impressive La Maquina  mixtap...

The five best tracks that came out this past week listed below: 5.  Waiting  - PUP The newest single from the PUP catalog is an absolute rager that explodes with jagged instrumentation and that classic punk attitude and flair we've come to expect from the band. They pull off a surprisingly emotional edge to the whole thing as the songs wonders why you continue to wait around for someone, when all signs tell you to just go. It's a punk song with more to it than meets the eye.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHG36NyvaUk 4.  La Fama  - Rosalia Feat. The Weeknd The latest in Rosalia's seemingly infinite streak of high profile collaborations is R&B crossover king The Weeknd. It actually follows the pairs collaboration on last years Blinding Lights Remix  but takes a much less pop approach sonically. It deploys a much darker instrumental palette reminiscent of Abel's early days but with a distinct Latin sound, and the blend pulls you in from it's very first ...

Drake is the biggest artist on earth, and frankly it really isn't even close. From his streaming dominance, to his radio dominance to his chart dominance across numerous genres Drake has been an absolutely unstoppable force of commercial music for years. After setting numerous Billboard and streaming records with his 2018 record Scorpion  Drake has already started tearing down his previous accomplishments with Certified Lover Boy  in just the records first few days.  Review By Lav: Compared to the general public I've never been one of the massive Drake fans that you most likely know and interact with on Twitter occasionally. But compared to most music critics I've been far more positive on Drake's output, particularly in recent years, than many major outlets. While Views  and Scorpion  are both undeniably bloated there is also no denying the highlights that run throughout. Drake overcame this on his More Life  playlist which featured contributions from a nu...

Pop Smoke was a New York drill rapper who was tragically murdered last year, and has since proven to be a force of commercial music. Faith  is Pop Smoke's 2nd posthumous album and likely to be his 2nd #1 album, following last years Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon . Just a few days before the record the tracklist and production credits for the album were revealed, showing off a myriad of talented features.  Review By Lav: It's always difficult to review a posthumous record, since it can often have so little creative input from the artist whose name it's released under. In the recent years, hip hop in particular has frequently been criticized for it's posthumous records which either release recordings that are clearly unfinished and shouldn't be heard by the masses, or packing the songs full of trendy features that the original artist would have never worked with. This record does both, but it isn't quite as bad as it seems like at the outset. The biggest pr...

Smokepurpp is a Florida based rapper who emerged alongside the ever growing wave of SoundCloud rap over the latter half of the last decade. His frequent collaborations with artists like Denzel Curry and Lil Pump, who he fronts the group Gucci Gang alongside, as well as producers like Murda Beatz and Ronny J has given him a contemporary and influential sound. Despite consistent public interest in his music he has largely avoided critical acclaim with simple formulas and poor lyricism.  Review By Lavender: I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed plenty of singles from Smokepurpp over the last few years. Despite the fact that he tends to attract a little bit more genuine attention for his talent than most of his trap contemporaries both records in the Deadstar  series as well as his Murda Beatz collaboration have suffered from similar shortcomings. Not only does Florida Jit  suffer from the same problems just as heavily but it also features a lack of true highlights that mak...

Freddie Gibbs is a Gary, Indiana rapper who spent the last decade dropping some of the most explosive and hard-hitting rap records around, highlighted by a pair of collaborative releases with Madlib in 2014 and again in 2019. He first collaborated with California produced The Alchemist in 2018 alongside rapper Curren$y on their Fetti  project and has now surprised dropped his long awaited official first true collaboration with Alchemist on record.  Review By Lavender: Freddie Gibbs has been one of my favorite rappers in the modern day. With his hard-hitting blend of lyrically sharp and thematic bars and a knack for choosing great production. Even though he has managed to impress me with solo material plenty of times the best Gibbs projects have come when he works in tandem with a legendary producer for an entire record. Given that Freddie has worked with Alchemist effectively before and he released one of my favorite albums of 2019 I was very excited for this album the moment ...

Gucci Mane is a now legendary Atlanta rapper who came up in the 2000's and has made a sharp transition to trap music while staying relevant and releasing tons of music in constantly released mixtapes throughout the first half of the 2000's. While it is hard to point to any specific Gucci Mane mixtape that encapsulates his influence or style, his entire back catalog is one well worth diving into. Review By Lavender: Trying to review all the nearly 100 Gucci Mane projects is a job for somebody with patience well beyond me, but that doesn't mean I haven't at least heard nearly all of them and have my favorites. Honestly Gucci had been on a little bit of a creative peak recently releasing three albums in 2017, two of which I actually enjoyed quite a bit Droptopwop and the even better Mr. Davis . Unfortunately the single release he dropped in 2018 was one of the most generic and uninspired releases I had heard from him in years and Delusions Of Grandeur  follows in it...

Denzel Curry is a well established Florida rapper who has released some of the most critically acclaimed hip hop albums of the past 5 years. On the back of his mega hit and meme feature Ultimate  Curry dropped two critically acclaimed studio albums Imperial  and Taboo  and has now returned with yet another project after coming off of two excellent singles in Ricky  and Speedboat .  Review By Lavender: Denzel Curry has been nothing but sharp for years now. Even if some of his earliest material was punching below his weight once Ultimate  took off Curry proved that he made it for a reason and dropped the cutthroat and excellent Imperial  in 2016. This was followed by one of my favorite EPs of 2017 the similarly hard hitting 13  and finally in 2018 he dropped an album that ended up landing in my top 15 of the year Taboo . Given that Taboo  was thematically as dark but executed a wider variety of sounds with even sharper consistency it...