Lav's Music Corner

Michael  - Killer Mike Run The Jewels rapper Killer Mike has long been a favorite of mine. When I was first really getting into hip-hop his last solo album R.A.P Music  was still pretty fresh in people's minds and the landmark second Run The Jewels album was right around the corner. Pretty quickly his distinct cadence and intensity became familiar to me. In the time I've been reviewing music he has predominately been just that, one half of Run The Jewels. The groups music is often full of personality but with more sledgehammer blow than earnest reflection. So hearing Mike gear up to deliver us the most personal record of his entire career so far got me pretty excited.  One thing that has me pumping the breaks on that hype were underwhelming singles. RUN  and TALK'N THAT SHIT  are both just okay and their intensity has dulled on me since I first heard them last year. I also have mixed feelings about the record's most talked about track so far Scientists & Eng...

5.  Alone  - Kim Petras (feat. Nicki Minaj) Even though I've liked both of these artists a lot in the past, to say I was skeptical of this song would be a huge understatement. While I did think each of their previous two songs were okay it felt like they were both headed for some kind of slump and hearing the relatively lazy sampling on display in the previews for this track didn't help remedy that. Ultimately though this song is also pretty decent with an exciting performance from Nicki and a hook that is sticking with me more and more. It's far from the best either are capable of but it's a plenty serviceable collaboration.  Listen 4.  Undergrowth  - Squid If hearing the funk rock riffs and the repeated Limp Bizkit ass "melt" hook on this song immediately activated your gag reflex, you're not alone. My first reaction to the song was pretty garish as well. In fact it took me a few times of hearing it with completely shifted expectations to realize there a...

Black Thought & Danger Mouse are a pair of veteran producer and even more veteran MC who have had their hands in dozens of classic records respectfully. After teasing a collaboration for years the pair have finally delivered a proper full length record and brought many high profile friends along with them.  Review by Lav: I love these two. From Danger Mouse's versatile and impressive catalog of production which is nearing two decades of work to Black Thought's time with The Roots and his continued success as a soloist. It's through this lens that the title of this record Cheat Codes  starts to make a lot of sense. The level of professionalism in the delivery and creation of these lo-fi and jazz inspired hip hop tracks really is a cheat code and the pair live up to it.  I was pretty sure this was gonna be good based solely on who made it, but the trio of singles certainly helped. No Gold Teeth  left my rotation at some point in the past few months and I don't know...

All of a sudden there's quite a few EPs to be covered and we're pretty light on new records this week. So let's handle some recent short-form projects from the world of hip hop. RED & WHITE EP - Lil Uzi Vert It's no secret that I've been a pretty big critic of some of Uzi's music in the past but at the very least I can say that one of their most enjoyable projects to date was technically the most recent one not counting his collaboration with Future.  Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World 2  remedied many of the big problems I had with Eternal Atake , namely much stickier hooks and many features that helped make up for some of Uzi's shortcomings as both a rapper and singer. So I was a little suspicious going into this nearly 30 minute EP once I saw that Uzi is handling the entirety of vocal duties by themself. Thankfully both the production and songwriting here are better than on EA and while I think there is still some distance between Uzi and their biggest contem...

Musically the album is king. While singles top charts and generate radio play it's the album that fans stay up all night waiting for and constantly ask for online. Everything about these collections of songs seems just as innocuous as well, a collection of songs. But what they mean to us and what they meant to us specifically in 2020 is immeasurable. I listened to just over 250 albums this year and reviewed almost 200 of them and as usual there were tons of records I just didn't have time to get to. As much as I wish I could have listened to absolutely everything, this list is the best of everything I actually could listen to this year. These records range from solid and slightly inconsistent experiments to some of the best and most groundbreaking music of the year, and is neatly arranged into a 100-1 list as best as I could do, enjoy. 100. Freezepop - Fantasizer One of the premiere synth pop bands of the 2000's returned in 2020 with Fantasizer . While it came completely ou...