Lav's Music Corner

These are some collaborative EPs that have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other aside from being two different artists working together.  genre: sadboy  EP - Trippie Redd/Machine Gun Kelly This project is probably gonna land among the most hated musical releases of 2024. These two artists enter the game as victims of some of the most severe over-hate in all of music, especially Trippie. While he's released his fair share of lame-duck projects he's also got some absolute banger singles under his belt and a few genuinely strong records in his catalog. MGK is even more divisive. While I've never been a fan of his catalog I appreciate some of the intensity he's brought to an otherwise extremely sleepy era of contemporary pop rock, even if the quality of songs aren't really there. At the very least anyone who thinks he's a better rapper than he is a punk-rocker needs a deep re-analyzing of their priorities.  With the venom that exists for these two artists genre:...

Every year there are literally dozens and dozens, maybe even hundreds of trap records that either get reccomended to me or hyped up somewhere significant online. While I do cover major releases or records I anticipate being particularly good I wanted to take some time to play catch up with contemporary raps predominate sound, and it probably won't be the last time this year I do.  Trip At Knight  - Trippie Redd Even though I have reviewed Trippie a few times in the past I decided to skip out on his two most recent major releases. Last years Pegasus  was a bloated and very boring project that I didn't review because I didn't really have anything to say about it. He followed it up with the Travis Barker collaboration Neon Shark  which I was hesitant of because of just how often Travis pops up on terrible trap music these days, but I actually thought it turned out decent. Given that it was really just a deluxe release of Pegasus  I never got around to it but Trip A...

Kid Cudi aka Scott Mescudi is an Ohio born R&B and hip hop artist who first made a name for himself on the druggy and psychedelic Man On The Moon  records in 2009 and 2010. Since then Kid Cudi has released some material that received widespread backlash from critics with 2012's WZRD  and 2013's Indicud  but reached a new peak of critical ire in 2015 when he released Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven an album that many consider to be one of the worst of the entire 2010's. After releasing a better received record in 2016 then collaborating with Kanye West as Kids See Ghosts  Cudi seems to have recouped some of his reputation as hype for Man On The Moon 3  was incredibly high despite it's lack of any singles.  Review By Lav: I certainly wouldn't consider myself a Kid Cudi fan. Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven  is mostly deserving of its reputation but I'm even more willing to pick a fight with one of my least favorite albums of the entire decade Indicud . The first...

Rico Nasty is a Maryland based rapper who first rose to prominence in 2018 off of some hard-hitting trap singles fuzed with hard rock and metal music. In the years since she has expanded her profile, sound and range of collaborators specifically with a spot on the XXL Freshman list in 2019 and a collaborative mixtape with beat wiz Kenny Beats . With a number of mixtapes under her belt Rico released a number of singles in the lead up to Nightmare Vacation  which is serving as her debut album. Review By Lav: I expected to have this review out sooner but gathering my thoughts on the record has been surprisingly difficult. I should start by saying that this record is incredibly samey, at least 10 of its 15 tracks run along a nearly identical formula of short trap bangers with explosive beats and a mix of shouted and rapped vocals. There is also a similarly homogenized but smaller collection of tracks on the record that take a more R&B style approach and are rarely successful. What ...

Juice WRLD is the musical pseudonym of Jarad Higgins who died tragically last December at the age of just 21. With rumors swirling that he left behind a massive collection of songs Legends Never Die  is the first of what may be multiple posthumous albums from Juice.  Review By Lavender: Listening to this record and writing this review has been difficult for a couple reasons. Not only that Juice passed away but at the young age of 21, the age I am at the time of writing this. And also that people can be very sensitive about posthumous records particularly from artists that had an emotional impact on their fans during their lifetime. While I was never a die hard Juice fan I did love many of his singles and my main issue with his projects were bloated tracklists that covered similar territory. Legends Never Die  suffers in the exact same way with a handful of songs that feel completely unnecessary, yet some of Juice's best tracks appear here.  The records opening segmen...

Trippie Redd is an Ohio rapper who has become one of the most recognizable stars of the SoundCloud trap era of rap music. His Love Letter To You series of mixtapes helped tremendously to put him on the map and he has returned one every year since 2017. Review By Lavender: Trippie Redd has always been an artist that can be tough to pin down. I enjoyed him when he was first breaking out with his hugely popular feature on XXXTENTACION's Fuck Love  and his 6ix9ine diss track Dark Knight Dummo. Despite my enjoyment of them I wasn't a huge fan of his ojnly mixtape at the time, the first A Love Letter To You . But later in 2017 he made a big improvement on the second edition of the series and I thought he was going in the right direction. 2018 was surprisingly identical as he started off with the disappointing studio album Life's A Trip , but later in the year turned out his best project yet with A Love Letter To You 3 . While many reacted quite negatively to his second stu...

After a pretty drab July August really kicked off with some fantastic releases and a huge shake up to the album, singles and songs of the year charts, and all while doing it with only a few real disappointments. Take a quick look at all the albums I reviewed this month: First Taste  - Ty Segall On First Taste  Ty Segall is unrelentingly his own but the experiments are well within his comfort zone as he rocks his way through some of the wildest and fastest rock track all year, with a decent consistency. Review Live At Troxy - Fever Ray Troxy  fails to turn many of the uninspired songs from Fever Ray's most recent record into captivating live experiences but does provide fans a new take on some of the best tracks of her solo career so far. Review i,i - Bon Iver Bon Iver blends together the warm hearty style of their early work with the electronic coldness of their 2016 masterpiece 22, A Million  into something uniquely their own with the sensation of a...

Trippie Redd is an Atlanta via Ohio rapper that blew up in late 2017 into 2018 alongside young voices like XXXTENTACION and 6ix9ine on a wave of SoundCloud rap. Trippie set himself apart with a unique and zany singing voice that helped his  first two mixtapes A Love Letter To You   1 and 2  become sleeper hits. He released his debut album Life's A Trip last year to mixed critical reception before dropping the breakout hit single Topanga which landed on his next mixtape and his most critically acclaimed project to date A Love Letter To You 3 . Review By Lavender: I have always been pretty tightly aligned with the masses in regards to Trippie Redd. He flashes potential with some singles but his first two mixtapes left a little bit to be desired, and by the time his debut album came along I was more than a little disappointed by it. Much to the surprise of me and many others Trippie wasn't done in 2019 and followed this underwhelming record up with his best single yet...