Back after a small hiatus with a few thoughts on some of the new stuff that has been coming out from my favourite artists. Gonna be discussing Joey's 3 track EP, J.Cole's 2-track tape and the single from Rap God and Cudi which came out just under a month ago.
Joey Bada$$ - The Light Pack
This EP from Joey was a great reminder for me of how good he is. I haven't heard much from him since All-Amerikkkan Basass (an album which I loved), so to see he had some new tracks out was great. They start out brilliantly as well, the opening track The Light starts over an ominous, piano-led boom bap beat and he starts with a nice easy flow. Proper head-bopper and he essentially just re-introduces himself and reminds you why his music and tone can be so addicting. I love the way he delivers his bars and changes his cadences at the end of each words, specially for these bars; "Now world comination by determination, this is mumble rap extermination, this is Godly interpolation".
The second track No Explanation featuring Pusha T was slightly mediocre. There's nothing too wrong with it, but it's not got much replay-ability, the hook is decent but there's not a handful of standout bars in the verses. Out of all the tracks mentioned in this article, this is the only one that probably won't make the playlist. But onto the final track Shine was excellent. Heavily sampling Everybody Loves The Sunshine Roy Ayres, like all the tracks on this tape, is very smooth and Joey flows effortlessly over the beat, on this song more so than the others. This is the strongest overall track on the mixtape and definitely makes me excited for what's to come. Joey reps a classic style whilst still being experimental with both his sampling and his vocalization. Good effort.
Star Track - Shine
7.5/10
J.Cole - The Climb Back
Loving both these J.Cole tracks here. On both tracks he displays that he's got bars for days as well as ability to write melodies. Both tracks I believe were predominantly produced by J.Cole and they were nice and chilled and were a good backdrop for his silky, transitioning flow. I say "transitioning" because throughout both tracks he displays that he can switch between flows effortlessly. This is such an underrated trait of a rapper. EP's, albums or whatever can quickly become tiring or boring if the MC does not alter their flow. J.Cole does this nicely using strong multi-syllable rhyme schemes and clever wordplay as well to pack out these tracks.
Star Track - Lion King on Ice
9/10
Kid Cudi ft Eminem - The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady
Two of my favourite artists combining here for a track, so it goes without saying, I was so excited. I wasn't sure exactly what it would sound like, I don't think anyone really was, but in hindsight, despite not sticking my neck out and making a prediction, this is basically what it was always going to sound like.
Typical spacey Cudi beat, with it being trap as well it is the sort of beat Eminem has being comfortable on in the past couple of years, if it ever so slightly reminds me of the No Favors beat that he featured on from Big Sean.
As for the song, no hook in sight, just pure bars. And the bars were good. Some of the delivery seemed a bit awkward from both Cudi and Em. For example, when Cudi said "You don't wanna act don't get me wrong, they don't listen to the words in the song", and same issue at the start of Em's verse when he said "So if it's God you believe in, just bop your head and just nod in agreement". Nothing too wrong with them, just slightly hits the ear wrong, like they're trying to fit too many syllables in the bar.
Apart from that there was moments where they both sounded incredibly smooth and fire, which is what they are both known for. I really liked the Cudi bit where says "The night game, she like your girl called, she like, do me baby down to get busy busy". And even more so when Em turns up the flow in his verse when he says "always stay ahead of haters, let 'em hate, but never let a hater penetrate your circle, separate yourself from those who try to pull you down, the real ones never stray, it's sort of like Medusa, that's how you stay ahead of snakes".
People were calling Em out for some quetionable bars, maybe rightly so, the "fluoride swish (floor I'd swish) bar" wasn't the best, but the Coffin bar was sick, "I just used the same basket as you shoppimg, now I'm in a fucking casket from you coughing (coffin). And there was a few other nice ones throughout. The comic book, animated lyric video was really sick as well. I'd definitely want them to work together again. Despite it not having the most replay-value, their monotone deliveries made the song very unique and interesting. Probably quite a good song for the gym.
7.75/10
Comments
Post a Comment