A Quick Review of King Of The Mischievous South Vol.2 by Denzel Curry & Bando Stone and The New World by Childish Gambino

Denzel Curry and Childish Gambino both dropped new projects on 19th July, Denzel following up with a sequel mixtape (that I won't profess to have heard) from an original Volume in 2012, and Gambino dropped his 5th studio album, Bando Stone and The New World.

Denzel Curry - King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2

Over the last few years we've been treated to Denzel frequently dropping, but at the same time seamlessly mixing up his sound and giving each project a distinct flavour. ZUU (2019) was full of catchy trap bangers and was both concise and quality. UNLOCKED (2020) was a small package of MF DOOM-inspired, experimental boom bap that was fully produced by Kenny Beats and was even more concise but still quality. And most recently Melt My Eyez See Your Future (2022), was a forward-thinking, conscious album that had soothing and glitzy instrumentals and brilliant rapping performances and was arguably the best album of that year. 

One pattern that has emerged since TA13OO in 2018, after Denzel gives us a longer body of work, we can expect shorter pieces of art that as a listen, are less taxing or thought provoking on the mind. And this is where KOTMS Vol. 2 comes in. Though the content matter isn't as heavy or detailed on this album, Denzel still spits fire, as does some of the feature verses, such as That Mexican OT on BLACK FLAG FREESTYLE with his wordy flow, I like the bit where he goes, "cocaine, get a hit in a hundred-dollar bill, I'ma delete 'em with the millimeteres". 

Though the album starts more tepid with ULTRA SHXT the volume and intensity turns up with SET IT and to a degree HOT ONE featuring A$AP Ferg. But I think the quality increases properly with BLACK FLAG FREESTYLE, but then songs like G'Z UP, SKED, and later on, HIT THE FLOOR, which are all highlights due to their catchy earworms in the refrains and choruses and heavy production with hard trap drums and 808 melters.

The track COLE PIMP contrasts with the rest of the project, featuring standout velvety vocals from Ty Dolla $ign and a nice summery piano melody in the blissful instrumental, as well as verses from Juicy J and Denzel that sounded brilliant.

I loved the woozy instrumental on WISH LIST featuring Armani White. The chanting chorus was just about sticking and Denzel's flow was really fun and energetic albeit some of the lyrics veered on the misogynistic side.

The last track on the mixtape was HOODLUMZ which is a full-blown banger which sort of encapsulated the project to a large degree. It being loud, in your face, full of bass, full of bars and contains a feature, this time, one from PlayThatBoiZay, and one from A$AP Rocky who rode the beat very well, particularly at the start of his verse.

To conclude, was this my favourite Curry project so far, definitely not. But was it a solid effort, yeah for sure. I think he realised a southern sound that he wanted to execute, and he did it pretty well, yielding decent results and supplying some serious bangers in the process.

Star Track - SKED

6/10

Childish Gambino - Bando Stone and The New World

Mr Gambino was back, and it feels like it's been a little while. I know he recently dropped Atavista which was just the white numbers album re-released but with song titles now. I didn't particularly like (what is now known as) Atavista, but I did really like Because the Internet, and I feel like we have more of a return to the 'Because the Internet'-era Gambino. Do the hooks pop-off as much as 3001 or "Oakland", no, but some of the singing and pop-sensibilities are definitely more in touch here, and we also have the whole skit-narrative thing going on, which makes a lot of sense when you realise that Bando Stone and The New World is a movie that is going to be coming out in the future and this album is also the soundtrack to that movie. 

To how much extent will these songs be in the movie, we don't know, but considering I believe Donald will be acting in the film, as we know he's been in movies before, and we frequently hear the voices of other characters throughout the album during skits, I'd say this soundtrack will appear quite heavily in the film. The film itself sounds like a survival, stranded-on-an-island flick, which is just like an okay sub-genre of film to be honest, but that's the film anyway, in terms of the music...

I liked it. Yes it was over-the-top, dramatic, cinematic, extra as hell, but I think a good portion of the songs go over very well. I think there's a couple of mid tracks, like the electronic opener H3@RTS W3RE M3@NT T0 FLY, and the pop-rock song Running Around was way too corny. But the anthemic Lithonia slapped hard with great vocals from Gambino, Talk My Shit and Yoshinoya went hard and made for the more upbeat lyrical moments. But I think the standout moments were the more laid-back summer tunes, such as Steps Beach which is like a nice acoustic homage to nostalgic summer romances. Real Love was a sweet melodic pop track, kind of reminded me of Kid Cudi. In The Night had a brilliant feature from Jorja Smith who I would say carried the song. Can You Feel Me with the Gambino's son, made for a cheesy back-and-forth where they melodically go bar for bar, it was a sweet moment - on Spotify the feature is "legend" which is his son's name, but if you click and follow to go on the "Legend" that is tagged as the feature on Spotify, it goes to a death metal band. Listen to the Childish Gambino track, then go listen to "Legends" top couple songs on Spotify, absolutely hilarious.

I think the album peaks with the song Cruisin' featuring Yeat. Both the instrumental and vocals feel incredibly powerful and was a brilliant moment on the project and made for a great Childish Gambino track. Like many of the songs from the album, it will be interesting to see how this plays into the film. But yeah, overall this album has its flaws and it's sections of uninteresting spots, but for the most I do enjoy a lot of it. It's not to levels of his first 3 projects in my opinion, but would still keep me engaged to check when he next drops.

Star Track - Cruisin'

7/10