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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| The playlist: hip-hop | The playlist: hip-hop |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| Ab-Soul – These Days … | Ab-Soul – These Days … |
| Black Hippy and TDE crew member Ab-Soul turned heads earlier in the year, when he released Tree of Life; a weird, off-kilter cut which gave shout-outs to Steve Jobs and pastoral scenery. Tree of Life is included on These Days and the rest of the album continues on that trippy feel: opener God's Reign is slow-burning and anthemic and features a turn from fellow TDEer SZA, who provides the chorus. Other guests include Schoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross and Danny Brown, but at no point does it feel as if Ab-Soul is ever out-gunned. A lot of people have been hyping up his labelmate Isaiah Rashad this year, and while his introverted flow might well have a bigger critical impact, Ab-Soul makes solid, varied hip-hop that manages to be imaginative (it's actually a concept album, aimed at commenting on the current state of hip-hop) and banging at the same time. | Black Hippy and TDE crew member Ab-Soul turned heads earlier in the year, when he released Tree of Life; a weird, off-kilter cut which gave shout-outs to Steve Jobs and pastoral scenery. Tree of Life is included on These Days and the rest of the album continues on that trippy feel: opener God's Reign is slow-burning and anthemic and features a turn from fellow TDEer SZA, who provides the chorus. Other guests include Schoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross and Danny Brown, but at no point does it feel as if Ab-Soul is ever out-gunned. A lot of people have been hyping up his labelmate Isaiah Rashad this year, and while his introverted flow might well have a bigger critical impact, Ab-Soul makes solid, varied hip-hop that manages to be imaginative (it's actually a concept album, aimed at commenting on the current state of hip-hop) and banging at the same time. |
| Juicy J – Stop It | Juicy J – Stop It |
| Juicy J gets to live out his wildest Scarface/GTA V fantasies in the video for Stop It. Super violent beat-down of a rival: check. Gun-wielding threats: check. Claims he could cuckold you and get your wife to make him breakfast in bed the morning after: check. A MASSIVE BLOODY CHAINSAW: check. If you've kept up with the current torture techniques of the Mexican drug cartels this will ring a horrible bell. It's graphic, bloody and pretty disturbing. You wouldn't call this progressive, but it is Juicy J doing what he does best: trap mixed with ridiculously violent lyrics. | Juicy J gets to live out his wildest Scarface/GTA V fantasies in the video for Stop It. Super violent beat-down of a rival: check. Gun-wielding threats: check. Claims he could cuckold you and get your wife to make him breakfast in bed the morning after: check. A MASSIVE BLOODY CHAINSAW: check. If you've kept up with the current torture techniques of the Mexican drug cartels this will ring a horrible bell. It's graphic, bloody and pretty disturbing. You wouldn't call this progressive, but it is Juicy J doing what he does best: trap mixed with ridiculously violent lyrics. |
| Nicki Minaj at the BET awards | Nicki Minaj at the BET awards |
| Nicki Minaj continues to dominate every award show she goes to. Earlier in the year, she turned up at the Hot97 Summer Jam, played a live set that left a lot of people open-mouthed and finally convinced seasoned Minaj doubters (such as Pete Rosenberg) that she was a credible artist. At the BET awards, she played a live medley including pop track Pills N Potions and the harder Chiraq, and threw some serious shade at Iggy Azalea during her acceptance speech for best female artist (the fifth time she's won it). Following the abuse she took from hip-hop heads after the success of Super Bass and Starships, it looks as if she is determined to prove that she is still one of the best MCs out there, and that her forthcoming album, The Pink Print, will place straight-up pop next to street-level trap and drill. | Nicki Minaj continues to dominate every award show she goes to. Earlier in the year, she turned up at the Hot97 Summer Jam, played a live set that left a lot of people open-mouthed and finally convinced seasoned Minaj doubters (such as Pete Rosenberg) that she was a credible artist. At the BET awards, she played a live medley including pop track Pills N Potions and the harder Chiraq, and threw some serious shade at Iggy Azalea during her acceptance speech for best female artist (the fifth time she's won it). Following the abuse she took from hip-hop heads after the success of Super Bass and Starships, it looks as if she is determined to prove that she is still one of the best MCs out there, and that her forthcoming album, The Pink Print, will place straight-up pop next to street-level trap and drill. |
| The Alchemist – Alchemix | The Alchemist – Alchemix |
| Serial mixtape producers UpNorthTrips have put together a mix in tribute to New York producer the Alchemist. Their back catalogue is pretty magnificent. They've previously dedicated tapes to Ghostface Killah's storytelling raps, Illmatic and Jeru The Damaja, and this week they unveiled a decade-spanning retrospective mix of the Alchemist's best work. It's a year-by-year look at his back catalogue, starting with Tick Tock, his 2004 hook-up with Nas and Prodigy, and takes in tracks with Raekwon, Pusha T and Action Bronson before finishing on Break the Bank, his track from Schoolboy Q's album Oxymoron. | Serial mixtape producers UpNorthTrips have put together a mix in tribute to New York producer the Alchemist. Their back catalogue is pretty magnificent. They've previously dedicated tapes to Ghostface Killah's storytelling raps, Illmatic and Jeru The Damaja, and this week they unveiled a decade-spanning retrospective mix of the Alchemist's best work. It's a year-by-year look at his back catalogue, starting with Tick Tock, his 2004 hook-up with Nas and Prodigy, and takes in tracks with Raekwon, Pusha T and Action Bronson before finishing on Break the Bank, his track from Schoolboy Q's album Oxymoron. |
| Young Thug, Freddie Gibbs and A$AP Ferg – Old English | Young Thug, Freddie Gibbs and A$AP Ferg – Old English |
| Taken from the forthcoming Mass Appeal Compilation Vol I (out in September), this features arguably the three most-hyped MCs currently doing the rounds. A$AP Ferg is still basking in the reception given to last year's Trap Lord, Freddie Gibbs is finding new fans after his Pinata album with Madlib, and Young Thug looks set to take over from Lil Wayne in the Cash Money set-up. All three sound completely different, with Thug's hiccuping, high-pitched delivery clashing with Gibbs's rhythmic west-coast flow and A$AP Ferg's hyperactive pigeon-Espanol. |
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