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How it Feels

How it feels wrong for me to have the temptation to sing you Temptations 

For me to hold contemplations as we make conversations

I caught vapors, but I ain’t Biz Markie

Oh, I can recite you endless poetry with beautiful similes for the ways you smile at me

And oh, how I can make you more soliloquies than a Shakespearean scholar going on a play writing spree

And I can mean every word that I decide to use about the way your hips move and how you command a room by the clicks and clacks of your heels, girl you can melt steel

You've been on my mind like sprinkles on ice cream cake

I never meant to be fake

When I say being with you is better than any date

Your foreplay can only be the batting of your eyes 

The way you play with my hair

Baby, you got me tied around your finger, so just be fair

I don’t know what I feel when I see you but I know it feels right

That smile on your face, is brighter than any nighttime skyline

Your curves look so inviting to caress, so I’m never careless

Even for a short while, I’ll make it feel like hours

Girl, you keep me intoxicated with your fragrance

Let me be antiquated with your sensation

Your divine feminine over my clouded masculine 

Share with me that light you carry, it's addictive like heroin

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American Negro

Amoral catastrophes locked away my ancestors like monkeys 

Mixed with race issues like tears on tissues

Eroding the necessity of one's own identity until we come back in unity

Realizing the strength in number we marched to free people of color

Idolizing the innovators of rights to black men forgetting a world without them

Cans of spray tan in a position of power typing at 145 characters per hour

Affluent financially but bankrupt in democracy

Now we tried peace to only find a piece

Next to dead bodies of our brothers and sisters

Even now, we still endure this systematic torture raping our culture 

Getting used to sirens shouldn't happen to 7 year old boys

Realize that someday we will be freed from these mental chains

Our history isn't written in textbooks so we relive it those same days

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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Revolution will not be televised 

Fox 32 will try and make you terrified hiding this genocide as homicide

The Revolution will not be televised 

The Revolution will not have commercial breaks every 15 minutes for Sprite, Miller Lite, or Walmart 

The Revolution will not be televised yet its coverage will exceed five figures

The Revolution will not have a young Spike Lee telling me how “Its gotta be the shoes, Mike.” 

The Revolution will not be televised 

The Revolution will not get rid of your acne, or deliver your food, or help you fit in tight jeans, or Give you 4G LTE coverage 

The Revolution isn't a new episode of Black-ish, or a marathon of Black Panther and Get Out After Atlanta seasons 1 and 2

The Revolution is not a burning Trump effigy with a Big Mac in one hand and a middle finger to You

The Revolution will not be televised 

The Revolution will not have Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson coming out in matching orange Jumpsuits as they perfect their Roy Wilkins impressions

The Revolution will not have Steve Harvey hosting on a talk show, a game show, an award Show, judging a talent show, or at your kid’s grammar school spelling bee

The Revolution will not be televised 

The Revolution cannot be voted on using hashtags or unlock new filters on Snapchat 

The Revolution will not be televised, it will be criminalized by 5 and demonized by 8

The Revolution will not be televised 

The Revolution will not be serialized 

The Revolution will not be evangelized

The Revolution will not be commercialized

Will not be recreational

Will not be superficial 

Will not be mystical

Will not be fictional

Not be a side story

Not be honorary 

Not be realized past its life time

The Revolution will be alive, broadcasting

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Earl Sweatshirt “Some Rap Songs” Album Review

Earl Sweatshirt’s third studio album, Some Rap Songs, is more of a man overcoming his problems with anxiety and depression while remembering the dangers of this state of mind. It is 15 tracks in total that lasts for 24 minutes. Earl opens the album with his journey through rehab and his acknowledgement of alcohol and drug abuse on “Shattered Dreams.” The theme of the album is stated in a sample from James Baldwin’s “The Struggle.” Earl uses his discussion of depression, anxiety, addiction, and his newfound musical resurgence as “imprecise words” for how he has dealt with these topics since his 2016 record, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. The following song “Red Water” is a departure from the last in both the production of the instrumental and the tone of Earl’s voice. The instrumental is a sample from his earlier project, “Solace” as track takes on a more decrepit and decayed atmosphere where as Earl contrasts this with him confidently announcing himself as king, nearly shouting towards the end. His voice echoes as if he were at the end of a tunnel, which could be an allusion to his rehab and may be suffering from withdrawal as he’s recovering. He references his father and his role on Earl’s life. The lines, “Papa called me chief” is first blurred out at the start of the track in reference to his father leaving him and his mother. Another line about his late father is, “Blood on my father, I forgot another dream,” where Earl calls out his father for having a role in his lack of hope and motivation and could be calling back to a line off the Doris track, “Burgundy,” “and when them expectations raising cause daddy was a poet right?” where Earl is often compared to his late father because of their similar careers. “Cold Summers” is as juxtaposed to the theme of the album as winter in July. Earl points out his long departure from music following the release of I Don’t Like Shit I Don’t Go Outside, but it doesn’t go any deeper than that. The song contains themes ranging from break-ins to substance abuse. “Nowhere2go” is the first single to come out before the album’s release and my initial reaction was mixed. The very minimalist and static instrumental was disorientating and hard to get past. The song itself almost serves more as a bridge to Earl truly coping with his depression and drug abuse. Themes of finding yourself is throughout this track as Earl describes his mental illness as a slave on his soul and that he's “found a new way to cope” either through his music or his newfound creativity. His reliance to himself is more fleshed out as even though he had friends who tried to get him out of his depression, he had to redefine himself to save himself. “December 24” and “Ontheway!” aren’t the most introspective tracks but do give us some understanding of his relationship between himself and hood culture. “The Mint” is the second single to promote the album. It features New York rapper/producer Navy Blue who appears on the first verse. “The Mint” is a solemn message about corrupting yourself with toxins that seem to be so ever present in life. The line “Bumpin’ shoulders with the devil in disguise” is a cliche but entirely necessary to be said when being trapped in your own vices. The outro “lotta blood to let” is powerful imagery for the way he views this cleanse in his life is akin to the practice of bloodletting. “The Bends,” “Loosie,” “Azucar,” “Eclipse,” and “Veins” hold more of the same beats about Earl that the rest of the album carries. I enjoy “Azucar,” and “The Bends,” for their lyrical complexity as well as just their production. “Playing Possum” is by far the most emotional track on the album and yet Earl never appears on the song. It’s just the recordings of his mother, Cheryl Harris, speaking in a ceremony and his father reciting his poem “Anguish Longer Than Sorrow.” This sounds more as Earl trying to bridge the gap his father created when he left his family as he planned for this track to be a surprise for his parents, but unfortunately, Earl’s father, Keorapetse Kgositsile, passed away January 3rd, 2018. The last line from Kgositsile, “To have a home is not a favor,” can be interpreted as trying to maintain the idealistic meaning of what a home is when yours is lost. “Riot!” is the after credits closer to the album that perfectly captures its tone. Through no words and only samples of Maskela, Earl seems to capture his rampant emotions and bizarre adventure in just an impactful and lasting instrumental track. When the horns come in, you almost can’t help but smile as they triumphantly blare out a carefree tone for the best ending to his long journey.

Some Rap Songs is definitely worth several listens to with Earl’s powerful imagery and lyrical acrobatics that make multiple listens far more enjoyable. This album is an amazing 9 out of 10. It goes far beyond anything else he’s put out just because of its raw emotion and complete need for the artist to come out in his music.

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Lil Pump “Harverd Dropout” Album Review

Lil Pump’s second studio album Harverd Dropout was released February 22, 2019 through Warner Bros. and Tha Lights Global. In a completely personal opinion, Lil Pump has gotten noticeably better in regards to the production of his songs, lyrically he’s been pretty much the same but I don’t expect to hear any lyrical miracle E-40 meet MF Doom type songwriting but what he does bring is nothing new. The most notable songs on the album are “Drop Out,” “Nu Uh,” “I Love It,” “ION,” “Too Much Ice,” “Multi Millionaire,” “Be Like Me,” and “Esskeetit.” I would bring up YG’s and 2 Chainz’ feature on “Stripper Name,” but the less I have to say about it the better. 

The album has a lot of interesting names in the features with the most striking being Lil Uzi Vert on “Multi Millionaire” after his recent retirement from making music and deleting all his music. It was so odd hearing Uzi’s verse come on so soon after announcing that he quit from music, makes you wonder if there may be other Uzi verses in future albums. 

With a mixed bag of quality production and lyrics as well as some good to bad features, this album gets a generous four out of ten.

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Brasstracks “Vibrant Tour” Concert Review

Two artists from New York feel at home in the Big Easy. In the simplest terms, that’s how I would described this stop on The Vibrant Tour. The opener was performed by, New York rapper, Kemba who certainly made an unforgettable and energetic atmosphere to set the tone for the rest of the concert. His brash and high energy raps are something akin to early Wu-Tang or Joey Bada$$ while also having his introspective side. It was an absolutely crazy performance from the young rapper as he played back to back bangers that made the crowd jump and rap along to the chorus. “Deadass,” “Already,” “Delivert,” and “No U Ain’t” are some of the songs featured during his performance as well as some unreleased tracks. Moving on from that incredible performance came the main act, Brasstracks. Prior to coming to their show at the Republic NOLA, I hadn’t known who they were. After a week of solely listening to their music and getting to know a little bit about who they are I can confidently say that I’m a big fan of their music. Brasstracks are an enigmatic and frankly vibrant jazz/soul duo from the Bronx, New York. Their music is nothing short of spectacular with the excellent trumpeting by Ivan Jackson and pulse-pounding drums by Conor Rayne that make a great addition for any party playlist. What makes the group stand out from other instrumental bands is their use of live instruments and impromptu changes to their own songs. This makes attending live performances so much more impactful and grand as the horns are blaring and the bass is kicking in a way that is organic and raw while also being structured. Everything seems practiced and informal with many breaks for the trumpets and trombones and drums to just go off during songs before coming back to how it’s is normally played. The atmosphere for the concert was fun. Hearing “Moments,” “Vibrant,” “Say U Won’t,” “I’ll Sing About You,” along with their covers of Lil Uzi’s “XO Tour Llif3,” Jay-Z’s “Echoes,” and an Usher cut was something wondrous and fun. Ivan Jackson would pause the show to ask the crowd if we were having fun and it was clearly important that his show was a fun experience for his audience and that they all can share in his joy for performance and light-hearted attitude. They had brought back Kemba for a few songs on their collab album due to release soon including their single “Exhale.” Pell came on the stage after Kemba to do a couple tracks with Brasstracks performing their track “Vibrant” as well as Pell latest music from his Girasoul EP and Limbo album before bowing out with the crowd chanting “Pell Yeah!”

The Vibrant Tour most definitely maintains the meaning of its name with a dynamic and beautiful array of talented musicians and artists coming together in such a fantastic performance. The vibe is fun, lively, and energetic that’ll have everybody on their feet and on the dance floor. The music is ageless as I saw a range of people come from some 20-somethings to middle-aged people to even a couple grandparents all coming to celebrate this revitalization of jazz inspired music. If you haven’t seen these guys have a show coming to your city or around your town, I highly recommend that you go out and see them perform live, it’s unreal hearing what they can do then you have to add Kemba and Pell delivering their talents and you have an experience unlike any other.

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Lil Weezyana Fest 2019 Review

September 7th saw the kick off of the 5th annual Lil’ Weezyana Fest 2019 at the open field of the UNO Lakefront Arena, with a full day of musical performances, carnival games, and attractions;  everybody came ready for a good time at the “Bigger. Better, New Venue.” The festival was also home to a fully fledged carnival dubbed "Wayne's World" in the back complete with a ferris-wheel, maze, and small carny games to win stuffed animals and other prizes. The full set list consisted of: Akbar V, Leven Kali, Kash Doll, Saweetie, Megan Thee Stallion, Trey Songz, Meek Mill, Travis Scott, and Lil’ Wayne.

Akbar V, an Atlanta based rapper starring in Love & Hip Hop Atlanta had a nice flow, but you could really tell she wasn’t having it with the heat as she ran out of breath a lot during her performance and became more of a listening party than a concert. Leven Kali came next and his use of neo-soul was such a breath of fresh air. His positive persona, and charming on-mic charisma really tried to pull this whole thing back together with some light-hearted and bouncy rhythm to give some life back to the crowd. “Do U Wrong,” was perfect for the atmosphere and his cover of Syd’s feature was excellent in execution. Kash Doll came out next and Saweetie was after with well meaning but unfortunately lackluster performances. 

Megan Thee Stallion was the first headliner of the event and she delivered an all out package for her performance . She came out with a lot of energy as danced, sang, rapped, and eventually started pulling people from the audience to come on stage. It went from a mild flame to electrifying heat as she was lighting up the stage with an intense passion but was outshined by the following act. Trey Songz came out and honestly what more do I have to say. He is a phenomenal singer, his live band played great, and everybody loved him. It was truly a headlining act. 

The sun came down and the festival was truly underway as now the festival’s main stage had crowded with attendees all ready watch the final headliners: Meek Mill, Travis Scott, and Lil Wayne himself. Meek’s performance was cool, and when Travis Scott came on everybody bum rushed over the VIP gate to try and get closer to the stage.The atmosphere was crazy to experience with everybody dancing and moshing to the music. His visuals were psychedelic to help deliver on an out of this world performance. 

Now was time for the man of the hour to step up to the main stage and Lil Wayne absolutely killed his set. I loved every part of it, even when he says, “Thank you,” at the end of his songs, and his love for the city and everyone in it made it such a wild and free environment. What I took away from all this is to really enjoy what you’re doing in the world and all those that helped make it possible, even during times you may think are unimportant or not beneficial those are the moments that build you, that form your attitude and if you can’t try to enjoy the time you have, then nothing is going to make you happy.

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Takeoff “The Last Rocket” Album Review

With a good half of the album being some of the best he has to offer, but a few could have been retweaked and rewritten. This album is a decent to high 7 out of 10.

The Last Rocket is the first solo album from Migos member, Takeoff and is a clear crowning of who the best of the group is. Takeoff has a solid flow throughout this project with solid production that isn't as monotone and flaccid as in Quavo Huncho. that takes something different with each track. On the album, Takeoff makes it very clear what the tone of it is going to be with many references to space and astronauts on tracks like “Martian” and “Bruce Wayne,” as the instrumentals are more wavey and spacey than most other trap rap albums or even Migos albums. The sound is different enough from track to track that it doesn’t feel like I’m listening to the same song two or three times like I did when listening to Quavo Huncho. On “Martian” I found an interesting play with the bass to give the track an 808 style beat without using hi hats or toms too much in something that supposed to give off this weightless feeling as Takeoff appears to just effortlessly glide through his rhymes with some very interesting wordplay, like his networth, neck worth line was honestly a good play on words and is at least creative in telling me how much richer he is than me. 

So how much of the album did I like? Honestly most of it. The Last Rocket is only 12 songs long and takes a little over 30 minutes to listen through. There are maybe only a couple tracks I could do without but as a whole, this is a great album from someone who many consider to be the best out of the Migos. Takeoff pulls no punches as he drops bangers like, “Martian,” “None to Me,” “I Remember,” “Casper,” “Soul Plane,” and “Infatuation,” the only song on the album with a guest feature, Dayytona Fox. Takeoff holds his own with impressive lyricism and very catchy rhythms that show more versatility for the artist. With a good half of the album being some of the best he has to offer, but a few could have been retweaked and rewritten. This album is a decent to high 7 out of 10.

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Mac Miller “Swimming” Album Review

Overall this album is a light 6/10 with some pretty good instrumental and production to some of the more light hearted songs but it’s a loss of creativity that really plunges this album down into the ocean.

Swimming is the fifth studio album from Philadelphia rapper Mac Miller released on August 3, 2018. As a fan of his older projects Watching Movies With the Sound Off  and GO:OD AM this is a very disappointing album. I held my breath and hoped that he would move past his boring minimalist mellow beats and his muffled moan of a singing voice on his last record The Divine Feminine, but he continues to follow this path in his career as the first track, “Come Back To Earth” softly strums and stumbles its way through with Miller singing like he��s trying to avoid drowning with below par vocals and a lesser quality to his bars this isn’t a strong opener for the album. Then on the track, “Hurt Feelings,” the album starts to sound more interesting as there’s a strong bass and more energetic drums booming through the instrumental that gives a spacey, wavey, feeling to the track. I could say the same for most other songs on the album like “Perfecto,” “Small Worlds,” “Ladders,” and “So It Goes,” where he seems to be more playful with his lyrics. The chorus on “Small Worlds,” has a certain rough charm to it. Like a menace showing his soft side to the girl he likes, his rugged voice and amateur vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar make the song an enjoyable listen. But these would be the only highlights on the album as the rest of it is a slosh of mumbling rhymes over dreary beats that makes listening to the album over and over again more of a chore to do. Many of the songs feel like lofi ambient music as they mash together with no clear change and transition to the next one, that the album really suffers from a lot of the same pitfalls that were also in The Divine Feminine that not even some of the producing credits could save it from an instrumental point. Overall this album is a light 6/10 with some pretty good instrumental and production to some of the more light hearted songs but it’s a loss of creativity that really plunges this album down into the ocean. 

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Noname’s “Room 25″ Album Review

All together Noname’s Room 25 is a strong 9/10 for her witty wordplay, her refusal to change her style and stick to what she knows is best throughout the album, and how she plays within the instrumental to craft a delicately strong album. This is a must hear album for 2018 and a definite favorite of mine. 

Room 25 is the first album released by the Chicago rapper/poet/spoken word artist Noname. The record seems to continue similar themes of finding one’s self and searching for your own happiness from her 2016 mixtape, Telefone, as well as her soft spoken delivery which is a trademark style she has used since she started performing slam poetry back in 2010. The instrumentals in Room 25 deliver gripping basslines and complimenting drum patterns akin to the neo soul and jazz rap style from other Chicago artists such as Mick Jenkins, Chance the Rapper, and Saba. She uses the beats to further create this dreamlike atmosphere throughout the album offering the listener a stream of consciousness flow to vibe to as she raps. In tracks like, “Blaxploitation,” “Window,” and “Don’t Forget About Me,” Noname’s brutally honest and raw self-reflections gives some of the album’s most heart crushing bars. The way she carries her voice gracefully over her words says that she has gone through the ropes dealing with these emotions and is now retelling us what she has learned in her experiences. The songs, “Self,” “Regal,” “Montego Bae,” and the self-titled, “no name,” all provide a happy ending to Noname’s fairy tale where she brags about her skills as an artist, calls herself a queen in her own right, finds happiness in Jamaica, and enjoying the life she has while she still has it. These songs tie the album together in a pretty bow, however a good portion of the tracks leaves more to be desired as the music fades out or the song just comes to a dead drop before the next ones comes on. Hearing it the first time, I thought I had skipped a couple tracks by accident because of how short most of the songs are. There is also this unmixed and unpolished sound that made her last mixtape stand out from her peers, though now that Room 25 is her first official album, I expected a more refined and carved finish to her work as a symbol of her accepting that she is growing more as an artists as well as an individual. She has the same problem from her mixtape of burying her voice in the instrumental when she that you can barely hear her, though in tracks like, “Don’t Forget About Me,” it accentuates her feelings of helplessness as she drowns out her own cries for help in the instrumental to the point that it was by my third time listening through the album that I heard about her secret. Speaking of instrumentals, they are gorgeous here. The fusion of modern rap beats to soul and jazz influenced basslines and keys reminds me of going to church with my Mom when I was younger and listening to the gospel choir sing with their hearts as their pitching forks as a beautiful organ bellowing out notes like a bakery opening shop and the smooth bass churning out buttery chords. Even in the tropical “Montego Bae,” and the disco groove sounds on “Blaxploitation,” there is still that light and playful tone of jazz that carries this album’s highest notes. 

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