#now she's my favorite character alongside Mami

[wyfy-meltdown]

*looks at your account*

“Going Through A Madoka Magica Phase, Again”

I mean, I can see why it’d catch up to your brain again, it’s a wonderful show–

(ALSO NAGISA IS AMAZING)

I managed to ever so slightly become not as obsessed with Madoka Magica for a brief time before accidentally nosediving into allowing PMMM to consume my life for a second time. It's too good of a show: they need to put some safety labels on it.

Also I love Nagisa she is the most wonderful cheese goblin, she does nothing and yet makes two of the most emotionally impactful moments in the franchise and-

[dendylabyrinth]

Kyoko for your character ask

I love my red hobo, so sure!

Why I like them

Kyoko is complex, she’s basically this jaded softie who pretends as if she’s a cold-hearted asshole. But she’s also got some principles. Like she will help if someone needs it, even if she complains while doing so. Doesn’t hurt that she can be snarky like hell. Homecoming was really amazing for her character. It reminded me of all the things I like about Kyoko. Seeing her realize how much she ‘strayed’ from her principles now that she has gone through so much with everyone in the game’s story was really interesting. And how it addressed her regrets about Momo was just… (what’s the sad version of a chef’s kiss?). It even made some parallels between Kyoko and her father, how, same as he gave up and abandoned everything, she abandons anything that hurts her (Mami, her past, wish, etc) Homecoming is one those events worth checking out even if you’re not into Magia Record, it’s that good. Kyoko is complicated, but at her core, she’s definitely good.

Why I don’t

She can be really uninvested in what’s going on. But I get it, she’s the type who does her own thing and would prefer not to get involved with other people because of what happened with her family and Mami.

At least she’s way too much of a softie to leave people burning in the wreckage of whatever shit she pulls off.

Favorite scene

Honestly? All of Homecoming was really good. If I had to pick though, I would say the parts where Kyoko starts to slowly become more and more vulnerable after she remembers that Momo is dead. Here’s an excerpt from the wiki’s summary:

Kyoko recaps her past and her wish, how she lost her magic; how Momo was so little, so innocent, someone Kyoko had to protect - and failed at doing so miserably.

After Kyoko returns to her father’s church to reflect on the foundation of her principles, she leaves just as confused as before she went. She walks in the snow with Momo. Even though she knows by that point that Momo is dead and this one is just an illusion of some kind, that Momo didn’t disappear, seemingly because Kyoko regrets not being able to save her that much, so her desire to have Momo with her makes her accept even an illusion (which is really ironic considering her lost illusion magic). Sayaka shows up and calls out to Kyoko, but she doesn’t respond, she just whispers Momo’s name and continues to walk away. Sayaka, meanwhile, starts to get worried. This scene speaks so much about Kyoko’s character, exploring new aspects alongside the stuff we have already seen. Kyoko was never seen really talking about regrets. Sure, she does talk about her wish causing her family to break, but the way she talks about it is more of in the style of ‘cause and effect’. Don’t get me wrong, she definitely is harboring regrets over it, but it’s more on brand for Kyoko to bury whatever haunts her after deciding to live for herself. So getting to see her feel so vulnerable and honest about her regrets strikes such a strong note for how I perceived her before. The setup being a dreamworld that will end in 3 days forces Kyoko to face whatever she is burying, especially now that she has Momo back.

Also, it’s pretty sweet seeing how Kyoko acts when Momo is with her: always asking her what she thinks, if she wants Kyoko to help that person, and her being generally less abrasive because she has Momo is really sad in retrospect.

Favorite line

I like this line of thought she has in Homecoming:

‘A happy ending, huh… Even though I believe there ain't no such thing... ...as a story where love and courage overcome all, does all this mean… ...that in the end, I still haven't given up on my dumbass hope that I can save people?’

Hearing her taking a good look of herself and what she’s really burying deep down is pretty heavy, knowing what she usually preaches.

Favorite outfit

Her winter clothes are really good! The aesthetic choice of stepping away from red for once works, because this color combo looks really good. Bonus points for practicality since it looks warm.

Gotta include her doppel alt. Those colors? She looks so cool! I really appreciate the detail that her hair is like Momo’s, adds a touch of SOB to the whole thing.

OTP

Listen, I offer Sayaka. I also will offer an explanation for all your ‘blah!’s. People who ship Kyoko and Sayaka usually skip out on Magia Record since the Sayaka there is ‘the straight one’, in which case, you people must have some weakass vision because the ship material IS there, you’re just still riding the rebellion high. Which, fair, the moment they had was sweet, but do keep in mind that that Sayaka was a Sayaka who got a bunch of other Sayakas’ memories in her, so Kyoko’s gayness had to be that obvious by that point (getting to see that gay as hell couple’s suicide numerous times might as well have awakened the bi in her). But in Magia Record? The two are really what I would imagine normal, non-ascension involved, Sayaka and Kyoko shippy moments to be: Kyoko being an ass towards Sayaka but not really at the same time, and Sayaka being suprised by whatever new side she sees in Kyoko. Want proof you non-believers? Look no further than Surfing Sayaka’s event, which is coincidentally being rerun right now: Nacht Marchen (Night Fairytale). The story is that Sayaka gets involved in a decades old tale when she finds a magical toy robot that comes to life called Ponta, who’s looking for something related to a ‘voice of the waves’ that’s been going around. When Sayaka learns that owner of the villa where they have been staying had an accident that happened to her 50 years ago reversed by her best friend making a wish, she and Kyoko have to face the dilemma of whether they should tell her about that wish (the girl died in a labyrinth long ago without anyone knowing). While Sayaka doesn’t know what to say, Kyoko, after being quiet, surprisingly jumps in and tells the villa owner that her friend wished for a miracle for the owner’s sake, even if she doesn’t believe them. But the villa owner thanks Kyoko for telling her. Later that night, Sayaka finds Kyoko awake and they talk about whether letting someone know that you made a miracle happen for their sake is okay. I really love this conversation, as it really shows how they share this common point where they understand each other, which creates a whole different vibe from their usual squabbling. Here’s a summary of said moment by MochiDDR:

Kyouko says that even if you tell someone, it doesn't mean they'll believe you, and even if they believe you, it doesn't mean they'll be happy. Just because you make a wish for someone doesn't mean they would have wanted it, and that becoming a mahou shoujo means the price you have to pay is to keep your wish a secret to them. Kyouko asks Sayaka what's wrong, she replies that she made the same wish as Misa. Kyouko asks her if she regrets her wish, Sayaka says she doesn't.

An interesting point to add is that Kyoko’s appearance in the event gets a lot of build, so much so that she only shows up in the later half of the story. There’s also this scene where Sayaka is about to go surfing with Ponta to help him find what he’s looking for when she notices that Kyoko bailed on her. And when Sayaka needs some help taking out a witch before the magic cast on Ponta fades, who shows up all decked out in her magical swimsuit?

And I already talked about Homecoming, so the defense rests their case.

Brotp

Nagisa straight up, the two got the same ‘I would rob a bank for munchies’ vibe. Kyoko even remembers that Nagisa worships cheese and gets her a cheese-flavored snack that she likes in Valentine Nagisa’s event, The Mirror World Chocolatier (but since she was in chocolate mode, Nagisa’s like ‘Girl what?’). The two probably hang out when everyone else is at school.

Head Canon

She does some nice stuff like help old ladies cross the street but would die if anyone she knew saw her.

Unpopular opinion

I like abrasive Kyoko. I mentioned this before, but I prefer how they are in the game’s story over their characters in Rebellion, because I don’t see it as a setback at all. It’s different, more normal circumstances that don’t include rescuing your god/boss/bestie’s ex from a prison of her own making, sponsored by that one demon cat who screwed you over, like, a thousand of times…. Oh hey, that one girl who kept killing herself alongside your corrupt soul is here too, huh.

Oh wait, I was supposed to talk about Kyoko, not Sayaka. Uhh, reverse what I just said! Replace the divine stuff with that one girl you were gay for who died but now is back and is now open for business for some reason. Whew, saved it!

A wish 

Listen, I understand we just got some premium Kyoko content, like top shelf stuff. So that’s why I will direct this wish more towards the future, okay? Okay: lemme see a Kyoko and Sayaka duo soon, I need that potential realized.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

I honestly don’t have much to say. I like how they have been handling her character, so nothing pops up in terms of bad turns they could take in regards to her writing.

5 words to best describe them

Lamenting, hungry, gay, softie, rough

My nickname for them

Nada.

[thewhitefluffyhat]

How do you feel the anime is doing in handling the elements from the game? I think they've made some very meaningful changes to get rid of much of the padding and improve the ot/character beats. In the recent episode they didn't even include Homura and Madoka's search subplot, despite the easy fanservice there.

Oh geez, what a timing-dependent ask!  This was sent right around Episode 8, I believe.

And yes, I’ve been mostly enjoying the anime changes so far, particularly some of the little character details.  Kaede holding up that drawing of Rena, Mitama’s horrifying new food combinations, Iroha having to bail out Felicia when she gets in a fight… there are a lot of moments that are unique to the anime, yet feel so wonderfully true to the characters it seems like they should have been in the game!

(Also much like Doroinu’s Valentine’s event sections, it’s really obvious that he’s more confident in writing the original cast than the f4 team is…)

The changes to the rumors have also been intriguing, and I think generally for the better.  Things like the Breakup Staircase requiring you to write your name on a specific staircase, or how the rumor of the Endless Solitude requires that only one person can enter at a time… it all works towards the rumors feeling more like genuine urban legends.

Still, I did think Kaede and Rena’s arc was unfortunately rushed, and witch fights tend to go by really fast too.  So even though Madoka and Homura are my favorites from the original quintet, I was outright happy to see them removed if it meant better pacing and focus on the important parts of Ch5.

(More detailed discussion of Episodes 9 and 10 below.)

And to some degree, that really did happen!  I’m watching alongside my little brother, who not only hasn’t played the game, but he’s also very skeptical of gacha adaptations.  And both of us loved Sana and Ai in Episode 9.  (He even found it the first episode so far that managed to touch the spark the original anime had!)

I thought it was particularly well done in how it balanced including just enough of Sana’s Magical Girl Story to explain her character, without going overboard and piling on so much suffering it seemed too over-the-top.

That being said, while Sana and Ai were great, Iroha and Sana’s relationship… really took a backseat.  Iroha in general has been frustratingly passive so far, despite the early episodes seeming like the anime might be trying to fix some of that.  But with the little Kyuubey being the one to force Iroha to jump from the tower, and in getting rid of the Ai fight, Iroha now comes across as even more useless and disconnected than in the game.  :/

And… then there’s anime Alina.  Who at this point, consists entirely of meme poses, manic cackling,  and shouting her lines from the game at 2x speed.  I was hoping that Episode 10 would at least have Yachiyo mention her background as a famous artist, and that it would give Alina a bit of a humanizing moment with her relationship with Mifuyu, but… nope.  Instead, she jumped straight over Jojo and landed in Higurashi with those faces.

(Which is kind of an insult to Higurashi, tbh.  Even Meakashi-hen Shion has more of a reason and behind her wild actions than Alina here…  unless you buy the theory that Alina’s doppel doesn’t just drive witches and rumors berserk, that is.)

Quite a disappointment, especially when the OP looks more like Alina from her MGS.

Aside from Alina, Magius as a whole seems more reasonable and morally gray, which is a major improvement from the game.  (Especially if, as Episode 10 kind of implies, Mami joined without being brainwashed!)  I suppose if nonsensical Alina is the price I have to pay for the rest of Magius being sane, it’s still a tradeoff I would make… but oof, what a cost.

And I’m worried about what this means for Alina’s role later in the plot.  Right now, it seems quite possible she’ll be the one who corrupts Touka and Nemu, rather than the other way around.  The way that Alina can control witches with her doppel also seems like foreshadowing for what she does in the game’s Ch10… yet doesn’t solve the problem that she has no relation to the rest of the themes Magireco’s main plot is trying to explore.

[tinymixtapes]

Column: Favorite Rap Mixtapes of July 2018

With a cascade of releases spewing from the likes of DatPiff, LiveMixtapes, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud, it can be difficult to keep up with the overbearing yet increasingly vital mixtape game. In this column, we aim to immerse ourselves in this hyper-prolific world and share our favorite releases each month. The focus will primarily be on rap mixtapes — loosely defined here as free (or sometimes free-to-stream) digital releases — but we’ll keep things loose enough to branch out if/when we feel it necessary. (Check out last month’s installment here.) You could argue that the prolific nature of modern mixtape milieus makes for a mess of inaccessibility. You could, but we at TMT would be much too busy listening to mixtapes to participate in that academic exercise. Onto our informal survey of July 2018 then: nine writers, 14 tapes, mad points of reference and impressions, scenes and feels. Yes, it’s just a sampling, dreamy and incomplete, but selective, like picking curios from a cabinet or fishing life in the notochords, curated by your favorite jet-setting rap connoisseurs, this one writing from the suburbs of Nashville, where the flea market dollar bins are like the barbecues, i.e., smoking. –Samuel Diamond --- 03 Greedo - God Level [STREAM] Don’t doubt that God Level is the most compelling of 03 Greedo’s offerings to date, almost entirely by design. Of course, context is everything: this, his self-proclaimed debut album, came amidst the commencement of his 20-year prison sentence, a fact plainly reflected in the sheer breadth and depth of this project. Greedo utilizes the hour-and-a-half-plus to cover plenty of stylistic ground, with a knowing and foreboding, yet never overly rueful, presence behind the mic. As Jeff Weiss puts it in his heartfelt profile, “a Greedo song exists for every emotion and every occasion,” and no less so than across God Level’s expanse: there’s more conventional going in alongside post-Thugger gurgle; West Coast bounce here, blown-out trap there. And, of course, it’s all wrapped in cover art that slyly references Greedo’s iconoclastic streak, the last laugh in a sordid state of affairs. Clearly, to attain this Level, you have to kill a few idols first. –Soe Jherwood --- Future - Beast Mode 2 [STREAM] The mixtape is Future’s format. Beast Mode 2 is his 19th and the follow-up to his 14th, Beast Mode. The latter was a cold turn for the Atlanta trailblazer; a darker, colder reflection that helped flesh out his character from a 2D trap star to who we hear today. Beast Mode II follows that trend. The weight of success is a tired trope, but when Future sings “Pouring up in public, damn I hate the real me” on the tape’s final track, it doesn’t sound like the millionaire’s cry to the masses about how money doesn’t make you happy. He’s not singing for you or as a part of the emo-rap trend. This is his format, only one of two direct sequels. Unlike the elaborate sculptures of Evol or DS2, Beast Mode 2 is for Future, an etching in a diary. A passing moment. –Sam Tornow --- Pink Siifu - Ensley [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] Ensley is a girl’s name meaning one’s own meadow. But who is she to Pink Siifu? Track five, “Proud/Pray,” might offer a hint, as Pink raps, “This is for my sister.” Maybe he’s just talking about that song, but having relocated from Birmingham to Cincinnati to Los Angeles to his current artistic sojourn in New York, not to mention having also released music under the names iiye, VCR@aol.jazz, and Liv Martez, Siifu too could be an Ensley, at least in spirit, as he seeks to continuously terraform new ground for this rap shit. The meadow sprawls, and with 26 songs clocking in at over an hour, this tape is also scaled up from the field. But don’t let that fence you off — there’s a whole ecosystem here, and Bandcamp has put together a convenient guide for the journey. –Samuel Diamond --- RetcH - After the Verdict [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] It’s far too easy to let the details of RetcH’s run-ins with the law overcloud what After the Verdict properly announces: that the man is back on his bullshit. Sure, titles like “Made it Out” are reminders that the New Jersey rapper just shook off decades of jail time, but even the most explicit engagement with the court case refrains from ham-handed reckoning in favor of unapologetic flexes, like the kickoff, “I clutch the slimmy that was stocky and some beef and broccoli/ And smoke a choppy with a mami on my way to papi.” Far from a calculated return to form, After the Verdict is a refinement of the gnarled, snappish flows we heard on Finesse the World unspooled over a trim batch of ghoulish instrumentals from GRiMM Doza. Despite RetcH’s affinity for every trap upstart’s favorite purple concoction, it’s unclear whether he belongs in the same conversation with his glitzier contemporaries or with those gunning for “something made for grown folk.” What’s clearer is who this music isn’t for: the polite society do-gooders who’d smugly donate to cash-starved schools yet would flee a high-end restaurant as soon as RetcH walks in. Thankfully, RetcH will keep on snarling and sneering, erasing demarcations you thought were fixed and bum-rushing every yuppie function from Millburn to Moorestown along the way. –Cirrus Slump --- Rabit - CRY ALONE DIE ALONE [STREAM] The thing about invoking DJ Screw’s influence in nearly any beat-based form is that it’s already implied. Nevertheless, in an era of wanton creative theft, it never hurts to be explicit. Like any Houston native, Rabit’s always been outspoken about his love for Screw, but CRY ALONE DIE ALONE is his first full-on embrace of the deceased originator’s iconic mixtape form. It’s a far cry from an original Gray Tape, but so is just about everything; merging Houston classics, witch house, and the cutting edge of bass music — three distinct branches of the larger Screw family tree — the mix is less a faithful re-creation than a survey of the breadth of the legend’s influence in the nearly 20 years since his death. There’s a lot of baggage that comes along with making a self-anointed “screw tape,” as there are thin lines between tribute and imitation, or appreciation and exploitation. And the Houston originals here, including”Diamonds and Wood” and “Pourin’ Up,” provide such a zoomed-out view of the city’s vibrant scene that they can initially scan as something closer to gesture than considered selection. Repeated listens put that out of mind, however; the tape owns its origins to such an extent, from the cover art to its June 27 release date, that it can only be a labor of love. –Corrigan B --- Chief Keef - Mansion Musick [STREAM] Things were simpler in 2012. Finally Rich, and especially “Citgo” (the 13th track on the deluxe version), projected effortless style and grit, taking rap to a place it hadn’t been before and one that we didn’t recognize. It’s difficult to say whether Chief Keef has been less or more vital to music in the years since. On one hand, the 17 (or so) mixtapes he’s released since Finally Rich have attracted little mainstream recognition, and none of them has produced a single with the magnitude of “I Don’t Like.” As Corrigan B put it in his review of the very underrated Thot Breaker, “fuckers in school don’t say much about Chief Keef these days.” On the other hand, Keith Cozart’s signature is scribbled thoroughly and, it seems, permanently across the landscape of rap music. I still find his music exciting in its own right, and it shows that he knows and embraces who he is, down to those idiosyncrasies of his style that haven’t been as widely emulated as others. In a couple important ways, Mansion Musick sounds similar to the last 17 (or so) post-Finally Rich mixtapes; the vocals are clear and high in the mix, the variety of drum sounds is small, and the approach to composition and songwriting is unmistakably closer to the sputtering idyll of “Citgo” than the furious staccato of “I Don’t Like.” The piano-driven opening and closing tracks and well-executed collaborations with Playboi Carti and Tadoe particularly stand out. –Will Neibergall --- DJ Surrup - Kids See Ghosts of Screw [STREAM] It’s not at all a knock on Kanye West and Kid Cudi when I write that DJ Surrup’s slowed and throwed version of their Kids See Ghosts project is better than the original. (It’s actually my favorite of the recent G.O.O.D. projects, other than the masterful Daytona of course, plus…) Surrup has been quietly improving upon hit records for years now, and Ye seems to bring out some of the best in him (and vice versa), as The Life of Purple Pablo is also a prime example of Surrup’s sleepy-eyed, sharp-eared genius. By not only slowing and scratching his source material, but reordering and reimagining it in ways extra conducive to replay, Surrup proves himself not yet another “ghost” of Screw, but rather a diamond in the rough of remix culture. And no offense or anything, but Cudi kind of sounds in transition here, which is all kinds of bonus awesome. –Samuel Diamond --- Fat Trel - Finally Free [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] When Fat Trel was locked up on weapons charges in spring 2016, it seemed like another setback in the D.C. street rap king’s belabored transition to wider success. 2013’s SDMG mixtape was blisteringly good, with daring, diverse production that showcased how Trel could hop on anything, be himself, and make it work, leading him to sign with the (perhaps ill-fitting) MMG label. His career has been in idle since then, save for a steady output of video singles since his September 2017 release date. And while the long-awaited Finally Free doesn’t electrify like early-career Trel, that may be a good thing; adjusting gracefully to the vicissitudes of 2018’s rap landscape, the rapper has eased off the drill-and-molly anthems and found a new sweet spot over the mourning, low-slung style of beat pioneered by 808 Mafia. But rather than swag rapping, Trel spits the same unshakable flow that made him famous — so effortless you sometimes forget he’s even rapping. –Nick Henderson --- King Carter - Prisoner of Mind [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] Slums don’t let up. Forget simply taking over this column; the crew is about to fuck around and go the 2018 equivalent of All City, whatever that may be. King Carter’s Prisoner of Mind is one of the latest in a superstring of quantum-entangled collabos from SlumsNYC and frequent comrades such as Standing on the Corner, Slauson Malone, Medhane, Caleb Giles, et al., but it isn’t just one of the latest or just anything for that matter. Streaming this, I laughed, I cried, I came, I died, I came back to life, and I made sure to download the split-track version so I could do it all (or some, but mostly all) over again. Major props due Ade Hakim (a.k.a. Sixpress) who handles the bulk of production on here and has been on an absolute killing spree of late. –Samuel Diamond --- Lil Boii Kantu - 514 [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] The fact that Lil Boii Kantu is able to hammer out non-cringeworthy covers of classic Blink-182 cuts and produce goth trap tunes that slap just as hard never fails to astound me. There’s no shortage of SoundCloud artists who claim versatility, but few can toss the word around and back it up as well as this L.A.-based emcee. Kantu’s sophomore tape picks up where Trippie Redd’s A Love Letter to You left off in 2017, pairing the former’s croaky, auto-tuned howls with murky plug beats. “Senior Ditch Day,” Kantu’s ode to pre-graduation blues, is 514’s choicest offering, laden with screechy pop-punk riffage and teenage romanticism. –Jude Noel --- Big Kahuna OG - SKY CHRYME [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] Richmond-based rap collective Mutant Academy offers a wayward vision of what it means to be a rap crew today. Though there isn’t a fail-safe path to ensure stardom, many of the most celebrated rap groups of the decade have made an art of capitalizing on the “outsider” image. If there’s a unifying “edge” to the four Mutant rappers — Big Kahuna OG, Fly Anakin, Henny L.O., and Koncept Jack$on — it’s that they’re apostles of a particular blunted, Virginia-grown everyman lifestyle wherein Ohbliv loops and Nickelus F epistles are daily sustenance. From without, this seems a plausible way of corralling local support. Yet the group found its early devotees largely by way of the internet, which in turn had Richmonders jetting to the nearest backyard boogie. The squad’s been sitting on so much material that the rollout of the recently excavated SKY CHRYME had the casual air of a SoundCloud loosie. However, disposable, SKY CHRYME is not; Kahuna feels personable without the media manicure, and the mostly homegrown, skyward beats will have even the most fusty of heads retract their diagnosis of the death of “real hip-hop” and start muttering, begrudgingly at first, conspicuously with time, “the internet is the fucking move.” –Cirrus Slump --- Theravada - State of the Art [STREAM · DOWNLOAD ] The State of the Art is goonish, unemployed, unshaven, waking up at 2 PM, driving to the fye to sell back used Eastern Conference Records releases, hoping to get enough to pick up a 2-for-30, getting broken off with an extra $2 and using it to cop some even more obscure early 00s shit, most likely from another region, with a beer-stained pen-and-pixel cover. Theravada channels that come-up, not sonically, but emotionally, giving you that “Hold up, who’s this character?” feeling. My brother said we went to the same high school, but I don’t think that’s right. I did meet the dude after a show at a pool hall in my old neighborhood, though; having never heard the word “theravada” at that point, I thought he was telling me his name was Nirvana over and over: true story. That would’ve been about the time he was working on this, I assume. The moral: Y2K was real, the singularity already happened, is still happening, and right now as you read this, it’s the year 2000. –Samuel Diamond --- Hoodrich Pablo Juan and Danny Wolf - Hoodwolf 2 [STREAM] Hoodwolf’s overstuffed successor makes the cut, despite falling short of the airtight cohesion that Atlanta duo Hoodrich Pablo Juan and Danny Wolf sealed into their debut collaboration. Populated by a deep supporting cast of emcees and producers, Hoodwolf 2 exchanges the pair’s industrial minimalism for a diverse blend of timbres and experimentation. While HPJ’s delivery remains as oddly layered and tongue-in-cheek as ever, Wolf dabbles in slasher-flick dissonance on “Bitch Nigga,” Zaytoven-inspired decadence on “Everything Rare,” and even a trap-inflected appropriation of traditional Japanese music on “Just Vibe” — exclusive to Datpiff and SoundCloud. Despite muddy mixing and phoned-in features by Lil Skies and the ever-uninspired Rich the Kid, Hoodwolf 2 reaches some impressive heights, especially when its respective collaborators embrace their innate weirdness. When your missteps are this good, you’re doing something right. –Jude Noel --- 03 Greedo & Nef the Pharoah - Porter 2 Grape EP [STREAM] In early July, 03 Greedo began what will be a considerably long hiatus from hip-hop recording and performance. Luckily (and bittersweetly) for fans, he’s promised that there’s plenty of unreleased music stowed away on hard drives, which will appear on upcoming projects. This EP, in fact, is the first to be released while he’s behind bars. It’s a collaboration with fellow Californian Nef the Pharoah, and, despite being recorded with 03 Greedo’s sentence looming on the horizon, it’s fun and carefree in a DJ Mustard summer-vibe kinda way. It fits snugly into the lexicon of hot weather-friendly California hip-hop, and Nef and Greedo balance each other’s styles surprisingly well: Nef with a consistent G-funk flavor and delivery, Greedo more melody-savvy and radio-adaptable. It’s a fun, bite-sized, easily digestible listen for warmer weather, landing just at the right time. Despite its feel-good allure, this EP will land heavy on the ears of fans who’ve been following Greedo’s explosive trajectory over the past year. It’s the beginning of a long goodbye, but at least we have unreleased material (that hopefully will contain more Nef collabs) to look forward to. –Alex Brown http://j.mp/2LWnt54