With an epic World Series behind us, football in full swing and basketball firing back the fall season has given us plenty to sink our teeth into. But a funny thing happened as during this recent sports overload: the world of hip-hop has churned out a host of new music. Here are a few recommendations to help you get through this strange new world in which we live.
Drake- More Life
Aubrey released his More Life playlist which is not a mixtape…or an album somehow. More Life is everything that we want from a full length Drake album, which is par for the course for 6 God. “Fake Love” may be the perfect song for America right now, as half the country voted for a well known racist, xenophobe, sexist, non-tax paying, multiple time bankruptcy filing know nothing about nothing fraud.
Anyways, “Fake Love” is the Drake-iest song on the project; it’s not shock it is flying up the charts. “Two Birds, One Stone” — the diss record aimed at Kid Cudi and Pusha T — is decent, but forgettable. “Sneakin” featuring 21 Savage is pure flames, as Drake went in from jump over starts with a creepy Halloween inspired beat. “This is all God’s doing, man, you can’t plan it/But if the devil’s in the details, then I’m sa-tan-ic/’Bout to take over your city and you can’t stand it/My accountant say you sinking like the Ti-tan-ic/David Blaine last summer, man, you had to vanish/I get the hits like somebody pitching underhanded.”
Drake always saves the best for the side projects.
Big Sean- “Bounce Back“
Detroit’s very own came out with another song that is so appropriate for Michigan as well as the rest of the country post Agent Orange taking the White House. Metro Boomin provided the production and Big Sean did his thing for a good song to get your #MondayMotivation going. In verse two Sean belts out, “I woke up in Beast Mode!”
Sidebar: Young Metro never trusted Donald Trump. Neither did Nipsey Hussle. #NeverForget
2 Chainz- Hibachi For Lunch
The dufflebag boy unloads (see what i did there) a seven track mixtape with guest spots from trap virtuosos Future, Gucci Mane, Ty Dolla $ign and Quavo (who is one third of Migos…which third is unknown). The bounce of “Diamonds Talkin Back” is addictive, even if Chainz samples the new president when he raps, “Diamonds on me going bing bing bing, Diamonds on me doing they thing thing thing”. The lead single “Good Drank” features both a classy piano rift and a building electronic snare that provides the perfect chill vibe.
Hibachi For Lunch is 22 minutes of what you expect from 2 Chainz, nothing more nothing less.
Run The Jewels- “Talk To Me”
Confession time world: I am late to RTJ and that is a total shame because “Talk To Me” is FLAMES, and not only because they completely destroy a certain human bag of cheetos. This is the opening salvo to the upcoming third album for Run The Jewels, individually known as Killer Mike and El-P, is pure hip-hop that should be turned up to the highest level and shot straight into your veins. The duo laced the track with the kind of conscious or “woke” bars that the game is often missing.
“Rhyme animal, pitbull terrier/ Rap terrorist, terrorize, tear it up/Brought gas and the matches to flare it up/
Militant Michael might go psycho/On any ally or rival/
Born Black, that’s dead on arrival
My job is to fight for survival/In spite of these AllLivesMatter-ass white folk”