Hoodie Allen - 'The Hype' (Album Review)

Long Island rapper Hoodie Allen is gonna need that hoodie more so than ever before because he’s just been exposed and he’s getting colder. His new album, The Hype, recalls the same topics and some of the same feelings he sprinkled on tracks from projects previous to the very good Happy Camper album of 2016. Now, Allen interchangeably goes with and against love (like he won’t make up his mind and wants to satisfy both sides of the fight) but mostly goes with the grain of mainstream hip-hop. A Wale feature, soft warm singing, more or less basic rhyme schemes, gleeful preschool-ready chords and teen-geared drum loops, plenty of following along with the trends and nothing that would gather controversy make the project if not break it. The Hype is simply that, hype, for the sometimes promising young man, but Hoodie Allen is going to need something deeper, more multidimensional and more original than this if he wants to start his thirties with great growth in the music. (2 out of 5 stars) 

Rittz - 'Last Call' (Album Review)

Now that speedy spitter Rittz has proven he’s no fading presence or disappearing act in rap (as far as technical skills are concerned), it’s time to focus most of all on what he has to say, basically his character. The relentless rhyme-killer from Strange Music Inc. releases his fourth studio LP on full steam thanks to his “top of the line,” momentum-making work of 2016. Aided by satisfactory production directed by Seven, Rittz does what he's best at in Last Call, sharing sad but valuable stories that scarred him, changed him or taught him priceless lessons. Rittz makes this blues-rap motivational in fact, inspiring us to beat the odds and prove the naysayers wrong. In his own case, Rittz will boost and boast of his own set when no one else will and even go in on the competition. The only problem is that he can come off a little too mean at parts, hurling one too many insults at the haters. In just one example, it’s unclear which artist or artists Rittz is alluding to in “Dork Rap” when he impersonates a hipsterish new-age rapper, but his subject of ridicule actually brings up some good stuff, like tofu and vegan friends. Likewise, to eliminate the disease in “F*ck Cancer,” Rittz mentions a few measures to take except for one of the most effective if not the most effective—a whole food, plant based diet that minimizes or better yet excludes animal-derived products. For the most part though and when one takes into account all of the project including the bonus tracks, Last Call is another impressive, even compassionate Rittz set but next time he might want to try the opposite of hard, rough and charging. 

SkyBlew & SublimeCloud – Destined: The [R]Evolution (Album Review)

The life and times of SkyBlew have never been easy. As a child, the illustrative emcee born Mario Farrow was shuffled to and fro from family and friends to foster and adoption homes, sometimes for the better, other times for the worse, but Farrow made it through to healthy young adulthood. To this day, though he enjoys awards and recognition for being Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s preeminent hip-hop artist, the conscious positive SkyBlew, who is also independent, works tremendously hard to reach the audiences that mainstream acts are given access to so easily. In short, he earns all of his accolades. Practiced at releasing multiple quality albums per year, SkyBlew has reached the feat again this year, with the followup to February’s Dreams, Toonami and Jazzier Days, entitled Destined: The [R]Evolution, a June 2017 issue from the visionary rhymer.

The sequel to Sky’s Destined: The Rebirth EP from last year, [R]Evolution is produced by beat prodigy SublimeCloud (Christian Whitson), who also served on the boards for Rebirth. This time we get a full LP with [R]Evolution and song after song of hearty wholesome rap that paints pictures – but keep in mind Sky’s staple saying: he doesn’t rap, he paints the sky, blew! Opening to memory-forming jazz, a “Tin Man” sample from ’70s band America, and of course Sky’s signature positivity, [R]Evolution can do nothing but hook us in atop before it gets even weightier in “Autumn, Lovely Convo!” with wisdom on everything coming at a price, notes on ambition, ATCQ-love and more classic rock sample-strength.

Sky succinctly summarizes the pleasure-from-pain principle in “HM04!” rapping, “I suffered, it made me tougher, through the hate became a lover,” referring to his own growth experience. He shakes his head at a rap game of greatly expanding head counts yet with little compelling material throughout the vast field. Still he stays himself, an aficionado of animation and worldly awareness. Listeners will find at least one loaded line to love per song. The classic metaphor of words as food is reimagined perfectly in “Chill, We Coolin’ Off!” where Sky says:

[I] cook food for thought so, here goes my recipe, psych! You ain’t gettin’ it, I’m thinking they have to but the flow is too much to process like fast foods.

Around claps, light piano and sax, Sky brims with dreams, aspirations and true knowledge but admits “there’s just gotta be more to living than labor and woe, we offer hope to the globe then after, we go.”

Look out because next, SkyBlew will melt your heart, in “Sailor Moon & Stars!” and soul-weaver Donovan and his soft song vocals add an irreplaceable suppleness over this pretty love-piece’s happy piano lines and joyful admissions. Naturally the heat goes up again afterwards. Sky drops some of his heaviest thoughts in “Speak That Breeze!”, this time regarding the terrible effects of negativity but with hope at the end:

Most cast away their dreams ‘cause they fear rejection and failure. Look at the election. That’s proof anything is possible in this nation of idiots, humanity becoming insidious. My city ain’t the prettiest but I still rep to the death. Just give us your all until there’s none left.

Of course SkyBlew knows there are many fabulous people out there but it’s also true that there are enough of the other kind to make a nation as he says, if only a small one at most.

The elegant SublimeCloud and the eloquent SkyBlew make the album’s step down to the close smooth yet impactful still. Hip guitar flicks and drum snaps in “Pen Tama!” move to more committed resolved wisdom from our generous wiz (never dumb) in “Movement of the Destined!” and “Parallel Echoes!” provides the calm cap-off of Sky stating where he’s from, what he’s about, where he’s going and how he’s gonna get there. Sky the “Colorful Dreamer” hasn’t an equal ratio of hard to soft obviously, seeing as how he’s mostly warm and bright, but he makes it work because one – it’s what the game’s been sorely missing – and two – his background and personality have given him allowance to be as such. SkyBlew with incredible help from the gifted talented SublimeCloud firmly takes his place next to the most progressive optimistic emcees of all time thanks to Destined: The [R]Evolution and the rest of his catalog. (5 out of 5 stars)

Nitty Scott – “Creature!” (Album Review)

Robust mami of rhythmic rhyme, Nitty Scott, from Michigan, and Florida… and Brooklyn, returns with her second studio album, Creature, building onto her cool conscious catalog, which includes last year’s Westside Highway Story collaboration with Joell Ortiz and Bodega Bamz, her studio debut The Art of Chill from 2014, and a trio of mixtapes before that. Acclaimed for her authentic emceeing and soul on wax, Scott releases the long awaited Creature on the newly minted Indigenous Digital and in it rides for ethnic pride and independent womanhood on real spit and varying production-treats.

Bumping dance beats, female- and Latin/Afro-pride, just a little Caribbean flavor but plenty kindness for her people paint the top of Creature with colorful hues, if only for a section of the listening public. Scott does as one would expect in songs “Pxssy Powah,” the mildly political “Don’t Shoot!” and the drug-laden “Kaleidoscopes!” She comes with resolve and power though, even if she drifts into filler and braggadocio or sounds like Nicki Minaj in her title track though it’s unlikely that she consciously tried to relive her “Monster”-remake moment in the latter.

Nevertheless, this vibrant Creature has heart and spirit, especially when Nitty Scott is rapping nice and quick. Only some will relate to everything Scott raps about and what greets the ears is nothing very challenging to the status quo. Still, Creature excels because of its array of rap-, song- and music-textures, providing a nice experience if essentially a new spin on select trends. Nitty Scott does well in the satisfying set, but it’s probably wise to not immediately classify this creature as any new species of hip-hop music. (3 out of 5 stars)

Hip Hop Album Reviews, Week Ending Jan. 20, 2017

In addition to the new album by Prodigy of Mobb Deep, we got a bunch of other nice albums on New Music Friday and throughout the week leading up to it. There are six big ones this time and they all advance the best principles of the new rap era.

Writing HERstory by Jazzmyn Red (Jazzmyn RED Music)

Emcee, singer and spoken word artist Jazzmyn Red from Taunton, Massachusetts builds upon her debut album Caught RED Handed (2013) with Writing HERstory, the driven vocalist’s newest talent show of social activism, female solidarity and ethnic reconciliation. Through ups and downs, from being demoralized to feeling empowered, Jazzmyn never once lets go of her wisdom or positivity. Her trifecta of skills at rapping, singing and a cappella poeticizing keep all of Writing HERstory a rockingly good ride on all those levels and more, and producers Lingo, Vinny Idol, Mikhail O. Johnson, HuanGi, Montez Kirkland and The Arcitype also make it a multi-terrain musical journey with depth too. Jazzmyn Red is a diva who demonstrates politically through her music and also talks about what’s important to her specifically, like alcoholism (“Fade Out” asks, “how does one stay sober when your life is on the rocks?”) and the perceived obfuscation of racial identity for someone of mixed ethnicities in America (“Questionable Blackness“). Jazzmyn herself is of white, black and Arabic descent. Writing HERstory is beautiful and medicinal in these times and has a lot to offer hip-hop.

4 out of 5 stars

Sky by Riplon (self-released)

Out of Tampa, Florida comes Riplon (Justin Acevedo) with some more valuable emcee skills from the Sunshine State, but not everything has a rosy glow in life for the rising rapper. Having to overcome obstacles like weaving through a rough hood and losing his brother to cancer, which is how he got his stage name (R.I.P. Launie), Riplon is tougher for his trials but also wiser, as he proves on his self-released, debut LP Sky, the followup to the 7th Day EP (2014). Among other notes and feelings, he begins with a show of respect for his inspirer, J. Cole, which in one way tells us how his style is oriented, and like the Ville rapper, Riplon is committed to imparting indispensably useful messages. Topics like refusing to chase wealth, not fitting in perfectly as a youngster and holding on to your passions are bread and butter for the smart aspiring wordsmith. With impressive chops, healthy subject matter and a good taste for beats, Riplon is willing and able to do more great things going forward, but for the time being, reach for the Sky, a real, sometimes raw, set of stories from Riplon about where he is from and what influenced him to become the man he is today.

4 out of 5 stars

New AmeriKKKa by CnC Squad (Haffway House)

If gritty, hardcore East Coast style rap is your cup of tea, then look no further than the new album by CnC Squad, New AmeriKKKa. The thing is, the guys of CnC Squad, Big Vic, Knukle, Kwality and Yay Plus, are West Coast representers, hailing from the South Bay of Los Angeles. Following their Minority By Birth LP and The Hand That Rocked The Labels EP from 2010, the foursome continue their career of crafting conscious hip-hop with muscle in New AmeriKKKa, with lots of awareness of oppression in the ghetto, attitudes critical of the police state, and commentary on everything from the 2016 election results and aftermath to the construction of racism in America and elsewhere. It’s definitely fresh to hear more voices in rap from the USA’s Latino community, as we do here; however, the crew’s combative tones and intermittent gun talk (though natural reactions to living in communities where the threat of violence is high) will have fans asking, “where is the love,” or more accurately “where is the love for anything at all not touched by society’s iniquities?” CnC make for a compelling sum of men who rhyme well and refuse to ignore the gross inequalities across the land, but the substantial baggage they carry over from the gangsta rap time period coupled with their relentlessly dark, morbid and unrefined demeanors fail to provide an opening for the requisite brightness and tenderness needed for the album to excel greatly.

3 out of 5 stars

Mark Of Futa by Futa (self-released)

Rapper Futa (Joseph Holloway) from Little Rock, Arkansas, who has battle rap beginnings, follows his 2016 LP O.W.E., or Out Work Everybody, with an even better album, Mark of Futa, a sophomore project that is just as intense but in the arena of care and love this time. Futa exhibits remarkable maturity that is years ahead of his peers in the trap, as he shows great concern for the falling souls in the streets across the nation. He mourns the wicked ways of the hood and keeps the tools of hope, positive persuasion, bright optimistic feelings and Tupac-like compassion at his disposal. Futa’s talents include both singing and rapping but he never leans on one more than the other. He has never been an angel, and he’s the first to say so. His mental burdens from life issues at the bottom and toxic connections have him down however his understanding, kindness, hardwork ethic and his focus on sharing the good word lift him up. Futa’s style may be in need of specific stories and instances from his past, his present situation and current events making headlines, but he makes up for the album’s general at-a-distance nature with tons of heart.

3 out of 5 stars

A Way With Words by Keenan Cunnin (self-released)

Chicago emcee and producer Keenan Cunnin has A Way With Words on his debut LP. After dropping a comedy sound clip/beat tape last year mocking several statements made by head of state (more like head of hate) Donald Trump, he’s added to his credibility with this new authentic tape. Over his upright, boom bap-like beats, Keenan has much attitude with his articulate lyrics of prominence. He’s critical of lesser rappers and much of his style is committed to bullying the competition in a traditional sense, but when he shows love and gratefulness in “Dedicated to Love” with AudioLogical and Orator, it’s clear this guy is the real deal. It may only be to show some muscle, but he seems to contradict himself a little later in “CGI (Suckas Know)” when he says, “I hate love and I love bad shit” and his beats and hooks could be more enriched, fleshed-out and distinguished, but overall, A Way With Words is quite satisfactory and true to its title.

3 out of 5 stars

Hegelian Dialectic: The Book Of Revelation by Prodigy (Infamous Records)

Mobb Deep legend Prodigy last released a studio album in 2014, which was the Young Rollin Stonerz collaboration with rapper Boogz Boogetz. To his benefit, his name has been in the news a bit since, enough for his new official solo project Hegelian Dialectic: The Book of Revelation to get the adequate attention. Reported as being the first in a series of three albums, which goes along with the theme of Hegelian Dialectic (two counterpoints and then one synergy of the two), this Book of Revelation joint is not intensively enlightened but certainly more so than the history-cemented emcee has ever been before, even within Mobb Deep.

Interspersed with several eye-opening sound bites including one from Tupac (and not his most respectable public remark by any stretch of the imagination at that), the album is without a doubt wise and not criminal minded as Prodigy’s track record typically proceeded in the past. In “Tyrrany,” he raps on the corrupt system that delivers “toxic food” and “government tyranny” however targeted criticism of the business system is absent from P’s program. He presents himself with a cleansed spiritual outlook, encourages love over hate, hoists black pride, and cherishes and appreciates the balanced disposition he acquired from the different role models he had as a child.

Disapproval of today’s fraud rappers marks a good portion of Prodigy’s preoccupations, and he has a point, but it would help if he named some of the folks of concern, without being derogatory or nasty of course. Without naming names, it just leaves us to guess what he thinks is bad rap and a bit like propping himself up unduly. Prodigy’s lyrical flow is easygoing and no more advanced than before and not that it is an excuse but the mostly calm beats from Alchemist, Knxwledge, Beat Butcha, Budgie Beats, Mimosa, Mo’ Betta, Mark the Beast and others are hardly enough to motivate P to challenge himself in that department.

Every now and then on the disc, Prodigy will say something not everyone can dig, like in “Snakes” with the line “I still shoot guns for the life of me,” but there are many more bits that everyone can look up to. Later in “Snakes,” P fixes that last snafu by saying, “they took the chain off our wrists and put it on our brains.” The album culminates in the second to last track “No Religion” where Prodigy remarks on how immoral indecent behavior is more accepted and rewarded these days than good upstanding character and ethics are, especially in the music business. Prodigy’s eloquence and articulation in rhyme-technique and message transmittance alone might not have grown since last time, but his personal maturity and his courage to introduce topics of awareness and truth have by quite a bit.

3 out of 5 stars

Not everyone will love these albums right away, but give them some time and I guarantee the styles will have you converted. If mainstream hip-hop has you down in the dumps, look to the indie scene, where a world of great possibilities awaits.

Combo Review, Week Ending Jan. 6, 2017

It’s a new year and the new music we were given in the first week of 2017 is pretty solid, some great some lacking, but sturdy overall. The big showbiz artists are scheduled for later this month and next but the mighty underdogs of the game keep barking and these hip-hop hounds can’t be ignored. Check out what the hunt has yielded this time…

The Deeper They Dig The Blacker The Planet Gets by Millenium Falcon (self-released)

Connecticut emcee Harold Walker II, or Millenium (with one, not two n’s) Falcon, drops an outstanding project with his new EP which is called The Deeper They Dig The Blacker The Planet Gets. The healthy conscious one discusses the clone-populated rap industry of late in “New Age Slaves” and what we use the web for in “Internet,” and particularly how it fosters vanity and self centeredness. Later his words focus on his responsibilities and becoming a man, all to hypnotically fresh production. The clever rhyming Walker, who stands for goodness, strength and knowledge, has the progressive wisdom of a good Millennial and the grace, upward momentum and aggressive ambition of a peregrine falcon in this properly oriented album.

4 out of 5 stars

The Past Is Always Present In The Future by Substantial (HiPNOTT Records/QN5 Music)

Longtime QN5 artist and past label-member of Mello Music Group, Substantial, releases his fifth solo LP, The Past Is Always Present In The Future, at the top of 2017 and he’s at the top of his game and on top of his craft with a fully grown mentality, a byproduct of him remaining a responsible emcee and deciding to be a good father (“In My Daughter’s Eyes” includes lessons on raising our world’s little girls). Substantial has an iron-will as he fights for the have nots, shows where he comes from, and looks at the state of the ghetto and his past daze (and days) with perfect clarity. T.P.I.A.P.I.T.F. may sound a little too rosy for some hardcore listeners, but with peace and love, Substantial nevertheless comes bearing hopes, values and lots of motivational speech in the everlasting, time-conscious masterpiece.

4 out of 5 stars

A Thousand Words by Styliztik Jones (self-released)

Styliztik Jones, an LA emcee, member of both Malcolm & Martin and the legend-claiming Likwit Crew, and generally speaking an overachieving rhyme-writer and exciter, has major connections obviously, but in his new EP, A Thousand Words, he doesn’t rely on them, going at it just about single-handedly, save for guest Sindri in the project’s opener, “Ok.” Truth be told he doesn’t need their help to succeed anyway. The clear-minded line-grinder is once again super clever with his bars, eloquently fluent in delivery and balanced and conscious in his subject matter. He states his aims in the game and addresses hard times and the problems of the world but trudges on with the appropriate mindset and positive vibes. Prominent new-age beats assist in a major way but Jones alone steals the show. There may seem to be a lack of original topics, but lyrically, A Thousand Words is a gem that paints a vivid picture for its audience.

3 out of 5 stars

Get The Gringo 2 by Cynic The Apache (Millennium Jazz Music)

PENPALS emcee Cynic The Apache from Brooklyn provides a public outlet for his audio free-association, some shock music-therapy for him and plenty of rad rough East Coast demeanor in Get The Gringo 2, off the quality-providing UK imprint Millennium Jazz Music. For the better, Cynic is not a mirror image of the golden era Flavor Unit emcee with whom he shares the second part of his stage name, but he definitely shares the same tough rugged nature of the former Apache, a nice homage from one perspective. Cynic is not shy when it comes to admitting his past mistakes and letdowns though he’s also sure about the new path he’s headed down in life and love. His style is old New York rap one hundred percent with punched, upright vocals that are lyrically heavy and supported by an unshakable foundation of firm, modernized boom-bap from Squires, Rapswell and Killclaw. Re-experience early ’90s hip-hop all over again in Get The Gringo 2 but with a fresh new face and an energetic young narrator in Cynic The Apache.

3 out of 5 stars

Pink Season by Pink Guy (Pink Records)

Internet TV comedian Filthy Frank steps into the ocean of hip-hop and gets his feet wet once again as character Pink Guy in his sophomore album Pink Season, the followup to the self-titled Pink Guy from 2014. The controversially vulgar and nerdy Pink Guy uses his shameless mockery and side-splitting humor to spoof trap rap and frolic insensitively over topics of sex, backwoods white racism, homophobia, sex, dog meat consumption, mass shootings, sex and oh yeah, sex, highly raunchy sex in fact. Filthy Frank as Pink Guy here certainly does not come with the most hardcore of lyricism, and actually it’s quite difficult to came him a full blown bonafide rapper, and the album does drag between the most notable tracks, but one thing that Pink Season does very well is open a window to some of society’s major prejudices, bigotries and stereotypes to show how ridiculous they are. It never accommodates our hypersensitive culture nor gets dead serious about really anything, but it is good for a few laughs and a straight shot of goofiness.

2 out of 5 stars

We’ll Be Fine by Justin Lucas (self-released)

Independent rapper Justin Lucas from Massachusetts released his debut album We’ll Be Fine to a modest congregation of dedicated followers on Friday, and while the project generically explores themes of an aspiring emcee on the come-up, there are glimmers of hope for the artist. Lucas has a serious flow with some solid though mostly just decent wordplay, but conceptually he hardly goes into anything of monumental substance or specific original value besides his own individual situation. At a distance, he tells the tale of a young man (himself) from a relatively quiet place fighting to banish vices and naysayers from his life and striving to achieve great things in hip-hop, possibly on a major public stage. Producer Frace supplies a mellow, downtempo, blankety production-spread with enough knock to grab attention. They’re the type of beats that sync perfectly with the regular guy status of Lucas himself. Ultimately, there is nothing outrageously objectionable about We’ll Be Fine; however, there is little here that can reasonably compete with the most outstanding pieces by the greatest emcees in game right now.

2 out of 5 stars

There are a lot of young hungry artists working hard in the field right now. The vocalists above can attest to that. Most importantly, they are putting out cohesive collections without major label deals, and they’re getting plenty of fans at the same time. They are making serious moves behind mainstream scenes, which is where the heart of the game lies.

Slim Thug's domain may be an American king-dumb in fourth 'Hogg Life' LP

Hogg Life Vol. 4: American King by Slim Thug

Word must have gotten back to the original “Thugga” himself, Slim Thug, that the last two parts of his Hogg Life album-series, Vol. 2: Still Surviving and Vol. 3: Hustler of the Year, were being seen in the eyes of listeners as too basic, formulaic and superficial because his newest installment in the string, Vol. 4: American King, was intentionally recorded with a more mature, wise tone from Thug. Immediately after he begins rapping in the first cut, you’ll be able to tell that this time Thug has come with some (contrived?) character and depth, and it stays this way all the way to the end.

The nature of Thug’s rhymes is still very rudimentary and facile in his constantly slow tempo of delivery, and the productions by Mr. Lee, G&B, Donnie Houston and the others are totally unremarkable and run-of-the-mill like the imagination put into filling the guest-spots, that feature Boosie BadAzz, X.O. and Nikki Lactson, but the common messages and lessons Thug gives us make up for both lesser aspects of the disc and the rapper’s recent lacking album-performances enough for a little redemption and no more.

Thug’s emphasis on a positive attitude and hard work (which could be propaganda telling us to work for “the man” how “the man” likes until our backs give out) pops up regularly and often, and he varies his topics only somewhat across the entire length of American King. He is critical of the childish primitive behavior of folks in ghetto communities, saddened by the loss of his friends to prison and death, and is committed to avoiding the same fate. He envisions a brighter future for “his people” as he refers to them and is mournful and dumbfounded by the inexplicable ways of the status quo in the hood, using violence in the black community as a prominent example.

His commitment to hustling and grinding and his dedication to his offspring, trademarks of his personality and style, are of course very much evident in the project, but nowhere does he disapprove of the grossly uneven, oppressive capitalist economy that brought him to great wealth and superstardom and many other respectable working people to dead or limited ends. Moments like “Chuuch” suggest that Thug’s solution is to try and pray away the problems in our system or hope that God fixes them, both irrational options. He keeps saying “Hold Your Head Up” and that things will “Get Better,” but it’s easy for him to say. He’s rich, and too many of us aren’t.

After contemplating how Slim Thug does business on this album, it almost seems like he’s saying whatever he has to to make customers out of his critics. It’s suspicious that Thug would make three albums last year of mostly kingpin/mogul-type rap content and then one this year of deep philosophical perspective. If Slim Thug is a caring concerned representative of the modest masses, why didn’t this side of him appear to any considerable extent in any of his 2015 LPs or those from years prior? It is certainly noted and maybe even appreciated that Thug would put forth meaningful words like those in American King, but they are all ones that the few powerful elite-members of the media would approve of and not necessarily ones that only the bottom ninety-nine percent of the population would approve of, i.e. populist, socialist, progressive values that would enfranchise and empower all, not make promises that may not be kept or come true.

American King is perhaps offered more to ensure Thug’s continued music career survival and our obedience to buy his products than to enlighten us actually, and while this is supposed to be an improvement on the first three entries in the Hogg Life saga (in fact, it’s only as good as The Beginning which itself is only a little better than 2 and 3), it mainly repeats mainstream talking points and agendas, rather than challenging the foundation, core and structure of our modern day society. And ultimately, it’s difficult to tell if Slim Thug is all the way sincere with his views here. On one hand, American King seems to encourage smart sensible thoughts and behavior in people on the surface, but on the other, it also seems to foster in us complacent satisfaction with the heavy problematic way that things are so as not to spread revolutionary beliefs or start grassroots collectivism at the bottom.

2 out of 5 stars

Joey Purp’s three eyes are wide open in his official sophomore mixtape, ‘iiiDrops’

iiiDrops (mixtape) by Joey Purp

Right in line and fine formation with Chicago’s growing renaissance of young flourishing hip-hop artists like Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, Noname, G Herbo, Kembe X, Lance Skiiiwalker and many more, Joey Purp (Joey Davis) of the Savemoney and Leather Corduroy crews is in like fashion making a way for himself with his creative well written rhyme lines focusing on his environment and the conditions of his residence over music made by his similarly talented friends and producers de la Chi. His second mixtape, iiiDrops (released independently on May 27), follows his 2012 debut The Purple Tape and is a firm potent mix of fun jams and joints displaying his societal sociopolitical awareness and consciousness that reveal the uneven keel he, his family and mates experience everyday in their city. Purp’s attention to authentic rapping on smart brilliant topics to beats of a new unique nature makes iiiDrops one of the most urgent Chicago hip-hop projects to come out so far this year.

A serious emcee in all respects, Purp gets his points across without wasting time or added unnecessary filler but keeps his tone light in songs like the bouncy flirty “Girls” featuring Chance The Rapper, “Photobooth,” and the hazy blurry “Kids” narco-ballad. To set the overall emotional framework of the project initially though, he admits he has firsthand eyewitness knowledge of Chiraq violence yet hopes for the best in “Morning Sex,” he raps about the status quo and speaks on ways the poor and disadvantaged are kept down in “Money & Bitches” featuring Mick Jenkins (another great Chicago rapper), and states in the Teddy Jackson-assisted “When I’m Gone” that “the system just make[s] a victim out of innocent people, set[s] us up for failure and tells us that we [are] not an equal.”

In “Cornerstore,” with Saba and theMIND, Purp touches on some of his touching childhood memories from when he was a more impressionable, vulnerable youngster, and in “Say You Do,” he confronts his girl who he suspects is feigning affection for him. From there on out, it’s nothing but good vibes. “Godbody” is an exhibition of Purp’s ability to transmit tight flows in perfect music time and to close everything out, “Winners Circle” (ft. Vic Mensa) and “Escape” march forward into the horizon with persistence, determination, ambition and commitment, ignoring all distractions at every step. All along the way, Joey is aided by eleven all new, original, unrecycled beats from maestros of record-making like Knox Fortune, Peter Cottontale, Thelonious Martin and Donnie Trumpet. Obviously the Social Experiment influence on the music is effulgent and unescapable though altered a bit for an overall coarser, more overcast shade and essence, tailored to Purp's personality. Joey Purp may not do anything much more progressive besides diagnosis the problems evident in his hometown here (some solutions and a possible prognosis would have been helpful), but without question, iiiDrops is another big one-up for Chicagoland and a fab add-on to hip-hop history for a city that really needs it at the moment.

4 out of 5 stars

Noname has a fresh new way to call on us via 'Telefone'

Telefone (mixtape) by Noname

Buzzing Bronzeville, Chicago rapper Noname (Fatimah Warner) has finally made it to that special milestone of sharing with the world her very first project, a "mixtape" titled Telefone, released July 31 on SoundCloud. The cool young rhymer keeps it very kind and lovely on the issue, rapping on her desires, hopes and concerns and recalling un-erasable childhood memories and other mental snapshots from her past. She is very chill and soft and sends well wishes to her fam and friends in “Bye Bye Baby” and reveals her prayers for peace amidst the violence in her city in “Casket Pretty.”

All of the soul-soothing crooning and rhyming fit the warm, quiet, twinkly background music like a glove, and besides herself, the eleven guests, including theMIND, Raury, Cam O’bi, Saba and Smino, astonishingly don’t overcrowd the project and on the flip side help generate enthusiasm for the calm, gentle and tranquil feel of the proceedings. Noname is a welcome contrast to the brash harsh femcees of other areas and eras, and she is wise to reject over-sexualization and sassy booshy tendencies. It’s quite unique and original of her. Kudos to Noname.

Now for the part all artists dread, the blunt criticism. Noname is almost a singer at times so in the mixtape’s thirty-three minutes, she hasn’t given us enough of a show of her rapping/rhyming skills. She has them, but it would have been nice to hear more than we actually get here. And except for her thoughts on the rampant problem of Chicago violence, there is not much unconventional protesting or wowing going on that is so commonplace in rebel, renegade rap, but Noname seems to be no shock artist so she gets a pass (also considering this is her first album-effort). Otherwise, she does very well for hip-hop and Chicago overall in Telefone. The cuddly cozy productions are reminiscent of the general tone of Kanye’s College Dropout beats for example and blend nicely with the comforting Chancellor Bennett-style sounds and sentiments. It’s a real win by most accounts.

3 out of 5 stars

Johnny Richter is chock full of positivity and emcee-spunk in 'School's Out: Still Laughing'

School's Out: Still Laughing by Johnny Richter

Former Kottonmouth Kings emcee Johnny Richter released his official sophomore LP, School’s Out: Still Laughing, on July 29 via Suburban Noize Records, and besides some unremarkable production and quite generic subject matter, Richter has kept his writing and rapping skills firm and even spreads positive messages urging us to be ourselves, make something out of life and get up and work for our keep.

He’s hellbent on grasping tightly to his fresh, smart, and strong new mindset and he’s very generous in sharing it with us, his fans and listeners. Now if only he would say some testy statements to cripple the current corrupt power structure around us. Oh well. What we have here is fine.

Positivity certainly is the name of Richter's game these days. Some of his rhymes though are of a basic, mid tempo nature, not to be overlooked because of his super optimistic attitude. The professional finish of the whole album is not as stunningly clear and crisp as the average major label issue, but the music gets across and touches the heart still. The fun-loving Richter can’t avoid coming off in tone as a hangout surfer type almost at times so his hard image takes a minor hit needless to say.

Overall though, School's Out: Still Laughing is a solid, respectable rap album with lessons that may feel doper to people of privilege than those in poorer circumstances who have less control over their destinies, but the lessons still apply to everyone. That being said, Johnny Richter’s helpful, universally relatable messages are still appreciable no matter who or where you are.

3 out of 5 stars

Kembe X can 'Talk Back' and get away with it in impressive debut album

Talk Back by Kembe X

Chicago remains a blazing inferno of hip-hop talent now with Kembe X (Dikembe Jabari) being the latest hot ticket to drop an album, Talk Back (July 15, self-released), his debut.  The South Holland South Sider is hard and conscious and brings to his music dedication to creative clever wordplay (his influences include Nas, Common, the artists of Hypnotize Minds, and plenty more) and rebelliousness against our corrupt world.

Kembe starts Talk Back relatively downtempo and low-key but not without great presence and impact, as he shares his uneasy, hard-to-place feelings in the first couple songs.  Once things start to heat up, we can really feel Kembe's crushing power in his prominent vocals mid-disc.  He's got a progressive view on drugs, and his producers (The Antydote, Bentley Hazelwood, Hippie Sabotage, Crooklin, DJ FU) make brilliant new use of different samples and genres for a very fun, alternative sounding production set.

His guests include Roméo Testa, Zacari Pacaldo and fellow Village 777 group-mate Alex Wiley.  Talk Back is a great, insolent, biting beginning for the driven Kembe X, and he can do so much more with what he's built here.  He has risen above the hard situations in his childhood Chi stomping grounds, he has revved up his engines and he is just getting started in the rap race with T.B.

4 out of 5 stars

Z-Ro's development is arrested after 'Drankin' & Drivin''

Drankin' & Drivin' by Z-Ro

On Friday, July 15, Houston Screwed Up Click artist Z-Ro (Joseph McVey) released his nineteenth studio LP, Drankin' & Drivin' (1 Deep Entertainment), one year after his last, Melting The Crown (Feb 2015), but he would have been better off had he took a year off from releasing anything to gain some more perspective on life.

With the exception of 2013, the constantly working Z-Ro has released an album every year since 2000, and as of late it seems like it might have been a detriment more than a help.  While he's continued his special style of rapping with a melodic tongue ad infinitum, he has essentially been doing the same thing every year for all this time when he ought to take a break to smell the roses of world affairs, take a foray into different subject matter and rap about the outside world external to his small network of connections, for a temporary change at very least.

One of hip-hop's most unique vocalists, Z-Ro still has a interesting song-structured technique when he spits, but over too familiar beats in Drankin' & Drivin', he has once again voluntarily pigeonholed himself to the topics of hater-hating (a big one for him), self-adulation, and dough over art.  Concerning the last, Z-Ro makes the disturbing confession in "New Shit" that if we don't like the music he's making now, we can just "go back to his old shit" and that he doesn't make music to make good history in the culture but rather to make good money in the business.

Anyone can understand what he means by that, but after all the retail projects he's put out in the past, one would hope that he'd have some savings from them socked away to reasonably make at the bare minimum one investment in wise conscious issues meant to spark positive enlightenment in listeners, rather than more superficial rap.  Z-Ro has given away no clues that he is about do any such thing in the future.

Following the less than savory outcomes of The Crown (2014) and then Melting The Crown, Drankin' & Drivin' has gotten Z-Ro in an even more destructive accident this time around.  By sticking to the same boring formula of negative victimized grievances that he's applied to his music his whole career, he hasn't grown or evolved as an artist or person at all here.  Z-Ro no doubt has nice talent and skill, but for optimal results in the game, he needs to find some more sanity, strive to live comfortably instead of opulently comfortably, connect the dots in life, understand the underlying economic causes of his problems and then most importantly, rap on much smarter speaking points than those we get in this offering.

1 out of 5 stars