Maryland rapper Logic returned with his 5th LP in as many years on May 10th. To be real, I haven't listened to much Logic in a very long time. I used to f' with him when he was droppin' his Young Sinatra mixtapes and I liked his debut Under Pressure a lot. Since his sophomore album though, I haven't been following Logic. Seeing as I'm a blogger though, I feel it's only right to check what he's been keeping up with.
The album gets off to a great start with Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (the name of both the song and album). The beat has a mellow and reflective feel to it and Logic brings lyrical content with dope internal and multi-syllabic rhyming to match on the first verse. On the second verse, he addresses his worst critics and does provide some food for thought in regards to the way celebrities are treated.
Now why you think so many rappers be overdosin' at the crib?
'Cause people just won't let 'em live...
... that's why I keep goin'
That's why I keep flowin'
That's why I keep perserverin'
Even when I'm hearin' I'm a bitch, I'm a fag
I'm a motherfuckin' hypebeast,
I ain't black in the slight least
I ain't good enough, I should quit
I should kill myself (Kill myself)
'Cause you'll never be Kenny
You'll never be better than Drizzy or Cole
"You're losing your hair, you're too fucking old", yeah
These are the comments I'm readin' on Twitter right now
They make me depressed and they pullin' me down
I'm trying to swim but I think I might drown
So I'ma turn that feeling into a sound
The second track is the Eminem-featured Homicide. Both rappers have a huge following but have received criticism for their turbo-tempoed 'lyrical miracle, subliminal criminal' style of spittin'. You either love or hate it. Me personally, I f'd with both of their verses and the impression at the end was hilarious.
I often see Logic's name in social media. Very often for the wrong reasons. However this is his fifth consecutive Top 5 album and his second number 1 album so he's clearly doing something right, hence, the loyal following.
One of the main reasons he comes under criticism is because, according to many, he constantly refers to the fact that he's biracial. His verse on Royce Da 5'9's Caterpillar is just one of many examples. You can just check the comments to see how people feel about that.
Sir Robert Bryson continues this trend on Keanu Reeves where, in a shocking revelation, he declares for the trillionth time 'Do you know I was mixed like Obama?'.
Jokes aside, is that enough of a reason to justify the flak he gets? Or is he in the unfortunate category of people like Ramz and Michelle Williams who endure unreasonable levels of trolling?
I'm not gonna tell Logic how to be because 1. It's not my business and 2. What he is has earned him a lot of success. Having gold and platinum plaques as a new-school rapper is a remarkable achivement in this era.
In regards to this album however what I will say is that COADM does have it's moments. This includes the opening and closing tracks (Lost In Translation) that were great. Will Smith dusting off his mic and dropping a decent verse on the otherwise cringey Don't Be Afraid To Be Different. Logic calling out radio personality Charlemagne aka the self-styled architect of aggravation on Clickbait. Also the production, handled predominantly by 6ix, for the most part was pretty dope. Standouts for me were Out Of Sight and the second part of Lost In Translation. Them beats were fire.
These moments I mentioned however do feel few and far between. It's very clear Logic has the potential to be up there. The content on COADM and the straight spittin on Still Ballin shows this but some of the tracks just seemed quite lazy and lacklustre. One standout example for me was the Gucci Mane-featured Icy. The chorus alone was mad cringe and no offence to the re-invented social media life coach but Logic shouldn't be getting outspat by Gucci.
Logic previously said that Under Pressure was his Illmatic. If that's the case, COADM could well be his Nastradamus. The overall production is good enough for this to get a 6 but to me, this album lacks replay value. I'll give this a 6.
FAVES
Beat- Lost In Translation (2nd part)
Verse- COADM verse 1
Feature- Eminem
Track- COADM
The Yonkers legend is over 20 years deep in the rap game. At this stage in a person's career, you may see some lose their appetite for spittin and take extended/permanent breaks and/or move on to other ventures. The ghost on the other hand has been as productive as ever. Last year he dropped 2 LP's plus a collab project with Harlem's Dave East and this year on May 3rd, he dropped his latest album titled S.P. The GOAT: Ghost Of All Time.
Here's a couple excerpts from the LP:-
'I don't wear a nose ring, but I let the nose ring.' Push The Line
'But I bet you I'ma change/
'Cause they tryna write my story,
And I don't like the frame/
Plus, I made my own lane,
And I'ma tryna spread the joy 'cause I feel my own pain.' Change
'You tryna go straight, who you curve first?/
Fuckin' right I'm a gangster, homie
But I'm a nerd first/
Smart enough to read up on the art of war/
Time is valuable
It's deeper than the Audemdar.' Out In The Jungle
The above bars gives you an insight of Pinero's 'gangster and the gentleman' brand of rap. His knack for being 'hood with a heart', 'street and smart' has seen him listed as a favourite by many hip-hop heads including myself. Along with still having his technical skills intact, Styles has always been consistent with his sound and this continues on SP the GOAT.
The ghost has a fair amount of features (9) for his 11th solo LP including his LOX brothers-in-rhyme Jada and Sheek. The former maintains his no-wack-verses streak while the latter's bulletproof verse makes Push The Line a solid opener. His UK family D-Block Europe provide the hook for Filthy. Even though I'm all for supporting UK artists, I'd be lying if I said I was feelin' it. The best features actually came from the lesser known Nino Boy. His tag-team with Styles on What's Up Boy was dope and there was an unnamed rapper on Really Us who dropped a fire verse. Styles P himself didn't disappoint with any of his verses. Good wordplay and a couple nice punchlines throughout although the LP is predominantly 'hood talk' which could get tedious if you're new to Styles P.
The production wasn't bad overall. The hype beats like So Much To Say and What's Up Boy were way better than the mellow ones on this album although Raw Dreams was kinda dope too.
While SP THE GOAT is not better than either The Gangster And The Gentleman or Time Is Money, I'm sure his fans won't be disappointed. I'll give this a 7.
FAVES
Verse- Out In The Jungle verse 2
Beat- So Much To Say
Feature- Unnamed rapper on Really Us
Track- Out In The Jungle
Gotta Be is a single by up-and-coming New Orleans rapper CKoolKeys and features Tosum.
The rapper on the first verse spits about his preferences when it comes to cars, smoking and the ladies. Dude on verse 2 speaks on his swag, gets his 'Mr Steal Yo' Girl' on and declares he's 'onto other thangs'.
When I think of New Orleans, stereotypically I expect to hear that Mannie Fresh 'dirty south' type of sound. So I was surprised to hear that this tune has more of that 'boom bap', 'East Coast', Styles P/Cormega kinda feel. I liked it still. Beat was nice. My head was nodding from start to finish and blends well with CKoolKeys and Tosum's southern style. Check that out if you want something different to the mumble rappers and trap artists of today.
Instagram
CKoolKeys
Tosum
When you think of the TDE (Top Dawg Ent) label and the West Coast supergoup Black Hippy, the first name you'd think of would undoubtedly be Kendrick Lamar. The second you'd think of would most likely be that of ScHoolboy Q who, after three years, returns with his fifth studio album titled CrasH Talk.
On April 26th (the day of the album's release), ScHoolboy Q posted on insta-
THis tHe Happiest I eva been wit a album dropping... tHank y’all soo mucH #CRASHTALK OUT NOW... positive vibes today... literally smiling ear 2 ear... until tHe next cHapter... ✌🏾
which is in stark contrast to the album cover. It's an animation of a man (presumably Q) with a paper bag covering his head who, judging by the eyes, looks extremely depressed. Also a fair chunk of the tracks cover topics which wouldn't evoke emotions that you'd equate with being ecstatic. Sonically, tunes such as the 6lack-assisted Drunk; Dangerous (featuring Kid Cudi) and Black Folk certainly give off an 'emo' vibe with the lyrics to match. I'm guessing Schoolboy Q wrote that post like this.
Critically speaking, this is a tale of two sides. So let's cover the first portion of the album first... which, to me, is the 'bad' part...
If this is the 'happiest' Groovy Q's ever been with an album droppin' then this quite possibly came at the expense of the quality of his musical output. This is unfortunately not on the same level of his previous release(s). From looking at Metacritic, I'm not alone in thinking this as this is his lowest rated album to date.
Maybe my expectations were too high. His previous album Blank Face LP was one of the best-produced albums of 2016. So when I saw that the likes of DJ Dahi; Sounwave and Boi-1da were on production for this album, I was expecting more of the same. To my disappointment though, the album was predominantly trap beats and tbh I've never been a fan of trap. If you're a trap fan, you might like it way more than I did.
Still covering the first portion (from tracks 1-9), I would say Drunk was kinda dope although 6lack was severely underused. My dude didn't even get an 8-bar! This was a shame as this tune sounds more East Atlanta Love Letter than CrasH Talk. I gave Lies a couple wheel-ups as Ty Dolla $ign delivered a customary dope hook. I don't know how in-fashion trap music is now but I can imagine 5200 doing a madness in hip hop raves. The transition from track one to two was clean AF as well. Other than that, I wasn't too fussed about the rest of the tracks. CHopstix with Travis Scott could be a potential hit though.
Now for the other side (tracks 10 to 14) aka the 'good' part...
I was more or less ready to give up on this album until I heard Track 10, the DJ Dahi-produced Dangerous. Lemme talk about DJ Dahi real quick. On numerous occasions he has produced either the best or one of the best tracks on an artist's project. Case in point: GKMC- Money Trees; NWTS- Worst Behaviour; DAMN- Loyalty; BFLP- Neva CHange and he may have done it again on CrasH Talk with Dangerous. What starts off with quite an eerie guitar riff, the tune intensifies by the second with additional layers as Q gives a first-hand account of what sounds like a hallucinogen trip. Kid Cudi's (who's no stranger to drug abuse) vocals was made for this track and although this is only 150 seconds long, it's imo better than the first 9 tracks of this project.
The momentum continues as even though I'm not a fan of trap, I do f with Die Wit Em and Water. Them beats were tough.
One of the common criticisms of trap music is often the lack of emphasis on lyricism. While Q is far from a mumble rapper in terms of technical skills, his verbal ability definitely took a backseat for the majority of CrasH Talk. Luckily for the traditional hip hop fan (like myself), the Boi-1da produced CrasH (which samples Royce Da 5'9's trademark classic Boom) and the album's closer Attention shows he hasn't forgotten how to bar. A good level of multi-syllabic and internal rhyming on both tunes as he highlights past memories, present achievements as well as his future plans. Both of those tunes had that Blank Face LP feel that I was hoping to hear on this bumpy 39 minute ride.
Overall CrasH Talk had it's moments but if it weren't for the 2nd part of this album, this could've been a write-off. I'll give it a 6.
*2020 UPDATE*- The more trap I hear, the more I appreciate this album. I'm upgrading the score to a 7.
FAVES
Beat- Water
Verse-CrasH Verse 2
Feature- Kid Cudi (Dangerous)
Track- Dangerous
