Category: hip-hop
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westside gunn – 10
If you were worried that Westside Gunn’s winning formula was at risk of treading water in the final instalment of the ‘Hitler Wears Hermes’ series, you’d be wrong. A puzzling album scattered with incredible performances, esoteric moments (the Montell Jordan sample springs to mind) and a superlative feature list, ‘10’ possesses all of Gunn’s best […]
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dreamcastmoe – sound is like water
Sound is like Water is so low-resolution it almost seems provocatively weak. It chuffs along at the level of a first draft that has rested in a downtempo dabbler’s private soundcloud account since 2015. There’s a presumption of humour in dreamcastmoe’s lackadaisical style, but it never once clicks. Imagine talking to someone who is constantly […]
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backxwash – HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING
HHSCFETWAS is, in a word, busy. Ashanti Mutinta has now charged three records with her tectonic energy—here, we are pulled through to the trilogy’s cataclysmic end. For all that this record is, it is hip-hop first. It’s a shame that this album provides its least inspiring elements in that genre. The beats don’t offer enough […]
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quinton barnes – for the love of drugs
Quinton Barnes’ beats have been through a lot. They are responsible for the emotional navigation on For the Love of Drugs—splitting, melding with something new, peppering the vocals. Barnes’ writing, while energized, makes rare use of the abstract. It’s a rational choice to offer central authority to the beats and production, but this record would […]
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run the road vol. 1 – various artists (2005)
Brits, en générale, don’t tend to construct as many lyrical layers in their bars as The Americans. Run The Road is a fantastic exhibition of how that doesn’t have to matter: lines like “I’m famous like Lenny Henry” take on a self-aware directness when surrounded by grime production and massive beats. The compilation was siphoned […]
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