2018 Albums

[mickilennial]

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The Sciences by Sleep

This was fucking great. Welcome back, Sleep.

[meccalecca]

[Puncture Repair]

Haven't really seen these releases discussed on BEA, got some time to kill so some casual thoughts


KOD by J. Cole

This is the first and only Cole album I've heard. Almost all I've ever heard about Cole is that he's overhyped and not as good as fans make out, but I swear I've never seen any of those fans. I don't know who they are or what they look like, almost everyone I've come across think he's mediocre at best.

I pretty much agree with everything that's been said - KOD is about as dull of a Hip Hop album you can get, but it's not bad. Weird thing is that I keep coming back to it, like I know it's not that great but it's easily digestable and easy to put on. Most of the songs are just beats with like two notes, but I like the stripped down sound and the lack of features (even if the latter is because of Cole's own pride). It's like putting your hand in body temperature water or something. J Cole has a million ways to say something but he's hardly got anything to say. A good rapper, a bad artist.


Everything's Fine by Jean Grae X Quelle Chris

Listened to this plenty of times and still think it's an amazing release. Impossible not to compare to Quelle Chris' release last year, which was my AotY. This is definitely the more accomplished album, but I still prefer 'Being You Is Great'. 'Everything's Fine' has a very clear message, whereas 'Being You Is Great' seems to be about nothing at all but still seems to say a lot more. I like all the messages found here, whether the alt-right listen to Quelle Chris I don't know, but it does teeter on being just a hint too preachy for my taste. Jean Grae is great but she sounds a little bit like a big fish in a small pond, Quelle Chris wears this album like a warm blanket. Beats are much more refined and layered but less interesting.

Also album art is terrible. I get it's ironic but there's better ways of going about it. Wish they just used this photo:




Care For Me by Saba

Only spun this a few times, but went from meh to being blown away pretty quickly. Just adore the tone and the hooks and the beats here. Everything flows super nicely but there's some technical things going on behind the hood. Definitely has that jazz rap vibe that Kendrick achieved with TPAB, albeit not quite as operatic. I like that though. It's a rainy Sunday album, it finds it's mood and it carries it.

My first hesitation is that it was a bit too mopey, but then I learnt that Saba's cousin literally fucking died, so that emotional energy is totally used right. Maybe that's the perfect thing about the album is that it's really about his cousin, but he takes that and makes it something relatable from it. "I'm not mad at God, I just can't get out of bed", things like that. It's the day to day. I love that it doesn't like it's trying to impress me. Saba was on Hannibal's podcast last year and he came across like just a regular, down to earth guy. I can dig that.

I'm surprised Melon didn't like this one. He dismissed it as doing nothing he hasn't heard before, but if there's more hip hop out there like this then I'd love to hear it.

[Hayden]

[travelful]

[Puncture Repair]

[RockyRaccoon]

[Puncture Repair]

Until Death Call My Name by YoungBoy Never Broke Again

Another amazing release from a rapper with unsettling criminal charges.

Keep having to have that internal 'art from the artist' internal debate when it comes to Hip Hop lately.

[Hayden]

[lukem14]