Meyhem Lauren and DJ Muggs Continue Their Streak with "Northern Blvd" Video

"I told'em, 'that's old shit', they busy staring at my neck, looking at gold shit."

In 2017, DJ Muggs and Meyhem Lauren connected for the LP, Gems From The Equinox. I remember reading interviews with Muggs at the time, and he called Meyhem one of his favorite rappers and collaborators. That's tough talk from a legend like DJ Muggs, who has worked with some heavy hitters and produced 2 classic LP's in Cypress Hill's first and second albums (yes, those are classics and Muggs invented a new sound on those joints). Putting his money and time where his mouth is, Muggs connected with Meyhem again for a re-up, Frozen Angels, an EP that released last week. Today they gifted us the video for "Northern Blvd", which put visuals to a tale of riding dirty and getting pulled over. The song is psychological, displaying the mental stresses and requirements after getting pulled over. Meyhem is joined on the record and in the video by Hologram, who ends his verse with "I'm trying to tell the shorties that crime don't pay."

Lots of quotables here in only two minutes. Peep the video, then go check out the EP.

https://youtu.be/l3RW2hVR5Uk


Akonixx Steps Up With Torn

South Side rapper Akonixx just released his newest EP, Torn, and with it he shows his maturation as an artist by stepping more into his own lane and defining his sound. At 21 years old, Akonixx (the "xx" is silent), has started to establish himself within the Chicago scene, but true to his age his real impact can be found online, with his fan base growing around the world. The EP is his second release and it is a sonic leap from last year's AKSZN with heavily autotuned hooks and darker beats than his debut. The overarching theme of Torn is love, with tracks like "The L Word" and "Love Yourself" addressing the insecurities that come along with love in the internet era. Even the album art shows Akonixx at a crossroads, with his hands folded resting on his knees and his bowed face covered in shadow. The project is a great representation of what it's like to be 21 years old and pretty sure of where you're going, but still trying to figure out how to get there. Check it out below.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2ObkknvDlXSOLpW8IE3pmg?si=nPBZd2z2RJuLJlBcOGCG9A

 


Ajani Jones Takes Another Step Forward with "Bloom" Video

"Spitting at these open mics, I was killing." 

Ajani Jones is special. I'm not even going to front like I am not invested in his career, like I didn't discover his music through my AEMMP Hip Hop Class, like I didn't connect with Ajani on a personal level, and like I didn't sign him to Closed Sessions. We're not idiots, and the handful millions of you reading this are not stupid. So that's out of the way...

Last night, as the music industry was in Wyoming or watching the playoffs, Ajani Jones released his new video for "Bloom", a beautiful track off his recently released EP, Cocoons. As Ajani says in the second verse, "I spit it for the people that's on EBT". That message is at the heart of "Bloom", a track that is about keeping your head up, and waiting for the time when everything pays off. Ajani is certainly ready for that time, and Strpmall did an excellent job of bringing this record to life visually, packing Ajani's theme of self-discovery into this video.

I'm out of words... Watch this clip below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAHGsP7FqQY


Kanye West's New LP Is Set In This Moment, And All The Moments Come Before It

"It was all part of the story, even the scary parts."

Last night, Kanye West flew a lot of people out to Wyoming and live streamed his new album, aptly titled, Ye. We already knew the LP would be seven songs (the God number), and that it was the second in a full line of new releases from the G.O.O.D. Music roster. There was a lot of skepticism heading into this album, much of it centered on if this album would truly appear on time. I think that Pusha-T's LP arrival last week set aside some of the doubts on the Kanye's album hitting properly on June 1st. But alas, following Mike Dean's promise of defecation everywhere, Kanye hit play, streamed his LP and now it is on streaming services everywhere.

Admittedly, I'm only on my second listen to the LP, probably too early to make a real judgment or in-depth review. One thing I know, The LP is set in the present and will stand as a capsule of what will be remembered as an odd and significant year for Kanye West.  "I got dirt on my name, I got white on my beard, I had debt on my books, it's been a shaky ass year", he raps on "No Mistakes".  Self-titled LPs are personal and exploratory by default. On Ye, Kanye embraces his impulsiveness and continues a theme brought up in his interview with Charlamagne The God that he feels his mental breakdown was in fact a "break through". He raps on "Wouldn't Leave", "I used the same attitude that done got us here, I live for now, I don't know what happened after here."

I think that's a good line to symbolize a lot of the album, and Kanye's career. He's built a huge fan base and influence off voicing his opinion. When that opinion matches his fans and what we think, he has tremendous success. When it goes against common ideas, he suffers huge setbacks and is abandoned. That is another theme running throughout the album  as he talks about former friends, and others that have written him off - also something that can be found as early as College Dropout. It's clear that no matter how high Kanye ascends, he still sees himself as the underdog, still struggling to get out his ideas, "Thinking like George Jetson, but sounding like George Jefferson."

Through it all, Kanye is still game for it. "No Mistake" uses a Slick Rick sample to illustrate that point - "tell all my dogs that been down, we're back up again." I woke up and scanned through the Twitter Moments (I kind of just threw up in my mouth writing that), someone wrote that this LP sounds like much of his back catalog all fused together, and I can see that a little bit. "No Mistakes" and "Wouldn't Leave" sound a lot like "the old Kanye", that many fans yearn for. "Yikes" draws parallels to MBDTF a little bit and also enforces that theme that he accepts the good and the bad of himself and this journey, and I think this album is somewhat telling the public that they must accept all the parts as well. But to me, Ye is a new work meant to be evaluated in the now, in the time since Kanye "turned TMZ to Smack DVD". Much of the project is reflective, he speaks a bit on recent events, his growth on how he perceives and interacts with women, and his struggles with mental health that kick off the LP on "I Thought About Killing You".

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how everything that's happened outside of the music influences how I started listening to this album. I still don't know what to make of the last few months and seeing Kanye in that MAGA hat. That shit hurt, for sure. But there's part of me that is still a fan of Kanye's music and wants this album to be excellent, and to really speak on things. There's a surface level commentary on recent events, but Kanye does not give us any "aha moment" or at least it not presented clearly and easily where all of his actions are now clear. Perhaps he is still working through that. Perhaps he wants us to work harder to understand. Perhaps it's just not coming. There's a lot to go through in only seven songs, and if you've been a Kanye fan since the early days like I have, this one will take multiple listens to process.

You can start that process below.


Sterling Hayes Delivers a Haunting New LP in SideFX

People want authenticity. I often ask my students, 'what don't you like about music?' One of the biggest responses is the lack of honesty they perceive from artists of all genres who pretend everything is always going well. It's a common theme, and a common criticism. In recent years though - and many younger people credit Kid Cudi in this regard - subjects such as depression, drug abuse, and just feeling shitty have taken a more prominent role in Hip Hop music. If you are searching for something raw, emotional, and honest (almost to a fault), then I highly suggest SideFX, the new album from SaveMoney's Sterling Hayes.

From the start, SideFX removes all barriers and at times is downright scary and hard to listen to. Hayes' delivery is gruff and even chill-invoking as he howls "Chicago is killing me" on the album's third track, "Suicide". A few themes run throughout SideFX, maybe none more prominent than Hayes' ownership of his own problems and his resolve to conquer them. He is worried about being a bad son, being a bad friend, doing too many drugs, not being able to stop doing too many drugs, being hurt by his girlfriend, the violence in Chicago, allowing blogs to dictate his self-worth and generally wasting away. His parents also play a prominent role on this record as he tackles their marriage, their divorce, and the realization that many young adults come to abruptly that one day they will die, and you can find yourself alone. In that regard, SideFX plays out somewhat like a manifesto for Hayes who commits to counting on himself, and at the end of the day making himself proud as a conduit to doing right by others.

This is a haunting and honest LP from a Chicago artist often overlooked alongside his "friends with Grammys". And while his friends such as Smoko Ono, Malcolm London, Via Rosa, and Chance The Rapper all make cameos, it is Hayes who maintains centerstage on this LP. With SideFX, Sterling Hayes clearly establishes how he is different from his peers and at the same time, like so many of his listeners going through similar situations. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for Hayes, and hopefully this album makes it a shine a little brighter.

https://soundcloud.com/sterlinghayes-1/sets/sidefx


Ric Wilson Brings Black Art To The Forefront On BANBA

Earlier this month Ric Wilson, known as both an artist and an activist around Chicago released his newest EP, BANBA (Black Art Not Bad Art) and with it truly established himself as a key member in the Chicago Renaissance movement. The 23 year old Southsider weaves an intricate tapestry with soul beats and lyrics celebrating his Blackness while simultaneously addressing the anxiety that comes with being marginalized in America. Ric Wilson is another prodigal lyricist that cut his teeth as a teenager in Young Chicago Authors, and like the other artists that came up in YCA (Noname, Kweku Collins, Mick Jenkins, Chance The Rapper) he uses his deft lyricism to create relatable and honest music. What sets Disco Ric apart from the rest is that he floats across genres to create bouncy tracks that reminisce of sunny days on the southside of Chicago.

The opening track of the album acts as a thesis for the rest of the project. It is interlaced with vocal samples of children and activists, and the chorus seems to be Ric’s mantra, “Black art not bad art… not mad art… not sad art”. The Hirsch produced beat sounds like it could only come from Chicago, with Monte Booker-esque glitches on top of a bouncy synth and a gospel moment that leads to an exuberant trumpet solo that sounds like it was part of a Chance record. At the end of the title track you hear a woman’s voice over street noise saying, “I am the revolution, and the revolution don’t stop.”

Sinner, the third track on the album which was also the lead single would fit perfectly on D’Angelo’s Voodoo in its production. Having grown up singing in the church choir Ric uses this track as a sort of confessional opening up to the listener about his life mixed in with his observations about the modern experience. But just like the rest of the EP there is an overwhelming optimism even when he’s talking about the problems that he has faced. For the single he brings his friend and fellow YCA alum Kweku Collins who continues the open honesty of the track with his verse, even ending with “still there’s shit that I’m guilty of… all you need to know is that I’m working on it.”

As a whole this album shows the triumph of love and hope over despair which is a relief considering the world that we’re living in. Wilson shows how much he’s grown on his 3rd EP. BANBA keeps all of the positivity from 2017’s Negrow Disco but with more perspective about the world laced in. Ric Wilson summarized it all perfectly, “don’t you take your love away”.

Stream the whole album below.

And check out Ric Wilson performing Sinner live on Fox with Kweku Collins here.


Westside Gunn Shares "Evidence Joint" (prod. by Evidence)

Shortly after the drop of Weather or Not, Evidence shared photos of his studio sessions with Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine. Today, we have the fruit of that labor in the form of "Evidence Joint" a new track from W$G produced by Ev and all gemed out. W$G's got a new G-Shock in the Necklace, and he's got a new album dropping June 22nd. Peep the new track below.

https://soundcloud.com/gxfr/westside-gunn-evidence-joint-prod-by-evidence


SHIRT Shares His Thoughts On Ye With "It Be Your Own Drums"

"I don't care if you made the album in the Everglades, Or in partnership with Tesla, K, your shit wrestling now Smarten up."

Last week, Kanye lit up the twitter by sharing a fly on the wall style video of him in beat-making mode. The video drew attention for multiple reasons, beyond the music, the video showed a white board listing all the upcoming G.O.O.D. Music releases and helped make Kanye's promises of new music a bit more tangible.

SHIRT - in classic SHIRT fashion - ripped the audio from Kanye's video and made a song expressing his feelings on Kanye and the upcoming releases. The track isn't a diss or any kind of Kanye takedown, but comes off a heartfelt open letter or a conversation set to drums.

Check it below. SHIRT latest album, Pure Beauty, is out now on Third Man Records.

https://soundcloud.com/shirt/it-be-your-own-drums-produced-by-ye#t=0:00