![]() ![]() Jay Worthy & Roc Marciano - Nothing Bigger Than The Programīlink and you might miss a new project from the Vancouver-born, LA-based rapper Jay Worthy that's how prolific he is. It remains exciting to see where else she goes from here. It's a brief project, and it still feels more like Monaleo is testing various waters rather than making a Grand Statement. "We Not Humping" isn't on the album, but Flo Milli does show up on another song, "Goddess," a pop-rap hybrid that's somewhere in between the ballads and the bangers. "Beating Down Yo Block" is on there, as are recent likeminded singles "Ass Kickin" and "Ridgemont Baby," and Monaleo offers up other bangers in that ilk like "Wig Splitter" and "Return of the P." But she also leans really hard into a pop-R&B side on "Miss Understood" and "Cosmic Love," songs that suggest she's not just an in-the-pocket rapper but also a well-trained crooner. Right off the bat, she opens with "Sober Mind," the kind of piano-fueled rap ballad you can picture opening an early 2010s Drake record. Houston rapper Monaleo rose to fame off the strength of undeniable singles like "Beating Down Yo Block" and "We Not Humping" (the latter of which really blew up after getting a remix with Flo Milli), and her debut project Where The Flowers Don't Die aims to show that she's no one trick pony. Other guest appearances include a torch-passing moment from Snoop Dogg, rock-solid verses from Freddie Gibbs and Big Sean, and some helium-voiced singing from Ghanaian-American experimental pop artist Amaarae on the Afrobeats-leaning "sossaup." Every move made on the album, from the production choices to the lyrics to the guest appearances, feels carefully considered and done in the interest of making Kaytraminé a concise, cohesive record. It's fitting that the first single featured Pharrell the way Pharrell approached hip hop in the late '90s and early 2000s helped pave the way for an album like Kaytraminé to exist now. ![]() Both of them have strong backgrounds in traditional hip hop, but neither artist is content with repeating the past or conforming to norms, so the result is a futuristic, innovative, electronic rap album that goes down smoothly but defies easy categorization. They've clearly got a lot of chemistry, and they really bring out the best in one another. West Coast rapper Aminé and Montreal electronic musician Kaytranada have worked together multiple times over the years, and now they've made an entire album together as Kaytraminé. ![]() It's always woods and Kenny themselves steering the ship. Their distinct voices help give the album a good flow (and might help rope in some new listeners), but the recognizable names are an added bonus, not a crutch. Like Hiding Places, woods' Armand Hammer partner ELUCID appears on this album-this time on two songs-and it also features Backwoodz labelmates ShrapKnel and some bigger guests like Danny Brown, Aesop Rock, and Quelle Chris, plus hooks from Benjamin Booker and Future Islands' Samuel T. He has too many witty, ear-catching one-liners to count, and Maps has some of his most tuneful, memorable rapping in recent memory. Kenny's experimental production rarely sounds like traditional hip hop, and woods' dizzying lyricism fits it perfectly. ![]() So it's very exciting that billy and Kenny have once again made an entire album together, Maps, which finds their chemistry sounding even stronger. Between Armand Hammer and his solo career, New York rapper billy woods releases so much music that all varies from good to great, so it's not easy to pick a favorite album or an entry point, but his Kenny Segal-produced 2019 album Hiding Places is up there. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |