Saint Pablo by Kanye West ft. Sampha

Yeezy drops another loosie. Who knows where this lands. Supposed TLOP is dropping on iTunes tonight, dopeness!

All American Trash by Brockhampton (MIXTAPE)

The self proclaimed boy band drops a new project full of vibes, dopeness!

Express by Lupe Fiasco (Panda Remix)

The Chi veteran drops bars on bars over Desiigner's huge hit, dopeness!

So Bad by Big KRIT

Krizzle returns with a 3 time banger for our ears, dopeness!

Domo Genesis "Genesis" Album Review

To say I this album is long overdue would be an understatement, this is an album that has been crave for by the masses. The day has finally come for the Odd Future star to step out of the shadow of his predecessors. His Odd Future Records debut, Genesis, is the culmination of his years of consistency, the result of existing on the fringes of his friends’ fame and trying to earn his keep.  

On Genesis, the stars perfectly align for the rapper known for his hazy, laissez-faire delivery: better beats and even better lyrics. It’s just the right amount of hallucinatory, relishable and introspective vibes. There’s a more personal touch that his other efforts lacked. For example, the spacey yet soulful “Awkward Groove” kicks off the 12-track LP, setting a distinct tone of certainty (“Look at me now, I got knowledge for every dollar made/ Look at me now, I ain’t scared of none of my flaws/ I got ‘em shook of me now/So if you ever had a doubt, it shouldn’t be now/Nah”) and uncertainty (“I’m looking for my destiny/Take me on a blind date”) that grounds the album as its narrative.

As the album progresses, Domo offers an intense spiritual sound-byte that oozes of god speed in the form of motherly advice (“One Below”), explores love’s sweet, sometimes sour drawl that can leave one “Faded in the Moment,” amongst pensive ain’t sh*t funny flows (“My Own”) and a colorful, body-rocking R&B ambiance accompanied by the genre’s new breakout star Anderson .Paak (“Dapper” has great mainstream appeal sans the sell-out fluff). And then, of course, there’s the expected all-star team collaboration in the form of “Go (Gas)” featuring Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J and Tyler, The Creator, momentarily bringing Genesis’ familiar brash and braggadocios banter on weed smoke, b**ches and drank back to the forefront.

After one full listen you hear the sharper, substance-filled wordplay and, it’s apparent that just as one hopes the stars align in their lives—and in this case Domo’s ambition to find his footing in the rap game—Genesis is the silver lining for the self-proclaimed “regular sized giant” and ” quiet storm,” whose unwavering not yet jaded pursuit of solo stardom just proved naysayers and everyone lost in the sauce all these years wrong.

By Rico Johnson, the managing editor of Baller Blog and a hip-hop writer. I'm a wizard with my words. This is my Twitter.

Young Thug Slime Season 3 Review

It’s that time of the year again… Yep Slime Season is upon us and no one couldn’t be happier than Young Thug himself. Young Thug is continuing the trend of releasing free music to the public and back with his third effort of the series Slime Season 3.

I’m going to be honest here, I’m not the biggest of Thug fans because I have to really force myself to sit down and listen to his music. Not to say all his music is bad, but rather inconsistent. Thug will give you a good three dope tracks and the next five are just ehh. To be honest listening to Young Thug is like going to watch a Michael Bay movie… It has its moment, but overall you leave with the thought of “What the fuck was that.” Anyway I’ll give him another chance after his last effort which was “I’m Up”

After listening to this EP I gotta give Thug props (a little bit). Unlike I’m Up though, which lacked direction and seemed more like a hastily thrown together collection of records, SS3 is a cohesive project that continues the Slime Season sound without throwing you into an ocean of similar-sounding material.

"With Them" is a bouncy, Mike WiLL Made It-produced banger and the most fun had on the effort. Rest assured you'll see plenty of memes involving "I want to fuck her, but she play more games than the NBA" if you haven't already. “Memo” might be the standout track, though, an energized showcase of Thug’s mastery of cadence backed by the spacey churning of prized collaborator London On Da Track. "Digits" is another highlight, a melodic ode to spending money that will most likely make significant noise as a single. “It I wanna see some titties I’ll eat at Hooters."

Other great moments from the project include Thugger's impassioned, berserk cackling through the second verse of “Drippin'," the Yak Gotti-less portions of YSL anthem "Slime Shit" and “Worth It,” a woozy love song and the biggest sonic departure amidst the more upbeat, melodic trap stylings of its surroundings.

If you don't like Young Thug, I'm almost certain this project won't turn you into a believer.Slime Season 3's greatest appeal will be to listeners who have enjoyed portions of what they've heard from Thug over the last year and a half, but weren't up to the challenge of filtering through his sizable catalog of releases to search for gold.

By Rico Johnson, the managing editor of Baller Blog and a hip-hop writer. I'm a wizard with my words. This is my Twitter.

And Dat by Bonkaz ft. Stormzy (VIDEO)

The UK up and comers drop a visual for their absolute knocker, dopeness!

With Them by Young Thug

New Thugga a couple hours before Slime Season 3 drops, dopeness!

Rich N*gga High by DJ Lil Keem ft. Young Dolph and Peewee Longway

Hoodrich's DJ Lil Keem rounds Dolph and Longway for epic banger, dopeness!

Ghost by Bodega BAMZ

The NY raper drops a pounding track produced by Hudmo, dopeness!

Matrix Slave Ship by Azizi Gibson

Azizi drops a synth led banger off his upcoming project, A New Life, dopeness!

Heavenly by Sylvan Lacue

Miami's very own drops an introspective and atmospheric joint, dopeness!

Lifted by Hugh Hardie, Pola, and Bryson

Some of Hosptial Records' best link up, dopeness!

Imperial by Denzel Curry (MIXTAPE)

The Carol City fire spitter drops a new project outta nowhere, and it's incredible, dopeness!

El Southside by Kap G (MIXTAPE)

The College Park rapper reps his side of town on this Gangsta Grillz mixtape, dopeness!

2 Chainz & Lil Wayne "Collegrove" Review

2 Chainz and Lil wayne put out a project together? To say this collaboration is a shock or a move that came from left field would be a lie. I've saw this coming back when both them were exchanging lethal bars on the 2 Chainz track "Yuck". The album is named after their respective homes, College Park and Hollygrove. Listening to this album I can honestly say it did not disappoint. It would be easy to start making comparisons with Jay Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne” collaboration, but "Collegrove" is a completely different body of work.

 First and foremost I love when artist work together in this capacity; it brings an element to the music industry that is not always present in their solo work. Throughout the album both rappers riff of each other and it’s a joy to behold. From a personal standpoint, some of the stand-out tracks is “Gotta Lotta", "Rolls Royce Weather Every Day" and "Not Invited."

 Lil Wayne opens the song with some vocals, which reminded me of Scatman John’s hit track “Scatman.” It’s unclear whether this is deliberate or not, of course, but much like Scatman John’s track this is guranteed to be stuck in your head all day. The lyrics impress in the opening verse from Wayne, but the full force of the song isn’t felt until the second once 2 Chainz enters.

 The way he flows between the lines is brilliant and his words fit seamlessly with the beat. Lil Wayne’s scat singing gets louder and more prominent as the song continues, which adds a necessary new element to the tune. It is a challenge to not singalong “Ba-da-ba-da-beee Ba-ba-da-bope” by the end of the song.

 "Rolls Royce Weather Every Day" is a certified banger. The type of song that makes you want to drop down your top of your car, have all windows down and turn the volume all the way up while you cruising. The violin on the track sounds eerie and off-key, but meshes well the track and the rappers who flow effortlessly to this.

 "Not Invited" has smooth production all over it and showcases what these two rappers know best which is women. This a track you can vibe too late at night.

 “Bounce” is the first track from the album that has a video released, however, and it is also one of the stronger songs on the record. The sample and beat in the background makes me think of The Game’s “Let Us Live”, which provides some context to set the song up nicely.

 While the music is good, it’s definitely worth watching the video as well because it’s basically a 4 minute rap battle between the two artists — which is pretty entertaining. They go at each other back and forth, but it’s difficult to call a winner.

While the album has its bright spots, it defiantly has issues. Overall the production is good, but well below the standards of both them. This album follows the glaring trend with all collaborative hip-hop albums, which is one artsit outshined the other. I felt like 2 Chainz outshined Wayne on this project. I felt 2 Chainz energy more than Wayne's throughout this project. Wanye honestly felt like a feature on this. He had a couple moments, but overall his eenrgy didn't match 2 Chainz in my opinion. Also I feel like this whole project was executed lazily. This honestly sounded more like an EP or mixtape than an album. It even had a couple of 2 Chainz songs already released on it ("Watch Out", "MFN Right" and "Not Invited").

 “Smell Like Money” and “Section” are the other tracks which really stand out on the project. This album is not quite at the “Watch the Throne” level of collaborative releases, but it’s definitely worth a listen.

By Rico Johnson, the managing editor of Baller Blog and a hip-hop writer. I'm a wizard with my words. This is my Twitter.

Kendrick Lamar "Untitled Unmastered" Review

When Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, the founder and CEO of Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), said the label would be releasing a new project randomly this week, I was ready to jump out of my body. We're talking about a label made up of arguably the best artists in the music industry. So when it was announced that it would be another Kendrick Lamar album; my heart stopped.

 This surprise album is a collection of untitled tracks Kendrick Lamar has been performing live for awhile. While specific details on the album are scarce, and the very nature of its title, album art and song titles (or lack thereof) exude vagueness, we can assume by the dates attached to each song title that these are joints recorded around the creation of "To Pimp a Butterfly" (TPAB) that either didn't make the final cut because of sample clearance issues, they didn't fit the album sequencing or simply because they just weren't good enough.

 1. "untitled 01 l 08.19.2014." 
Right off the bat we got some deep-voiced dude on the intro. Thankfully that's over and now we've got some Kendrick rhymes. Coming right out of the gate with some fire bars. It's dope, but gut instinct, it sounds like a mixtape cut if Kendrick wasn't light years beyond still doing mixtape cuts. No hook, no bridge, just straight rhymes. This is that song Kendrick's going to invite a fan onstage to rap to in order to prove they're a real fan. That was fast, already onto the next...

 2. "untitled 02 l 06.23.2014." 

Pimp pimp hooray, ho, hey, ho, hey. Now this sounds exactly like something off TPAB, flute lines, horn stabs, Kendrick on some of that woozy flow. Oooohhhh...when that bass hits along with those hi-hats (goodbye Earth). Kendrick coming with some of that quasi-singing, goddamn. This is dope, if it had made the album you know "Get God on the phone!" would have become an instant catchphrase. I don't think I've ever really heard Kendrick sing like this, the way he cuts each word out at the end has so much style. "I've done a lot of dumb shit in my past" -- looks like it's time to revisit Yoh's article about Kendrick potentially being a murderer. Is there someone I can pay to master this so I can truly bang this properly through my headphones or speakers? What's Ali's PayPal? This last section, doesn't that sound like a Drake flow? Gonna go back to this one, but I can see why it didn't make the album, it doesn't really add up to anything bigger.

 3. "untitled 03 l 05.28.2013." 

Change of pace from the last song, this one's more straight up instrumental, has some real bounce. Definitely reminds me of some Roots from like six years ago. That girl with the "What did he say?" vocal hit is straight out of TPAB, who was that again? Oh, I get it, we're working through every race and ethnicity in each section, very clever concept. Man, the groove on this has my head nodding like a bobblehead doll with a seizure disorder. Another short and sweet one, wish this had been fleshed out into a full song, but can't ask for a finished product on an album titled "untitled unmastered."

 4. "untitled 04 l 08.14.2014."

Some acapella singing off the jump, is this SZA singing the vocals? I'm pretty sure it is. That whisper thing Kendrick's doing is kind of crazy. Anyway, super sparse, just a stuttering guitar line and the occasional bass hit - oh, here comes a spaceship synth line. Man, if people thought the music that made TPAB was too "weird" their brains would melt out of their nose holes if they heard this. It sounds like a sonic Salvador Dali painting.

 5. "untitled 05 l 09.21.2014." 

Ooooohhhhh...I can't say for sure, but something about that bass line and these drums scream Thundercat and Flying Lotus. It's a safe bet. Just in case you thought live instrumentals couldn't bang, listen to this. Who is that girl singing? Man, I'll probably feel stupid later, but I don't even have a guess. She sounds great. Almost two minutes in and we still haven't heard Kendrick yet - oh, there he is, except he's quasi-singing. This one's all over the place, but in a good way. He really was on some outer-body experience recording TPAB. Is that Punch on this third verse trading bars with Kendrick? This track is on another level...I'm speechless.

 6. "untitled 06 l 06.30.2014." 

A real swing drum line (no Nick Cannon), man, this has some real Brazilian-type flavor. I haven't ever heard Kendrick quite like this. TPAB is jazz-colored with gangster rap, but this is just straight up jazz. Oh, and Cee-Lo singing a hook because of course he is. I miss Cee-Lo (the good Cee-Lo). Maybe I'm just not cultured enough, but this isn't grabbing me. Hard to judge an album of leftover joints like I would an 'actual' album though...is that a foreign language at the end or gibberish? Probably won't be coming back to this one.

 7. "untitled 07 l 2014 - 2016" 

Those woozy synths lines are...oh goddamn, and now those drums kicked in? Sweet Jesus just take me now I'm ready. More of this please, I'm back, resurrected from track six – I'm floating. This sounds more like it could have been a GKMC leftover than TPAB. Funny, this is exactly the kind of song all the people who didn't like TPAB said they wanted, and exactly the kind of song Kendrick doubters would have used as evidence that he's not a great rapper...wait...beat switch. Now it sounds like an orphan English kid singing about being from Compton - and a whole different beat.

 This bass is about to break my headphones. If you ever wondered what actually mastering an album does, it prevents the bass from being too loud like this. And Kendrick's absolutely slaughtering this verse. Only halfway done with the song, another beat switch has to be coming...here it is. Kendrick is singing over a guitar, this is crazy good. It sounds like he was recording this in the dressing room or just him messing around. Kendrick really trying his best D'Angelo impression on. Interesting, but going to be hard to listen to it repeatedly. I'll take the first half of this song on repeat into infinity though, please. Thank you.

 8. "untitled 08 l 09.06.2014." 

Some real funk, this is that atomic dog, that dirty dog. Call up George Clinton, we need him on another song. This might be the song that most sounds like the rest of TPAB so far. Not in style, but these lyrics remind me of "All Falls Down," he's talking to women fighting between chasing cash, their dreams, and dreams of cash. Ooh, and the tempo's picking up towards the end here. This is the kind of song I'd really have to listen to at least a few times before I felt like I understood. That synth-bass line reminds me of some Michael Jackson sound is some real.

 To be honest I feel like this is just a few of the many tracks Kendrick has locked up in a vault. Honestly, I'm not even mad at TDE for dropping this. I'm one of those fans that appreciate the overall work put into a project. These tracks here are just simply amazing, I seriously feel Kendrick really has no boundaries or limits to his artistry. What I've come to love about Kendrick and TDE, is that every move feels deliberate, planned, sometimes years in advance. We never get loose songs, mixtapes, freestyles, we only hear the music that people want to hear. A couple of these songs do sound like they need to be mastered and mixed again, but overall this is a solid project.

By Rico Johnson, the managing editor of Baller Blog and a hip-hop writer. I'm a wizard with my words. This is my Twitter. 

LapDance by Lui Diamonds (VIDEO)

The Awful Records emcee drops a wavy visual from his Kill Lewis album, dopeness!

Bounce by 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne (VIDEO)

The night after dropping one of the dopest collab albums, Weezy and Deuces release their battle rap-esque visual from Collegrove, dopeness!

I'll Call You Tomorrow by Joey Fatts (Mixtape)

The Long Beach rep drops a project to ride out to, dopeness!

Tabernacle by Royce Da 5' 9"

Nickel Nine drops a heartfelt, vibe ready track from his upcoming Layers LP, dopeness!

Trap Anthem by ASAP Ferg ft. Migos

Fergastein and Migos link up for an absolute banger, dopeness!