rihanna - anti

simply put, the packaging for this album aptly describes how this long-awaited project sounds. this is anti-mainstream convention, deconstruction in a pop world dominated by edm production. i'd even go as far as to say that this album may be rihanna's yeezus in how jarring it is compared to her past work. every track is slathered in murky tones, even lead single work is a very night-like approach at the rising trend of island sounds in top 40 songs. this all speaks towards the album's title, but when you look at the artwork, there's another motif that's explored. amongst the distorted image, we clearly see a crown. i feel like she's very content in who she is after all the craziness she's been through over the past couple years. she's feeling powerful in the darkness.

speaking strictly musically, i think the textures here are gripping. i fancy the more active songs she has more than her ballads, but nothing really was all that bad to go through and it all makes sense within the context of each other. i find that i don't exhibit too many feelings towards the album though, but i know that it is a valuable album for the pop scene at the moment. at the very least, i know the world needed that tame impala cover. more genre blending please.

favorite tracks: same ol' mistakes, work, consideration

score: 75

anderson .paak - malibu

going into this album, i didn't know what to expect. i knew .paak by way of tokimonsta first; he captivated me with his feature on her song realla. however, even though i fully enjoy that song, i never sought out any of his own music. that was back in 2014, but fast forward to late 2015 and his name emerges again as a primary contributor to dr. dre's comback album compton. every song he featured on was one of the highlights of the project and i'd go as far to say that without him, the album would be awfully bland. continue forward to the present day and malibu keeps the energy he brought forth with dre and mixes it with textures that would fit well on kendrick lamar's to pimp a butterfly as well as flying lotus' you're dead! albums.

.paak is great at switching up his flows, the most obvious being his ability to sing and rap well. his vocabulary is also something to be noted, i really enjoyed how he said things even if i wasn't feeling the subject matter with the same passion. it's a very mellow vibed project, a bit too long though. when you look at each individual song, there's really nothing wrong with any of them, but as a whole, some of it runs together. nevertheless, this is a strong mainstream debut and i do hope to hear more from him in the future.

favorite tracks: am i wrong, parking lot, room in here, light weight

score: 81

drake and future - what a time to be alive

you can tell a lot about a person through their nicknames sometimes. drake's frequently referred to himself as the 6 God, and the name has stuck. it's a very literal name, implying that he is the highest being of toronto and its surrounding area. future has got a few names outside of his obvious stage name as well, one being the appendage of hendrix to his name. no doubt a reference to jimi hendrix, one of the guitar gods (there's that word again) of yesteryear, a man known for pushing the boundaries of music. two titans in their own right, decided to belittle their competition by joining forces, but too much of a good thing isn't always what we need.

what a time to be alive is nothing but truth, and by that i mean that it is a great thing that two hip hop artists of such caliber can link up so easily and make music that would be desired by fans of both artists. what a time to be alive where a joint project between these artists can be outshined by both of their previous efforts in the year — and no one even cares.

this tape is solid, you really can't say otherwise. however, it's obviously what no one really expected. the chemistry is there but it really hasn't propagated yet. the effort to jive on an artist level is about as thought out as the stock photo that covers the album. still, the songs are infectious, big rings' enormously stupid hook really does get hooked in my mind, the 6/8 timing on plastic bag is phenomenal, and really, i'm the plug. i am. me. i'm the plug.

top 3 + bottom one: plastic bag, i'm the plug, diamonds dancing, jersey

score: 74

the weeknd - beauty behind the madness

beauty behind the madness is smooth, sexual and supple. it's going to get you in the mood for loving and keep you there the entire time. it's very raw and explicit, lyrically wild and instrumentally dark. however this quality can run you pretty raw pretty quickly. there's no safe word like the pause button; if you're not all the way in, you might not enjoy what he's putting on you and that's what turns me off. there's only so much i can take in the way of dismal, drugged out, no strings attached relations with a woman.

the weekend can croon with the best of them and when he wants to sound like the late michael jackson, he sounds like a decent substitute yet twice as melancholy. r&b is rarely as brooding as abel makes it. the guests are also forced to play around in this muck, ed sheeran being the farthest away from this sound but fitting in pretty well. lana del rey sounds the best i've ever heard her, proving that her company and production are what keep her from being great in my eyes.

i will definitely revisit this when the mood is right but i can't guarantee that i can take much of the full ride again. this is not an album that moves and flows across the entirety, but this is an album perfect for a "one night stand."

top 3 + bottom one: can't feel my face, the hills, often, as you are

score: 58

donnie trumpet & the social experiment - surf

“it ain’t so easy / but it’s not so hard / to stand up / but it’s just too easy / to sit back down”

— slip slide

surf is not a chance the rapper album. surf is not an album by the rapper named chance. chance the rapper has not released an album, but him and his buddies have put together a collaborative project to cleanse your palettes. the sounds bring no chaos, no anger, no discomfort. even though these emotions are not present, there's still a sense of urgency in the music; it urges for positivity, for brighter times instead of the current darker ones, it aims to inspire.

it'd be a mistake to deny immense credit to the talents of donnie trumpet as a musician who can hold it down behind the vocals and in front of them. his tones create great accents and lead great solos. the combination of band instruments and synthetic rap production is always a welcome combination, even if it's not always perfect. going along with that, the lyrics didn't always hit so well, but it seems like it's more about the good vibes than the introspectiveness.

the project has peaks and valleys; when you're riding the top of a wave, it's great, but when you're in those lows, it relaxes a bit too much. still, there's always another peak not too far away.

top 3 + bottom one: slip slide, warm enough, familiar, nothing came to me

five hot takes:

1. this isn't a chance the rapper album and you're wrong for thinking that
2. the "50 minute interlude" thing is more or less right, it's a very light album
3. just because i enjoyed this j. cole verse a lot doesn't make him good
4. erykah badu is the best feature on the album
5. i probably won't listen to this in full ever again

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score: 57