Tha Drought is Over 7/27/2018

The reason I am writing this tonight after a 3 month drought is because I knew the Denzel Curry singles were coming out but I purposefully kind of slept on them. I’ve been listening to TA13OO

and this album is everything I wanted. Clout Cobain is amazing. Listen to it. Right now.

I think 9 out of 10 tracks on his 2016 album Imperial are incredible so I had high expectations going into his next project but TA13OO delivers. It has a pretty good mix of smooth to hard as FUCK songs and its not too long (looking at you Wiz, I like the idea of Rolling Papers 2 but 25 songs is too damn long).

Fleurever by Jazz Cartier came out today as well, been waiting on his follow up to 2016’s Hotel Paranoia forever.

I was a little underwhelmed by this project on my first listen but I’ll give it some time and see if some songs shine.

Swervo, a collab album between G Herbo and producer Southside came out today too. I don’t think he’s going to hit the billboard with this but there are definitely some tight songs, love Some Nights and the Chief Keef collab.

Doh Doh is the only song with replay value on Beastmode 2. Change my mind.

Tyler has been dropping some dope loosies lately, apparently a A$ap Rocky collab project is coming soon. The video above is off of the AWGE DVD, there are a bunch of other recent loosies from artists that have come from the AWGE DVD as well (Uzi).

Chance the Rapper released 4 new tracks ahead of his apparently upcoming album. I like all of them but probably like Wala Cam and Work Out the best out of them. Hoping for a Kanye executive produced 7 song album, per Ye, Kids See Ghosts etc. I’m sure it would be amazing.

There are way too many albums to cover since my last update but I will highly recommend the Flatbush Zombies album Vacation in Hell,

The Book of Eli by Ski Mask the Slump God,

and Redemption by Jay Rock

Freddie Gibbs and Lil Baby albums are honorable mention and also I guess Scorpion. Also Die Lit.

Who Run It 4/10/18

There have been a ton of releases in the past two weeks, Flatbush Zombies’ album, Cardi B’s major label debut, Rich the Kid’s major label debut, Famous Dex’s major label debut, etc. In addition to all this there is also a dope trend that I wanted to highlight – freestyling over Who Run It by 3 6 Mafia.

The original song came out on Three 6 Mafia’s fourth studio album, When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1, in January of 2000. Three 6 Mafia peaked in popularity the mid 2000’s but have been ridiculously influential to the modern trap sound, as recent events continue to demonstrate.

At the end of March 2018 G Herbo went to Dallas to freestyle with Bay Bay, host of the K104 radio station. He went freestyled over a few beats, one of which being Who Run It. G Herbo is a Chicago rapper, previously known as Lil Herb, who came up with Lil Bibby around the time Chief Keef and the drill scene was really popping off in Chicago. His debut studio album, Humble Beast, was well received and I encourage all to check it out – however Herbo is just getting started as shown by his freestyle below.

Drake DM’d Herbo about the freestyle giving him props (see below) and pushed him to release it as a song, which Herbo did.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgop-q2l9ey/

Following this trend more and more rappers have jumped on the beat and made their own remixes. A$AP Rocky released a remix, 21 Savage released a remix, Dave East released a remix. A personal favorite of mine is the Trippie Redd and Lil Yachty remix, seen below.

Finally, Juicy J released a remix last night shouting out everyone who already made a remix. This song came out 18 years ago and is just as relevant now as it was then – this speaks to the cyclical nature of hip hop and I would love to continue hearing Three 6 Mafia remixes by current rappers for years to come.

Soundcloud is Reinventing the Rap Game, Whether You Like it or Not

Every other week some radio personality makes a music headline by hating on new artists. Be it old man Ebro on Hot 97 or Charlamagne on Power 105, a recurring theme is their disapproval of how hip hop has changed. Much of this discontent is directed at ‘mumble rappers’ or ‘soundcloud rappers’, a broad generalization categorizing many new artists, however, I believe SoundCloud as a platform and these so-called ‘soundcloud rappers’ are the best thing to happen to hip hop in over the past decade. The platform has given birth to a renaissance of new hip hop that parallels the old in more ways than meets the eye.

Funk Flex goes absolutely bonkers over mumble rappers after the freestyle.

Generally, the most widespread criticism of soundcloud rappers is how different they sound from the older artists some have grown up with. Some choose to highlight differences between artists such as Rich the Kid and Biggie Smalls and claim how could one like the new when the old is so much better. What many people miss is how soundcloud rappers represent what those old rappers used to be. This shown through how gritty and unpolished the music sounds. If you listen to old Wu-Tang, RZA tells about recording in living rooms with out of date equipment. This is what made Hip Hop different than other genres: it was a product of the culture it was made for, as opposed to a product made by a record label for mass consumption. Wu-tang didn’t sit around and wait for someone or label to help them, they made the music they wanted to and let the people decide if they wanted to listen to or not. Soundcloud rappers are doing the same thing today with newer technology. They are producing/mixing/mastering everything themselves, creating music that sounds good to them with the tools they have at their disposal. So, when people complain that XXXtentacion’s break out song “Look at me” is “bad” because the levels of the mix are off or the sound quality is poor, they are doing so without a historical perspective that is helps one to appreciate it. These attributes express the character and personality of XXX without requiring one to listen to an interview. This doesn’t mean that one is forced to enjoy the lyrics or style but there should be an understanding as to how the final product echoes the roots of Hip Hop.

The main reason early hip hop sounded so gritty that it was recorded in home studios instead of professional ones, partly due to major labels believing that hip hop wasn’t profitable at the time. This quickly changed and as hip hop exploded into mainstream America everyone wanted get their hand in the cookie jar. Artists signed to labels for large sums of money which ultimately gave away a lot of the creative control to the labels. In a matter of a few years labels that wouldn’t sign rappers now had control over them. This was when Nas famously proclaimed that Hip Hop is Dead. Hip hop became a formula for labels who forced artists to adhere to a certain standard that would guarantee the label the maximum profit. These labels wielded enormous power over artists and began to attempt to monopolize the music. Without a label pushing an artist it was nearly impossible for an artist to blow up. While labels still clearly have a ton of power over artists today, the birth of platforms like SoundCloud allow artists to build hype before a label is able to strangle them with pressure. If an artist has hundreds of thousands of instagram followers or a millions of views on a streaming platform they have huge bargaining tools that allow them more freedom. They are presented with more avenues to build a brand where there would be typically only one way through a label.

This exemplifies a genre that’s evolving and experimenting. SoundCloud has allowed rappers to push the boundaries of what is even considered rap, granting the ability to an artist to create music they believe in, rather than what the label believes in. It was this same experimenting that made Kanye be able to rap about Jesus or Drake to be able to sing and rap. Without experimentation we are left with artists like Tyga and thousands of terrible mixtapes. For every hit there may be even more misses but music is not an exact science, it’s an art. These imperfections are what makes the genre even more perfect. Soundcloud allows the fans to have a voice and an artist to receive immediate feedback. The freeness of releases allow artists to test the waters without major repercussions. Music shouldn’t be played safe, artists should be challenging themselves to create the best and most innovative music possible.

You can’t force somebody to like something new, but SoundCloud rappers deserve at the very least validation in the eyes of the old heads. Sonically, new music may sound entirely different but the mentality and originality in it is very similar. These platforms give the fans a voice and a direct line to an artist’s success and support. Artists are able to be artists instead of slaves to a label. It challenges artists to be innovative and original which continues to evolve the hip hop fan base into the largest it has ever been. There’s a simple solution if you don’t like what you hear, don’t listen to it. SoundCloud should be embraced and not rejected.

The Rise of Pimpin’

A common critique of today’s hip hop culture is that everything sounds the same. That rappers are riding the wave of other rappers flows. When Migos first burst on the scene every other artist tried their hand at a triplet flow. This shouldn’t be surprising, with any other entertainment industry there are fads the become popular. Clothing designers create similar looking clothes, tv shows start being the same, and every other movie is based of another created movie. One of the most interesting trends of hip hop is the trend of a similar crime everyone seems to be rapping about. Looking back on the early to mid 2000s rap rode the trend of pimping into mainstream America somehow making it somewhat acceptable.

Pimping has been related to rap from a very early time. Rappers drew influence from pimps in very evident ways. From the way the dressed to the names they would call themselves. Early rappers such as Ice-T and Ice Cube both derived their names from the notorious pimp called Iceberg Slim. However, Pimping wasn’t the forefront of rap until much later in history. UGK signed their first deal in 1992 with artists named Bun B and PIMP C but it wasn’t until 2007 which they earned the achievement of an #1 album on the Billboard top 200. Clearly this attributed to many factors but the overall acceptance of an artist with pimp in their name clearly showed through record sales as their group sold millions of records. Underground Kingz also having one of many people’s favorite song.

 

One artist who carried the pimp legacy into stardom was Snoop Dogg. In 2003 on MTV’s VMA red carpet Snoop made an appearance like this.

Snoop 2003 MTV

Just a casual as fuck Snoop Dogg giving the double handguns while toting two chicks on leashes on national television. While maybe someone would assume this might cause backlash or a decline in the embrace of pimping in 2006 Snoop made the cover of Rolling Stones Magazine with the caption “At Home With America’s Most Lovable Pimp”

Snoop 2006 Rolling Stones

Saint Snoop smoking candy cane blunts

 

It wasn’t all just appearances and personality that America was intrigued with but the numbers speak for themselves with songs the that topped the Billboard Charts for weeks such as; Big Pimpin’ by Jay- Z obviously featuring UGK and P.I.M.P. by 50 Cent. 50 Cent had 10 year old white kids singing the chorus of being a pimp without even knowing the true meaning.

Fun Fact: the beat to P.I.M.P. was first given to D12 but passed up because they considered the beat “too weird”. Steel drums haven’t hit as hard since that record.

The highlight of the dominance of pimping in hip hop came at the 78th Academy Awards where 3 Six Mafia won the Oscar for Best Original Song with the record “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” beating out Dolly Parton and another white lady. Totally deserving of the award but this was a clear shock to everyone including Three 6. Just watch their acceptance speech and the crowd’s reaction. One of the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry and it was a win for Three 6 Mafia, pimping, and hip hop in general.  

Juicy J wearing his best skull t-shirt for the event.

 

Pimping isn’t extinct in hip hop but it obviously came and went as any other trend. With other crimes like trapping and drug dealing now dominating the airwaves. Besides the nostalgia of remembering some of the best songs and moments to reach the masses this really shows how hip hop truly dominates and influences much of what is cool and entertaining. Hip hop brought pimping to the mainstream and it leaked into movies, clothes, and nearly everything else.

 

Definitive List of Hottest Hip Hop Dances 2/3/18

  1. Do the Heizman On Dat Hoe by 3rd Flo

A lesser known song probably but still an all time classic. With some of the funnier lyrics “Let Em Know (LET EM KNOW) Shawty Fine, Breath Stank? Do Da Heizman On Dat Hoe” not only made the dance a must know but also the lyrics. What really made this a top 10 dance was before the music video came out the only way someone could find the dance was a bootleg version of kids dancing to it in their dorm room.

(Shout Out Mike Vick Atlanta Jersey)

  1. Cat Daddy by Rej3ectz

Featured in the music video is Chris Brown, possibly an all time dance co-sign for any dance. Everyone knows Chris Brown can make any dance hot and by him hopping in this video solidified this songs spot. But what really makes this song beat most others is the all time all time gif of Kate Upton doing the Cat Daddy.

giphy

  1. Stanky Legg by GS Boyz

One of the more iconic names for a dance because it makes no sense. Where the GS Boyz thought of the name and this dance is baffling. Can’t knock the hustle because afterwards everyone knew exactly what the stanky legg was.

  1. Walk it Out by Unk

The first song on this list where I would say that the song is just as popular as the dance. Dj Unk was no stranger to making dance hits which included, 2 step, Hit the dance floor, and Beat’n Down Yo Block. The best he ever put out has to be hands down Walk it Out or the only song Dj could school Grant in Stomp The Yard.

(R.I.P. Chris Brown)

  1. The Milly Rock by 2 Milly

The first newer song on this list is a New York City banger. Coming off hot after the shurmda dance New York was feeling themselves thinking they can dance. Not known for dancing New York proves us wrong and creates a dance which requires enough coordination where white people seemingly can not ruin (yet..).

  1. Lean Back by Terror Squad

Now entering the top 5 these songs and dances were unstoppable in their day. It was to a point where you were forced to learn these dances because if you didn’t and this song came on you were just a lame if you couldn’t do the dance. Lean Back is by far the simplest dance on this list maybe even ever but there was just something so smooth about it. Gave off the feeling of I want to dance but I also don’t want to try to hard.

  1. Lean wit it Rock wit it by Dem Franchize Boyz

The songs fits plenty of criteria for being a top 5 dance and song. Does the song incorporates the motion of leaning in the dance? Check. Is the song performed by a group who spells their name with a z instead of an s? Check. Are said members of the group obsessed with rocking white tees? Check. They absolutely kill it with the snap. Nothing was smoother.

There was no bigger advocate for the white tee look than Dem Franchize Boyz.

  1. Teach Me How To Dougie by Cali Swag District

In my eyes the most impressive dance on this list. No set dance steps to the Dougie made it the hardest to learn. When someone could actually Dougie it wasn’t a gimmick you knew buddy could move. And again Chris Brown took this dance and ran with it making everyone else try to Dougie and quickly realize they could not.

  1. Pop Lock and Drop it by Huey

Finally, a dance for chicks. You see a girl Milly Rocking or hitting the lean back and it feels weird so, coming in clutch is Pop Lock and Drop it. One of the best songs to let the dudes just hang back sing along to the lyrics and just watch the chicks dance.

  1. Crank That by Soulja Boy

No words need to be said. I swear Soulja Boy invented going viral with this.

Honorable Mentions:

The Dab

Hit Dem Folks

Shmurda Dance

You’re a Jerk

Juju on the beat

Hit the Quan

Shoulder Lean

Chicken noodle soup

Update 8/27/2017

I’ve been sitting on a couple projects for a while now and before they’re too far gone with the recent influx of new albums I’m going to do a couple quick hits.

21 Savage – Issa Album

Thought it was decent, I liked Savage Mode from 2016 more. The only songs I’m still listening to a little over a month later (the album came out July 7th and leaked a few days beforehand) are Bank Account, linked above, and Bad Business. The whole Issa thing is kinda played out in my mind, but there are a couple tracks that bump on this album. I’d say its worth a listen.

Tyler, the Creator – Scum Fuck, Flower Boy

This album was great. Tyler has come a long way since Bastard. This album is still Tyler doing his thing but you get the sense that he is not the same kid he used to be, maturing from a lot of the goofiness and edginess of his previous projects. There are still a ton of Tyler moments, where he does provocative shit just to “get the people going”, but overall very solid album. Among topics such as loneliness and stardom, Tyler also discusses his sexuality quite a bit. Even if you aren’t a Tyler, the Creator fan I would still encourage you to check this project out. Check out his remix to Jay Z’s 4:44 below, which was released a few weeks after the album.

 

Meek Mill – Wins & Losses

Solid release by Meek Mill, there are a bunch of hard hitting tracks on this album. Glow Up (linked above), Issues, Fuck That Check Up, and Connect the Dots are some of the highlights, all of them have high energy and dope beats. Connect the Dots is hard as fuck, featuring Rick Ross and Yo Gotti. If you’ve been a fan of any MMG releases in the past you should give this a listen, otherwise you’ll probably just hear the highlights on the radio. Meek Mill doesn’t expand or grow much as an artist here, there is a lot of redundancy and I have to say I was expecting more from this album as a postmortem of his marriage to Nicki Minaj and the Drake beef of 2015.

 

Amine – Good For You

Good For You is a solid debut studio album from Amine, the 23 year old XXL Freshmen from Portland, Oregon. Amine is incredibly versatile on the album and preforms well both singing and rapping, the album is cohesive with an ebb and flow of energy, and it had a high charting leading single which I am sure everyone has heard 100 times by now (Caroline). I thought SundaysBlinds, and Wedding Crashers were among the standouts. His rapping style sometimes reminded of Mac Miller, both in flow/delivery but also in the energy behind it. Amine does a good job of capturing that “just finished high school” youthful sound, although he is 23. This album is worth listening to and I am excited to see where Amine’s career goes from here.

Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire –  Brainiac

Mr. Muthafucking eXquire is an enigma, sporadically releasing music without doing much, if any, promotion. I listened to 2013’s Kismet, which I thought was a great release, and then didn’t hear anything from him again until I heard that his new EP Brainiac had dropped. Brainiac is short, only 6 songs in total. The intro is depressing song called “Lost in the Sauce”, about addiction and slipping into old patterns. At the end of the track there is a funny skit where eXquire has a conversation with his brain, akin to the old Tyler, the Creator therapy sessions skits. While eXquire can be a bit eccentric, such as in the brain conversation skit, I find that he also has a way of sounding wise and providing commentary, be it on the rap game, race, or the everyday struggle. Standout tracks for me would be 40z @ the Met Gala and Bebop and Rocksteady, linked below.

The Lil Peep Update 8/15/2017

Damn its been a whole month since I posted an update, life and laziness has been getting the better of me lately. I’ve been wanting to do an update centered around Lil Peep for a while and now that his debut official release has come out it seems as good a time as any. Let me start off saying that Lil Peep is not for everyone. Some have described his music as “emo rap” and he has the image to go along with it.

Lil Peep started his career after dropping out of high school in 2015. He’s originally from Long Island, NY, but is now out in LA, California. He is a quintessential “SoundCloud Rapper”, generating a buzz almost exclusively via the internet without releasing cohesive projects. He had some success with Hellboy in late 2016, though certain internet reviewers were not impressed by it. He has since released many loosie tracks on Youtube and SoundCloud, culminating in the release of Benz Truck prior to his debut EP, Come Over When You’re Sober (Part 1).

I first stumbled across Lil Peep on Youtube by finding the above video. I liked the melancholy tone along with the “SadBoy-esque”/vaporwave aesthetic, I also liked his delivery. From there I found Your EyesWhite Wine, and Hellboy, all of which are worth checking out if you’re still with me. Lil Peep continues to change his image drastically, growing out his hair, dying it pink, most recently shaving his head, and continuing to accumulate tons of tattoos on his body and face. His lyrical content primarily revolves around drug use, his love life, and depression.  Some have tried to put him in a genre of “alternative rap”, others have called him “emo rap” as stated above. Lil Peep in my mind is definitively hip hop, although many of his songs defy rigid genre lines especially with his heavy use of rock and punk guitar samples.

Come Over When You’re Sober (Part 1) has finally come out on Apple music and Spotify, Peep’s first official release. Disappointingly, it is only 24 minutes long and made up by 7 songs, two of which (Benz Truck and The Brightside) came out beforehand. The album was supposed to come out August 11th, was pushed back to September, leaked on the internet and finally was released yesterday. The opener is Benz Truck, which is one of my favorite Lil Peep songs and I wish the rest of the album sounded more like it. Most of the other songs are slower and more introspective, U Said and The Brightside are my other two favorites. I love the beat/song switch in U Said and The Brightside probably has the best beat on the album outside of Benz Truck. Overall I thought this album was a let down, although I do still think Lil Peep has a ton of room to grow and is ultimately headed for success, be it in the mainstream or underground. Much of this album blends together into an angsty 20 minutes and before you know it its over. Hopefully we will see a Part 2 with a longer track listing and a few hits soon.

Update 7/14/2017

New loosie from Flatbush Zombies, Meech is missing on this track with only Juice on the mic and Erick producing. The music video is pretty sweet (seen below) and always glad to get some new music from FBZ.

 

Skepta had a new loosie drop a little over a week ago, might have flown under the radar with all the other big releases recently. The song is pretty dope, listen below.

 

Very excited about the below, can’t get enough Metro Production.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWdgKAzDnV8/

The first single came out yesterday, even if you don’t like Nav you’ll be able to appreciate the production. I doubt it’ll leak since it’s been pretty under the radar until now.

 

Lil Pump is a pretty polarizing figure right now, he’s another SoundCloud rapper that old heads hate. He’s coming out of Florida and has worked with Ronny J quite a bit, Ronny J is a prevalent producer right now who I know from his work with Denzel Curry. The song below in a lot of ways sounds like older Chief Keef. The theme of the song, name, lyrics, beats, and baby noises are crazy when you consider the fact that Lil Pump is currently 16 years old.

 

The nextXXL cypher came out today. Kamaiyah, PnB Rock, and Kap G rapped over another Sonny Digital beat. I have to say, I really like Sonny Digital. The GOAT EP was really slept on, glad he is getting some promotion from XXL. I thought the cypher was pretty good, obviously none of these were freestyles but overall much better showings than the “freestyles” they did before.

 

Finally, SoundCloud’s fate is up in the air. They fired 172 employees and closed some of their offices, and according to the linked article a source says they only have 50 days of runway left for funding.

Chance the rapper says that he spoke with the Alex Ljung, the founder of SoundCloud, and that things are good but we’ll see what happens. SoundCloud is a great platform and I hope it sticks around independently.

Jay Z – 4:44

I would be pretty surprised if you are reading this blog and haven’t heard this by now, but Jay Z dropped an album titled 4:44 at midnight on June 30th exclusively on Tidal (the streaming service purchased by Jay Z in 2015 that Sprint now owns 33% of). After a week of exclusivity on Tidal the physical copy was released and the project went live on all of the other streaming services. It is a shorter album, originally 10 tracks with 3 bonus tracks coming out on the physical version. The album is produced entirely by No I.D. who is a legendary producer from Chicago with tons of hits over the years. 4:44 is Jay Z’s 14th studio album, he has had an incredibly long run and has experienced incredible success both inside and outside the realm of hip hop.

Jay Z really doesn’t waste a bar on this album, this means that there is an incredible amount of depth in each and every song. I’m not going to sit down and type out every shot and complex line because there are simply too many and I’m STILL hearing new lines after listening to the album 5 or 6 times. Jay takes shots at a whole messof people on the album, including the alleged Kanye line, Eric Benet, Future, Bill Cosby, and more. Overall, I thought the main themes on the album were about family, race, and legacy. It felt to me like a possible retirement album, although with Jay Z, who really knows. One point that I wanted to make that I haven’t seen much talk of on the internet was the fact that 4:44’s album artwork (seen below) is using a color remarkably similar to Kanye’s from Life of Pablo (also seen below). This may prove some kind of solidarity with Kanye, the orange being the compliment to Jay’s “Jay Z Blue”, the color he bought back in 2007, or maybe I’m reading in to nothing.

 

I thought this was a great project that once again showcases the lyrical prowess and songwriting skill of Jay Z over stellar production. This album is meant for sitting down and listening to bars, not for playing at a party and turning up to. It is an album that transports you into the life of Shawn Carter, it speaks about his life and his family, where he’s been and where he’s going. There is only one major problem with this album, 50 Cent didn’t like it.

 

Calvin Harris – Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1

I started following Calvin Harris after I heard You Used to Hold Me in 2010. Bounce and Feel So Close, which came out in 2011, were already EDM classics by 2012. Over the next few years he continued to get bigger and is now a driving force in the sound that governs pop radio. I had always pigeon holed him as an EDM only artist, however as the line blurs I now find myself reviewing his album as a hip hop release. I wish he had come around earlier, I saw him in 2016 at Coachella, however now that I think about it he did release Open Wide with Big Sean back in 2014. Based on the title and sound of Slide its pretty clear that this album is going to be full of funky summer jams, hoping that the rest of the album stacks up to the singles thus far.

  1. Slide – This song has been everywhere and for good reason, its a great song. The album version sounds a little more crisp, I love the baseline.
  2. Cash Out – This is true with all of the songs on this album but this song in particular is very funky. This is the ScHoolboy Q you didn’t know you needed, love how he sounds on an upbeat track like this. PARTYNEXTDOOR sounds great on the chorus, DRAM doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table.
  3. Heatstroke – Pharrell on the chorus with Ariana Grande, Young Thug on the verses. I always like some Young Thug but I think the chorus is where the song really shines.
  4. Rollin – I’m big into Future but I don’t think he adds much to this track. This came out a few weeks ago if I remember correctly.
  5. Prayers Up – A little bit slower than the other songs thus far. Travis kind of reminds me of 3 Wayz here. I don’t know what bird that is that’s sampled in the instrumental (Occurs at 2:53 and throughout) but I love it and it adds to the tropical vibe of the album.
  6. Holiday – Classic Snoop Dogg, John Legend and the highly coveted solo Takeoff verse. Which was… just okay. Underwhelmed by this song. 
  7. Skrt On Me – Nicki Minaj pulling out the islander style vocals over a dancehall type beat. This is a good song but might get overshadowed by the bigger radio hits on the project.
  8. Feels – I love Katy Perry on this song. The instrumental is basically a ska song (which is great), though it changes up and sounds more stripped down once Medium Sean comes in for his verse. Pharrell sounds great on this song, in addition to his earlier appearance on the album.
  9. Faking It – The song has a brief build up, Khelani sounds great on the chorus and in her verse. Lil Yachty comes in and is going strong for a while but crashes near the end of his verse rapping about putting pepperoni on his girlfriend.
  10. Hard to Love – Slow track with Jessie Reyez on vocals. It sounds nice but not really my thing.

Overall this is a great project, will definitely get a lot of radio play and be a big part of the sound this summer.

 

In addition to the Calvin Harris, Tyler finally dropped some new music today. See the music video with A$AP Rocky below.