Weekly Fix #38 ('20)

Welcome to the Weekly Fix, where I go over everything that I’ve listened to that has come out within the past week. I’ll give a little blurb about the project/single with my feelings on it thrown in there, throw some descriptors and other artists names to give you an idea what the project/single is like, and link to all applicable streaming services where you can find the music. The bottom section will be devoted to projects that have Bandcamp or online webstore links, to give a greater highlight to those artists who you can support directly. Click here to see a list of previous Fixes.

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Again I have the start this with an apology: there was a lot more stuff to go through this week, the job is still nutso, and, honestly? I’m tired. I was gonna hunker down and finish this shit on Thursday on some “fuck sleep” shit whenever I saw that Breonna Taylor verdict…. What kind of world is this man… fuck those three cops, fuck that attorney general or whatever the fuck he is, and fuck every single person on the internet trying to defend this shit. There’t much more to say than that.

We had a very active week this go-around, one that was low-key dreading while also excited for? Like I wanted this new shit: I’m glad we finally got that Armani Caesar album, another Curren$y project with Harry Fraud, and that I took the chance on this Jamil Honesty guy and ended up with another favorite in 2020. But still, with the way things are going there was going to be a week where the workloads of both the job and this job were going to collide… and that’s pretty much what happened.

This week is looking like a similar situation, cause I’m looking at all of this shit that came out like “oh fuck”. We got Action Bronson, we got new A$AP Ferg, a Travis Scott single, Lil Wayne’s deluxe version of Carter V, and so much more; I have my fucking work cut out for me this next week Jesus Christ. Check out everything that I see coming in the future over on my Upcoming Heat page, which will show you what came out today, what will come next week, and on into October.

I appreciate all of you who check in on me every week here at Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen. It’s become quite the little thing I have going on here, and I’m proud of the work I’ve done here despite the exhaustion. Keep listening to this shit, keep supporting these artists, and keep being cool ass motherfuckers. Till next week. Peace.

Here’s a link to the Week #38 (’20) Playlists

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Here’s a link to the Week #38 (‘20) Singles

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Here’s a link to the Week #38 (’20) Art Appreciation post

-----STREAMING PROJECTS-----

Armani Caesar – The Liz

Cover Artist: Isaac Pelayo

Griselda has been having a… I’m seriously running out of terms to describe the groups run in 2020. Legendary? Outstanding? Mythic? It’s been a great fucking year for Griselda fans, with project upon project, single upon single, and not one have they let up in quality. They’ve even added two new members to the roster here recently, one in the form of Detroit legend Boldy James, and the other in long-time Buffalo affiliate Armani Caesar, who drops this project right here as her Griselda debut. While Armani is not nearly as gutter and raw as the Conway’s and Benny’s of the group, she makes a solid argument for why she belongs in the group with The Liz, with some tracks being fitting clearly in the already established Griselda sound, and some others reaching into the nearer future to diversify her sound a lot more than the other members have (I would have said *the* most diverse member had Conway not dropped his From a King to a God last week). There is a bravado and swagger with Armani that the other members can’t touch, made all the more potent by her aggressive femininity that fellow labelmates like Westside Gunn can’t realistically tap into, but for Caesar it is absolutely effortless. She may come across as violent and crazy at some point, but there is always that hint of fun and playfulness in her voice, which is welcome feel amongst a group that has built themselves as deadly serious as Griselda has. There are going to be a lot of comparisons out there with Nicki Minaj and Young Money; yeah I can see that, but Armani never feels token, or included *because* she’s a women (at least to me), but rather she is now apart of the roster because of her abilities to tap into both the New York minimal raw hip-hop and the modern traps and pop-raps. The beats reflect this, sounding like a mix of older Flygod beats (like that Preemo beat on Simply Done) and the trendier sounds from outfits like 808 Mafia, as well as the features, which includes appearances from Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, and Benny the Butcher. I look forward to seeing how deeply the sounds will mesh with the rest of the group, and whether or not Armani Caesar’s inclusion is a push in a new direction, or building upon the foundation of an already air-tight sound.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Grafh – Good Energy

Cover Artist: Harry G Ward

Grafh has been around for a *hot* minute in the hip-hop world, and it gives me so much pleasure to see that he is now getting that attention he’s always deserved. Give this man his flowers now, because his pen game is hella underrated. Grafh has fell for a lot of the typical traps for a hip-hop artists over the years: long albums, too many features and too few features, under-produced beats and overproduced beats, but I think 2019 was the year where the man finally hit his stride, coming back into the game with a string of solid guest spots before dropping his Oracle 3 project back in March. That album was, to me, his best project to date, showing that he wasn’t just a “old school New York guy”, willing to collaborate with anyone in the game who could spit, and rhyme over any beat that was unique and engaging. Good Energy continues this trend, tightens up the tracklist even more with a slick 9 tracks, enlists appropriate guests to join him, and hits it out of the park on his beat selection. But it’s the lyrics that you are all here for, and Grafh come through with some amazing material to chew on from a writing perspective. Boot up any of these tracks and you’ll get double entendres, solid references and wordplay. But special attention must be paid to the profound and socially conscious things he says, like on the poignant and impactful Killing Kings where he gets directly to heart of the problems the black community faces in the form of violence and suppression. For be a thirty minute project, Grafh touches on a lot of subjects and hits a lot of different vibes, so anyone looking for a well-rounded project that makes the most of the runtime, give this a listen.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Curren$y & Harry Fraud – The Director’s Cut

Cover Artist: John Sparkz

I think I like this project more than The OutRunners, the project that these two men put out just a couple months ago, or at the very least it doesn’t feel at all like B-sides in the way that the project presents itself. These beats are all fucking fire, which is pretty much a no-brainer from a Harry Fraud perspective given that he’s one of the best producers of this generation, with the samples on this bitch being suuuper smooth and well utilized. There are few beats, on both The Director’s Cut and the previous project, that sound the same, having a central sample that the beat is built around that never gets redundant across both projects. I even feel like Curren$y is trying his hardest to provide the flames on these performances, rapping with a fire I haven’t heard from him in a minute; the dude will always been a little sleepy and lethargic, but whenever he kicks those wheels off and gets dirty, it hits hard, and fits perfectly with the vibes Fraud is sending his way. I will say that the while Styles P and Larry June kill their performances (Trippie Redd was alright as well, just a strange choice), the features on The OutRunners definitely had that “it” factor that sets the album apart with it’s own brilliance. Overall, this is another of many dozens of Spitta projects that should enter your rotation; anyone who likes music to ride around the town to, getting into all sorts of shenanigans, this project should be a go-to.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Problem – Coffee & Kush, Vol. 2

Cover Artist: Laetitia Rumford, Remain3k, & Yazid Britt

Pleasantly surprised by how high-quality this new Problem tape is; it’s been a minute since we’ve gotten a steady stream of content from him, but we’ve now been blessed with two mixtapes this year. They both feel important, not throwaway material by any means, and this newest tape, the second Volume, is better in pretty much every way. You get beats that have that pure West-Coast heart to them, but you also get some more banger material in the vein of Meek Mill at times, a change of pace that provides interesting contrast to Problem’s understated delivery. It can be easy to let Problem very direct and conversational “inside voice” wash over you as sleepy and uncaring, but I find it so dope that this guy is kind of “I’ve given everything to the streets and this life, and what you get with this music is all the energy I have left” with his flows and his delivery. Looking at it in that light, the things he says become more measured and have more of a wisdom to them, so whenever he’s laying down game you can relate to him, or at the very least you can believe that the things he’s spitting are his facts of life. For something that looks like a one-off mixtape, you get a lot deeper than many emcees do in terms of the relationship with his neighborhood, especially for someone on the west-coast spectrum like Problem. The features on here are also fantastic choices (way better than the featureless Vol. 1): Jack Harlow has a slick as hell hook with the Jay Rock-laced banger Nothin, and the Don’t Be Mad at Me Remix sees Freddie Gibbs murder the beat like he does with everything else stand shoulder to shoulder with rap great Snoop Dogg, who delivers a top-tier verse for someone who isn’t known to come down with killer guest verses often. Very solid project, listen if you like a little more depth to your west-coast slappers.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Lil Tecca – Virgo World

Cover Artist: Samm McAlear, shotbycones, jabbathekid, & Zach Gracia

While I didn’t end up keeping the entire album (it’s like 19 tracks or some shit for the love of God), I was very surprised by how much these songs are sticking with me. I gave his first mixtape a try, but with the similar length and no features save JuiceWRLD, I couldn’t swing it; it just wasn’t my thing. But seeing the features on this one got my hopes up, and I’m very glad I stuck with it because I am fucking with a lot of the material on this project. Tecca isn’t really doing anything that the game today is a stranger to: you can point to guys like Lil Mosey, Lil Skies, iann dior, and NAV and get very similar experiences, and oftentimes the difference in quality between their projects comes down to hope thorough they are in crafting solid hooks and vibes, as well as beat selection that is flavorful. Tecca just seems to have hit that mark on a lot of these tracks (there are a few throwaways like I said, but a handful of subpar tracks does not a bad album make), with hooks for days that are still stuck in my head, melodies that, while amateur for damn sure, are serviceable and endearing in their own ways, and more guests that highlight the talents of everyone involved. Lil Tecca is not emotionless in his voice, but there is a detachment in his voice that never sees him go all out in his delivery, but I think it’s this down-to-earth quality about him that keeps me coming back, never feeling corny or over-dramatic. He also plays it safe with the lyrics, never tackling topics that are above his head, sticking to the party and trap anthems that work well for him. You will find slightly mindless, but very satisfying pop-rap in this album, and I recommend it as a great starting place for Tecca.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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24hrs – Big Dog 2.0

Cover Artist: [Unknown]

I think I was wrong last week to say that 24hrs’ Big Dogs EP was a new project; it might have come out a few weeks ago and I was caught slipping on my guy. But the quick-coming sequel to that short project, this Big Dog 2.0 we got here, is most definitely a brand new release, continuing on the extremely short flash-pan approach that Twenty came with on the first installment. The tracks are short, mere ideas of songs really, but the core talent shown by the singer still warrants listens in my book. It’s a trend that been happening for many years now, but maybe something like this is showing us where pop-rap is going: fuck the verses, the hooks are where the vibes are at, so lets the give the people what they want right? While I don’t necessarily subscribe to that, I can’t stop myself from liking this project which is basically just a collection of fire hooks from a artist that has more than enough talent to burst into the mainstream, but seems content sticking to this area right under the surface. Listen to this if you like clean trap music, and a very healthy dose of autotune.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Moneybagg Yo & Blac Youngsta – Code Red

Cover Artist: [Unknown]

I expected more out of this collaboration, but it has nothing to do with the actual chemistry that these two guys have. Youngsta and Moneybagg fit together like brothers, but it’s the way that the album is structured that really has me scratching my head. Remember whenever people were all up in arms about Thugger and Hendrix’s Super Slimey LP a few years ago? How they both had a solo track on there, with people question why on a collaborative tape things like this would even happen? Well this tape here falls for the same… logical inconsistencies? A good half of the album is not actually collaborative at all, with all of the tracks with features (with the exception of a single track with Yo Gotti) being solo tracks from with Bagg or Blac. This is very disappointing for me as a listener, but I can at least say that the tracks are all mostly good on their own; its just that the Blac Youngsta tracks sound like his usual material, and the Moneybagg Yo tracks sound like Moneybagg Yo tracks, putting a line of solo tracks together really does nothing except putting the tracks onto a consumable album. So yeah, thanks for the album and I do think some of these songs are bangers (the Said Sum remix is fire, Dugg ills Gun Smoke, and that last track with BIG30 and Pooh Shiesty is a fuckin banger), but I was looking for more of a meeting of the minds here.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Berner – Russ Bufalino: The Quiet Don

Cover Artist: [Unknown]

I just can’t bring myself to hate this dude, despite his rapping and persona being goofy as hell. Listen, you have got to respect a man who has made millions off of a legitimate business, and chooses to invest that money into bringing together great producers, amazing guests, and seek to create something that is clearly a project of passion. Berner does not have my favorite voice in the game, nor is his pen game particularly sharp, but he’s very consistent with the vibes, and never takes himself serious enough to the point where I could ever call his music “bad”. Like I said, a lot of the appeal of a Berner project is the guests he brings on: B-Real is a recurring figure and a welcome one, as is Wiz Khalifa, and I was surprised and excited to hear DMX and Tee Grizzley on here, both of whom do not disappoint. The beats are another high point, even on the solo tracks where it can be difficult to maintain attention. I will say that a significant downside is the length, but that’s always been a problem with Berner projects, one that can be solved by picking out your favorite tracks and making a little mini-album out of it. If you want some chill, smokers-vibes brought to you by a man who loves the genre, while bringing along some real hip-hop heavy hitters along for the ride, then give this project a spin.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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-------SOUP’S HOT DEALS-------

Jamil Honesty & Hobgoblin – Martyr Muzik 2 The Kingdom

Investment: $15.00

Cover Artist: 3rdeyerevolution & Hobgoblin

I can say with confidence that I have been SLEEPING on the emcees out in Baltimore, a problem that I’m looking to correct real fuckin’ quick. First that Jay Royale hit me in the gut like Jay did Un, now I’m ready to call this new Jamil Honesty another AOTY just like I did The Baltimore Housing Project. This project has a heart that exists decades in the past, placing the virtue of an explosive and animated emcee, lyrics, and dusty and soulful beats high upon the pedestal. Jamil is a crazy good emcee, going to work on these microphones with the aggression of Big L mixed with the dirtiness and passion of Redman; there are a lot of cats who try to throw their minds back into the mid-90’s and emulate those sounds, but Honesty feels like he lives in those sounds, able to pull from old-school Wu-Tang and Gangstarr vibes effortlessly. Speaking of Gangstarr, Hobgoblin plays so much more of a role in creating the magic behind this project than a lot of producers tied to an artist for an entire album. This LP doesn’t feel like a beatpack sent Jamil’s way and an album was made, it feels like a true collaborative project with Jamil as the heart and Hobgoblin as the soul. These instrumentals are just phenomenal, hands down the best material I’ve heard from Hobgoblin; whenever he goes for that brassy soul he hits it out of the park like on Jewellery and The Fabric, whenever he tries for this RZA-esque synth-keyscape on Brummies he has me thinking back to records like Iron Flag, and the more modern cold and dank underground feel of Reptiles would fit snugly on a Hus Kingpin or Westside Gunn project. One of the coolest part of the record are the guests features, nabbing some big names in underground hip-hop like M.A.V., brings in that old New York grime with Josiah the Gift, brings it back to Baltimore with Ace Cannons, and even goes overseas to take from Hobgoblin’s neck of the woods with the ill emcee Juga-Naut, and the Belgian DJ Grazzhoppa doing what he does best with his scratching. This record will have you feeling good, powerful, and slick as hell, a very important release in this Baltimore shit for sure. Listen if you like that old shit: the Wu, Nas, Big L, all them.

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Morlockk Dilemma & Superior – Isegrim

Investment: ~$23.00

Cover Artist: Bureau Omega

Hip-Hop from Germany is rare, a lot rarer than you might think. German is a very difficult language to rhyme in the same way that you would English; in English, there is a lot of slang and shortened words to be able to have a flow come across more smoothly and free, but German is a very rigid language, and rather than shortening words for simplicities sake many words are extended out to include more ideas. In that sense, someone who can flow as well as Morlockk can in his native language deserves all of the flowers being sent his way, because he really is the best German rapper I’ve ever heard. He is a forceful renegade on the microphone, asserting his dominance through spit-flinging aggression and hilarious ultraviolence and references to mafia and gang-culture. Now, I don’t speak German, and while I have a passing knowledge of German that I can use to get the gist of what he’s saying at any moment, I can’t profess to really know the larger ideas of what he’s coming with, but the scattered words and phrases I do know, as well as the English he’ll sprinkle in there, leads me to believe that he’s taking pages from the books of the artists he has guesting on this project, emcees like Daniel Son and Eto. The other part of this record is the production from fellow German Superior, who is fresh off of his standout project Baladas with none other than Estee Nack. There are only a few new tracks on here, a couple rapped and a few intro/interlude/outro tracks, but every beat on here is ill as fuck with quality samples and killer basslines. I’ve also got to give credit to Morlockk himself for his remix of the title track, which is a totally different futuristic vibe in comparison to the more dusty American production Superior comes with. Y’all need to go out and get international this week and listen to some quality European hip-hop; if you want that raw and dusty rap, this is a great place to get it from.

==> Tuff Kong Records Website <==

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Da Cloth – Da Fixtape

Investment: $12.00

Cover Artist: Greg Rappa

This group right here is made up of some if the most dangerous emcees coming out of Rochester New York right now. There are the two vibrant stars who have already cemented their talents through numerous solo efforts and a a full LP with Big Ghost, Rigz and Mooch. There are the two that have been rising exponentially these past few months, and also have a bragging rights of a full Big Ghost LP, M.A.V. (or Maverick Montana) and Rob Gates (that’s ROB like GET ROBBED). And then there are the equally poised-for-success Illanoise, Symph, and Times Change, whose brutality and gutter instinct fits like a glove with their fellow members. All seven members play off of each other well, operating in the different shades of intense street gangsta rap; they hit a lot of key bases topically on the album from their upbringing, the relationships between family and how blood isn’t the end-all-be-all (Ask Me Why is a very powerful track in this regard), hard-nosed ultraviolence, and even some comedic relief in the incredibly clever When The Studio Talked Back, which is a track told from the perspective of the studio equipment talking shit about all of these wack rappers who dare to use them. Raw boom-bap vibes, some more cerebral synthy cuts, sample driven instrumental cuts; this record really has everything for a New York underground album. Well-rounded, multi-faceted, relentlessly entertaining, very decent length, and gives most members the time they need to make their impressions felt (I will say that Rigz and Mooch are given a lot more time, which is understandable for the “Ghost and Rae” types they seem to be tapping into). Entirely self-released too, so you know that 12 dollars is going straight to the guys; cop this shit.

==> Da Cloth's Website <==

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5th Dimension – The Gate

Investment: ~$1.00

Cover Artist: [Unknown]

I’m not 100% certain who 5th Dimension is to be honest with y’all: RateYourMusic tells me he’s from Germany (small world given Morlockk’s earlier placement), but I’m not able to find socials or anything for the dude. Still, the beats he creates here are very impressive, with straightforward but potent boom-bap being the majority of the record. While I do love the beats, the spread of guests emcees are similarly impressive, being a solid run of who’s-who in the dusty underground scene right now. Toronto makes the biggest impact here, with two tracks from Lord Juco, one of which has an appearance from Falcon Outlaw, and an Asun Eastwood that sees him slowing things down into this slightly uncomfortable crawl of dangerous lyrics. Jamal Gasol has a cool multi-phase track on here, probably my favorite, but fellow Big Turks rapper Rome Streetz still brings that fire on a track of his own to make the running a bit tighter. Tha God Fahim has a great appearance, fits in fantastically with the beat. I really liked the Left Lane Didon track too, being one of my favorite rappers out right now, but the track being barely two minutes (with much less in actual performance time) kinda kills the vibe to me. 20 minutes of some quality underground hip-hop, I’d recommend it for sure, but you DAMN sure better go and buy this shit because it’s…. a DOLLAR. Ok, it’s a “euro”, which is basically a dollar but whatever, STILL it’s literally within a McChicken’s reach with way more replay value. Go and support this shit.

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