Weekly Fix #49 ('21)
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 next 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. The final section will be for projects that have had a Hot Deal-type release, but have recently come to streaming. Click here to see a list of previous Fixes.
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COVID came and went for me y’all, and I’m incredibly thankful for that. I had about two days of hard symptoms before I got better, and I got better pretty quick all things considered. So, at the end of the day, I’m getting a two week… half paid… vacation. Solid.
You might be thinking “why is this coming out on Thursday I thought you had all the time in the world”. Well, I wanted to catch up on some stuff that I’ve been neglecting, namely the Album of the Year content I plan on putting out around the first of the year. Going back and listening to these projects takes time, plain and simple. Now, I missed the entire middle portion of the year, so shit is gonna be a bit skewed, but what I have so far is still full of some incredible projects. Can’t wait to get into it come January, so stay tuned.
Week #49 (’21) was a crazy week for music to be damn sure, and it started off with those crazy Singles. Tons of amazing rappers in this weeks’ lineup, so don’t miss that shit (linked below). Projects-wise you’re getting even more crazy shit: Mach-Hommy dropped something on us, Big Ghost is back at it again, this time with al.divino, and Your Old Droog does it yet again with his newest album. Getting one of those guys on any week would be cause for celebration, but ALL AT ONCE. C’mon son, we’re feasting over here this week.
This next week we’re looking at some more quality work from quality artists: I’ve already started getting into this new Russ album (Listen. Now.), but we also got Rick Ross, Pi’erre Bourne, Koncept Jack$on, Falcon Outlaw, and Tory Lanez all ready to give us some classics. If you want to see what’s coming out next week and beyond, go and check out my Upcoming Heat page I have here at TSDK. It’s a cool calendar of releases I see coming. It’s cool. Look at it.
I’d like to thank everyone who checked in with me over the past week, the love is appreciated. Thank you to everyone who reads my shit every week, my family and friends who put up with all the time I spend on it, and to all of you artists who drop dope shit literally every week. I remember thinking back in the day that I’m gonna be a fan of everyone so that I have amazing new shit to listen to every week… well now it’s more like every day I’m hearing some dope music and I couldn’t be more thankful. Anyways… thank you. All. For everything.
==> LINK TO THA SOUPCORD <==
Here’s a link to the Week #49 (’21) Playlists
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Here’s a link to the Week #49 (‘21) Singles
-----STREAMING PROJECTS-----
Mach-Hommy – Balens Cho (Hot Candles)
Cover Artist: [Unknown]
As Mach’s career goes on, his entire game, from his lyrics on up to his high concepts, become more and more focused and intense. Gone are the days of literally random bars (spit incredibly, don’t get me wrong) coming at you in a flood of English and Creole, for Balens Cho (Hot Candles) represents the perfect balance of intelligent lyricism, Haitian relevance, and a level of confidence and assertion that cannot be found outside Mach-Hommy. That’s really the crux of what I’m trying to get at here: Mach-Hommy is a rapper that you have not heard elsewhere. There can be no “copycats” to his style, because you hear this dudes’ razor-sharp voice, his use of multiple languages, and his genius bars and realize there is no one like him. Now that Mach has reached this new level of fame and recognition for his craft, he’s using his time to craft statements, incorporating pieces of his culture that truly elevate his words rather than confuse them, telling stories of where he’s from, how things work there, how his family has dealt with hardships, and how he as a person has used all of this information to navigate through his life. It’s all much more personal and intimate than anything I’ve heard from him before, and I think people that may have been put off by the challenging nature of Pray For Haiti might find this one more approachable. I could speak forever on this dudes’ pen game, but a whole half of this are the beats: Nicholas Craven is all over this thing, so you know you’re gonna get some of the best beats the underground has to offer, but you get some bonus fire from the likes of Messiah Musik and Conductor Williams as well. A large part of this project are actually the little interludes that punctuate it, turning it more into an EP of sorts broken up by these snippets of hokey descriptions of life and culture in Haiti, good and bad, almost showing its perception to the outside world before Mach comes in and sets the record straight on how it is in reality (more beautiful and complicated than the outward appearance). Listen to this shit if you really want to hear something different, especially you underground dudes out there.
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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Havoc & Styles P – Wreckage Manner
Cover Artist: [Unknown]
Queensbridge and Yonkers link up at last for a solid 30 minutes of some of Hav and Ghost’s best material in a minute. Y’all know how these two are: both have been in the game for over 20 years now, dozens of albums between them, so at this point the music they’re making is shit they want to hear, and we’re lucky that the music they want to make is medium energy, dangerous, and heavily focused on how the bars and beats mix together. Havoc creates all of the beats here, running with a more modern and sleek interpretation of New York hip-hop, a style that Hav has always attempted to be at the forefront of with his brighter sampling choices and relatively subdued drums. It’s a set of beats that have bite, but they are clearly designed for killer emcees to do their thing over, something that is accomplished both through Havoc’s own rap skills (which don’t seem to have waned in 20+ years) and Styles’ embodiment of the New York rapper. There are no features on this thing, so at the end of the day what you’re getting are two peers in the game, brought together be mutual respect, who want to give people some more of that grimy shit. Anyone who loves that dark, street-level New York shit needs to give this a listen.
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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Nick Grant – Carolina Diaries
Cover Artist: [Unknown]
I’ve always felt like Nick Grant has this incredible talent when it comes to penning compelling lyrics, but he just doesn’t have an album to really hang his hat on as something cementing his status in the game. Not that Return of the Cool isn’t *good*, or that Dreamin’ Out Loud is *bad*, but there is a quality of his music that sound very “Kendrick-on-the-precipice” to me, like he could REALLY pop off with something game-changing if he really put his heart and soul into a project. Carolina Diaries has all of the bones of a solid project, led by a rapper who utilizes quick flows, a powerful and attention-grabbing voice, and an attention to detail when it comes to his bars that he brings on every track… but there are only four tracks. Still, across four tracks you get personal anecdotes, cool wordplay, solid rhyme schemes, and pretty much no hooks to speak of (which can be a negative to some of y’all, but I’m definitely a fan of straight bars). All of these beats are amazing, mostly higher-tempo cuts that Nick can really bring that cadence on, but the last track is a nice change to a more introspective type feel. I’m looking forward to seeing an LP from Nick that has some real red meat for us, because what you’re getting here is a solid taster for greatness. If you like guys like Kendrick and JID, this is where you’re at this week.
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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Curren$y & Cash Fargo – Land Air Sea
Cover Artist: [Unknown]
Curren$y is back after a long hiatus of a month to bless us with more music, this time from Jet Life’s in-house producer Cash Fargo. We’ve been getting spoiled over the past year with Harry Fraud releases that I was ready to hear something else from Spitta to round out his incredibly versatile sound, and I think Cash Fargo is pretty damn far from the vintage sounds Fraud provides. Fargo is slow, loud, and bangin with his music, blown out drums and horn samples all over this shit, a kind of sound that fits perfectly behind Curren$y’s sleepy delivery. This is the kind of shit that you want to bump in your car, rattle the doors off and all that, a kind of music that I kind of forgot Curren$y was into after all of these high-brow Harry Fraud releases. A short project, right off of the release of Regatta and right on the heels of this Alchemist project he’s got coming, but one that fits right in amongst the dozens. Keep you eye out for that project with Al, which should be here soon.
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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-------SOUP’S HOT DEALS-------
Big Ghost LTD & al.divino – Two Nights In Marrakesh
Investment: $15.00
Cover Artist: The Mighty Hands of Zeus Himself (AKA Big Ghost LTD)
I may have missed out on some months here in 2021, but you bet that I checked in with my man Big Ghost whenever I got the chance. The albums he put out this year with Ransom and Eddie Kaine are still in my rotation (I think it goes without saying at this point that I’m still bumping the one with Conway), joining an enormous discography of the best hip-hop you can find in the Underground today, point blank period. Two Nights in Marrakesh is going to be entirely for you if you’re looking for more of the Big Ghost experience, but there’s something about this one that bears mentioning. Ghost has a production style, and it involves some of the finest instrumental loops and samples that you can think of, but I think his approach to a collaboration with divino is very distinct because, as a producer himself, divino has his own beatmaking style that is vastly different from Ghost’s. divino’s beats are very aimless and freeform, a style that I think Ghost is very aware of when creating the soundscapes for this album: tracks like Estevanico and Locusts have little in the way of structure, with little life-preservers of drums thrown out to us, sounding a lot like something divino himself would have come up with but with that Ghost twist to it. It’s straight divino all the way through outside from a HIDDENCHARACTER appearance on Premium Octane, so you’re gonna get unhinged yelling and quick salvos of words all over this thing, a trademark style at this point that works wonders over Ghost’s production. If you want some dirty, grimy, and high-energy underground shit to warm you up this winter, you can do no better than what Big Ghost has to offer.
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Your Old Droog – Space Bar
Investment: $9.99
Cover Artist: Emilycatherineillustration
After taking a significant amount of time expanding upon his cultural heritage and influence, Droog is taking a bit of a vacation here on Space Bar, a top-shelf display of lyrics that adhere to a strong central theme, but nothing particularly challenging in the way that Krutoy or Time was. I’m not saying Space Bar is bad by any means, because literally anything this man drops is written to such a high degree of quality that it’s quite hard for me to overstate, but this album feels more like an interesting movie rather than a compelling drama. The perfect comparison album is his LP Transportation that he released back in 2019, an album that had a heavy theme of… well transportation (planes, trains, cars, subways, etc), and Space Bar does the exact same thing except this time it’s on two different fronts: you get the “Space” part of it with the stars, planets, and rocketships and whatnot, and then there’s the “Bar” aspect, where almost every track is named after some sort of cocktail or drink. It’s more than just random track titles though: he’s actually weaving references to both topics through every single track, a level of cohesion that most rappers are simply not capable of. On top of that, Droog invites serious talent along with him like he normally does: we get billy woods, Tha God Fahim, Lil Ugly Mane, and Nickleus F all at the top of their game on this one. Compared to some of this other work, the beats on here are much more tame and smooth, again, much like Transportation was in comparison to his other albums like Jewelry and It Wasn’t Even Close. If you like hearing someone who quite possibly be the best in the underground right now when it comes to lyrics, then this album needs to be a stop you make this week.
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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Various Artists (brought to you by Copenhagen Crates) – Copenhagen Crates Presents The Hundred
Investment: €7.00 (~$7.92)
Cover Artist: Artmorfate
I’m going to start this one by clearly telegraphing this: Machacha, an incredibly talented producer from Copenhagen, is the mind behind every one of the beats here, and I don’t think I can express to you how impressed I am with every single one of them. Machacha’s name should be all over this thing; it’s billed as a Various Artists album, but to me, this is Machacha’s album, plain and simple. There’s a tension to many of his beats, very tasteful use of drums over eerie loops of drones and deep basslines, atmospheric beats that give be similar energies to a guy like V Don. Rock solid production, track after track; we are clearly getting the best work I’ve heard from Machacha so far, but it’s a level of quality that was almost a necessity when looking at the promise this tracklist provides. Two dozen of the best spitters in today’s underground across 13 tracks (14 if you count the instrumental outro) concentrated together for maximum potency, almost overwhelmingly so. Names like ANKHLEJOHN, Rigz, Mooch, Eto, Jay Royale, and Pro Dillinger come at you in machine-gun fashion, never letting up across the entire 45 minutes. This is an album that needs to be heard to be believed, a collection of talent and production that quite possibly might be the best compilation project that I’ve ever heard, it’s *THAT* consistent y’all. Listen to this shit if you want deadly, venomous, and dusty hip-hop.
==> Copenhagen Crates' Bandcamp <==
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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Kurious & Ro Data – Koncrete Jungle
Investment: $8.00
Cover Artist: Opium
Having worked out of Manhattan since the early 90’s, Kurious has a distinct old-school New York appeal to him, something that gives him both a rugged and a warm presence on the microphone. The dude is incredibly witty and quick on his feet, coming with funny lines surrounded by vague threats that is accentuated by interesting word choices, all delivered traditionally in a steady flow. Kurious used to roll with MF DOOM heavy back in the 2000’s era, and in this case you can tell that like minds roll together because I can hear a lot of DOOM in his style: the quality of his voice alone has this approachable tone to it, and a lot of the more nerdy things Kurious talks about could have come straight from the King Geedorah textbook. I’m not saying the man is a biter by any means, if anything I think Kurious is kind of a cool time capsule of what DOOM was like back in those early days before he got really outlandish. That’s the best way I can describe this project to someone lyrically: imagine MF DOOM being a bit closer to street level talking about some more dramatic shit. Switching it up, I’ve got to give a shoutout to this guy Ro Data, one of the most underrated producers I can think of in the underground today. He had album come out with Napoleon Da Legend last year that has some banging shit on it, but Data has the special honor of producing one of my favorite albums of all time, Big Turks, back in 2019. Fitting in more with Kurious’ style, these beats have a little more slap to them, dirtier and more raw with the drums, but still able to come with both dangerous and nostalgic production. This is the closest thing to pure Golden Age hip-hop you’ll find this week, an amazing project to say the least.
Cover Artist: Zelooperz
The Bruiser Brigade has had a hell of a 2021, with a handful of projects coming out across the year that all operate in this extremely experimental and strange range of hip-hop, increasing the profile of their members steadily. Whether it’s Fat Ray, Bruiser Wolf, Zeelooperz, or J.U.S., you’re getting hip-hop that may feel familiar to you as fans of Danny Brown, but it will still surprise you with how much creativity you can find amongst the group. J.U.S. in particular, as one of the most… standard rappers in the group, gives you something that many traditional hip-hop lovers can appreciate, straight-forward and strong-armed deliveries in front hectic and jazzy collages of sound. It’s like everything you would love about the normal Detroit underground scene, but mixed with the weirdness of something you’d find on public access television at 3 in the morning. Still, there is a semblance of recognizable hip-hop here; whereas a lot of the other dudes like Bruiser Wolf and Zeelooperz will reject anything familiar, J.U.S is able to ground me in his flow, all the while easing me into something incredibly odd. Many tracks here are short as hell, a minute and some change for the majority, hip-hop scenes that play out like faint dreams almost. Jazzy, experimental, scant drums, and much more could be used to describe the beats, but it’s never unlistenable or challenging, with everything being rather easygoing. If you’re out there looking for some strange music with an enormous heart, this is where I think you need to be this week.
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Rahiem Supreme – Barbadian folklore
Investment: $12.00
Cover Artist: [Unknown]
If J.U.S’s album above is a part of that “weird” hip-hop, Rahiem’s album right here is that “WEIRD-weird” hip-hop. Usually you get something about the music that grounds you in reality, but often Rahiem is throwing you into the deepest of deep ends, throwing flows, song structures, and beat structures out the window in exchange for something truly unique in the genre. Words and flows are almost developed at random, sometimes the beat supports this and sometimes it works completely against it, all of which can lead to an extremely chaotic energy. Rahiem talks about all sorts of things from pop culture references to conspiracy theories, outlandish stories and personal tales, and, in something a bit different about Barbadian folklore, a little bit of history and lineage behind the man himself culturally. A huge point of comparison here is al.divino, a clear inspiration behind his flow and cadence but one that he takes to an even higher level of oddity. Half of this madness is provided by the beats on this one, names like Ohbliv and wifigawd, guys who really have mastered the art of making beats that challenge the formula. I gotta give special attention to the beat for the track osiris, a Sadhugold production that is some of the scariest shit I’ve heard on a beat this year, like I genuinely felt uncomfortable listening to it. We just got a project from the man the other week, but I think this album goes even further into Rahiem’s mind, which can be both thrilling and frightening. I’m grateful that Rahiem (and a lot of underground hip-hop in general) is starting to post their stuff more on streaming, we really appreciate it out here.
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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-----NEW TO STREAMING-----
Pro Dillinger & Finn – Pray For My Prey
Cover Artist: [Unknown]
Read About It Here: Weekly Fix #48 (‘21)
Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music
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Jamal Gasol – The Novelty Of Standards
Cover Artist: Zach Sisk
