Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? is not, as the title may suggest, a new Jaden Smith album, but rather the debut effort by the young Billie Eilish. The pre-release marketing really threw me off on this one, with me discounting this album completely until I saw Anthony Fantano review it on his channel. The album is good, surprisingly good given Billie’s age and lack of contributors to the album, with the majority of the project being made by her and her brother Finneas. Billie is a quiet singer, borderline whispering in many cases, but the instrumentals can heavy, punchy, danceable, and heartfelt. It checks off a lot of the same boxes for me that Lorde does (and if you know me you know Lorde is one of my favorites). Don’t let this one slide, I believe anyone that can enjoy contemporary pop music can find something they like in here.
Here's the Spotify link to listen to WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0S0KGZnfBGSIssfF54WSJh
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Bun B & Statik Selektah - TrillStatik
Next up we have TrillStatik, a collaboration between legendary New York based producer Statik Selektah, and the legendary H-Town emcee Bun B, who we all know as one half of UGK (RIP to the Pimp). This album is special in many ways, but key among them is the conditions in which this album was made: the albums entire recording was live-streamed on YouTube over a twelve hour period. It was awesome watching this and seeing cats like Method Man, Fat Joe, and Bun himself in the booth laying down their verses, and I would love for more artists to be this transparent with their recording processes. The product that resulted is incredible, sitting at a brisk 29 minutes (39 with the digital deluxe), packed to the brim with features that serves as a who’s who of underground, New York backpack, golden age, and Houston MCs, ALL of whom kill their verses. Statik comes through with some amazing production, bringing his trademark use of vintage samples and lush instrumentation. All of this is topped off by an invigorated Bun, who sounds like he hasn’t taken a day off in two decades. This is the kind of album I expect from hip-hop royalty, and the Bun comes through.
Here's the Spotify link to listen to TrillStatik:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4Maqwoh2mr48wdCPUevRIM
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Your Old Droog - It Wasn’t Even Close
Lastly (and released on the same day as TrillStatik; a good fucking day), we have the third major release from Brooklyn artist Your Old Droog, called It Wasn’t Even Close, back after complete radio silence in 2018. 2017 was a good year for YOD, with PACKS being one of my favorites that year, Looseys being an excellent collection of b-sides, and What Happened to Fire?, a short EP with fellow Brooklynite Wiki that I loved dearly. This project feels like it has taken heavy influence from how underground New York hip-hop has shifted in the past three years: it’s instrumental palette is much darker than his past albums, largely eschewing drums in favor of sample driven rather than sample accentuated beats, echoing other artists like Roc Marciano & Mach-Hommy (who unsurprisingly serves as exec producer on the album). Despite a sonic shift, lyrically Droog remains sharp, smokey, and humorous, spitting everything from old pop-culture references, Eddie Murphy career history, and a direct, acapella response to people who still accuse him of biting Nas. This album currently sits at my #1, and it’s gonna be tough to unseat it.
Here’s the Spotify link to listen to It Wasn’t Even Close:
https://open.spotify.com/album/6MGpdaaOYQ7YGyK9GDAQZB
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