October 2020

Welcome to the Monthly post, where I lay out everything you may have missed over the past 30 or so days, name an Album of the Month, a Song of the Month, and give a little “state of the union”. Come look at some other Monthly Posts to catch up on previous months. Thank all of you for reading, and happy listening!

——————————

[NOTE FROM THA SOUP DUDE]

I wrote this little intro the other day before we learned that Joe Biden won the presidential election. What I wrote still applies, but the the very least the first of 1,000 steps have been taken. Congratulations to the new President; please, do things.

Also, and I hate that I have the be writing this right now, but Rest in Peace to the young King Von, who was tragically murdered the other morning. I have known of Von for a while and have always fucked with the man’s style, but this new album he put out was really something special, a body of work that really gets me into that Chicago mood. That it is now his last is heartbreaking, and my thoughts are with his family and with those in the hip-hop game who were close to him. I can only hope no one does anything stupid, because I don’t want to have to read another headline like that in 2020. Please…

[END OF NOTE FROM THA SOUP DUDE]

I don’t know why, but it seems like the past month took way longer than I ever thought it could. This job I have is really testing my braincase right now, and there was SO MUCH MUSIC that dropped in October that I hardly was able to keep up with it. Honestly, I didn’t keep up with it as well as I could have… I probably listened to 80+ albums this month, and I know I left dozens more on the table, but, folks, I just didn’t have the time. I want to apologize to people who were looking for my perspective on some albums that dropped that I may have overlooked, and to the artists who respect my opinion on their works; I can only try and do better (and hope I can actually take some time off in the near future, but with the holiday season getting into high gear, that is highly unlikely).

The United States is going through it right now folks. As I’m writing this we still don’t know who the President of the country is, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you “I have hope the American people chose correctly in the end!” because the intolerant, backwards, and anti-hip-hop portion of this country have already spoken, and there are a LOT of them. 2020 was a year when people around the world have shown their true colors, whether it’s in respect to the pandemic response, response to the racial unrest around the globe, or this complete fucking shitshow of an election we are still going through. I love all of you guys who read my shit, and I want people out there to be able to find quality hip-hop on Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen… however, I have to say this: if you are ok with the Boris Johnsons, the Rodrigo Dutertes, the Xi Jinpings, the Vladimir Putins, and, most importantly to this discussion, the Donald Trumps of the world, you need to SERIOUSLY CONSIDER the cultural significance of this genre that we all hold so dear and your place in it. If you are ok with any of those men, you are free to listen to hip-hop and to consume the genre as a free-willed person of the world, but in consequence you need to understand that HIP-HOP does not want YOU. If you are comfortable with that distinction, more power to you. Just things to think about.

So yeah there were a lot of albums this month holy shit. Griselda got two under their belt with Westside Gunn’s WHO MADE THE SUNSHINE and Benny the Butcher’s Burden of Proof, but others were still able to get their punches in. Busta Rhymes is back after a long absence and let’s just say that the new programming is less for weirdos, more for rap traditionalists. Also, Metro Boomin returned to the hip-hop game in style, coming with 21 Savage to release a sequel to Savage Mode. But the biggest win in my book came from our boys overseas, with the UK scene KILLING October and claiming the month for their own: D Double E, Headie One, Frisco, M Huncho, Nafe Smallz, & Dizzee Rascal all dropped fantastic albums, and that’s not even getting into singles from guys like Chip. Then there is the matter of my Album of the Month… well, what WAS my album of the month up until the very last minute, DJ Muggs & al.divino’s Kilogram, a welcome and harrowing return from the disturbingly talented producer.

I had to make the Ghost of Albizu my Album of October because it is virtually flawless, and absolute must-listen from anyone that values that real-ass Hip-Hop shit. I love Fev, who has rocketed up into one of my must-watch rappers after this project right here, but I’ve got to say some words about my man Big Ghost. This guy is one of the most talented producers in hip-hop today, period, hell he may even be *the* most talented I don’t know. The detail, polish, and skill of his beats, executed at such a high quality as consistently as he does is, as a fellow creator of sorts, inspiring. But, more than being a masterful creator, he is also one of the most humble humans I’ve interacted with in my time here on Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen; he cares deeply about the people he works with, never hesitating to give praise to those around him. He wants to see his people succeed, he wants to spread these blessings. Keep doing what you do Big Ghost; you truly set the bar high for everyone in the game with every release.

 ————————————————

Big Ghost LTD. & UFO Fev

The Ghost of Albizu

*Big Ghost’s Bandcamp*

Spotify/Apple Music

————————————————

ALLBLACK (Feat. DaBoii)

Chevron 2

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

WEEKLY FIXES

Weekly Fix #40 ('20) & Week #40 ('20) Playlists (with Westside Gunn’s WHO MADE THE SUNSHINE and 21 Savage & Metro Boomin’s Savage Mode II)

Weekly Fix #41 ('20) & Week #41 ('20) Playlists (with Headie One’s EDNA and RJ Payne’s Beautiful Payne)

Weekly Fix #42 ('20) & Week #42 ('20) Playlists (with Benny the Butcher’s Burden of Proof and Frisco’s The Familiar Stranger)

Weekly Fix #43 ('20) & Week #43 ('20) Playlists (with DJ Muggs & al.divino’s Kilogram and D Double E’s Double or Nothing)

Weekly Fix #44 ('20) & Week #44 ('20) Playlists (with Big Ghost LTD. & UFO Fev’s The Ghost of Albizu and Busta Rhymes’ Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God)

  ————————————————

SINGLES

Week #40 ('20) Singles (with RiFF RAFF’s Million Dollar Mullet and Fivio Foreign’s Bop It)

Week #41 ('20) Singles (with Chip’s Flowers and Ghetts’ IC3)

Week #42 ('20) Singles (with Fly Anakin & Pink Siifu’s Mind Right and Ameer Vann’s Keep Your Distance)

Week #43 ('20) Singles (with Jack Harlow’s Tyler Herro and Flipp Dinero’s No No No)

Week #44 ('20) Singles (with Chip’s Ignite and Freddie Gibbs’ 4 Thangs)

  ————————————————

ART APPRECIATIONS

Week #40 ('20) Art Appreciation (Featuring work from Westside Pootie and John Cannon)

Week #41 ('20) Art Appreciation (Featuring work from crthebeast)

Week #42 ('20) Art Appreciation (Featuring work from FRKO and Billy Bonks)

Week #43 ('20) Art Appreciation (Featuring work from al.divino and Deadly Album Covers)

Week #44 ('20) Art Appreciation (Featuring work from FRKO, Roby Dwi Antono, and Big Ghost LTD.)

  ————————————————

Next month, I have some projects on the radar, but not nearly as many as I had looking into October. November has already given us NAV & Wheezy, but we’re also looking for some SAINt JHN, another Ransom & Nicholas Craven tape, Aesop Rock’s latest album, Fly Anakin & Pink Siifu’s collaborative project, Rasheed Chappell and Buckwild’s album, and what is sure to be a killer album from Bozack Morris & Ty Farris. Like I said, not very many, but there are some huge names in there to get excited for. To see exactly what I’m seeing, go and check out my Upcoming Heat page, which is something I created for both myself and everyone out there to keep up with the stuff that’s dropping constantly in Hip-Hop. It’s an interactive calendar where you can see what’s coming up in the future in terms of drops (as well as being able to go back in time and see some things that dropped in the past). If the calendar isn’t quite your style, there’s a simple list of upcoming releases at the bottom of the page. I use this shit myself all the time to keep up with things, so you know it’s gotta be good.

Let’s talk for a minute about Album of the Year posts for 2020: for my 2019 list, I stopped including albums for consideration at the end of October, because I posted a Top Ten throughout the month of December. I’ve since decided that this isn’t the way that I want to be doing this, and I would rather go all of the way through December to give you a true year-end list at the top of 2021. What this means for this year’s list is that it is going to include an extra month, December 2019: albums like Marcielago, Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, Jewelry, Joyeria, the Boldface EP, and The Only Way Out will also be included on my year-end list. There’s also the matter of volume… guys I listened to a lot this year. I last updated my AOTY list about a month ago, and I had over 250 projects on that bitch, the top 100 of which I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone. I’m not sure if a Top Ten is going to cut it anymore; I’ll think about it more, but I’m leaning towards changing my method a bit to give shine to even more albums. I’ll keep you updated.

So let’s go through the usual spiel for all of you who want to follow what I do on those social media platforms. This time let’s start with Instagram, where I try my best to update my Story with all of my posts here on TSDK, as well as do a weekend post summarizing the past seven days. Y’all can DM me there any time as well. Then there is Twitter (my favorite, not gonna lie, I love how easy it is to access content and retweet shit I like), which is updated automatically with all of my posts here. The Official TSDK Facebook Group which, like Twitter, updates automatically with all of the posts here. In addition to the Facebook group, there is the “unofficial group’ called Drake’s Hidden Children you can go and join; that group is where this whole idea for this place started, so go follow it if you want to occasional recommendation. Lastly there is RateYourMusic, which isn’t “social media” as much as it is an invaluable tool to me here at Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen. It’s a place where you can easily see artists’ entire careers, rate music, and update a catalogue of music that you own for everyone to see. It’s incredibly useful, and I recommend anyone who fucks with music deeply like I do to check it out.

And that’s all she wrote. A sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who sends me music, everyone who checks in on me over here every week, the people who make this amazing music, and to the people in my life who understand that this shit I do here is important and takes time (I don’t get out much anymore!). We’ll see how the world is by the time the next Monthly rolls around, but until then, stay safe, stay informed, be kind to people that have shown that they deserve it, and keep listening to and supporting these artists who give their all to entertain and inform us.

Peace