Weekly Fix #17

Another slow week from the mainstream, and middle of the road week for the underground. Danny Brown is definitely the release of this week, but don’t let that stop you from giving billy woods and Summer Walker a shot. Next week we have Flee Lord & Eto, along with Elcamino, dropping projects to rep that dusty shit, and Gucci and Wale holding down the mainstream; so at the very least we’ll have a week of quantity.

A quick word about the podcast; still working on upgrading the equipment, and there’ve been some delays and whatnot, but we should be getting back onto a good schedule soon. Thank you all who have listened to the episodes already out, we appreciate you (especially my boy Jerrell, he loves this shit).

Here’s a link to the Week #17 Playlists for y’all

-----PROJECTS-----

Danny Brown – uknowwhatimsayin¿
The album had slow moments, and there’s nothing truly out of this world about it like there was with Atrocity Exhibition, but this album is solid. The highs are incredibly high, the length and number of tracks is perfect, and Danny is as funny as ever saying his outrageous shit. Don’t go into this expecting Atrocity Exhibition, as this is a much more grounded Danny Brown project, with more traditional production (but still with that edge).

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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billy woods – Terror Management
The front and back are lacking in quality, but the middle of this album is amazing. Challenging beats and bars, something that you can only expect from billy at this point. The lyricism is on point here, maybe with *slightly* less focus than his album with Kenny Segal earlier this year, but nonetheless worth digging into. Listen to this if you’re into wordy, slow, verbose hip-hop.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Dark Lo – American Made
I really want to like Dark Lo more than I do. I feel like everything this guy does, RJ Payne does it so much better and effectively. Lo comes with the exact same literal yelling delivery on every track, no matter what he’s talking about (which is a limited pool of topics). Some of his “woke” tracks are downright cringy. To top this all off, a handful of beats on here are painfully cheap. BUT, this album does have tracks geared towards his yelling, and great features from Ar-Ab and Benny the Butcher, so it’s worth a listen for that.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Summer Walker – Over It
Summer Walker can sing, quite well in fact, and a good portion of the beats here are sexy and intoxicating. It’s a slower, more lowkey of an R&B release, that reminds me at times of the smoother tracks SZA would come out with. The production is solid, with a lot of it seemingly handled by London on da Track. The features are also quality, with great contributions from Bryson Tiller, Usher, Jhené Aiko, & 6LACK.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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-------SINGLES-------

clipping. – Blood of the Fang
This shit is INSANITY. Daveed Diggs is a unstoppable monster on this track with his flow, and the lyrics are so sharp as an anthem to never stop fighting back, and provoking those who stand on the sidelines and commentate on racial issues in America without being willing to get down in the trenches and fight the oppressors. The instrumental is sick as fuck with it’s blown out bass notes and it’s THERE WAS AN ADDICTION TO BLoooOOOD” sample that plays throughout. A phenomenal track that has me super hyped for their new record.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Travis Scott – HIGHEST IN THE ROOM
I don’t know how anyone in Travis’s team didn’t see this song as the boring track it is before releasing it; this isn’t very good. The track is just barren and lifeless, and Travis literally sounds like he’s not even trying. I say this knowing full well that I thought the same thing about BUTTERFLY EFFECT when it first came out, and I love that song now. Hopefully it mirrors BUTTERFLY EFFECT in that this is the worst track, then the album that comes with it is infinitely superior.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Apollo Brown (Feat. Guilty Simpson, Fat Ray, & Melanie Rutherford) – The Backbone
It feels a little melodramatic and cheap (mostly due to Melanie’s hook), but this is a nice track. How Guilty has sounded the same for 15 years is a mystery to me, and here again he doesn’t disappoint. Fat Ray is a name I haven’t heard in a minute, and his verse was impressive with his consistent rhyme scheme. Looking forward to Apollo’s new album.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Jhené Aiko (Feat. 21 Savage & Summer Walker) – Triggered
Why does this track feel so weird? I think maybe “Triggered” is just such a strange word to title a song like this it’s throwing me off. Regardless, it has a lot of character; the reflective quality of Aiko and Savage’s verses, the lowkey instrumental, and the nice belted hook.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Guapdad 4000 (Feat. Chance the Rapper & Charlie Wilson) – Gucci Pajamas
Here we are again for another Chance feature, and we pretty much get the same quality. It was tolerable up until the part when he says the shit about the restraining order then I was done. Charlie Wilson, however, was a great addition to this track that fit well with 4000. Guapdad continues a great string of singles before hopefully dropping an album of some kind.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Gucci Mane (Feat. Megan Thee Stallion) – Big Booty
Another solid single from Gucci, featuring the star of Hot Girl Summer Megan Thee Stallion, this shit bangs. Great guitars in the beat, great verses from the two, especially Megan. What can I say other than that this is another single that gets he hype for another record that will probably disappoint?

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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BlocBoy JB (Feat. NLE Choppa) – ChopBloc 2
Now this is probably the biggest surprise of this week: BlocBoy JB can actually fucking rap. I don’t know where the fuck this dude has been, but he’s obviously gone back to the drawing board (and Memphis history) and pulled out a banger reminiscent of Three Six Mafia, both in beat and deliveries. NLE is a great companion for this style, who I’ve always thought evoked Three Six. Fantastic flows across this thing from both emcees; respect.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Rick Hyde & RJ Payne – Soprano
My boy Rick Hyde better be getting some shine soon, cause this shit is tight as fuck. However, it’s RJ Payne that renegades this track, DESTROYING this beat with his aggressive flows. My god this man has a hell of a career ahead of him if he keeps delivering like this. BSF is shaping up to be another fan-fucking-tastic group next to GxFR.

YouTube

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