Five years ago, Gary, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs (A.K.A. Gangsta Gibbs) and producer Madlib dropped Pinata, a west coast, gangster hip hop album that was hailed as a modern classic by many upon release. Before the release of Pinata, Madlib had collaborated with a rapper of this caliber for an entire album only once before- …
Five years ago, this week, ScHoolboy Q dropped his third studio album, Oxymoron, an album full of grimey, west coast jams. Oxymoron finds ScHoolboy at his best, mixing gritty gangster paraboles with catchy, infectious choruses and melodies on songs like “Collard Greens” and “Man of the Year”. It is his tightest, and most fully realized …
When Kanye West released his 7th studio album The Life of Pablo in February of 2016, reviews were mixed. After 5 or 6 classic albums (depends on how you feel about 2013’s YEEZUS), this release left critics, and fans, feeling let down. If only they knew that we were all just over 2 years away from …
Continue reading A Philosophical Examination of Kanye West’s “Freestyle 4”
If you are an average music listener, it’s easy to look at the charts from the last decade and think that the 2010’s was an era entirely dominated by the likes of Drake, Taylor Swift, and 21 Savage. Once, men with unreasonably long hair and tight leather pants reigned havoc on the world of music …
Continue reading A New Trip for a New Era: The Neo-Psychedelia Explosion of the 2010’s
Boy bands: you love to hate them and hate to love them. From the endearing to the heartbreaking, from the breakups to the rebirths, boy bands have captured the hearts and minds of teens and adults alike in generation after generation. What is it that makes them so appealing? Is it the boyish charm, the …
Continue reading Boy Bands: From The Beatles to Brockhampton
Backyard Collusions 