Martha has done this a million times before. Flour, water, whisk. Eggs, butter, whisk again. Martha Slipped into a familiar tradition, one that was almost second nature to her at this point.
Set the oven, put them in and wait till her flakey biscuits were baked to perfection. Martha was hoping she’d have everything done by 9. She had a busy day tomorrow. It was the first day of classes at her new job. Lenox Heights Pre-School for the gifted and Talented. It sure was a mouthful but Martha could not care less. She had moved out to Utah from New York because this was the opportunity of a life time. No way she was going to let a name that didn’t exactly roll off the tongue stop her. Not a chance!
Soon the kitchen began to fill with that familiar smell. Her grandmother had passed this recipe down, just as her grandmother before had passed it to her, and as she hoped to eventually pass to her granddaughter.
Another few seconds passed and Martha began to get lost in her thoughts.
“What will my students call me? Maybe they’ll call me Ms. Garner.” She thought. Not even a few seconds after that thought another one sprung into her mind. “Maybe I should have them call me Ms. Martha”
Martha began to get nervous that the first sentence her students would hear would not be a sentence at all, but her stumbling over her words. Then she realized that she was teaching preschoolers and decided it would probably be best to not worry about it.
Martha then sat down at the TV and turned on the news. She had about 10 minutes before the biscuits would be ready so she decided this would be the prefect time to catch some news.
“And tonight, it is reported that another person has been killed outside of Salt Lake City. We have no suspects but we know that the Killer seems to be going after people in that area. Please be cautious and remember to lock your doors.”
“Well now I regret turning on the news!” Martha thought.
*Knock Knock Knock*
“Who could that be? I’m not expecting anyone this late.”
Hello Everyone and welcome to this weeks album review!
This week I had a special guest (Fish) give his thoughts on the new Eminem album, Kamikaze. I was originally going to add some of my own thoughts but Fish so perfectly executed this review that I did not want to interrupt with any of his thoughts!
Anyway hope you all enjoy and look out for my picks to listen to at the end!
-Rich
FISH
Eminem is back, and he brought Slim Shady.
They’re different, and a bit more distant from fans. I can’t listen to Kamikaze and get pissed off at the world with Eminem. He’s not rapping about struggling to get by while constantly getting his feet swept out from underneath him. There was an internal rage in Slim that everyone responded to, I mean there is a Slim Shady in all of us. And you don’t want to mess with Shady, cause Shady will fucking kill you (MGK must not have heard that one). Sometimes you do just want to let loose and unleash on a balls-out rampage cussin’ out everybody who ever wronged you and that’s powerful. Instead of doing that, we could hear Shady do it, and it always felt great.
But guess who’s back? Shady’s back. It’s glorious, it’s witty, it’s prideful, and it’s downright petty and spiteful at times (I wouldn’t want it any other way). It is Slim Shady, and he is just as savage and aggressive as before. Shady stops at nothing to diss anyone who had it coming. Slim destroys mumble rappers, and hopefully people will wake up and realize that Hip-Hop needs to take a few steps back and get back on course to meaningful, substantial music. Regardless, the Slim Shady disses were on point, and it was incredible to be reminded of what Eminem is capable of.
Eminem, and Slim Shady, have matured. Instead of vibing to Eminem’s Fuck the World attitude, we are given a Fuck the Industry attitude. Eminem has directed his anger towards the struggles that he has recently endured in the industry. He copes with himself (previously) fading out of the spotlight, and he recognized his “flop” (in Eminem standards) of an album last year. He addresses the downfall of D12, and officially marked their disbandment. He also tears apart the current state of the industry, which seems to be populated withmumble rappers. This are big issues that Eminem is tackling, and it is more personal to himself than it is to fans. It’s all just a new theme to Eminem’s music that is a distinct, but welcome change. So, it just took a little more time to open up and relate to the lyrics this time around.
The production and vocals for the album are top-notch. By know we all know Dr. Dre and Eminem are an incredible duo, but I really don’t know how Dre manages to keep his production quality so top-notch. I really can’t knock a beat on any track. Straight from the beginning, “The Ringer” made me feel like I was listening to an old Eminem track. It was familiar, and it felt right. The credited features were mainly amazing (let’s just ignore Jessie Reyez on “Nice Guy”). Joyner Lucas really delivered, and I instantly became a fan from his performance in “Lucky You”. I checked his stuff out after I heard it, and this guy is seriously talented. We’ve been sleeping on him for too long.
Overall, the album was a return to glory for Marshall Mathers. He proved that he is not done, he is relevant, and anyone who ever has anything to say against him (Or his daughter) will never be safe.
This album gets a 8.9/10. For reference, I can only think of maybe 3 albums I would ever want to give a 10/10, which makes a 9 near perfect. So this is almost near perfect (blame it on “Nice Guy”). In my opinion, it has earned itself a spot in the top 3 albums of the year.
PS. Em called MGK a goof and I lost it. MGK thinks he’s sly but on God he a goof. Eminem has recorded music with Hailey before (when she was young) and I think it is time for that to happen again. If MGK wants to talk about Hailey then let her talk back. A diss track where both Eminem and his daughter destroy this goof would be remarkable.
Fish’s picks:
Best tracks- “The Ringer”, “Lucky You” (personal favorite), “Not Alike”
Worst track- “Nice Guy” (I still don’t get it)
Rich’s picks:
Best Tracks- “The Ringer”, “Venom (Music From The Motion Picture)”, “Good Guy”, “Not Alike”
Greta kept walking through the forest taking in the view. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath
The smells reminded her of a time from her past. She could see her Mom sitting in the field with her dog Chewy.
Suddenly her eyes shot open. What was this weird sensation on her cheek? She raised her hand to her eye only to recoil almost immediately. Was that water? Was it raining? Or was it a tear?
Was Greta crying? She hadn’t cried in years. Ever since that day. She tried hard not to think about it as she walked through the forest, but the memories kept rushing back to her.
“Fuck” she thought. “This is happening, I guess I have to accept this”.
She remembered something her mom said to her countless times. Greta played the words in her head over and over again.
“If you have something bothering you, find a dark quiet place and meditate. Find the source of the anxiety and let the possibilities play out in your head. Find the possibility you like the most, and follow that one to the light”.
Greta meandered quietly through the forest, constantly playing those words in her head. As if her mom was directing her from beyond, she came across a rock formation. There was a dark opening in the rocks that intrigued her.
As she walked towards the opening she said a silent thanks to her mom, for always guiding her the right way.
Greta walked into the opening and a musky, dank air brushed past her face. She walked forward and took a seat on the floor of this mysterious cave. She opened her bag and took out a book.
A quiet incantation snuck out of her mouth.
“Incindious ignitium …”
A small fire appeared, Greta closed her eyes and got lost in her thoughts.
After a two year wait Bas, Queens rapper, label mate of J.Cole is finally back on the scene with a new album, Milky Way. This has been one of my most highly anticipated albums, and I was absolutely thrilled when it dropped. There were feelings of both excitement. and concern–what if it’s not as good as his last album? What if he doesn’t get the right features? A long list of what-ifs raced through my mind as I began to doubt one of my favorite artists.
Boy was I a fool. I was wrong to ever doubt this guy. From the first song on the album he came out swinging for the fences. Two years must have given Bas a lot of time to experiment with his sound and hone his skills, because he sounds better than ever.
From the silky smooth beat selections on songs like “Barack Obama Special”, “Icarus”, and “Tribe” (just to name a few) to the amazingly crafted flows on tracks like “Boca Raton” and “Tribe” ( anyone sensing a trend here?) Bas definitely brought his A-game this time around. In addition to experimenting with his flows, he expands his vocal range on this album. On “Sanufa” and “Front Desk” his singing is fantastic and really fits his voice. I wouldn’t be upset if he continued to explore this in future albums, tracks, or features.
The features are perfect for this album. Going with some bigger names for the singles was a smart move as it definitely drew me into the album (even though i was planning on listening to this album already, news of these features added to the hype for me). J. Cole drops one of my favorite verses of his on “Tribe”. “Tribe is beautifully crafted and is definitely the biggest stand out from this album. When Bas and J. Cole get together on a track you should always expect greatness. In addition, A$AP Ferg absolutely kills it on “Boca Raton”. The tropical vibes from both of these songs really got me going, and I hope Bas continues to experiment with that format. The other features fit the songs they were on perfectly. Ari Lennox is sublime on “Icarus”, and Correy C goes in on “Fragrance”. Of course I have my dream features who I think would fit with Bas, but if he keeps selecting people the way he does I will continue to be a happy man.
All in all I think that Milky Way was Bas’ biggest and best effort yet. I don’t mind waiting two years between each album if he keeps coming out with quality music like this. I have been listening to this album front to back since the day it came out, and it may have surpassed Beerbongs & Bentleys for best album of 2018 in my eyes. Keep it up Bas, you’ve got a high ceiling and I hope you keep climbing!
PS: For this AoTW I will be having a friend (Fish) tell you all of his favorite songs from Milky Way because he loves the album as much as I do. In the future there may be picks from other people, but most of the time it will just be from me. Thanks for reading!
Mateo heard the sound of his grandfathers music box from his bed. It sounded louder than normal. Maybe it was all in his imagination.
*Ring ring ring ring*
There it goes again. This time he was sure it was louder than the time before. Then Mateo sat straight up. ‘Wait a second’ he thought ‘that music box has never gone off by itself before…. what the hell is going on?’
Mateo bolted up out of bed and immediately recoiled in shock as his feet hit the cold hardwood floor.
As he creeped towards the window sill the music box on it began to get louder, almost as if it was beckoning him towards it.
The sun was beginning to rise, giving the situation an even more eerie feel. Mateo stopped at the window sill, waiting to see if the music box would sing to him again. Seconds were passing by but it felt like an eternity. He decided he should open the window. Maybe some fresh air would snap him out of this trance.
Upon opening the window a gust of fresh sea water from the Mediterranean basin blew into his room and he remembered how peaceful this time of the morning could be.
Then the music box started singing to him again.
*RING RING RING*
Singing actually doesn’t begin to describe the affront to Mateo’s ears. It was like a blood curdling scream at that point. Mateo knew he wasn’t dreaming now. Whatever was going on, was real.
He began to open up the music box and he heard what sounded like a faint whisper.
“It’s not real. None of it. Get out while you can”
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