Tag / AoTW

by 15collections

Kamikaze, Eminem (AoTW)

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 with  mumble 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”

Worst track- Also “Nice Guy”

 

Listen to “Lucky You” here!

by 15collections

Milky Way, Bas (AoTW)

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!

 

Rich’s’ Picks:

“Tribe”, “Barack Obama Special”, “Fragrance”

Fish’s Picks:

“Tribe”, “Purge”

 

Score:12/10

Check out “Tribe” here!