Vince Staples has been one of the most open and honest voices in hip hop since he debuted with Shyne Goldchain Vol. 1 in 2011. The past five years have seen Vince rise from Odd Future affiliate to a superstar rapper in his own right, achieving worldwide acclaim for his debut album Summertime ’06. His interviews have… Read More ‘Prima Donna’ and the Horrors of Fame

Not every new album drops on a Friday, so here’s a few of the excellent albums that have dropped in the past few days: Archibald Slim & Ethereal – Slum Beautiful While Awful Records founder Father is by far the most well-known artist on the collective’s roster, other artists including Abra, KeithCharles Spacebar, and Tommy Genesis… Read More Midweek Music Roundup

When 300 Entertainment label boss Lyor Cohen announced that Young Thug was changing his name, the rap internet went into an uproar. “Young Thug” is simple, concise, a two-syllable name that perfectly encapsulated the 25-year-old Atlanta native who never left the house without an AR-15, whose style and mixtape output matched golden era Lil Wayne. But… Read More No, My Name Is Jeffery: The Transition from Thug to Icon

August is coming to a close, and while we don’t have a new Travis Scott album, we do have ten excellent releases for this week’s New Music Fridays. Banks & Steelz – Anything But Words The idea of a collaboration between the Abbot of the Wu-Tang Clan and the lead singer of slacker-rock band Interpol was met with understandable… Read More New Music Fridays: August 26th, 2016

There used to be a time when release dates meant sometime, but lately they’ve seem more like guidelines. After the massive success of Rodeo, anticipation couldn’t be higher for GOOD Music rapper/producer Travis Scott’s sophomore LP, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (title courtesy of Migos’ Quavo, apparently). I have at least previously announced release dates for the album… Read More ‘Birds in the Trap’ Delayed Again, Mike Dean to Blame

I first heard Mallrat a little over a year ago, after her debut single “Suicide Blonde” was premiered on Pigeons & Planes. Since then I’ve been eagerly awaiting her debut project, an EP titled Uninvited that was released in North America on August 12th. Mallrat is the rap name of Grace Shaw, a 17-year-old singer/rapper from Brisbane,… Read More Mallrat Explores Teenage Awkwardness and Anxiety on ‘Uninvited’ EP

André 3000’s been receiving a ton of media attention for his verse on Frank Ocean’s Blond (and rightly so: in a minute and nineteen seconds, 3stacks says more than many rappers say in an entire album), but his former Outkast compatriot has his own headline: two upcoming projects, a solo album and an EP with Killer Mike.… Read More Big Boi Announces Two New Projects

It’s finally here. Four years after Channel Orange swept the airwaves and changed the lives of countless people across the world, Frank Ocean has returned with his third album, simply titled Blonde. It’s been a difficult few years for Frank Ocean fans, but the reward has been heavy: a visual album yesterday and a regular album today has… Read More Four Years Later, Frank Ocean Returns With ‘Blond’

This week’s been insane for album releases (insane enough for me to have to do a midweek music roundup), and New Music Friday has come to cap it off with some incredible releases. Today also saw the first release by Jeffery (fka Young Thug), an all-star Usher remix, and the announcement of a new A… Read More New Music Fridays: August 19th, 2016

The Frank Ocean saga has been a difficult one. As release dates came and went, the Louisiana crooner/rapper delayed the followup to his debut album Channel Orange for years as fans became more and more frustrated. Finally, today brought some real news: Frank’s warehouse “livestream” project culminated in a 45-minute visual album called Endless, released today on Apple Music, with… Read More Frank Ocean Releases ‘Endless’