Category Archives: Music/Concerts

‘For All the Dogs’ review

By: Ricky Perez Cardoza

‘For All The Dogs’ by Drake is his long-awaited 8th studio album announced in July and released after a couple of push backs on October 6th. It’s one of Drake’s longer albums, coming in at 23 songs and 1 hour and 24 minutes of playtime.

The album starts strong with the song “Virginia Beach”. We get the beautiful high-pitched sample from Frank Ocean’s unreleased song “Wiseman”. Drake does what he does best on this song and it’s his vocals/singing that make this song perfect for an intro and sets the tone for most of the album going forward.

“Amen” (feat Teezo Touchdown) is another strong song of the album where we get hard-hitting bass along with piano that makes this song feel classy. This is especially true when Teezo Touchdown starts singing its performance that takes the song up a level. Drake does his rapping but goes a little more lyrical and talks about his connection with god, and has all his bars correlate with praying and things like god.

“Calling For You” (feat. 21 Savage) is a song we all expected in this album. Drake starts with a big switch up in tones from religion to explicit things on a dark synth and hyper hi-hats to go along with the background singing making it one of the best instrumentals from the album. What makes this song 5 minutes long is its unnecessary almost interlude-like section in the middle of the song of just an unknown woman ranting about a broken relationship that transitions to 21 Savage’s feature, that is the highlight of the song, with the same formula for an instrumental like the first part for his section as well.

“Fear Of Heights” is the next song on the album. It starts with a somber song with a laid-back performance from Drake but transitions this low-energy song to a high-energy hype song in just 45 seconds. This is one of Drake’s many attempts at a new style of music and pulls it off with an instrumental that sounds like those of Yeat’s featured later on the album.

“Daylight” is another hype song from Drake but he adapts more of a faster rapping style on this song with hard-hitting bass. It’s a song that most people have heard before. What most people didn’t expect on this song is a feature from his son Adonis freestyling on an old style boom bap beat and going from the topic Drake was rapping about on this song. It’s a little strange having his son on this track.

“First Person Shooter” (feat. J. Cole) Is one of the many Billboard hits on this album. This song has another amazing performance by J. Cole and Drake. They both have great chemistry on this song and it’s a great balance of a song with J. Cole mentioning beef and hinting at his next album in a great lyrical way. Drake brings hype to the song but ultimately gets outshined in this song.

“IDGAF” (feat. Yeat) Is another Billboard hit that starts with these spacey synths with jazz singing and jazz trumpet playing but suddenly switches completely to a different song with one of the best rage beats we’ve heard recently in music. Yeat is made for this song but the same thing can’t be said about Drake who sounds mostly out of place and out of his sound on this song. Yeat carries this song and it sounds more like a Yeat song than a Drake song.

“7969 Santa” is the next song that switches up the vibe from rage to Drake rapping about relationships on a more cloudy instrumental with not as much bass as he typically has on his songs. He also does his usual emotional singing which he always incorporates into his songs. At the end of the song, we have another appearance by Teezo Touchdown where he gives us even more great vocals for the ending of this song and just pure pianos. Snoop Dogg also makes an appearance giving the theme of “dogs”.

“Slime You Out” (feat. SZA) by Drake is the single released before the album’s release and it’s a song that had mixed opinions when it first came out mostly because of its focus on R&B and not what most people expected. It has a great SZA performance where she has great emotion behind her singing.

“Bahamas’ Promises” is a return to the old style from Drake incorporated with dog barking that we also hear throughout the album. It’s a classic from Drake that reminds people of a more modern version of the song “Take Care”. It talks about mixed emotions about a failed relationship and is all done on a great flowing piano beat.

“Tried Our Best” is again another return to an old style for Drake and gives off the vibe of a song from his album ‘Views’. It’s a melodic song from Drake that overall is good but one of the more forgettable songs from the album.

“Screw The World – Interlude” brings back the boom-bap sound we heard from Drake at the end of the song “Daylight”. It’s an interlude that doesn’t do much for a transition but more as a break from the R&B and gives us an old-style boom-bap sound.

“Drew A Picasso’s” is like the other songs just as “Bahamas Promises” and “Tried Our Best” just done more emotionally and overall more boring, whereas Drake brings us more memorable lines in this song. After hearing more or less the same song 3 times in a row it gets more boring and is another example of longer albums having songs like this that feel like they are there just for bloating.

“Members Only” (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR) is another song people forget about in this album. The song is another R&B song from Drake with a feature from PARTYNEXTDOOR that doesn’t save the singing from Drake and the lyrics are some of the worst on this album.

“What Would Pluto Do” saves this mediocre middle part of this album and references Pluto or AKA Future that should’ve had a spot on this song, that just fits his style, and it’s something Drake still performs great on. It’s a shame we couldn’t get a single Future feature on this album given the duo have made great songs together.

“All The Parties” (feat. Chief Keef) is one of the more disappointing songs on the album. Mostly because it’s R&B again but now with an out-of-place feature from Chief Keef which would be the best opportunity to make a great hype song, especially when the last 8 songs have all been singing and R&B.

“8 A.M. in Charlotte” is a continuation of Drake’s city songs and stands out for its great production from Conductor Williams and was also a song released before the album came out. The song features the best rapping performance on the whole album; the piano and mentions of Drake’s past beefs and current ones is a perfect mix to make Drake go all out on his rapping from a rap-dry second half of the album.

“BBL Love” is a forgettable interlude serving no purpose and is one of the most embarrassing interludes/songs from Drake. Easily, the worst song on the album.

“Gently” (feat. Bad Bunny) has most people confused in the first half where Drake does possibly one of the worst Spanish sections on a song where he says almost cringe-worthy stuff. Gladly, the song switches up quickly to a Spanish form of song called “Dembow” where Drake delivers his part with some of the best flow on a Spanish beat, something people didn’t expect at all. Bad Bunny does his thing on this song and is a great addition because he almost talks like the American version of Drake.

“Rich Baby Daddy” (feat. Sexyy Red & SZA) is one of the best R&B songs on this album mostly because of its fast tempo instrumental but is made worse by the Sexy Red feature that isn’t known for appropriate songs or lyrics. The song is ultimately saved by SZA who shines on a song like this and hopefully makes more songs like this. It’s also unnecessarily long with an almost interlude end part from Drake on this song.

“Another Late Night” (feat. Lil Yachty) gives us the expected collaboration from the 2 best friends and is a good song where you can hear Lil Yachty’s influence on the song. Both of them do well on this song. It’s one the most vibey songs on the album.

“Away From Home” is another song that doesn’t stand out much from the album. Easily one of the most boring songs on the album and very regretful. This song doesn’t give anything at all. No good lyrics. No good instrumental. And not the best rapping performance by Drake. It’s a song most people will forget about.

“Polar Opposites” is the final song in this 23-song-long album and it’s not even a good outro for the album. He should’ve done what he does most of the time and it’s the end of his signature hype we saw on “Honestly Nevermind” & “Her Loss”. This R&B song gets boring after listening to the same style of music for 6 songs in a row.

“For All The Dogs” by Drake is one of his best projects if it kept the style or direction of Drake trying new sounds. He does this in the first half of the album and he does it well. If the album had been just the first half with a couple editions of other songs from the second half it could’ve been easily one of his best new projects in his discography.

The second half of pure R&B music is something that people were complaining about back when he released his album ‘Certified Lover Boy’. It was an album most people found boring and we see the same thing in the second half of this album.

This album brings an end to new music from Drake for a while now and it is safe to say he didn’t disappoint on the album at all and it could’ve been one of his best if he just made the album shorter. This is something we see too much of and is only ever done well by very few artists.

The ‘D.O.A Tape’ album review

By: Judah Gregory

The ‘D.O.A Tape’ was released November 5, 2021 and was created by rapper Kay Flock. This is his first full album released but he has had other singles, freestyles, and eps across the internet. This album gained attention from the song “Is Ya Ready” from his high energy aggressive rapping and the famous TikTok dances that he created. He was one of the best Bronx drill rappers that was coming up in my opinion. This is the track list of songs on the album, what they’re about, and my review of them.

Track 1: Is Ya Ready
Now the reason this track would gain so much attention is because of the lyrics being said in the song, because of the disses in it to his blood cousin who is another New York rapper named Dthang GZ. Now this song is overall aggressive and a loud song with the music video that has all of the kids jumping around screaming and dancing making it a high energy track that has an infectious flow to it.

Track 2: Being Honest
This track is a tone down from the first track with still a nice sounding beat and still great rapping by Kay. In this track, he raps mainly about women and also moving about New York City the right way and not getting lined up by women basically getting set up.

Track 3: Brotherly Love
This track is my favorite of the album and features one of Kay Flocks cousins Dougie B and their close friend B Love. This song is an aggressive track switching in and out of them rapping. Then, at the end of the song, when they go a switch back to back is one of my favorite parts of the song. The person who stole this song for me though is B Love with him rapping about a chain he snatched from another clique.

Track 4: PSA

Now this song would literally be a PSA as this song would get played over New York news in the Bronx for the drill epidemic that they were having. This song would literally spread across the Bronx fast as retaliation from the people dissed in the song would come quickly. But as for the musical side he would rap great and this song would be a hit on the charts.

Track 5: Opp Spotter

“Opp Spotter” is a song about spotting opps. Now, this song features B Love again and has 2 beat changes halfway through the song which kinda through it off for me. But with B Love, I think being the best rapper out of the trio, they have I think carried this song for me with his flow and the verses he delivered.

Track 6: Speed Racing

The 6th track, the song “Speed Racing” talks about Kay spinning on opps in fast cars. This is a fast track with Kay Flock rapping the fastest I’ve heard from him. It also talks about how he would speed race through other rival territories and cause trouble.

Track 7: Tcardi

The final track of the album is “Tcardi.” This would be completely produced by Kay and would feature Dougie B, Justo B, and Lil Skrap who is eight in real life. Now this song would just be everything with him pairing up with his cousin so they have a natural flow. Lil Skrap, who is an eight year old drill rapper, which is crazy to me, actually did great switching on and off with Kay. Hearing him talk about pulling up on opps on playgrounds was funny in the song for me.

Overall, I’d give this album a 9/10. I like it a lot and I hope to see more music from him as he’s locked up for a little bit right now but will get out in 2024.

The impact of ‘808s and Heartbreak’ by Kanye West

By: Ricky Perez Cardoza

‘808s and Heartbreak’, Kanye West’s 4th studio album, was released in 2008 and is regarded as one of the most, or the most, influential albums for hip hop ever made.

To start, we’ll get the story of the album out of the way and also its history. This album by Kanye was never planned at all and the original album he was going to release was an album finishing off the now trilogy of his college albums, making it a quadrilogy, and was an album that would’ve sounded like ‘The College Dropout’ and ‘Late Registration’. Things changed for Kanye when his then perfect life went into shambles by him losing his mother.

Donda West was announced dead on November 10, 2007, when she was 58 years old after a post plastic surgery procedure went wrong. She had liposuction, a tummy tuck, and a breast reduction. It was found after her passing that her death was caused by heart failure due to multiple post operative factors. During this time, Kanye also lost his girlfriend at the time, Alexis Phifer, who ended things with him.

Kanye had to stop working on his next album and completely scraped it all together to start working on ‘808s and Heartbreak’. This time Kanye had to completely change his sound from egotistical, narcissistic, bars with sped-up soul samples, and completely hip-hop-focused rap songs, to something that he could portray the emotions he was feeling in a way that would come across as hurt, guilt, and tribute to his mother.

Kanye West then went completely south and gave us his 12-song album that would completely change the way new rappers would make music. Kanye ditches the soul samples and makes original beats with a focus on the heavy-hitting electro and dark 808s with pop singing filtered auto-tune. Also, using mostly pianos and humming from him, to make a melodic feel to the instrumentals was something that people in hip-hop had never seen before.

He also doesn’t rap on this album, or at least not like he did on his other previous albums. He sings throughout most of the album. He shows us emotional singing. It’s one of Kanye’s saddest listens for a lot of people who knew what happened to him. But fans of Kanye West didn’t like this album at the time.

The people who did like him were the kids and teenagers who loved his emotional singing and hard-hitting 808s combined with hip-hop. This is what most people regard as the start of the influence this single album had. By getting attention from the younger generation it would go on to influence any young artists during this time to make music just like this.

The influence wasn’t instant either; it was something that took time and it started to show with the come-up of rappers such as Lil Uzi Vert, Juice Wrld, XXXTENTACION, Trippie Red, Post Malone, Future, Drake, and Kid Cudi. It’s hard to think of these rappers without the influence that 808s has on them. We got tracks like Lil Uzi verts 2018 hit: “XO TOUR LIFE” where we see the hardest influence of ‘808s and Heartbreak’. We see the same in Juice Wrld’s hit “Lucid Dreams”. Lil Uzi Vert and Juice Wrld both regard this album that “saved their life” as one of their favorite albums ever.

Listening to songs like “Heartless” and “Street Lights” of ‘808s and Heartbreak’ we can hear the clear influence these songs and the album have on songs like “XO TOUR LIFE” and on rappers as a whole. No other album has ever had an impact on the sound of future generations like ‘808s and Heartbreak’ and that is why most people regard it as “The most influential album ever”.

‘For All the Dogs’

By: Oak Berg

Drake, the Canadian rapper, is known for his flow. with his blend of rap and R&B. With successful albums in his past and on the way, fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of his highly anticipated new album, “For All the Dogs.” However, this album has faced its delays, being delayed not once but twice. I will explain the reasons behind these delays and the impact it has had on Drake’s fanbase.

The first delay of “For All the Dogs” was surprising to many fans who had been waiting for the album’s release. Initially scheduled for the first week of September, it was pushed back because Drake needed time to perfect it. Drake needed additional time to perfect the album as the primary reason for its delay. This left fans disappointed and sparked curiosity about the quality and direction of the album.

As the new release date approached, it reached its peak. However, just when fans thought they would finally get to hear “For All the Dogs,” another delay was announced. This time, it was due to Drake wanting to finish his tours before releasing the album. Although it was thoughtful, his fanbase was not happy. Drake wanted to wait to promote and tour the album, leading to a second postponement.

These delays have tested the patience of Drake’s huge fanbase. But, they have also generated a sense of anticipation and excitement. The delays have amplified the greatness of album “For All the Dogs” and intensified fans’ desire to hear the finished album. Drake’s ability to maintain his status on top on the music charts, and generate songs even in the face of delays, speaks to his expanding popularity and loyal fans.

Other than the setbacks, the delays may ultimately work in Drake’s favor. They give him more time to refine his musical vision and guarantee that “For All the Dogs” meets the high standards fans have come to expect from him. Drake is known for his insane attention to detail and the quality of his work, and the delays may show his commitment to delivering a top hits album.

The delays of Drake’s new album, “For All the Dogs,” has been a reason of disappointment for fans waiting for its drop date. although, they have also expanded curiosity and excitement around the album. While the reasons behind the delays may be frustrating, they are helping Drake’s dedication to his craft and his desire to create the best possible body of work. As fans slowly await the album’s slow release, they can only hope that “For All the Dogs” will be worth the wait. DROPPING OCTOBER 6TH

IT RELEASED AT 5 AM 10/6/23

‘Forever Story’ album review

By: Judah Gregory

Forever story is an album made by rapper JID. This album would be released on August 26, 2022 through Dreamville Interscope Records. This is his fifth album and a reference to his second album ‘The Never Story’. ‘Forever Story’ has 15 tracks but I will only be doing the first 10 because the rest are bonus songs. I will be going over them giving a summary about what they’re about and what I think of them.

Track 1: “Galaxy”

“Galaxy” is the first track of ‘Forever Story’ and was produced by Monte Booker. This song has the same lyrics as the intro to the ‘Never Story’ and follows the same spacey beat and flow even with the same ad libs.

The only change that I think came with the hype of this album is that it would get a skit at the end of it and it wouldn’t be the only skit of the album.

Track 2: “Raydar”

“Raydar” is the second track of the album and would be produced by a lot of people. Now, this song would take a complete change from the first track and would hit you with a loud aggressive beat immediately and an aggressive flow from JID as he would get on the track rapping about black people from their historical background to their modern position in the world now. But he also talked about how he’s trying to find a solution to try to change the status of how different people are seen and be united.

Track 3: “Dance Now”

“Dance Now” would be the third track and would only be produced by Christo and Avid. This song would have a more monotone but still hard beat with different vocals, and the beat changes with the trumpet in between made the song have a different flow and a change that I liked.

This track would also be his second, and my favorite of his singles on the album, and would also have a great chorus to the song.

Track 4: “Crack Sandwich”

“Crack Sandwich” is the fourth track of the album and was produced by Cardiac, Tbhits, Christo, Groove and Nami. “Crack Sandwich” has another pretty aggressive beat but this one is almost a little ominous. As JID raps hard about himself and his six siblings and over the course of the song he shows how good his wordplay is and how he can create it in his music. In the song he talked about how he and his siblings started a brawl in New Orleans and how his parents, who were hard on them, think that they would be proud that they stuck together and that their impulsiveness is what made their connections.

Track 5: “Can’t Punk Me”

This is the fifth song. “Can’t Punk Me” is very high action and has a fast sounding beat being produced by KAYTRANADA & JD Beck. In the song he raps about the experience that the protagonist is going through, and coming from a disadvantaged background had to overcome different things to become a poet, and have success with the chorus of the song being: “(I pulled out the bomb)” which I think is a metaphor for his bold demeanor.

Track 6: “Surround Sound”

This 6th song is widely viewed to be JID’s best single already. But with the remix coming onto this album with 21 Savage and Baby Tate made this song blow up immediately, and with its great beat, and the changes, and then them rapping in between, made it my favorite song on the album.

This song would actually be leaked in 2021 but only a few snippets of it.

Track 7: “Kody Blu 31”

The third to last song, and the seventh song of this album, is “Kody Blu 31”. This song is dedicated to JID’s friend’s son named Kody. He was a football player and wore number 31 but he died at a young age. This song talks about him trying to help Kodys family “keep swinging” or just keeping their head up and moving. The beat on this song is more melodic which fits for the song.

Track 8: “Bruddanem”

This is the eighth song of this album and features Chicago rapper Lil Durk. This song is all about their brothers and their strong relationship with them and saying that they would do anything for each other.

I also have a lot of brothers so this is a song I could make a connection to. This also is just a good song with more of a calm flow to it.

Track 9: “Sistanem”

This is the 9 track and the second to last song I will be talking about. This song is completely dedicated to JID’s sister, who is one of the most influential and important people to him. I like how the song is set up with each verse after the chorus describing the evolution of their relationship. This song has the same beat as “Bruddenem” just inverted, but still sounded just as good as the original.

Track 10: “Can’t Make You Change”

Track ten and the final track I will be talking about is “Can’t Make You Change” and this song was produced by Quincy Jones, Elite, Bass Charity, Christo, and A.J. This song talks about not being able to change people and how hard it is to make people change out of their set ways.

I like how he raps with Ari singing in the back of it and the whole song is nice.

So, I think this is JID’s best album out of the five. Overall, I’d give it a 9/10.

‘UTOPIA’ album review

By: Ricky Perez Cardoza

‘UTOPIA’ album cover

‘UTOPIA’ by Travis Scott is a Rap album released this year, and is the highest-selling album of 2023, breaking records of weekly sales in the world. ‘UTOPIA’s’ starting track “HYAENA” is one of the best intros for an album we’ve had in a long time. We get a very industrial sound after the great sample at the start where Travis raps on this raging beat through the whole song with an amazing flow and flow switches. The main sample of this track is from: the Chronicle grime “Career Cats Get Tiger Suits”.

We then go onto the next track titled “THANK GOD”. This track is where Travis talks about people calling him a “satanist” for past events, Thanking god for his life, and proving to everyone that he is a Christian. That’s the first part of the song. In the second half, we get a great transition with amazing vocals by Travis to bring back some of the effects ‘ASTROWORLD’ had back in 2018, and this is where the rapping picks back up with him going off on how he isn’t stressed or pressured into what the people might think about his new sound.

The next track “MODERN JAM” (feat. Teezo Touchdown) is exactly what it’s named, a very modern jam with very questionable lyrics and a very bumpy beat that Travis still raps nicely on. The real star on this song is Teezo Touchdown when he starts singing, sounding almost like Freddie Mercury (fun fact: this song uses a scrapped beat from Kanye West from 2013).

Now the track “MY EYES” is easily one of Travis’s best songs. It starts slow with a more chill beat. This part of the song is great even with a vocal feature from Sampha, but what most people talk about is the amazing transition into his next beat where he goes all out in his rapping and storytelling. He references his ex Kylie Jenner, he talks about his Astroworld accident as well, saying how he would jump off the stage to save a kid and how he replays those nights when 7 people died at his concert.

“GOD’S COUNTRY” is the next track where Travis uses another beat/song by Kanye West originally. This song like “THANK GOD” references the Bible and also talks about his loyalty to God, and is also one of the shorter songs on the album.

The next song “SIRENS” is where the hype comes back with a perfect rapping performance from Travis on a beat around the sample from a Zambian artist: Amanza-nsunka Lwendo with added hard-hitting bass and drums to add to the already amazing instrumental. We even get some of the best synths on the album by Mike Dean. The real hype in this song is at the end when we hear Drake talking about his utopia.

“MELTDOWN” (feat. Drake) is easily the most hyped-up song on the album mostly because of the almost ‘Star Wars’-type beat and Drake delivering as usual. Most people compare this song to “SICKO MODE” because of how similar and great both songs are. Both Drake and Travis delivered some of the best bars of the whole album in this song making it one of the best. The hype built up to this song is levels above anyone right now.

Once again Travis showed us that he is easily one of the most versatile rappers in the game by going a different route on the song “FE!N” (feat. Playboi Carti) this song is all about rage. There is no storytelling, little bars, and mostly consists of mumble rap for the entire song. What makes this song so different from the rest is its beat focusing on synths and pure raging drums and 808s.

“DELRESTO (ECHOES)” (feat. Beyoncé) is the next song. It almost sounds like a scrapped song from Beyonce’s recent album ‘Renaissance’ and given that it’s Beyoncé with Travis Scott it’s honestly an unexpected collab for most people. Travis gets outshined by Beyoncé on this track and I feel like he could’ve done more with this song. One of the only moments on the album where it should’ve been focused on making a radio hit instead of what we got because, overall, there aren’t any shining moments on the song.

The next track “I KNOW?” This is where we pick back up in the rapping and has easily one of the best flows on the album with honestly one of the more simple beats on the album compared to others. It’s overall a more underrated song on the album.

“TOPIA TWINS” (feat. Rob 49 & 21 Savage) another great hit on this album and a very unexpected feature from Rob 49 that no one expected to be on this album. Also, probably the least family-friendly song on the album mostly because of the 21 Savage influence. This song is so good with all 3 artists delivering their amazing verses, with Travis in the chorus, it’s just a perfect song once again.

“CIRCUS MAXIMUS” (feat. The Weekend & Swae Lee) is one of those songs where Travis shows us again that he isn’t just the auto-tune guy. He gives a track with great synths and drums that sound familiar to a song from Kanye West called: “Black Skinhead”. It’s also on this song where we get the best Weekend performance we’ve seen in a long time, and on the album. It’s also named after the movie Travis directed called ‘CIRCUS MAXIMUS’ released the same as the album.

The next track is called “PARASAIL” (feat. Yung Lean & Dave Chappelle) and it acts more like an interlude on this album not providing much from all artists on it.

“SKITZO” (feat. Young Thug) is the longest song on the album being 6 minutes long. It’s a song that has 4 different beat switches with a great feature from Young Thug on the first third of the song. This part of the song is more hard-hitting and trap. Midway through the song, we get our first beat switch where Travis is the only one rapping and goes off referencing his failed love once again. A minute later we get a whole different song where once again Travis gives us an amazing rapping performance throughout the whole part. The final beat switch comes and goes fast with Travis saying how he’s loyal and has Ye (Kanye West) over Biden because of Kanye running for president back in 2020. He says this because of the crazy influence he’s had on this album that most people can tell. Even having Kanye samples, and full songs on the album, it’s safe to say that without Kanye West we wouldn’t have the ‘UTOPIA’ that we got.

“LOST FOREVER” (feat. Westside Gunn) is the song that made everyone hyped for this album when it first leaked and was even performed by Travis before ‘UTOPIA’ dropped. It’s a song that got everyone hooked because it is the first song where we get the “utopia” sound that everyone wanted. It’s the song that also had the best Travis Scott verse on the album. What people didn’t expect is the dark and hard-hitting beat switch right after the end of Travis’s verse and that’s where we get the great Westside Gunn verse that everyone thought would get cut on the final version.

“LOOOVE” (feat. Kid Cudi) is the reunion of THE SCOTTS and it was one of the more hated songs on the album when it was first released. Not sure why it was like that but the song is kind of another modern jam with both SCOTTS giving great verses on the most experimental beat on the album (fun fact: there was a snippet of this song back in 2013 a decade ago).

The next song on the album is “K-POP” (feat. Bad Bunny & The Weekend) and it’s easily the most hated by everyone. Personally, I think it’s a great song. The only thing really bad about it is just The Weekend feature which is surprising, but it’s just the lyrics are really weird, but it’s overall a song that I never hated.

Now “TELEKINESIS” (feat. SZA & Future) is another song that was also originally a Kanye West song again, and it’s like a very futuristic sound that makes you levitate, and has a great Travis Scott vocal performance. Future is also just an obvious choice for a feature on this type of song; he gives us great bars and just flows on the beat the whole verse. When the album was first released it had hidden features and this is really important because the faces on everyone when we first heard SZA’s voice on this song is easily one of the most memorable moments this year for music. She delivers some of the most emotional singing we’ve had from and is easily the best feature on the whole album. It’s honestly beautiful.

Finally, after 18 amazing tracks we are on the last one called “TIL FURTHER NOTICE” (feat. James Blake & 21 Savage) we get production from the famous Metro Boomin and vocals from James Blake. It’s already a great song but with the added 21 Savage verse he just flows on the beat perfectly. The real star is of course Travis Scott where he shines on this beat and gives us a great verse, with people even saying it’s the best on the whole album. It’s one of the best endings to a great album and contrasts perfectly with the intro.

In the end, Travis Scott’s ‘UTOPIA’ works as a way to show us how he can be versatile in his sound. It is a longer album with 19 tracks, and most people thought it wouldn’t be good because of its length, but it shows that making a long album isn’t bad because imagine this album being shorter; we wouldn’t have gotten the 5 years of music that we should’ve gotten from him. He shows on this album that he doesn’t follow the norm and doesn’t let the public tell him what to do, and he bounces back from tragedies like the Astroworld concert. Most people compare it to his equivalent of ‘Yeezus’ by Kanye West, not only because of the heavy influence it has on ‘UTOPIA’, but also because of how it serves the same purpose by showing that he can change his sound and experiment and still come out with a classic album even if it’s different than what they usually put out.

‘Currents’ album review

By: Caden Kipfmueller

On July 17th, 2015, an Australian musician going by the stage name Tame Impala released his third studio album, ‘Currents’.  Tame Impala, or Kevin Parker, had been rising steadily in popularity since the release of his last album nearly three years prior, but ‘Currents’ was undoubtedly his big break.

Two years after its release, I would listen to this album for the first time, while sitting in my middle school English class during silent work time, browsing YouTube and idly looking for something to help me focus while I studied in the thirty minutes I had left in class. I remember the day well, I think because of how important it would be to me one day.

The album cover caught my eye, with its wavy lines that looked like optical illusions and an overwhelming amount of purple. A friend of mine once told me it looked like a physics textbook from the nineties, and I’m inclined to agree. Something about it was so…enticing to me. I knew what I was doing for the next thirty minutes.

From my very first listen I was hooked. ‘Currents’ was nothing like I’d ever heard before, a unique blend of 80s inspired synths with a modern twist. It was catchy. Intoxicating, even.

Tame Impala has this innate ability to masterfully craft dense soundscapes in this album, with a variety of trippy synths as well as a handful of percussion instruments, guitars, smooth bass and smoother vocals all coming together to make the most utterly jaw dropping music I’ve ever heard to this day. Parker’s voice, an airy falsetto, is the cherry-on-top in every song, somehow grounding tracks despite its ethereal nature.

Listening to this album makes me feel like I am floating in a sensory deprivation tank. I was shocked to learn that the entire album was mixed, written, and recorded by him and him alone because it seems otherworldly, and far more complex than could be imagined by one creative artist. In my mind, it’s so far beyond what anyone is capable of creating, much less one man who describes himself as “Just some guy”.

The album’s opening track, “Let it Happen”, was a seven minute masterpiece that left me so floored the first time I heard it that I had to play it again. And again. And again. Before I knew it, English was over and I hadn’t even gotten past the first song. The rest of the album was similar, filled with moments that made me do a double take and play over and over again. I think it took me three days to listen to the whole thing start to finish when all was said and done simply because I couldn’t stop going back and listening to my favorite moments one more time.

Lyrically, ‘Currents’ is surprisingly nuanced. It may be hard to notice because his vocals are so frequently distorted and hard to pinpoint exactly, but Kevin Parker weaves intricate stories into his songs. You may not pick them up on the first listen but they are always there. Stories about loneliness and loss and growth, and the agonizing process of slowly losing contact with loved ones. Some songs you can relate to. Some songs you can’t. I find his songs especially poignant as a teenager growing up in the twenty-first century, but I feel like the overall themes would have held up over any time period.

“Yes I’m Changing” holds specific emotional significance to me as I prepare myself for college and the next stages of my life. Sometimes I look back on the person I used to be with deep longing. I frequently wish I could go back to before I was stressed out about grades and friends and, well…growing up. Listening to “Yes I’m Changing” is always a deeply personal experience for me, as it grounds me and reassures me that growing up is going to be ok.

I never really listened to music much when I was younger. Some homes are occupied by music-philes, where music is constantly on in the background, others not so much. Mine? Not so much. Sure, my mom would turn on the radio in the car, or my dad would play songs on his iPod for me, but the music I was hearing regularly never really resonated with me. I didn’t hate it, per-se, but I never really connected with it. I just didn’t know how powerful music could be. When I listened to ‘Currents’, I discovered that power. Finally, I understood what it was that made music so important to so many people. For the first time in my life, I understood the emotional potential of music.

This album has sparked a long lasting passion for music inside of me. I don’t know if that passion was always there and just waiting to emerge or if it came out of nowhere, but frankly I don’t care. It doesn’t really matter to me. What matters to me is that music is now an integral part of who I am. It makes me a more well-rounded person, and it’s given me the chance to connect with those that share my love for this album, forging deep connections over our common love for this music. This album’s role in my willingness to branch out and seek out new types of music across all genres will never be understated. It is only now that I am coming to realize that music can be a vehicle of relaxation, protest, awareness, diversity, escape, or sympathy beyond simply serving as background noise on a long car trip.

‘Currents’ marked the start of a lifelong love for music. Without it, I don’t think I’d look at music, or even art more generally, the same way. The album has fundamentally changed my perspective on life more broadly, setting a standard for myself when I create things of my own.

Jack Harlow album review

By: Nagad Omar & Sophie Johnson

In this writing we will rate the new Jack Harlow album ‘Jackman’. This album came out just last month on April 28, 2023, and it is the third studio album that singer and rapper Jack Harlow has released. The style and genre of this album is very hip hop. The album as a whole, as well as the songs on it, are already a big hit with many of his fans and other listeners.

This album has a total of 10 songs with a length of 24:03. The whole album overall got generally positive reviews averaging with a score of 67/100.

The first song we are reviewing is called “It Can’t Be”. This song has a lot of nice bass in it and the vocals are especially good. Some of the songs on this album are not our favorite but this is one of the better ones we’ve heard. The beat is a little repetitive but overall, this song is a 7/10.

The next song is called “Blame On Me”. We would rate this song a 6/10 because there is not as much of a melody. It’s not a bad song but there are definitely better ones on the album.

Another song on this album that we reviewed is called “Is That Ight”. In our opinion, this song sounds the same as most of the other songs on the album. It is another 5/10. Once again, this song is not a bad song, but it’s not the best we’ve heard.

The next song off of Harlow’s new album, ‘Jackman’ is called ‘”They Don’t Love It”. This song was released as a single for the album. We would rate this song a 6/10. The beat of this song is pretty good and the song overall is not bad.

The next song on the album is “Ambitious”. The lyrics of “Ambitious” are great but we don’t like the sort of mellow beat. The chorus felt repetitive and long. The verses are definitely strong but feel like spoken word sometimes and less like pop music. We rate this song a 6/10.

The next song is “No Enhancers”. We really like the chorus of this song and the repetitiveness. It’s just enough but not too much. The lyrics flow really well and it feels like the normal pop music Jack Harlow makes. The beat is great and doesn’t feel as mellow as others. We rate this song a 8/10.

The next song we will rate is “Denver”,our favorite song on the album. The beat and flow of this song is unmatched. The chorus is great and the melody and flow of Harlow’s voice all match up perfectly to create this masterpiece. The opener of the song is great and sets the tone before the beat at the beginning comes on which we love. This song has no flaws. We rate this song a 10/10.

The last song we will rate is, “Gang, Gang, Gang”. This song was Harlow’s biggest song on the album, but really because of the content of the song. In this song Harlow talks about one of his buddies who allegedly raped 7 girls in the back of a Target parking lot. He also talks about his other hometown buddie who is accused of molesting a 10-year-old. This is very different from what is usually in his music, but the bigger story in this song is how much people change when he revisits his hometown and how hard it is to believe. We rate this song a 8/10.

Overall, this album is different than what Jack Harlow usually puts out. This was more deep of an album than Harlow puts out normally. His past album, “Come Home the Kids Miss You” was more rap and pop whereas this album is more mellow and Harlow tells stories in each song. The lyricism in this album is different then what we usually get. In the last album, Harlow had big features such as, Drake, Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake and Lil Wayne, whereas in this album there are no features. All in all, this album might not be for everyone but this album has better reviews than his last. We rate this album a 8/10.

What is NPR’s Tiny Desk?

By: Hannah Gliedman

History

Tiny Desk was created by Bob Boilen, a writer and music creator at NPR. At the time Bolien was a concert fanatic and was seeing 5 shows a night, every night for years.

In 2008 Bolien and a coworker, Stephen Thompson, a co-producer at NPR Music, attended a show featuring Laura Gibson, a small artist from Oregon. Boilen says “It was this awful bar — the speaker was pointing out the door, people were watching basketball games and cheering for their teams. [Laura] had a quiet voice, and we could barely hear her at all. Then an idea struck. Stephen jokingly said [to Gibson], ‘You should just come play in our office.’”

After a couple weeks Gibson came into play just at a desk with some microphones and a camera that was then put on to the fairly new, NPR YouTube channel. From there, NPR has invited hundreds of artists from all different fields of music: rap, pop, folk. Over time the segment has gained various recognitions and has multiple videos that have over 100 million views.

The Tiny Desk set up sometimes creates obstacles for artists, for others it causes no trouble. Because of its stripped back and authentic nature and sound, “There’s no hiding at Tiny Desk” says the sound producer at Tiny Desk, Niki Walker. Some bands like Wolf Alice and Big Thief have a hard time stripping back their music to fit the more acoustic mood. Other bands, especially jazz, like Moon Hooch says, “We didn’t have any trouble with the sound at Tiny Desk; we just went into subway mode.”

Greatest Of All Time

The most viewed Tiny Desk of all time is Dua Lipa’s at home concert which accumulated 107 million views in just 2 years. The video was part of the tiny desk concerts that were held during the pandemic, “at-home”, but because of the stripped back nature of the show it didn’t change much about the layout, if anything it gave the singer more room for electronics and instruments.

However; it’s widely considered that the best Tiny Desk of all time is Mac Miller’s. The concert was published in August of 2018 and has 101 million views. The performance came only a couple weeks before the singer’s untimely death. The set was the first time the artist performed tracks from his album, ‘Swimming’.

Other great performances on the Tiny Desk include Tyler, The Creator, who utilized the strippend back style of the show and performed with an emphasis on his background singers, The Cranberries, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Hozier, Adele, Lizzy MacAlpine, and many more.

My top 5 favorite albums of the 2020s (so far)

By: Charlie Boone

So much incredible music has come out in the past three years, so here are 5 of my favorite albums from 2020-2023, from any genre, in chronological order.

LEYA – ‘Flood Dream’ (2020)

LEYA is an experimental music duo from Brooklyn, New York consisting of harpist Marilu Donovan and vocalist/violinist Adam Markiewicz. Their 2020 album, ‘Flood Dream’ is a haunting and hypnotizing experience combining Donovan’s low-tuned and dissonant harp with Markiewicz’s ghostly operatic vocals for a final product that is as beautiful as it is petrifying. There’s a very distinct eerie quality that feels cinematic but in a very unorthodox way, like it’s the score to a VHS tape that kills you if you press play.

Favorite track: “INTP”

ZelooperZ – ‘Valley of Life’ (2020)

Throughout his time making music in the exciting and ever-evolving Detroit rap scene, ZelooperZ has paved his way as a creative talent, melding elements from both underground and mainstream hip-hop, as well as jazz and club music. He’s an incredibly consistent artist with multiple albums out this decade that could all be on this list, but 2020’s ‘Valley of Life’ stands out to me as a particularly fleshed-out and replayable experience.

ZelooperZ plays with various styles of rap, melding them together with a constant personality and distinctive production style. “Fooseball” features a jazzy lo-fi beat with a unique and infectious groove, while “What2du” (featuring an incredible verse from New York neo-soul artist Fousheé) has what is probably my favorite beat on the album, with eerie synth stabs and sparse yet bouncy percussion reminiscent of Soulja Boy and Tisakorean.

Favorite track: “Just Me”

Brand of Sacrifice – ‘Lifeblood’ (2021)

In the early 2010s, deathcore was at its peak, creatively and commercially. Bands like Suicide Silence and Whitechapel were establishing their footing as the current top dogs of extreme metal, while bands like Winds of Plague and Disfiguring the Goddess were experimenting with technicality and orchestral elements to further expand the sound.

Over a decade later, the deathcore scene seems to me like it’s going in two different directions, one focused on the revival of what made the old scene so great, and the other focused on modernizing and polishing the sound to make it fresh.

In my opinion, the 2000s revival scene is much more interesting with a rawer, more aggressive edge, but the biggest exception to that is Brand of Sacrifice. Their 2021 record ‘Lifeblood’ is pretty much the perfect embodiment of mixing mind-bending brutality with fantastic modern production, and the closest thing to the logical conclusion of what the 2000s deathcore bands were experimenting with.

Favorite track: “Lifeblood”

Ghais Guevara – There Will Be No Super-Slave (2022)

Philadelphia rapper Ghais Guevara has been making waves in the underground recently with incredible, entirely self-produced rap records that are, in my opinion, some of the best and most groundbreaking hip-hop projects I’ve heard in recent memory, combining the aggressive and energetic sounds of East Coast drill and Jersey club with a calmer, more introspective style both over masterfully selected soul and pop samples. ‘There Will Be No Super-Slave’ is definitely Ghais’s current best work and a great showcase of his massive amount of talent.

Still, it’s clear that this isn’t the furthest he wants to go with his sound, and given the way he’s been talking about his upcoming record, I am very much looking forward to what he comes up with next.

Favorite track: “Face/Off”

Danger Mouse & Black Thought – ‘Cheat Codes’ (2022)

The Roots’ Black Thought teams up with super-producer Danger Mouse to craft a jazzy hip-hop soundscape full of dusty drum breaks, fantastic sample work, and countless double entendres. The album’s old-school boom-bap style doesn’t necessarily lend itself to innovation, but with the addition of features like the late MF DOOM and New York staple from Griselda Records, Conway the Machine, ‘Cheat Codes’ is genuinely a perfectly constructed hip-hop album that feels like a portal into a dusty crate of old vinyl records with one of the greatest MCs of all time spitting at the top of his game.

Favorite track: “Aquamarine” (feat. Michael Kiwanuka)