I haven’t been writing enough lately – reviews especially – so here are quick thoughts on a few recent releases to get back into the swing of things. There have been so many good albums recently that it’s hard to keep up; I only wish I had the brain power / motivation to cover them all. More to come hopefully!
Westside Gunn – Still Praying
After 2023’s And Then You Pray For Me, a lot of people seemed to finally be off the Griselda train, but when you think about it that’s really the only time Westside has dropped something overtly wack in a long time. Thankfully, he took the third installment in his Prayer trilogy in the total opposite direction, doing away with all the shiny features and upbeat trap production in favor of a far more focused, peeled back, and classic Westside approach.
You’ve got simple yet soulful Muggs and Statik Selektah cuts and the features are limited to Griselda itself (excluding Brother Tom Sos, who might be a name to watch for given his show-stealing performance here), making for a much more intimate and down to Earth listen than we’ve gotten from Westside in years. It might feel like an AEW commercial at times, but we need to quit lying to ourselves that he fell off or doesn’t care about the hip-hop game anymore.
Listen to Still Praying on Spotify
SahBabii – Saaheem
What an amazing breakthrough for Sahbabii (or comeback, rather?). I remember playing SANDAS back in the day and people giving me funny looks, but Saaheem might be what solidifies him in the slime zeitgeist*. Even if you think the production is nothing special, Sah absolutely steals the show with a unique performance on every song; whether it’s the vocal experimentation matched only by Thug and Carti or his uniquely aquatic, hilarious lexicon to say everyday rap shit, it’s hard not to have a dumb smile through this whole album.
It really feels like this is SahBabii’s big chance to make an impact in the industry, similar to how Gunna turned it around – and it’s hard not to root for him. Saaheem is simply one of the funnest, most quotable albums of the year.
Listen to Saaheem on Spotify
El Cousteau – Merci, Non Merci
El Cousteau has been a major name to watch after last year’s Dirty Harry picked up some underground love. For fans of the recent plugg / sLUms crossover movement, Cousteau represents a really bombastic take on a traditionally dusty fanbase. Think Zelooperz but more focused. With the single “Words2LiveBy” featuring Earl Sweatshirt going viral (a Gaza bar is all it takes apparently), it seemed like his new album Merci, Non Merci might be an album of the year contender. While the final product is certainly great, I found it just making me want to go back to Dirty Harry. Merci, Non Merci goes all in on the trap production, but lacks some of the more nuanced, militant song concepts and fun samples. It’s absolutely worth a listen and El Cousteau is solidified in his lane, but I was expecting slightly more.
Listen to Merci, Non Merci on Spotify
Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake 2
As a longtime Uzi fan and defender, Eternal Atake 2 is simply butt. It’s so disappointing that only a year removed from Pink Tape, a surprisingly thoughtful album that takes so many risks, he drops an album that somehow manages to water down his sound to it’s simplest and stupidest. The production is such straightforward clubby trap beats trying to recreate “Just Wanna Rock” without any character. It’s crazy you can hear the nitrous effect so strongly. I’m sure he can recover but don’t even bother with this thing outside of “Mr. Chow” and “PerkySex“.
Listen to Eternal Atake 2 on Spotify
*I’m purposely talking like a douchebag when I say these things, fyi.