ALBUM REVIEW: Ab-Soul- These Days…
With the rapid development of buzzy rap crews in this new decade, it has been rather frustrating witnessing how meekly covered the minor players in these crews can be. Hodgy Beats will always be compared to Tyler and Earl, A$AP Ferg will always be compared to A$AP Rocky, and all of TDE will always be compared to Kendrick Lamar. Reviews of late couldn’t be more off by putting albums like Schoolboy Q’s Oxymoron and this record against Kendrick’s 2012 masterpiece, good kid, m.A.A.d. city. These albums will never reach those heights, and should be viewed on their own accord. It’s unfair to compare albums that don’t necessarily warrant such a comparison. However, even when separated from the TDE dynasty, These Days… doesn’t really work.
Ab-Soul has always struggled to find his footing and identity, always wearing other peoples flows like he’s Hannibal Lector wearing a mask of human flesh. Sometimes he’s a thug, sometimes he’s an eccentric weirdo, sometimes he’s a radio rap superstar. He’s never all things at once (Something that weirdly/perfectly describes his TDE partner Schoolboy Q). Ab-Soul even has a tendency to ape whatever his guest rappers are doing. Over the past couple of years, the guy has never dropped a guest verse (or verse of his own) that sounds distinctly original. It’s all derivative of something else. Even the songs that veer into somewhat unique territory feel derivative of something relatively trendy. Closure is one of the better tracks on the album, but it sounds like a Chance the Rapper throwaway. On Stigmata, Ab-Soul has a slow and reserved flow, not unlike that of featured rapper Action Bronson. Then there’s W.R.O.H., which sounds like a late era Cudi track…so yeah.
ALBUM REVIEW: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib- Piñata
There are a couple things that are always surefire ways of making a good Hip-Hop album. If your delivery is commanding and attention-grabbing, you can make a good album. If your lyricism is either memorable or mind-bending, you’ll probably make a good album. If your production is on point, you can make a good album. Freddie Gibbs and Madlib have made a good album.
Piñata finds Madlib on the production boards and Freddie Gibbs on the mic, which is a combination that pays off throughout the entire album. Gibb’s has a throaty and deep voice that really commands even the most laid back of beats. Madlib has some great soulful and wonky beats that mesh well with Gibbs’ style. The two aren’t a match made in heaven, like Killer Mike & El-P, but it’s a MC-Producer duo that makes sense and works out pretty well in the end.
What’s disorienting about Piñata is how songs can be both laid back and intense all at once. Album highlight High has some tongue-twisting confusion from Madlib, spitting some of his most intense verses on here (We also get a nice verse from Danny Brown). But the beat in the back is a pretty laid back soul beat. The two combine to create a track that’s intensely satisfying. The whole album has a Gangsta rap vibe to it, but it’s a throwback gangsta rap, back to the old days of Jazz Rap and Boom Bap. It doesn’t hurt that Gibbs can spit absolutely insane verses with his intricate and booming flow. There are a couple points here where Gibbs begins to sound like Tupac, and that’s a great thing.
Then there’s Madlib on the production, who brings some absolutely banging beats to the table. Shitsville has a nice reverberating drum and “string” that feels both modern and vintage simultaneously. Thuggin’ has a very dreamlike quality to it, bringing in some jazzy bass and loud shiny guitar sounds. And if some old-school ass kicking is what you need, the laid back beat on Real works perfectly. Madlib’s production isn’t particularly showy or in your face, it’s just straight up nice, fleshing out every song to its fullest potential.
The features here are just icing on the cake, whether it’s a typically solid Danny Brown verse on High or a nice Raekwon verse on Bomb (Raekwon sounds great on this throwback production, even though the beat is one of the weakest on the album). The second half is inundated with features, and most of them are pretty good. Domo Genesis and Earl Sweatshirt bring their command to Robes, delivering two nice verses that are intricate but laid back (Domo has been on a roll since those jaw-dropping verses on Doris). Scarface’s verse Broken isn’t particularly stunning, but his voice brings a nice sound to the track. And surprisingly, Ab-Soul drops a really great verse here (the hook here is also great). And then there’s the big posse cut at the tail end, the title track. The lineup is a bit confusing (Domo? Mac Miller? Who is G-Wiz?), but the absolutely ominous beat absolutely allows all of the rappers to lay down the line. Domo’s verse is nice, G-Wiz actually isn’t bad, Casey Veggies drops a REALLY good verse, Meechy Darko scares the shit out of me, and Mac Miller…well…I guess he’s kind of there. It’s an average posse cut, but it works.
It’s a very, very good Hip-Hop album that does everything it needs to do. The production is great, Gibbs spits some straight fire on a lot of tracks, and the album itself manages to last 17 tracks and not get old. Some of the longer skits could have been excised, but that’s every Hip-Hop album. If raps is what you need, Gibbs has a ton of it.
Summary: Piñata is a great project, bringing Gibbs’ aggressively intricate flow together with Madlib’s disorienting and laid back production to create a project that is full of good vibes and bangers.
Choice Cuts: High, Shame, Scarface
Leftovers: Knicks
B/B+
You can stream Shame below. Piñata is out now on Madlib Invazion.
ALBUM REVIEW: Earl Sweatshirt- Doris
Doris is an imperfect album, but like many imperfect Hip-Hop albums before it, that’s what makes it great.
Earl has been a standout in Odd Future ever since his reemergence early last year. While Tyler and the rest of the gang have kind of fallen by the wayside (Save Frank Ocean, who at this point kind of seems like he’s beyond this. Even though he still appears on the projects. Hmm. Whatever, let’s continue.), Earl has really stepped into the spotlight as “The one to watch”. I mean, before his disappearance, his first mixtape was hailed as one of the freshest tapes in recent years (A notion I totally agree with, even though I don’t care for some of his lyrics on that project). Then when he came back, he nailed a couple of amazing verses. His final verse on Oldie was the best part of OF Tape II, and his verse on Ocean’s Super Rich Kids was a memorable moment on an album loaded with memorable moments.
For a guy who has really stood in the spotlight, this album makes some really interesting choices. Doris is a project that is surprisingly reliant on features. A solid half of the record features. In fact, he opens the record with a verse from SK La’Flare, a rather unknown name that…well…isn’t Earl. Despite all the features though, Earl proves that he knows what he’s doing. The guest verses throughout the album flesh the album out in a way that I don’t think Earl would be able to pull off himself. Earl is known for being an incredibly talented rapper, but he’s not as well known for songcraft and being able to really make a song solo. Aside from the incredible introspective Chum, most of the highlights on this record feature other rappers. It also helps that most of these rappers bring something to the table. From Tyler’s back-in-form hook on Whoa to Frank Ocean’s oddly satiating verse on Sunday to Domo Genesis’ REALLY great verses on 20 Wave Caps and Knight, this record makes a fine argument for paying attention to Odd Future in their awkwardly matured phase. Not to mention that non-OF rappers like Vince Staples and Mac Miller (A guy I normally HATE) bring some great stuff to the table.
It wouldn’t be ridiculous to say that Doris is probably the best Odd Future project to date. Earl brings a unified vision to this project and a sense of cohesion that is really refreshing. From song to song, there’s no roller-coaster sense of quality like on prior projects (cough…Wolf…cough cough). Save the haphazard instrumental 523, there’s not one song that would suffice as filler. Each track manages to mesh Earl’s avalanche like verses with a legitimately good song and beat.
Oh yeah, and this is the first Odd Future project where pretty much every beat WORKS. They’re still just as simple as they always have been (and much simpler than Tyler’s aesthetically experimental Wolf), but the way they’re used makes sense. The dark sparseness of beats on tracks like Hive and Sasquatch really enhance the already grim verses. Plus, Doris is light on hooks, which never really mesh well with Odd Future beats to begin with. Everything here is grounded and well thought out, which is something I really appreciate from any Hip-Hop release (Let alone Odd Future, a group that has increasingly left the basic concept of “Grounded” far behind).
But let’s take “Odd Future” out of the equation here. Even then, this is a really great album. It helps that Earl is one of the most interesting and talented rappers out there right now. Earl doesn’t have a particularly diverse sense of delivery. He tends to keep a rather consistent monotone throughout the entire album. So what makes Earl so captivating? Well, it’s his lyrics and flow. Earls’ rhyme scheme is immaculate, twisting words into wild patterns and verses. Plus, while some criticize Earl for being a rather bland lyricist, I point to Chum, an introspective masterpiece that mixes emotion, wordplay, and rhyming fantastically.
Doris is not a project that is heavy on “Songs”, since many tracks rely more on putting solid verses on top of solid beats. Guild and 20 Wave Caps, two tracks I enjoy quite a bit, feel like really good Hip-Hop tracks rather than great songs. It’s not an insult, but just a matter of how some of Doris comes out: a cohesive album that relies more on a feel than on the strength of individual songs. But there are moments where this combination does provide for a legitimately great song. Hive pairs its menacing beat with three rappers dropping insanely great verses (Vince Staples!!!), creating a gruesome piece that is easily one of the best songs this year. Then there’s Chum, which speaks for itself. Sunday manages to craft a story out of Frank Ocean’s really solid verse (Which brings the lo-fi production on the track to a new level). And Whoa feels like a great throwback to early Odd Future (But not in a pandering way).
I really love this project. There are some moments that don’t work as well; 523 sounds pretty awful (but props for being experimental) and the intro, while serviceable, is a bit underwhelming. But for the most part, everything works really, really well. Of course, there are highlights, but even the non-highlights have a lot to offer. Uncle Al is a mesmerizing conglomeration between Earl’s wordplay and the increasingly monstrous beat. Mac Miller and Earl play off each other incredibly well on Guild, a song that works way better in the context of the album than it does as a “single”. Molasses brings some Wu-Tang vibes to the album, and Earl keeps his own. Hell, Knight sounds like a copy of a track from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, and it still manages to be one of my favorite tracks on Doris. Oh yeah, and there’s bases-loaded run of Sunday, Hive, and Chum. Not every song is of the same quality (The first couple of tracks and the tracks between Chum and Guild are solid, if a bit empty), but pretty much every song has something really good going for it. Doris isn’t a groundbreaking record, but it’s definitely a really great one.
Summary: Doris is a fantastic record with some great features, a nice aesthetic, and a good platform for Earl’s intricate rapping. It’s probably the best Odd Future project as a whole so far (Save possibly Bastard), and it has a ton of highlights.
Choice Cuts: Sunday, Hive, Chum, Knight
Leftovers: 523
A- (4.5/5)
You can stream the project here (Up until 8/20). Or, you can watch the insanely good video for Hive below. Doris is out 8/20 on Odd Future.
ALBUM REVIEW: Mac Miller-Watching Movies With the Sound Off
Mac Miller is one of several rappers that deeply confound me. I mean, just a few years ago, It was pretty easy to just ignore him. He was an act that teen girls always got really excited about. Back then I probably associated him with that idiotic Donald Trump song. Now (perhaps out of nowhere, or perhaps because I’ve just kind of ignored the guy) he drops an album featuring Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, Schoolboy Q, Action Bronson…basically a ton of really talented and somewhat underground rappers.
I gave Blue Side Park a listen when it came out, and I found myself rather unimpressed. The production was OK, but Miller himself tends to stick to a monotone delivery that just kind of aggravates me. He also has a tendency to play with words sporadically, but what he’s saying never carries any weight. I was hoping, with all these features from proven lyricists, that he’d improve a bit as a rapper on Watching Movies With the Sound Off. Nope.
My biggest problem with this album, just like every other Miller project I’ve bothered to look into, is Miller himself. I can’t deny that he has some taste (Which I’ll get to). But he constantly puts himself with musicians that only accent how mediocre Miller is as a rapper. Miller relies almost entirely on a laid back and collected flow. Sometimes he does bring a slight variant to the style (like on the hilariously ignorant Goosebumpz), but for the most part his flow doesn’t change. Even worse than his flow’s tendency to switch into monotony is his bland delivery. Throughout the tape, Mac Miller just comes across as disinterested and bored. The guy puts the same lack of soul and effort into tracks that are supposed to be powerful (Like the missed-opportunity REMember or the painfully generic Youforia) as he does on tracks where he raps about smoking weed and having sex…which he does a lot. Plus, there’s no sense of lyrical creativity on much of the album. I mean, can someone tell him that Danny Brown did basically the same thing Miller did on Birdcall two years ago on Monopoly?
When Miller isn’t rapping, he’s delivering half sung hooks. The hooks on this album are probably some of the worst hooks I’ve heard on a Hip-Hop album this year. Miller delivers them with the same lazy lack of gravitas that permeates the rest of his music. Not one hook (Save the ignorant Goosebumpz) sounds different from another. It’s terrible. Miller tries for several catchy moments throughout the album, and a heavy majority of these attempts just fall flat on their faces.
What really saddens me about this album is that Miller brings in a hugely talented base of collaborators, but he completely underutilized them. Aside from shining moments of hope from Ab-Soul and Action Bronson (and Jay Electronica, depending on how I’m feeling), the guests and producers kind of sank into Miller’s bland quicksand. Schoolboy Q drops a sadly underwhelming verse, and Earl and Tyler bring serviceable yet forgettable contributions to the table (Thought it’s nice to note that Tyler is continuing to experiment with new production styles on OK).
Something else that makes Watching Movies With the Sound Off a mind-boggling bummer is the fact that, despite the plethora of great producers brought in, none of them can save some of the songs they’re on. Flying Lotus is one of the most creative producers around today, but his beat on S.D.S. feels kind of generic and uninspired. Plus, while I love Clams Casino, his contribution on tracks like Youforia and Bird Call feel like retreads…retreads that can’t save the mediocre songs they’re supporting. Alchemist and Pharrell bring some of the best beats to the table, but they don’t hold a candle to some of their finer work. The only beat I really liked on here, surprisingly, was the Tyler beat on OK. It wasn’t brilliant, but at least it tried something different.
Watching Movies With the Sound Off isn’t necessarily an excruciating listen. While there are some moments that are unbearable, most of it is at least tolerable. And there are some songs that manage to overcome the problems that bring the album down. As I said before, Red Dot Music has some ok production and a really nice Action Bronson feature. Ab-Soul practically saves Matches from being completely mediocre. Plus there are moments where Miller does get somewhere lyrically (He gets there on I Am Who I Am). What this album needed was more of these moments, and less of Miller’s unnecessary self-indulgence.
Summary: Watching Movies With the Sound Off just reaffirms Miller as rather bland rapper who relies too much on mediocre hooks and barely interesting subject matter. It also doesn’t help that the collaborators are surprisingly weak.
Choice Cuts: Goosebumpz, OK, Red Dot Music
Leftovers: Youforia, Goes, Watching Movies
1.5/5
Watching Movies With the Sound Off is out now on Rostrum Records.
What’s your opinion on Watching Movies With the Sound Off? Is Mac Miller a fresh Hip-Hop sensation or just someone who can make an OK pop song…or is he an overrated and mediocre rapper? Also, what do you think I should review next?
EP REVIEW: Hodgy Beats- Untitled EP 2
Following Odd Future’s output over the past few years has been a wild roller coaster. I mean, other than Wolf (Which has been growing on me, by the way), it’s been on one spectrum or the other. Either it’s really great or really bad. One thing that was really great was the predecessor to this project. Last year, Hodgy Beats (A second tier Odd Future member who, if he was a bit more consistent, could be up with Earl and Tyler) released a few projects. One was a really mediocre album with Mellowhype, which was one of the year’s biggest disappointments. However, earlier in the year he dropped Untitled EP, a project that was recorded in a week. The production was mostly stellar, Hodgy had some nice lines, and it really showed how great the guy can really be. I was excited when I heard that he was doing another solo EP, and I was hoping that it would be similar to that first EP. Sadly, it is not.
There are tracks that are similar in style to the smooth and soulful tracks that made that first mixtape so great. Alone has a simple but atmospheric beat with really simple percussion. It’s really affective and smooth, and Hodgy lays out some nice lyrics and storytelling over the beat. And Karateman is nearly there, despite the beat becoming a bit too dissonant and wonky towards the end. But even these tracks fail to really transcend to the level of the tracks from that first EP. Bullsh**tin’ tries to capture the same energy and vibes, but it comes across as kind of messy and ugly.
The first EP was mainly interesting because it felt fresh. It tried for beats that were smooth, which Hodgy does really good with. Here, there is a similar level of experimentation, but the execution is completely off. Years tries some weird spaceship sounds that get a bit redundant, and towards the end of the song are just unbearable. They also don’t really make sense with the rest of the song. Oh, and they try some rock stuff on Wicked and Goodbye. The results? Well, it sounds like Godsmack with rapping. Or, to be more on point, an Insane Clown Posse song. So, terrible.
Hodgy still sounds OK over the entire tape. I’ve always liked his flow and his lyrics, and he shows both off here. Even on the weaker tracks, like SALE, he manages to bring an engaging performance to the table. He can do a sweet half-sung chorus and an energetic verse with the same amount of prowess and skill. There are elements of this tape that prove (despite the weak production/ Numbers) that Hodgy is a member of Odd Future that truly should be respected and noticed. And the beats are interesting enough to separate it from a normal Odd Future tape. However, the production is often inconsistent and poorly executed. Props for the ideas, not so much for the execution.
Summary: Hodgy Beats is game as an emcee, and this tape provides enough in that department. However, some of the experimentation in the production (including two haphazard heavy rock cuts) sours the experience.
Choice Cuts: Alone, Karateman
Leftovers: Wicked, Goodbye
2/5
You can stream the entire EP below.
ALBUM REVIEW: Tyler, The Creator- Wolf
Just listening to the album opener, Wolf, makes this feel like Tyler’s last stand of sorts.
It’s been a wild ride since Bastard blew up in 2010. Tyler dropped the ehhhhh Goblin, Earl came back, was featured on a track with The Game and Lil Wayne, and they got a TV show on Adult Swim. However, while Tyler’s life has gotten a whole lot crazier, watching it has done the opposite. I’ve met each new Odd Future mixtape and release with less and less enthusiasm, mainly because the group has yet to display any sort of growth (Outside of Earl’s newer singles). Wolf is really Tyler’s last chance to prove that the crazy talent shown on Bastard and Yonkers wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
There are plenty of songs that don’t do much to revitalize Tyler. Domo 23, the lead single, sounds intense, but it’s nothing new. It really just feels like an extended version of Tyler’s verse from Rella. Also, the memorable lines aren’t really as memorable as they were before, with the only line sticking out in my memory being the Rodney King swimming lessons line (Which is a really sick, really great line). And then there are the little skits that show Tyler’s basically still a 17 year old boy…except now the immaturity is more saddening than entertaining.
But there are moments that take us back to that freshness that made Bastard such a stellar mixtape, and moments that give Wolf a sense of grounded reality. Answer, a slower song about Tyler’s dad, shows a sense of pain and reality that Tyler’s been missing in a lot of his music lately. I’ve always liked Tyler better on tracks where he lets everything bare, and luckily this album has some of those moments stick out a little better than on Goblin. Awkward, a smooth love track, also works very well. Of course, not every moment like this works, with a similarly smooth track like Slater coming across as awkward. Frank Ocean’s always nice, but on this track his feature seems a little forced. The same happens later on IFHY, which has some nasty production that just doesn’t work that well.
For better or for worse, Wolf shows a Tyler that is older and incredibly tired. His signature snarly delivery is a little more strained, and a little more experienced. There’s less lyrics about violence and raping and more lyrics about girls and how much he’s uncomfortable with being famous. Colossus might annoy some people (“You’re famous, stop complaining”), but Tyler’s discomfort with his fame comes across as incredibly earnest, and it’s probably one of the best Tyler deliveries on the album.
Somehow, the production has simultaneously improved and regressed…which is a bit odd. The actual instrumentation still feels like it’s made with a Yamaha keyboard, which at some points can be grating; the percussion and synth horns are especially guilty of this. But the arrangements on many of the tracks, like on the opener Wolf feel more intricate than what they’ve been before. It might just be me coming to terms with production that I’ve always felt is underwhelming, but this might be the best produced Odd Future album yet, even though I still think it could use some work (GET RID OF THE AWFUL SOUNDING SYNTH HORNS)
Another reason I may like this album more than Goblin is because it does feel slightly more grounded, at least in Tyler’s attitude. The scope might be the opposite of grounded (18 tracks), but there are a greater amount of more laid back, more introverted tracks this time around that do more to show off Tyler’s talent. There are tracks that still have overwhelming feelings of gloom and ignorance, like the police-sire circling Pigs, but they don’t come across as ridiculous or forced (even though I think Pigs is one of the weaker tracks on the album).
The guests here are a bit wishy washy. Guests that would normally be guaranteed good things, like Frank Ocean, are hit and miss (Exactly: his part on Bimmer is a hit, Slater is a miss). The guests that aren’t part of Odd Future are in the same boat, with Laetitia Sadier sounding really nice, and Pharrell being a little mediocre. Erykah Badu, however, sounds really nice on Treehome95 (Which is a weird track, because I don’t think Tyler even raps on it).
The Odd Future rappers themselves actually do an alright job here. Hodgy Beats sounds good on Jamba, and Mike G actually sounded vaguely interesting on Parking Lot. Also, I think Rusty comes out as…OK. Minus Tyler’s annoying Sam character, Domo, Tyler, and Earl all deliver alright verses. Also, Trashwang is simultaneously the best and worst thing I’ve ever heard (Seriously, every time Lucas and his Waka Flocka impression thing comes on, I lose it).
Overall, this album is kind of OK. I like it more than Goblin, even though they’re probably equally uneven. I guess there are more songs here that I like, as opposed to the amount of songs I hate (which was a problem on Goblin). I mean, Tamale is awful, but it’s the only track on Wolf that’s that bad (As opposed to Goblin, which had AU79, Window, Transylvania, and B*tch Suck D*ck (Trashwang might be worse than all of these songs, but that’s a weird case)). However, this album is still inconsistent, and it shows that Tyler is still a little all over the place. If this 18-track album lost a little weight, then we might have gotten an album that’s actually solidly good. So, it’s nice to see improvement, but there can be more.
Summary: It has more stand-out tracks than Goblin, with more tracks that explore Tyler’s life with more depth, and some slightly improved production. However, there’s still a lot of room for growth, and the immaturity is getting a little grating.
Choice Cuts: Awkward, Answer, Colossus, PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer
Leftovers: Domo 23, Pigs, Tamale, Trashwang*
*- Also the best thing ever.
3-3.5/5
Stream Wolf below. Wolf is out Tuesday (4/2) on Odd Future
LATE ALBUM REVIEWS: Frank Ocean-channel ORANGE
I don’t think I’m going to say much that other people haven’t said before, but this album is just really great.
Frank Ocean is a R&B Singer-Songwriter currently located in Los Angeles. He moved there from New Orleans post-Katrina, and ended up writing songs for the likes of Justin Bieber and John Legend. In 2009, he managed to connect and become a member of the rather infamous OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), building a friendship with Tyler, the Creator. He also signed with Def Jam in 2009, but relations were initially weak.
In late 2010, OFWGKTA blew up with the release of Tyler’s Bastard mixtape and Earl Sweatshirt’s Earl gaining traction and heavy hype leading up to Tyler’s debut album, Goblin. Shortly before that album dropped, Frank Ocean released nostalgia, ULTRA, is first mixtape, and an impressive one at that. Whether it was original songs or reworkings of Coldplay’s Strawberry Swing or MGMT’s Electric Feel, it really showcased his voice and lyricism fantastically, at a time when the rest of Odd Future’s hype was dying down considerably.
Shortly before this album, channel ORANGE, Frank Ocean opened up about his sexuality via a post on Tumblr. While he didn’t flat out say he was Gay or Bisexual, he did come clean about being attracted to a man as his first love. Considering his testosterone filled, somewhat homophobic genre, and his association with Odd Future (A group accused by GLAAD, among other groups, of being homophobic), this announcement was strange and, in a way, ground breaking. Not to go too much into this, but the fact that Ocean covers some of this subject matter without coming off as angsty or overly dramatic is a feat in itself. In fact, the entire album is kind of a feat.
Ocean’s singing is top notch, he’s captivating no matter what mode he’s in, whether it be more subdued vocal performances on Pilot Jones and Super Rich Kids or hitting ridiculous notes with enough power to take down a building on Thinkin About You and (especially) Sweet Life. His lyricism describes the setting for the album perfectly, and helps it to tell a story. I know some people don’t like this comparison, but a lot of this album is reminiscent of Marvin Gaye’s best work, telling great stories, powerful singing, and immaculate production that was on What’s Going On and Here My Dear.
And speaking of the production, that’s great here, too. Whether it’s weird electronic effects on Pilot Jones, driving synths and electric guitars on Pyramids, or the organs and gorgeous strings on truly perfect Bad Religion (The song that sparked that coming out event), this album is sonically diverse without sounding like it’s all over the place. Ocean and his production play on the same level, and neither outweighs the other on any song here, and Frank Ocean’s talent is showcased even more because most of the songs involved him on production as well.
Even instrumental throwaways are great here, Fertilizer is short and catchy, Start has some weird noises that work together to form the basic premise of the album, and White has a John Mayer guitar solo that doesn’t anger me to know end. The guests are sparse, but the ones that are there are fantastic. Earl drops a weird but totally sensible verse on Super Rich Kids to accent the semi-sad story Frank Ocean tells, while Pink Matter makes me really crave a new Outkast album, or at least a solo Andre 3000 album.
This album is fantastic, and if I did have a problem with any of it, it’s not worth stating, because it wouldn’t matter. This album is top notch material, and being a major label release, makes me anticipated for where R&B is going in the next couple of years. Also, of the great things Frank Ocean’s bound to give us in the coming years.
Summary: channel ORANGE is an amazing R&B album, reaching great heights in the vocal, production, and guest department. A really, truly great album for the time we live in.
Choice Cuts- Thinkin About You, Sweet Life, Super Rich Kids, Pyramids, Bad Religion, Pink Matter
5/5
channel ORANGE is out now on Def Jam
Vantage Point Music 