Reviews
Bruno Mars : 24K Magic – First and foremost , let me just say thank you Bruno Mars ! 24K Magic is what the music industry needed right now . To be honest , it ’ s what I needed ; undeniably great music from the soul . This time travel of an album makes you nostalgic about the magic that came out of the 80 ’ s , 70 ’ s , and even 60 ’ s at moments . The short but extraordinarily sweet album resembles back in the day even in it ’ s length . The vibe and Bruno ’ s overall personality on “ Perm ” screams James Brown while Teddy Riley ’ s New Jack Swing mixed with Michael Jackson ’ s Thriller and a hint of Parliament Funk for the most part is the influence that seeps through each track . He gives us the best of both worlds as he balances live instrumentation and modern production . Vocally , Bruno lays it all down on each of the 9 tracks , providing the right amount of passion , cockiness , and flavor . And it goes without saying but hats off to the producers and musicians on this project . They nailed the essence of these time periods from the dominant snare hits to the synths and samples . If this album doesn ’ t make you feel all types of good , I don ’ t know what will .
KW
Childish Gambino : “ Awaken My Love !” – The fourth studio album and addition to an extensive list of projects “ Awaken My Love ” shows off the creative genius of Atlanta artist Childish Gambino known for his rapping and television work Gambino is the true representation of an artist in motion . While on hiatus for what seemed like forever Childish Gambino came out with the hit FX Television show Atlanta Which is amazingly vivid , people thought that we may never get another album from Bino coming off BTI and seeing as though he was getting his acting on it seemed bleak but , through the vastness of uncertainty we began hearing about Pharos a new concert series from him and thus spawned rumors of a new album . However , no one thought it would be him just singing but none the less this is still a solid album . “ Awaken My Love ” isn ’ t your typical Bino album though showing of his vocal chops and multiple R & B and Funk influences this album gets a 5 from yours truly .
MM
6lack : Free 6lack – I was expecting a lot more from this project , in all honesty . When seeing that it had finally gotten a release date , I was psyched to give it a listen . However , there wasn ’ t a lot of new ground explored on this mixtape / album thingy . The production is immaculate , yet bleak at the same time , paralleling his compelling voice , yet unbalanced delivery . The project isn ’ t a stinker , though , don ’ t get me wrong . But if you wanted to really get to know 6lack after hearing “ Problems ” and “ Ex Calling ,” it ’ s just not going to happen via this project . However , if you want more 6lack music that sounds chillingly similar to those two singles , then you will love 6lack ’ s latest offering . FFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFRJ
Hodgy : Fireplace : TheNotTheOtherSide – The first studio album from Hodgy ( F . K . A Hodgy Beats ) introduces us to a Hodgy that is in a different place with his life and it gives us good bars , battles with faith , inner demons , and a theme of family . This project has off the wall production and flows and its evident from the beginning that Hodgy fits in well and really shows off his skills and the album length is pretty good a total of 13 songs this isn ’ t that long of a project . The songs are kind of quick and I ’ m ok with that seeing as though we ’ ve gotten longer songs with him on it and they ’ ve come out lackluster . Although some songs are groggy this album gets a 5 from me for originality in lyrics and production and strong consistency throughout the album . MM