2019 has been an amazing year for albums, and we still have five months left. If the quality of albums stay this high, picking the top 20 albums at the end of the year is going to be tough.
Blood Orange – Angel’s Pulse
Devonté “Blood Orange” Hynes returns less than a year after his stellar album Negro Swan to deliver what he dubs a “mixtape”. In recent times, the word mixtape has become a point of debate, its definition becoming muddled. Is calling something a mixtape just a way of getting out of making a fully fledged, polished album? Is it a way of perhaps deflecting some criticism leveled towards the project? Whatever reason an artist does or doesn’t give is up to them, but when you have someone as talented as Dev Hynes at the helm of the ship, the result is going to be interesting, regardless of definition.
With Angel’s Pulse, Blood Orange presents an eclectic and broad collection of tracks. The mixtape label seems to refer to the rawness of the tracks, not unfinished per se, but definitely unpolished. Like a Hip Hop mixtape, Hynes employs a plethora of features, drawing on influences from several different genres. Toro y Moi makes a chilled appearance on Dark & Handsome, while the extra’d out Ian Isiah appears with Kelsey Lu on the ballad-inspired Birmingham. On Gold Teeth, Hynes shows his love for Southern Hip Hop, employing Gangsta Boo and Project Pat of Three 6 Mafia, with vocal assistance from Tinashe. More Hip Hop features come in the form of BROCKHAMPTON’s JOBA featuring on Take It Back with Arca and Justine Skye, and BennY RevivaL delivering a stand-out appearance on Seven Hours Part 1.
While this mixtape, album, project; whatever we may call it, is unpolished, it is a demonstration of Hynes’ ability to draw influences from many different genres. What it also shows is his ability to bring the best out of those featuring on his tracks. If this is a primer for his next full length album, I believe it’s safe to say we are in for multi-genre encompassing delight, and to be honest, I expect nothing less of Blood Orange.
Maxo Kream – Brandon Banks
Underrated is an overused word. The word is applied to almost anything in the modern music scene, “His production is great, but his rapping is so underrated” or “Yeah she’s a great rapper but her singing is underrated”. It permeates the modern discourse of most genres that it begins to lose meaning. However, there are always examples of that stand to show that the word is still applicable, and Maxo Kream is one such example of that.
True to himself and his hometown of Houston, Maxo has been grinding for years, slowly and steadily releasing some of the best Trap of last decade. Perfectly threading the line between story telling and street facts, Maxo paints vivid tapestries with his drug and violence laced raps. The album opens with the tragic Meet Again, the peppy beat juxtaposed by his lyrics of his incarcerated family and friends. The blunt facts of the lives of the disenfranchised continue on tracks like Brenda, Maxo drawing inspiration from 2Pac’s Brenda’s Got a Baby. Detailing the story of an abused girl who goes on to raise a son who in turn begins to abuse her, it a devastating account of woman who deserved so much better, but was doomed to repeat the cycle she was part of. Brothers see Maxo let his brother KCG Josh know that he will be there for him through thick and thin; a welcomed proclamation, given a running theme of isolation across the album.
Maxo bring it raw and gritty, but he also shows his ability to make club knockers and party-friendly bangers, calling on his fellow Houston rappers on The Relays and She Live, with Travis Scott and Megan Thee Stallion, respectively.
In conclusion, it’s fair to say that Maxo has lost some of his edge that he has on his earlier work, but given that he is now more in the spotlight, and has recently be signed, the ventures in to a more radio-palatable sound is understandable. Regardless of this, he has still crafted a solid album, with some fantastic songs.
YBN Cordae – The Lost Boy
Breaking onto the scene with his lyrical and thoughtful reply to J. Cole’s 1985, YBN Cordae quickly marked himself a promising young gun in the scene. Now that we have been presented with his debut album, we are able to fully delve into his ability, his lyricism, and his promise. It’s safe to say that he has all of these factors in overflowing abundance.
Opening with Wintertime, Cordae calls it “lyrical exercise”. Discussing his struggles with anxiety and drugs, he says he is now past that, and he’s not just someone with potential, he’s next in line for the recognition he deserves. Expanding on this on Have Mercy, Cordae says he has his team consolidated, and he wont settle for and there will be no half measures in his approach to the game. The Chance the Rapper feature on Bad Idea strikes me as funny, as this is the type of album you would expect from Chance, not the mess that was The Big Day. Anderson .Paak’s feature on RNP is fantastic, and the bar-trading that takes place on this track will have you grinning, you can just hear how much fun they had making this track together. Ty Dolla $ign and Meek Mill both deliver fantastic hooks when they appear, on Way Back Home and We Gon Make It, respectively. Pusha T joins Cordae on Nightmares are Real, talking about their beginnings in the rap game, with Pusha delivering his timeless Coke-laced rhymes.
Just over year since his reply to J. Cole, Cordae has crafted a mature, interesting, and well-rounded album. Debut albums can be a fickle beast, but Cordae has proved that he has the promise keep growing from this fantastic foundation.
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