In September, he was selected to be the headlining performer for Super Bowl LIX, with his symbolic throne-snatching being an obvious antecedent for the move. Heading into the performance, Kendrick will have the most indelible rap song in recent memory in his arsenal. The irony is, he might ...
"Window Seat" is a perfect song, on top of being one of Erykah Badu's greatest songs ever. A part of that is because it has a dream duo rhythm section with Questlove on drums and Thundercat on bass. The pair are so in sync, making for a criminally smooth groove that Badu and piani...
before masterfully bringing it back to the remainder of the song. It was as loud and heavy as any moment in the Motorhead set I saw in the same arena a few years later. Springsteen introduced me to live music proper in a way I could have never imagined. That night at the Palace of...
The last track on Languish Arts ends with an instrumental with a flute very similar to the one on the first song on Woeful Studies, connecting the two albums seamlessly. Individually both projects are just under 30 minutes which would make them EPs in our book, but put together this double...
On the socially conscious song “It’s All Bad,” 40 addresses his then-five-year-old son, who asks “Daddy sprinkle me with some more game,” and even raps bars of his own. The track is not the strongest off In a Major Way, that honor belongs to the silky “Sprinkle Me” or ...
In his own words, Bobby states: “I feel like every rapper wants that one song that dominates the summertime. My goal was to make a project full of those kinds of records. Something you can play from top to bottom while driving with the top down – Summer Classics.” This is a GREAT...
s home sweet home. This song, which features a funkified,The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly-inspired synth lick, is a song that sticks out its tongue at anyone who’s made a joke at the expense of the Bay. “Put Me On Somethin’” is a victory lap for everyone in the Bay Area, ...
“Watch me blueprint rec centers,” Brownsville’s Ka mutters on a song just called “$,” from Honor Killed the Samurai. This is the soul of the prematurely wise rapper’s work. Let Rick Ross build “a dream with elevators in it,” let Kanye fly a jet over personal debt; Ka’s ...
“When you’re young, you’re too young/When you’re old, you’re too old.” The record’s 15 songs all clock in around the two-minute mark, a brevity born of wisdom rather than laziness. Kline is a keen editor of feelings and fragments. She knows exactly when to end a song, ...
The tinges of jazz give TPAB a sound that seals its “instant classic” label. Favorite Song: The parable in “How Much A Dollar Cost” is a powerful Kendrick narrative. It’s haunting, and you know that the person, refusing to be charitable to the divine, will end in heavenly ruin,...