January 2024
Monthly Reviews | January 2024
We have already completed a full month of 2024, and we’ve already received releases from some big names. This month I have listened to four brand new projects. The first being Insano, the new album from Cleveland veteran Kid Cudi, who follows up his last album Entergalactic. His last studio album was one of his weakest efforts, so let’s see if he was able to turn the table with his latest release. Releasing his new album on the same day as Kid Cudi, 21 Savage released his long awaited third solo LP, American Dream. Since his I Am > I Was album, 21 Savage has grown as an artist and has become a much better rapper. American Dream thankfully continues to show this; more below.
Towards the end of January, we also received Benny the Butcher’s major label debut, Everybody Can’t Go. His phenomenal run with Griselda has led him to ink a deal with the iconic Hip-Hop label, Def Jam. On the same day as Benny’s release, Cole Bennett the founder of Lyrical Lemonade, released his first studio album, All Is Yellow. Enlisting the help of various artists like Eminem, Ski Mask the Slump God and Denzel Curry, he dropped a fourteen-track LP. Find out below how he fared out with his first project.
Kid Cudi — Insano
Release Date — 12th January
The ninth studio album from Kid Cudi follows up from his 2022 album, Entergalactic, which was released alongside Cudi’s Netflix-animated movie of the same name. Insano is a step up from his last album, which was average and uninspired. Consisting of 21 songs and clocking in at just over an hour, Cudi has conducted a respectable attempt at trying to provide a good album with a high quantity of tracks. Unfortunately, it would of been much better if it were shorter and more concise, to say the least. There are many bright spots on Insano; songs such as “Funky Wizard Smoke” and “Blue Sky” are just a couple of examples of the quality that this album provides. The best song is saved for last with “Hit The Streetz With My Nikez”, Cudi’s attempts at making Trap music can be a hit and miss; however Insano’s last track is the best Trap inspired record he’s ever made.
As said above, Insano would greatly be improved with some trimming. There are quite a handful of fillers and “okay” songs on this project, from the likes of “Cud Life”, “Getcha Gone” and “Freshie”. These records are not bad, but can be forgettable as soon as they’re done. From the production to the choruses, they don’t have anything that can have you returning to them. Yet those records aren’t completely bad when compared to tracks such as “Mr. Coola”, “Seven”, and “Porsche Topless”. With All three it seems as if not much care has gone into the creation of those songs, especially “Seven”, which sounds as if it was just thrown together without a care in the world. The track features Lil Wayne, who drops a short and half-arsed eight bar verse, it’s easily one of his worst features in quite some time. It’s as if Lil Wayne genuinely didn’t care for his verse nor the song generally.
On the other hand, there are a couple of features that are worth mentioning in a positive light. Pharrell Williams sounds great on the chorus for “After The Party”, he vocally fits well with the production he made for the song. Insano interestingly includes what seems to be a remix of XXXTentacion’s “Orlando”, which is from his 2017 debut album 17. With some Kanye West 808s Heartbreak inspired drum patterns added to the production, Cudi blends really well with X, and it’s a pleasant new version of X’s song.
Overall, though with a few fillers and lacklustre tracks, Insano is a good project for the most part; however, it sits towards the bottom half of Cudi’s catalogue at best. It may not be terrible such as Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven or completely average such as Entergalactic, however it lacks the consistency and quality of albums such as Indicud and his Man On the Moon trilogy. It’s an album that doesn’t add to his legacy nor harm it.
21 Savage — American Dream
Release Date — 12th January
Released on the same day as Kid Cudi’s Insano, 21 Savage released his third studio LP, American Dream. His first solo album since 2018’s I am > I was, 21 Savage has still remained consistent with his releases by delivering two collaborative projects: Savage Mode II with frequent producer Metro Boomin in 2020 and Her Loss with Drake in 2022. 21 Savage has shown an immense growth as a musical artist. Whilst still providing dark Trap bangers, we have also seen growth from a content and reflective standpoint. American Dream is another reflection of this, as we have tracks such as “Redrum” and “Sneaky” that have the usual quotable one liners (though we have a terrible “poop” bar on the album) and songs such as “Letter To My Brudda” and “Dark Days” that are much more introspective and emotive.
Fooling the whole world by stating that the album would serve as a soundtrack for an upcoming biopic, the album starts with an intro from 21 Savage’s mother and switches to the first official track on the album, “All of Me”. From the beginning 21 Savage goes on a great run with no slip ups; the biggest highlights include the tracks mentioned previously. “Sneaky” is a classic sounding 21 Savage track that is laidback, catchy and braggadocios. “Letter To My Brudda” sees 21 Savage reflect on his past and the people he lost. Whilst, also sharing what seems to be his views and sympathise with Young Thug, as he deals with the YSL case. Speaking of Young Thug, the album also includes records with likable features. Young Thug is featured on the dark yet smooth banger “Pop Ur Sh*t”, whilst Travis Scott stands out really well on the ninth track “Née-Nah”.
Unfortunately, not all the features are positive, and the album does have a decline after the tenth track “See The Real”. Whilst, 21 Savage is capable of both providing great menacing bangers and also be reflective on other tracks, he has a tendency to hit and miss with Trap-R&B tracks. Towards the end of the album we have three consecutive bad attempts at making slow jams: “Prove It”, “Should’ve Wore A Bonnet” and “Just Like Me”. “Prove It” features a disappointing vocal performance from Summer Walker, and the same can be said of Burna Boy on “Just Like Me”. There aren’t any issues with Brent Faiyaz’s performance on “Should’ve Wore A Bonnet”, however the track is a bit of a mess. 21 Savage just doesn’t fit well with the production from Metro Boomin, which is a surprise as they are a great rapper-producer duo and have made great music together.
Fortunately, the album does take a positive turn with the last two tracks to close the album well: “Red Sky” and the previously mentioned “Dark Days”. American Dream is another good record added to 21 Savage’s discography, his formula of having both catchy dark Trap bangers and introspective records is really working well for him. His ability to create Trap-R&B tracks isn’t great and he may need to leave that alone, instead focusing more on his strengths. If he does, he can produce an even better and consistent solo project.
Benny The Butcher — Everbody Can’t Go
Release Date — 26th January
The new album from Benny the Butcher is his first full-length LP with the iconic Hip-Hop label Def Jam. Consistently receiving solo projects from mixtapes, EPs and albums every year, 2023 was a quiet year for the Griselda rapper. Benny has been one of the most consistent rappers in recent years, as he has dropped countless great bodies of work. With particular standouts being 2018’s Tana Talk 3 and 2019’s The Plugs I Met. With Benny’s new full-length studio LP it’s another good album from the Buffalo rapper, however it’s not his most consistent or strongest effort, which goes to show the standard he has set himself with his previous releases.
Almost entirely produced by frequent collaborators The Alchemist and Hit-Boy, with additional production assistance from Corbett, it’s almost as if Alchemist and Hit-Boy are having a beat battle on the album. Similar to what we saw with Pharrell and Kanye West, as they both produced a handful of tracks on Pusha T’s It’s Almost Dry album back in 2022. Though Hit-Boy has more production credits on the album, Alchemist steals the show as he produced more of the album’s best tracks. The intro, “Jermaine’s Graduation”, has one of the best beats on the whole album and is a fantastic way to start Benny’s major label debut. The intro is pure classic Benny. It’s just Benny rapping over great production, which is the main reason as to why fans fell in love with projects such as Tana Talk 3 and The Plugs I Met.
Other stand out records produced by the legendary West Coast producer include the Lil Wayne-assisted “Big Dog”, where Wayne drops a great verse. “Griselda Express”, features Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Rick Hyde, it’s another stellar collaboration with the original trio and Rick Hyde is a pleasant addition to the song as well. Hit-Boy is also responsible for the production on some of the album’s best tracks, such as the third single “Bron” and the sombre “Pillow Talk & Slander” featuring Jadakiss and Babyface Ray.
However, there are a few weak tracks and certain directions that weren’t great on the album. Most notably “Back Again” which features Snoop Dogg, who doesn’t add anything great and actually ruins the track. The last track on the album, “Big Tymers”, will definitely catch Griselda and Benny the Butcher fans off guard, as the song just doesn’t fit him, and it’s a clear attempt at a more modern commercial sound, with Benny melodically singing the chorus on a Trap instrumental.
Everybody Can’t Go is a good album possessing multiple great tracks, yet as mentioned previously, it’s not Benny’s strongest effort and can leave you wanting more. Previously Benny has been able to feature in my year-end list; however, I cannot confidently say that it will happen this year, though we just finished January. This to me, elaborates why Everybody Can’t Go is quite disappointing to a degree, especially when you compare it to Benny’s previous efforts. Though overall it is a good album.
Lyrical Lemonade — All Is Yellow
Release Date — 26th January
Cole Bennett, founder of Lyrical Lemonade, has released his first full-length project with the help of multiple artists, including many he has worked with previously. Famous for his videography career, Bennett has grown to become the go-to director for music videos; he’s perhaps his generation's Hype Williams. During the so called “mumble” rap era, Bennett was the director of choice for so many artists, from the likes of Ski Mask the Slump God, Juice WRLD and Lil Pump. Now Bennett seems to have taken on a DJ Khaled-esque role by enlisting various artists and producers for his latest album, All Is Yellow. Just like DJ Khaled’s albums, Bennett’s debut seems more to be a compilation of songs where he has chosen particular artists that he believes work well together.
Unfortunately, All Is Yellow is a mixed bag of records that do work well for the most part and can pass as good songs, but it also includes tracks that come across as failed experiments where the featured artists don’t work well together. This is mostly visible in the second half of the album, as the first half showcases more consistency. The records that did work well include “Guitar In My Room” with Lil Durk and Kid Cudi, “Say Ya Grace” which includes a great feature from Chief Keef and the same can be said for “First Night”, where Denzel Curry has the best verse on the whole album. The two previously released singles, “Doomsday” and “Stop Giving Advice” are also highlights on the album. “Stop Giving Advice” includes the best instrumental on the album, and both Jack Harlow and Dave sound good on the track. Released back in June, “Doomsday” features Cordae and a posthumous verse from Juice WRLD, sampling Eminem’s “Role Model”. It’s immensely clear that both artists are heavily influenced by the Detroit MC as their flows and style of rapping on the song copy Eminem’s, who released the song back in 1999. Yet, it’s still an enjoyable single and well produced, as both artists go back and forth with their verses.
As mentioned previously, not every track off of the album hits well. Tracks such as “Fallout” with Gus Dapperton, Lil Yachty and Joey Badass, or “Hello There” featuring Lil Tracy, Corbin and Black Kray, are just two examples of where the features either didn’t work well together or just weren’t great at all. The intro “Fly Away” featuring JID, Sheck Wes and Ski Mask the Slump God is fairly average and the same can be said for “Doomsday Pt. 2”, which features Eminem. The latter is just short of two minutes, where Eminem dedicates the entire song dissing long time rival, Benzino. Besides a few good lines, the diss track essentially falls flat due to Eminem’s flow and delivery. He released much better diss tracks towards Benzino back in the day with “The Sauce” and “Nail In The Coffin”.
Once again, All Is Yellow is more of a compilation of songs where the listener can just go through the album and just hand pick the songs that they like, and move on. As a full body of work, All Is Yellow doesn’t have the consistency nor the replay value to be viewed as a good project.