May 2024
Monthly Reviews | May 2024
As we are fast approaching the end of the first half of the year, May saw the release of some of heavy hitters in the music world. In the beginning of the month, we received a brand new album from Staten Island legend, Ghostface Killah. Being one of the most beloved and respected MCs of all the time, find out how good is his latest project is. On the same day, we also received new projects from Chicago’s very own Chief Keef and former Griselda records member, Conway the Machine. Chief Keef released his sequel to his cult classic mixtape, Almighty So, whilst Conway released his new project, Slight Dace Killah. After a five year wait, Rapsody came out with her new album, Please Don’t Cry. Last but not least, Hip-Hop was blessed with a brand new album from Vince Staples, find out where Vince’s new album ranks within the Long Beach rapper’s catalogue.
Ghostface Killah — Set The Tone (Guns & Roses)
Release Date — 10th May
This month we say the return of one of the key founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah returned with a brand new album, Set The Tone. Ghostface’s last album, Ghostface Killah’s, came out five years ago and the new album boasts features from the likes of Nas, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes and fellow Wu-Tang members Raekwon and Method Man. On the “outro”, Ghostface confirms the future release of Supreme Clientele 2, the sequel to his legendary sophomore album. Viewed as one of the greatest rappers of all time, due to his skill and respected catalogue, the includes the likes of 1996’s Ironman, 2006’s Fishscale and the already mentioned Supremem Clientele from 2000. Unfortunately, Ghostface’s latest release is one of his weakest outputs within his stellar thirty plus career.
Set The Tone suffers from many cheesy R&B-Hip Hop ballads that sound incredibly dated in 2024. Tracks such as “Touch You”, “Bad Bi*tch” and “Trap Phone” come across quite cringeworthy and the featured artists also bad on those songs. In particular, Chucky Hollywood whose autotuned vocals are unbearable. Additionally, “Shots” featuring Harl3y, who is featured on two other tracks on the album, sees Ghostface rapping over an island-esque dance instrumental and like the other records mentioned previously, Ghostface sounds just sounds incredibly awkward. There are however, some good tracks on the album and most of them are in the first half of the album, as the second half is where the album takes a nose dive. Highlights from Set The Tone include “No Face” and “Scar Tissue” and they include the best features respectively, with Nas and Kanye West. The best track off of the album is without a doubt, “Kilo In The Safe” which provides that classic aggressive Ghostace Killah sound and it also features Iceman, who is also a great addition to the song.
With much excitement for a new Ghostface Killah album, Set The Tone leaves me disappointed and empty handed. Whilst, the announcement of the long awaited Supreme Clientele 2 finally being announced, it should provide me with huge amounts of anticipation, however after hearing Set The Tone it makes me more reserved. The new album from the Staten Island legend, lacks the feeling of a Ghostface album, though I don’t expect rappers to stay the same nor do I have anything against a rapper opting to step out of their comfort zone, many of the records on the album just don’t seem to fit Ghostface’s style.
Chief Keef — Almighty So 2
Release Date — 10th May
A now Rap veteran, it may be forgotten now, but Chief Keef was a phenomenon when he came out at 16 years old with bangers that became hit singles. Tracks such as “I Don’t Like” and “Love Sosa” took the Hip-Hop world by the storm, whilst mixtapes such as Back From The Dead and Almighty So have garnered cult classic statuses. Now, Chief Keef has come with a sequel to the latter mixtape, which has been teased for the last few years. Though, the Chicago rapper’s influence and impact should be praised and noted, Almight So 2 fails to live up to the hype and the reputation of the Almight So mixtape.
Almighty So 2 is a mixed bag of both really great tracks accompanied with great production, from Chief Keef himself, but there are also tracks that fall into the background or just miss the mark completely. One of those records is “Tony Montana Flow”, where Chief Keef just sounds incredibly unbearable with his lyrics. “Jesus” featuring Lil Gnar is another example, as it tries to capture the aggressive style that Chief Keef has been known for, but is just a complete mess with. It’s just too much is going on within track, from the vocals to the production and it just doesn’t blend well. “Bended Up” started off as a good track, however it features a bad verse from Tierra Whack, who just raps quickly and doesn’t blend well with the production or with Keef.
Though, there are examples of where this album falls short, there are also examples of really good tracks on the album. The album started really well with the “Almight (Intro)”. Whilst, its most consistent run was between “1,2,3” and “Believe”. Between those songs on the album, Chief Keef raps on really good production with a particular highlights being the instrumental to “1,2,3”, “Drifting Away” and “Believe”. Almost entirely produced by the Chicago native, I was incredibly impressed with Keef’s production work, and that his production was the biggest highlight from the album. Overall, Almighty So 2 doesn’t live up to it’s predecessor, however credit must be given to Chief Keef for his influence over the last decade. How Hip-Hop fans acknowledge the influence of Future and Young Thug, they need to do the same for Keef.
Conway The Machine — Slant Face Killah
Release Date — 10th May
Another release from the 10th came from former Griselda Records artist, Conway the Machine. A year on from his previous album, Won't He Do It, which was one of my favourite releases of 2023, Conway released his fourth studio album, Slant Face Killah. Filled with features from the likes of Larry June, Key Glock and Ab-Soul, SFK does deliver some great tracks, but is clearly Conway's weakest album to date. Ending Conway’ consistent album run, SFK suffers from weak production in certain areas and features that should have been left out.
There could have been an opportunity for SFK to be a phenomenal EP, the first five tracks after the intro are great and provide the now classic Conway sound that fans of his adore. Rapping over the modern boom-bap instrumentals is where Conway is at his best, and this is shown on the album’s standout tracks such as “Mutty” with Stove God Cooks, “Kin Xpress” featuring Larry June, and “Meth Back!” featuring SK Da King, Flee Lord and an excellent guest verse from Method Man. Unfortunately, the second half of the album is what lets SFK down.
Though there are some highlights during the second half, such as “Karimi” and “Surf and Turf” with T.F, 2 Eleven and Ab-Soul, there are also tracks that do come across as fillers and as mentioned previously there are some weak features. One of them being Swizz Beatz on “Ninja Man”, produced by Swizz as well, though he is a great producer I’ve never been a fan of him rapping. Rya Maxwell on “Ten/Rya Interlude” was sadly the worst feature on the album, but the most disappointing feature was Raekwon on the last track “The Red Moon In Osaka”. It would of have been fantastic to hear Raekwon and Conway rap together on what was a great beat from The Alchemist, but unfortunately Raekwon doesn’t rap, he just talks.
Slant Face Killah would have been better off as an EP rather than an album, if you take all the great tracks from the project. Though it’s by no means a terrible album, just more of a disappointing one given that Conway was on a phenomenal run of consistent albums. SFK is just shy of being considered a good overall project, and in comparison to his previous releases, SFK isn’t on the same level as From King To A God or God Don’t Make Mistakes.
Rapsody — Please Don’t Cry
Release Date — 17th May
After a five year wait for a new album, Rapsody graced the Hip-Hop scene with her new album titled, Please Don’t Cry. Her previous project, Eve, released in 2019 was a phenomenal album and it would be difficult to follow up from an album with such high quality. Backed by three singles, “Asteroids”, “Stand Tall” and “3AM” with Erykah Badu, the first two singles are some of the album’s best tracks, especially the Hit-Boy produced, “Asteroids”. Unfortunately, “3AM” isn’t up to the same level as the first two as I just wasn’t a fan of Erykah Badu’s vocals on the chorus.
Unlike, Eve, which was one of my favourite albums of 2019, Please Don’t Cry isn’t on the same level as Rapsody’s last album. Though generally a good album, Please Don’t Cry does suffer from some tracks that do miss the mark and aren’t sonically pleasing. Just like Erykah Badu, I didn’t care too much for Alex Isley’s vocals on “Loose Rocks”, whilst “DND” didn’t stand out from the 22 track LP. I wouldn’t say that the tracks that I wasn’t a fan of where down right bad or were horrible tracks, however they didn’t move me or do anything for me. This includes the likes of “Never Enough” with Keznamdi and Nicole Bus to the last track “Forget Me Not” featuring Amber Navran and Phylicia Rashad.
On the other hand, as mentioned and as you can tell from the score the album does have a higher quantity of good tracks compared to bad/mediocre tracks. A phenomenal rapper, Rapsody lyrically is great on the second track “Marlanna”, whilst I really enjoyed the aggressive energy on “Diary of a Mad Bi*ch” with Bibi Bourelly. Speaking of Rapsody’s lyrical prowess, she continues to show how strong her pen game is as she takes a more introspective approach for “Look What You’ve Done”. There other tracks that I thoroughly enjoyed from this project, and the most consistent run of great tracks on the album is between “He Shot Me” all the way to “Niko’s Interlude”, the latter consisting of a solo verse from Niko Brim.
In conclusion, Please Don’t Cry, is another good body of work from the North Carolina rapper. After over a decade, Rapsody continues to show why she is one of the greatest female MCs of all time. From her personal standard, her latest album isn’t the most consistent in comparison to previous projects. On the contrary, out of 22 tracks there are so many great tracks that you can enjoy and revisit from her latest LP.
Vince Staples — Dark Times
Release Date — 17th May
A now Hip-Hop veteran from the Blog era, Vince Staples came on to the scene in his late teens, and now in to his thirties the Long Beach rapper’s latest release is proof that he is aging like fine wine. Dark Times marks Vince’s sixth studio album and his third album within this decade. In the 2010’s, Vince was releasing good material from the likes of his double album Summertime ‘06 and Blue Fish Theory, which garnered him success with critics and fans alike, however personally I always viewed those albums as good but not amazing bodies of work. However, in this decade Vince has really turned it up a notch with projects such as his self-entitled LP back in 2021, and now his latest released effort.
There isn’t a single flaw or bad record on Dark Times. After the intro, the album starts off with “Black&Blue”, a sombre track where Vince details that on the outside he has it all, but on the inside he feels sad and negative, hence the lyrics from the pre-chorus, “Money, I'm gettin' it, heaven, I'm livin' it, I look in the mirror and see somethin' missin'“. On “Government Cheese”, Vince is rapping beautifully and at his best, especially on the track’s second verse. Though titled Dark Times, there are some more up beat tracks sonically, with the best being “Etoufee” and that track seems to be ode to the legendary Hip-Hop scene in New Orleans from the track’s references and its production. The second half of the album is just as good as the first half, with particular highlights being “Little Homies” and “Freeman”. The former is a more motivational track, as he provides advice to the young listeners in the first verse. Whilst, the latter sees Vince reflecting on his career thus far, and acknowledges how far he has come.
Dark Times is easily Vince’s best project in his storied career, and again it’s further proof that he is aging gracefully within Hip-Hop. As he was since the beginning of his career, Vince is honest and introspective, but even more so on his latest album. It’s as if Dark Times is Vince’s grown man rap album. With this project, people should look to Vince as one of the best Hip-Hop artists from the West Coast in the last fifteen years, if they don’t already.