The Smarks Hip Hop Album of the Week Club

[Jimmy King]

Sorry, I’ll get to this tomorrow.

 

[Jimmy King]

Sorry, I’ll get to this tomorrow.

I lied I listened to it today.

I’m familiar with Talib Kweli because my best friend had one of his albums, I think it was this one but I’m not sure. Overall I thought it was solid enough, nothing groundbreaking or anything but solid. “We Know” and “I Try” are standouts to me.

B-

 

[Hoss]

Alright I jammed the Kweli album this morning at work, so here's the feedback. Kweli has always been on my radar as a rap fan due to his appearances on Kanye songs back in the day, and being half of Black Star, which I consider one of the best hip hop albums of all time. But, in any given situation where I've heard him, he's never been my favorite. His voice didn't really do it for me. So, I never really dove into him beyond his biggest hits. This album started solid, and was just about exactly what I was expecting. As it went on, he grew on me more and more. One thought I had during some of the early songs like Back Up Offa Me and We Know is that he could have easily blown up as a bigger solo act, but I have my theories as to why he didn't. The main three factors that I consider are

1. I don't get the impression he was ever overtly trying to be a big star, so fair enough.
2. Again, for me, his voice limits him somewhat, it's just not as enrapturing as many of the top rappers.
3. I feel like Common kinda cornered the market on conscious rap during the mid-2000s and conscious rap as a whole was on the decline after the 90s, so there just wasn't "room" for multiple superstars in this lane.

Anyways, the back to back tracks of Around My Way and We Got The Beat were the peak of the album for me. I'm not religious in any way but rap songs about faith do tend to be really good, and I loved the change in pace, going from maybe the most soulful song on the album into a song that sounded like something from Stankonia, complete with the interpolation of Planet Rock bu Afrika Bambaataa. Very nice. From there, the rest of the album was pretty steady with Beautiful Struggle as the perfect outro for the album.

All things considered, no duds on the album for me with a few tracks that surprised me with how much I liked them. I won't say that this album made me a Kweli fan but it's definitely given me a different perspective on him.

 

[Professor Booty]

@Hoss if got another album ready go ahead with it

 

[Hoss]

Alright, time to drop my selection for the club. This go-around I wanted to choose a shorter, funner album that isn't too lyrically dense after the last few albums have been in that category. My choice is 2020's Unlocked by Denzel Curry and producer Kenny Beats.



This album dropped amidst the pandemic and was instantly a favorite of mine. I've been a fan of Curry since he first got some recognition for the mixtape Nostalgic 64. While some people hold him in high regard for his lyricism, I would say the main thing that has elevated him to the level he's at now is his energy, charisma and distinct beats. Meanwhile, Kenny Beats is a guy that started out in the EDM realm and then transitioned into producing hip hop. I first heard of him when he released a different collab project with Key! from Atlanta in 2018, a very fun album that was one of my favorites of the year. From there, he's constantly been collaborating with many of my favorite artists like Rico Nasty, Smino, JID and Vince Staples to name a few.

Since this is really an EP and quite short, I thought I'd tag on some bonus content for anyone who wants to do a little more digging and, conveniently, this project has a lot of bonus content in its orbit (probably thanks to COVID). No obligation for anyone to check this stuff out, it's just here if you want it.



Unlocked 1.5 came out like a year after the original Unlocked and is a reworked version of the album, with different producers contributing new beats and additional guest verses. Denzel's verses and everything are the same, it's basically a remix album with some very cool beats and memorable features from Smino and Benny The Butcher specifically.



They also made a short film/music video for the entire project that sees Denzel and Kenny traveling through cyberspace to retrieve the lost song files, with different animation styles being introduced for each song.

Lastly, I want to recommend the now-ended series "The Cave" from YouTube. It's a show Kenny Beats did where he would invite his rapper friends to his studio where he'd cook up a beat on the spot and they'd write a song for it. Cool show, very interesting if you like the art of production and it offers some fun insight into the artist's personalities. Some of my favorite episodes:









@Professor Booty @Chris @Jimmy King @Just Juice @Comrade Khan @Loochblade

 

[Jimmy King]

I know Denzel Curry but I actually don’t think I’ve ever heard this one before so I’m psyched to check it out

 

[Chris]

This was well after I kept really keeping up with modern music that hard but I liked older Denzel a lot. Don't recognize any of the songs from the title

 

[Jimmy King]

Short and sweet, sick beats, and a nice flow from Curry. Every Denzel Curry album I’ve listened hasn’t disappointed me yet and this one is one of those. The production value of the beats I feel is what carries it but Curry’s flow definitely doesn’t hurt.

 

[Professor Booty]

quick and innoffensive listen
didn't dislike any of it but not something I'll likely revisit
no real other notes sorry this review sucks

 

[Professor Booty]

@Chris @Just Juice

 

[Just Juice]

Been prioritising BOTs. Comprehensive review likely soon

 

[Tommy MBE]

Im in Booty. I've got a artist who is independent but got to number on3 in the charts and album charts on his own.