Whole Lotta Red is a versatile, experimental, and grand pop statement from a singular artist in full command of his authorship. Whole Lotta Red is, above all else, very cool. And as with anything cool being released into the contemporary pop landscape, Playboi Carti’s second…
There is a satisfaction in seeing Yves Tumor deliver an album like Heaven to a Tortured Mind, at once a clever progression of their sonic aesthetic that also manages to blow past the dusty narratives media types love to burden them with. Though, of…
2020 wasn’t exactly overflowing with significant (pop) rap releases, some of the genre’s biggest stars putting out absolute duds (Donald Glover, Drake), while others hyped up projects that, in all likelihood, quietly got postponed for a more “tour friendly” rollout window. Dependable figures like…
Spike Lee is doing pretty great these days, so much so that he’s been recast as a beloved elder statesman in the cultural memory. Not that this positioning isn’t deserved — Lee’s filmography is easily the finest of any contemporary Hollywood auteur after all…
Education is Small Axe‘s punctuation mark and the film that brings the entire project to an inspired and even celebratory conclusion. Regardless of whether one thinks of Small Axe as a collection of films or a sort of variegated television miniseries event (either way, its…
Alex Wheatle is the slightest of the Small Axe films in many ways, but it’s also perhaps the most instructive as to the project’s overarching concerns. Having left festival season behind and with the majority now available to the public, the scope and collective structure of Steve…
Red, White and Blue is incisive and deeply felt, but its conclusions don’t quite feel big enough for its format. Having now seen three of Steve McQueen’s five Small Axe films (the final two held hostage by Amazon until December), it’s easier to trace out…
TattleTales is a placeholder album designed to bring the spotlight back on 6ix9ine, lacking in much of anything of interest or worthwhile collabs. It was always kinda unlikely that Tekashi 6ix9ine would be able to maintain interest for more than a couple album cycles, and…
If No Pressure is truly Logic’s curtain call, it’s probably the right time, as the rapper simply rides his familiar cornball swagger here to diminishing returns. Logic (a.k.a Bobby Tarantino, a.k.a Young Sinatra) is the sort of artist whom it can feel fruitless to criticize, appreciation…
The Ascension is expectedly deep and rich, but it still offers surprises in Stevens’ biting, moodier voice and more pared down arrangements. What exactly is Sufjan Stevens ascending on his latest album? Celebrity? Corporate attention? This current political moment? God? All that and more, quite…
