Savage Mode II‘s half-hearted experimentation makes for diminishing returns this time out for 21 and Metro. If Savage Mode is the cult classic that introduced the world to 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’, Savage Mode II is the blockbuster sequel, one that affords the…
Positions finds Ariana in full superstar mode: as confident, in control, and willing to define herself as she has ever been. After two album cycles that culminated in a massive sold-out tour (with multiple headlining dates at major music festivals), Ariana Grande has returned, triumphantly,…
While not up to the standard set by T-Swift’s best writing, folklore still manages to remind that she is as keen an emotional observer as ever. The presentation, in both its marketing and its media representation, of Taylor Swift’s latest has taken up more space…
After Hours still revels in The Weeknd’s familiar hedonistic lyrical content, but also evinces an unexpected artistic progression. 2020For the better part of the last decade, Abel Tesfaye has been finding new ways to articulate his carnal desire for drugs, sex, and libertine satisfaction; on…
If there is one thing Matthew Hauri — aka Yung Gravy — knows, it’s that to succeed in the rap game, and the modern media sphere at large, one must first become a meme. In that sense, the artist’s latest LP, Sensational, succeeds in spades: Opener “Gravy for…
The chaos that defined the American political discourse post-Donald Trump’s election produced any number of terribly dead-end narratives, but none were quite as misguided and tedious as the insistence that our country would suddenly find itself in the midst of a long awaited, punk-rock…
The “If young Metro don’t trust you I’m gon’ shoot you” tag has been a source for hip hop-related memes at least since it popped up at the beginning of Kanye West’s “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1,” in 2016. Since then, trap producer Metro Boomin’s clout…
“I’m a young dread-head with anxiety,” asserts Aminé, late in the second verse of “Reel It In,” off his newest mixtape OnePointFive. It’s a strikingly honest sentiment, something the young Portland rapper has come up with frequently since his breakout release Good For You last year. The problem is, that…
