i wake up early on em; gettin out tha house is a must!
i known i ain’t been here in a minute so ima do a quick rundown of bobby niggatine’s escapades and inside habits these past few months.
music has been moving so fast. as the information age continuously defines how consumers interact with the music industry, the pace at which content is released increases rapidly. it’s hard to keep up with and i do this for free so it’s real hard to keep up. this is an easily digestible rundown of my thoughts on the industry from the end of 2018 thru march of 2019
1: the album as a format is near death
i have a longform piece about this i’m currently working on, but the LP as we know it is a relic of the aughts. streaming and social media have killed the album and I think that’s a great thing for music. lately, AAA level artists a la Drake have been bombarding us with 25 track, hour and half long releases that very few artists can successfully pull off and maintain listener attention with. this is because streaming incentivizes artists to release as many tracks as possible to increase viability. this obviously takes away from quality content. the best releases in recent memory have been succinct and straight to the point: i’m thinking earl, solange, the GOOD music rollout and other 40 minute or less releases that have strong narratives and artistic goals,. this is the future of rap and i love it. i attribute this to soundcloud and the resurgence of the mixtape. this is a great thing, and as rap shifts from it’s psychedelic age (trap) to it’s punk age (rico nasty voice: ‘kennnyyyyyyy!!!!!!’) the music is getting better. my favorite artists right now choose brevity over streams, and it’s paying dividend$. onto section two.
2: the best artists of 2019 are,,,
1- earl sweatshirt aka thebe kgositsile
SRS cemented earl as the best rapper of his generation. kendrick has the pop appeal and is a singular talent, but earl is a masterful artist that redefines himself with each release. he is the most exciting, human, and artistically gifted artist of his era, and its an honor to be a critic during his reign. cant wait for his pitchfork set.
2- solange has taken the throne
with her latest (heavily produced by my muses earl and standing on the corner), solange knowles has mastered her voice and is operating at the top of her game. the brevity. the focus, the compositional talent and control she demonstrates on when i get home is singular. she is the queen of soul and a genre definer. album of the year by far,
3- pusha t’s daytona is an instant classic
i failed to write a proper review of daytona simply because i am still bumping it on repeat. it is a near perfect project that hits all its marks, and proves that push can rap about dope forever without it losing its appeal. the production, the wordplay, and the masterclass of songwriting displayed on the piece will live forever. room 25 was DG’s first official 10, and I am retroactively awarding daytona a 9.9. king push forever:
if you know, you know.
4- standing on the corner will define the new wave of rap production
the avant-jazz-rap new york duo is dominating 2019 so far. their fingerprints are all over when i get home and some rap songs, a long with fellow NY newcomers MIKE and navy blue. their never ending, cyclical, mystical big band approach to sample driven, boom-bap esque beats is an ultra refreshing 180 on the predominant sound of hip-hop, even as experimental trap producers like kenny beats, metro, and travis scott still push boundaries in the popular field. but based on the stripped down approach many of rap’s current tastemakers have taken, standing on the corner’s assault on jazz is going to be a huge part of rap in the 2020s.
5- no more hyphenated ‘women-rappers’
saying the phrase ‘woman-rapper’ is as corny as saying ‘females’ in reference to human women. these are women who are often better rappers than their male counterparts, and they are dominating the scene from top to bottom –throughout last year and into this one. rico nasty (my queen, my liege), megan thee stalion, bbymutha, lizzo, and countless others are the cutting edge of rap right now, and we as a culture must cease relegating them to the other side of rap’s glass ceiling. cut. the bullshit. we ain’t wittit. shoutout city girls too.
6- local scenes are thriving more than ever, despite the globalization of rap in the information age.
there was a great article published by pigeons and planes on local scenes that dove into the blossoming DIY scenes in many of rap’s staple cities. we’ve always known spots like atlanta, chicago and LA have and always will maintain vibrant underground scenes. but in south florida, new york, houston, the bay, the DMV and the pacific northwest are each bursting with underground talent, and its keeping the game fresh. as the distance between consumer and artist shrinks, the visibility of the next generation is becoming clearer and clearer, which is undeniably good for the industry and the art.
the state of the game is very, very good.
MY TOP 5 IN THE GAME RIGHT NOW:
1- EARL SWEATSHIRT
2- FREDDIE GIBBS (AND MADLIB) AKA MADGIBBS — BANDANA COMING SOON!
3- RICO NASTY
4- STANDING ON THE CORNER
5- VINCE STAPLES ( HE’S KILLIN IT ON THE FM TOUR RN, I KNOW HES GOT SOMETHING COOKIN FOR US)
WHAT IM LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR 2019
-UNTITLED DANNY BROWN ALBUM, REPORTEDLY ENTIRELY PRODUCED BY “A HIP-HOP LEGEND” (MY MONEY IS ON MADLIB, ALCHEMIST, OR AN UNHEARD SET OF DILLA VAULT SHIT).
-BANDANA, THE LONG AWAITED SEQUEL TO MADGIBBS’ 2014 OPUS PINATA
-A FRANK OCEAN PROJECT? HOPEFULLY? PROBABLY NOT? PRAYING HE AND THEBE LINK BACK UP! SUPER RICH KIDS WITH NOTHING BUT LOOSE ENDS….
-THIS TDE ROLLOUT: KENDRICK DID SOME SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SHIT AND TURNED ALL HIS PROFILE PICTURES BLACK, SCHOOLBOY COMING STRONG, I BET ISIAH AND SZA COMING THIS YEAR TOO. I’M HYPED ON TOP DOG FOR ONE-NINE TO THE 20.
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING, FOR SUPPORTING, AND STAYING WITH ME THRU SOME ROUGH SHIT. I LOVE YALL AND I LOVE WHAT I DO. YOU’LL BE HEARING FROM ME SOON
-BR