After the tragic passing of so many of its most influential artists, the boom of pop-punk influenced emo-trap seemed like it might have been a short-lived yet undeniably powerful wave. People like 21-year-old rapper iann dior are still carrying the torch. I’m Gone is a brief 9-track project that sees dior putting his own experimental … Continue reading iann dior – I’m Gone
Trap
Lil Yachty – Lil Boat 3
There was once a time when it seemed like Lil Yachty was one of the most exciting and disruptive up-and-coming forces in hip-hop music, his endearingly haphazard approach destined to become a highly influential movement. Passed over by a couple of his contemporaries and other subgenres rising to the top, Yachty has seemed a little … Continue reading Lil Yachty – Lil Boat 3
Gunna – WUNNA
After generating some serious buzz with a series of snippets played over livestream, one of Young Thug’s YSL label’s biggest superstars releases his sophomore full-length project. The album’s title is supposedly based on some kind of half-baked “alter ego” concept, loosely defined by Gunna as a “more spontaneous” version of himself and never addressed on … Continue reading Gunna – WUNNA
Future – High Off Life
It’s been pretty annoying lately to be witnessing just how much hip-hop music is stuck in a rut creatively, and quite a bit of that can be attributed to young artists trying to ride on the coattails of musical styles popularized by veterans of the game like Future. The man drops a lot of music, … Continue reading Future – High Off Life
Nav – Good Intentions
The big-name Toronto-area releases just won’t stop for the last couple of months, and this time we have Nav returning all too soon with the follow-up and spiritual successor to last year’s abysmal Bad Habits, titled Good Intentions. At this point, with how much people joke about Nav, I must admit that at times on … Continue reading Nav – Good Intentions
NBA Youngboy – 38 Baby 2
I was honestly completely thrown off guard by the fact that I hadn’t formally reviewed a project from NBA Youngboy on this blog yet, considering the blazing speed with which he releases them, but it turns out that outside of a global pandemic that provides me no other option I tend to ignore his multiple … Continue reading NBA Youngboy – 38 Baby 2
dvsn – A Muse In Her Feelings
Toronto-area alt-R&B duo dvsn, otherwise known as Grammy-winning producer and frequent Drake collaborator Nineteen85 and singer Daniel Daley, release their third project together and prove that there’s still a couple new frontiers to explore in a genre that I’ve long thought to be one of the most prone to derivative work. While Daley, like most … Continue reading dvsn – A Muse In Her Feelings
DaBaby – Blame It On Baby
The prolific rapper who quickly shot his way to the top has once again returned with his third album in a little over a year, still winning people over with his infectious personality and top-tier rap voice but veering dangerously close to Migos oversaturation territory as jokes about his slapdash instrumentals and never switching his … Continue reading DaBaby – Blame It On Baby
Tory Lanez – The New Toronto 3
Toronto-area rapper and singer Tory Lanez continues to rep his city with the third installment in this series of mixtapes, once again demonstrating quite a bit of versatility in his sound but failing to do much in terms of originality and sticking mostly to less charismatic versions of styles that others from his highly influential … Continue reading Tory Lanez – The New Toronto 3
Rod Wave – Pray 4 Love
It’s always interesting when one of these new up-and-coming rappers is quicker to name someone like Adele as one of the biggest influences on their sound than a fellow hip-hop star. “You can just hear her pain,” Wave said. “It’s real life.” 20-year-old Rod Wave has been building momentum for a while now, dropping this … Continue reading Rod Wave – Pray 4 Love
