Masterpiece Music

LA native Mustard has been a consistent force in the hip-hop industry in recent years, gaining popularity from working with Compton rapper YG. With ‘Perfect Ten’, Mustard provides an album full of bass-heavy, cleanly produced bangers, packed full of high profile features, including Playboi Carti, A$AP Rocky and Quavo.

Perfect Ten is full of anthems, songs which are aimed at going high on the charts. The album is incredibly consistent in its production, with each song having a solid beat. However, the majority of beats fail to stand out, sounding very similar to what Mustard has produced in the past. This is not true for the track ‘Baguettes in the Face’, featuring NAV, Playboi Carti and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. With a relaxing guitar sample, the beat excellently supports a solid Playboi Carti verse, as well as surprisingly good Nav and A Boogie verses.

Besides the production, the project has numerous quality guests verses on it. 1TakeJay presents an excellent flow on opener ‘Intro’, whilst A$AP Rocky and Ferg both provide quality verses on ‘On GOD’. However, in featuring so many different artists on one project it is difficult for the project to come together in a cohesive and thematic manner. Listening to ‘Perfect Ten’ is like hearing a collection of Billboard top 100 hits; this often makes it dull and uninspiring to listen to. Regardless, the album does pay homage to Mustard’s West Coast roots, with numerous beats on the project remaining true to the distinctive West Coast style.

Woah Woah’ is a clear standout on the project, featuring Young Thug & Gunna, with a woozy beat playing perfectly into Thug and Gunna’s distinctive styles. Thug provides a quality hook and verse, while Gunna excellently supports his mentor, creating a relaxed, spacey track. ‘Perfect Ten’, featuring the deceased Nipsey Hussle pays respects to the LA rapper, closing the album with a solid track.

Though Mustard’s album has quality production and numerous solid guest verses, it fails to provide much new, relying on the bass-heavy anthems which Mustard has become known for. Despite not innovating, it is an enjoyable listen and has several good moments.

6.1/10

By Jacob Matthews 

Lil Nas X recently shot to stardom with the country trap song ‘Old Town Road’, alongside a remix with the famous country musician, Billy Ray Cyrus. The track blurred the lines between hip hop and country, causing much controversy along the way (particularly due to Billboard removing it from its country charts), and continuing to stay no.1 on the Billboard charts for 7 weeks. With ‘7’ Lil Nas X attempts to capitalise off this popularity, continuing to provide the genre-shifting style that blew him up with ‘OId Town Road’.

Throughout the short EP, Lil Nas X constantly adapts his style to different genres. ‘Rodeo’ continues to embrace the country trap style which made him famous, whilst ‘Panini’, ‘Bring U Down’ and ‘F9mily (You & Me)’ utilise elements of rock. ‘Panini’ is a particular standout, a concise, yet catchy, song based around the Cartoon Network show ‘Chowder’. Interpolating Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’, the track adopts elects of rock and pop, showcasing Lil Nas’ skills at blending different genres of music. ‘C7osure (You Like)’ is a well produced, relaxed track, whilst ‘Bring U Down’ is a stark contrast to this, with Lil Nas presenting a repetitive, yet catchy hook over a loud guitar instrumental.

What ‘7’ lacks is substance, with Lil Nas X not diving deep enough into the respective styles to provide many memorable moments. Though he embraces rock styles, it’s often watered down and lacking in personality. It seems that in trying to adopt so many styles Nas X does not establish any clear style or personality to listeners, thus making the project somewhat unsatisfying. Indeed, in the styles he does adopt he fails to provide anything of particular significance; though ‘Bring U Down’ and ‘F9mily (You & Me)’ are well produced, listenable tracks, they do not achieve anything of significance within their respective styles.

‘Rodeo’ is an excellent track, with Lil Nas X providing a memorable hook over a hard-hitting beat. However, Cardi B provides a dull and uninspired verse, which ruins the flow of the track. Both ‘Old Town Road’ and ‘Old Town Road remix’ with Billy Ray Cyrus bookend the record, a lazy addition seeing that the record is only 7 tracks and 19 minutes.

‘7’ is a promising start to Lil Nas X’s music career, showing that he does have the potential to stay in the industry. However, though the songs presented are all well-produced and enjoyable they fail to establish an impact on listeners, and are often too watered-down, failing to create a definitive project.

6.2/10

Written by Jacob Matthews

Pi’erre Bourne has been one of the most exciting up-and-coming producers over the past year. Known for his weird and colourful beats, Bourne produced much of Playboi Carti’s hit 2018 album ‘Die Lit’, a project which put heavy emphasis on the energetic and creative beats. Now, Bourne has released his much anticipated solo work, ‘The Life of Pi’erre 4’, a stand-alone project which he has been working on for some time. The question is whether Bourne can standout without the vibrant personalities of frequent collaborators such as Playboi Carti and Lil Yachty and create a developed and listenable project.

‘The Life of Pi’erre 4’ is full of weird and wacky beats which consistently engages the listener. Indeed, the first track ‘Poof’ instantly grabs the listeners attention with a bass-heavy and energetic beat. The 16 track long project consistently innovates with exciting and varied beats, with this being the main strength of the project. Listening to TLOP4 is similar to playing a seemingly never-ending video game, with numerous beats on the project clearly inspired by retro video gaming. Indeed, similar to ‘Die Lit’, listening to the project is also like a sugar high, constantly exciting listeners with new sounds.

However, unlike Die Lit, TLOP4 fails to engage listeners vocally. Bourne’s vocals lack the stylistic depth of Carti’s, which made his beats so successful on ‘Die Lit’, with his vocals often being dull and uninspired. The majority of tracks lack a clear and distinct hook, failing to create a significant impression on the listeners. Drenched in autotune, Bourne barely demonstrates the ability to shift his vocals to demonstrate any sense of emotion, often ruining beats which would be better suited to Carti or Lil Uzi Vert’s more interesting, versatile vocal style.

Despite this lack of vocal interest, the project is still excellently produced, every song flows effortlessly into the next. This creates a rollercoaster ride of sounds which make up for Bourne’s lack of vocal interest. Indeed, there is something deeply satisfying about the transitions between tracks such as ‘Feds’ and ‘Be Mine’. Such transitions make the project seem like one long and winding song, constantly surprising the listeners with vibrant new sounds. The variety of sounds on tracks like ‘Be Mine’ are often breathtaking, constantly drawing the listeners attention.

The lack of features is particularly noticeable, with this hindering the project to some extent, with tracks occasionally becoming dull due to the repetitive nature of Bourne’s vocals. Although Bourne’s vocals are excellently mixed, they are often boring and lifeless. The amount of producer tags is also noticeable, with the amount of “yo, Pi’erre you wanna come out here” often being over the top.

TLOP4 makes up for its lack of interesting or innovative vocals with a fantastic collection of versatile and colourful beats, in a project which flows effortlessly, consistently grabbing the listeners attention. With ‘The Life of Pi’erre 5’, featuring star-studded features such as Playboi Carti and Lil Yachty, expected to drop sometime this year, Pi’erre Bourne is one of the most exciting producers in the industry, and you can expect to be hearing a lot more of him over the following years. 

7.3/10

Written by Jacob Matthews

With Broken Kids Club EP, Members Only member Craig Xen presents a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Often associated with the deceased XXXTENTACION, Xen demonstrates his talent on the EP, however fails to make a significant impact on listeners.

The album begins with an ‘intro’, in which rapper XXXTENTACION is telling Craig that he can “act crazy” now that Xen is present. This intro leads excellently into the first track, ‘Run It Back’, once again featuring XXXTENTACION. Adopting Members Only’s trademark distorted bass style, Xen and X trade hard-hitting bars, presenting a fantastic opening track to the project. However, Xen clearly relies on the memorable performance of X on the track, a theme which will continue throughout the EP.

Indeed, often throughout the EP Xen fails to establish himself as a prominent voice, often relying on features which overshadow him. This is particularly clear on the closer ‘STAIN’, an excellent track which effortlessly combines verses from fellow Members Only member Ski Mask the Slump God and Florida rapper Smokepurpp. Xen once again fails to stand out, being outshined by Ski and Smokepurpp. It is clear that Xen has not created his own trademark style, as seen throughout the album. Xen fails to establish a signature sound throughout, constantly adapting styles, which though experimental, fails to create a significant impact amongst listeners. 

Despite this, the project is consistent in both the instrumentals and lyricism. ‘Cry Baby, Cell 17’ is an emotional, acoustic track, in which Xen alludes to the death of close friend and collaborater XXXTENTACION, as well as Lil Peep, with Xen singing that he’s “missin’ [his] friends”. ‘Forever’ is a relaxed, rock influenced track, in which Xen seemingly ponders on a failed relationship alongside Flyboy Tarantino. ‘Too Many’ continues this theme of emotional vulnerability, presenting an almost careless emotional ballad, over a simple and laid-back instrumental. Throughout ‘Broken Kids Club’ a main theme is mental health and Xen’s own experiences with such challenges. The EP deals with these issues in a touching, and personal manner, providing an introspective look into Xen’s life.

However, though Xen’s latest project provides several standout moments, individual songs are often monotonous particularly due to the dull, occasionally lifeless vocals. Aside from the hard-hitting tracks ‘Run It Back’ and ‘Stain’, Xen’s vocals are extraordinarily lifeless and soaked in auto-tune, so that it takes away from the emotional lyrics he raps, as the audience does not get a true indication of his own personal feelings. This contributes to several tracks becoming somewhat boring, such as ‘Forever’ in which Xen and Flyboy Tarantino present dull and uninspired vocals. On top of this, the project is far too short at only 15 minutes, with Xen failing to establish an impact on audience members due to the incredibly short runtime of the project.

In summary, despite several promising moments ‘Broken Kids Club’ is a disappointing project. Though it often presents touching lyrics and genre-shifting instrumentals, often excellently executed throughout, Xen’s vocals are the projects biggest weak point, often making the EP seem dull and uninspired. This, combined with the short run time, makes ‘Broken Kids Club’ an unmemorable and lacklustre EP from the Members-Only member.

5.4/10

By Jacob Matthews

YSL signee Gunna’s debut studio album ‘Drip or Drown 2’ represents both the aritists strengths and weaknesses. Following the collaborative album ‘Drip Harder’ with fellow Atlanta rapper Lil Baby, Gunna delivers an enjoyable, yet flawed project.

Throughout ‘Drip or Drown 2’ Gunna is often predictable, yet seemingly perfects his own style. Indeed, the album possesses a drowsy, watery, sound, that works effectively with Gunna’s melodies. However, Gunna’s reliance on this style holds him back through the album, with it often being monotonous and dull. Tracks ‘Wit It’ and ‘Cash War’ are clear examples of this, adding nothing to the tracklist except the same repetitive melodies and verses. The album often disappoints on Gunna’s clear potential, as though the artist clearly has the talent to make relaxed and atmospheric trap bangers, he consistently reverts to the same beats and bars.

Despite this, the album has numerous standout moments. ‘Outstanding’ provides a catchy and effective hook across a simple trap beat, excellently using Gunna’s vocals to generate an atmospheric and hypnotising track. ‘Richard Millie Plain’ and ‘Yao Ming’ perfect the simplistic, ‘underwater’, sound present on ‘Drip or Drown 2’, assisting in developing a laid-back, hypnotising atmosphere to the project. Indeed, this is one of the biggest strengths of the project. Gunna creates a consistent vibe throughout the album which combines his melodic vocals with relaxed, moody trap beats. 

‘On a Mountain’ and ‘Out the Hood’ continue to develop Gunna’s trademark style, whilst ‘Who You Foolin’, produced by Wheezy is a unique and excellent track, which combines a Chinese sample by Tong Li and Gunna’s woozy vocals to create a great outro to the project. ‘3 Headed Snake’ is also an excellent song, however Gunna is clearly outshined by his mentor Young Thug. An excellent feature by ‘Playboi Carti’ also steals the show on ‘Same Yung N***a’.

Though Gunna effectively establishes a drowsy and hypnotising atmosphere across the project, there is far too much giller. ‘Derek Fisher’, featuring Lil Baby, and ‘Baby Birkin’ are both unnecessary, repetitive songs which fail to add any substance to the album. On top of this, the album clearly lacks substance, with repetitive and often dull lyricism. This is particularly present on ‘Speed It Up, a repetitive and boring track with awful lyricism. Though the audience is unlikely to expect much else from a Gunna project, the clear lack of any significant messages holds back the project.

Overall, Gunna provides an inconsistent debut studio album with ‘Drip or Drown 2’. Though the album succeeds in developing a clear atmosphere and provides numerous excellent trap songs, it is far too predictable and repetitive. The young Atlanta rapper clearly possesses potential, however he needs to vary his style and take risks in order to further develop as an artist.

5.8/10

Written by Jacob Matthews

2018 was a great year for Tyga, an artist who had seemingly descended into irrelevancy. Indeed, with his hit single ‘Taste’ featuring Offset, as well as ‘Dip’, Tyga re-emerged into the mainstream media, with many considering him the biggest comeback of 2018 (unless you are Soulja Boy of course). With his new album Legendary, Tyga presents an album with bass-heavy club bangers, featuring numerous significant artists, such as Lil Wayne, Swae Lee and the always controversial Blueface. 

Tyga has never been an artist to create music with incredible substance. Throughout his career, he has found the most success through hook-heavy, club bangers. Despite this, he has often wandered away from this sound, which is seemingly his biggest strength. ‘Legendary’ sees Tyga embracing his strengths, enabling him to create an album which is enjoyable to listen to, however clearly lacks substance. One look at the albums cover will tell you all of the subject matter present within this project: money, fast cars and women. However, with Legendary Tyga doesn’t want to create the next lyrical masterpiece, instead aiming for strip club anthems and radio hits.

This is clear from the first track ‘Too Many’, an ode to money and women, a recurring theme throughout the album. Despite the fairly shallow contents of the track, it’s a catchy and concise song which, while not presenting much new, is enjoyable to listen. ‘On Me’, with the legendary Lil Wayne’, continues these themes, presenting another enjoyable song with an average feature from Wayne. ‘Vibrate’ is also a solid track, with Swae Lee providing a charismatic feature to break up the tracklist, though Tyga remains lyrically poor. ‘Werkkkk’ provides a catchy hook, however overstays its welcome.

Though Tyga presents numerous enjoyable club bangers across the tracklist, the album becomes far too repetitive, with Tyga failing to continue to provide unique ideas across the lengthy 14 tracks. ‘Maykherkhum’ in particular provides incredibly distasteful and repetitive lyricism (the title says it all). ‘Haute’, with R&B stars J Balvin and Chris Brown further embraces this repetitive lyricism, with Tyga continuing to detail his lavish lifestyle, creating further excruciatingly boring verses.

Often, Tyga relies on features to draw attention to songs and break up the monotony of his dull lyricism. However, the album contains few enjoyable features. Blueface’s feature on ‘Stash’ is absolutely awful, with Blueface’s typical off-beat style ruining the vibe of the song completely. On top of this, Blueface’s lyrics are incredibly tasteless, continuing his run of poor features and solo work. Gunna also presents a lacklustre feature on ‘Legendary’, produced by Munra-Beatz, with an incredibly short, heavily auto-tuned verse which fails to satisfy. 

Though Tyga has headed in the right direction with ‘Legendary’, embracing his trademark style of bass heavy strip-club anthems, the project is far too long. At 42 minutes, Tyga has created an incredibly dull and repetitive project, which fails to capitalise of the recent hype developed from his hit single ‘Taste’. Indeed, though Tyga does present some enjoyable tracks, the album is monotonous and often difficult to listen to, failing to deliver much at all.

2.8/10

Written by Jacob Matthews

Tyler, the Creator has always been a controversial artist who has shifted boundaries in the hip hop industry. With his role in Odd Future, and his controversial projects ‘Bastard’ and ‘Goblin’, Tyler utilised shock culture in order to shift himself into the spotlight. With Wolf, Tyler refined his style, showing signs of maturity, whereas Cherry Bomb introduced significant experimentation, a concept which, while introducing numerous genre-blending styles to Tyler’s music, failed in its execution. In 2017, Tyler released Flower Boy, a critical and commercial hit which showcased his newfound maturity, while dealing with complex issues such as sexuality. Will IGOR, Tyler’s latest album, continue to build off the success of Flower Boy?

In many regards, IGOR shifts the direction of Tyler’s discography. While Flower Boy was a hip-hop album, with many memorable verses, IGOR embraces the soul & r&b elements to a far more significant extent. This is particularly seen on the blistering opening track ‘IGORS THEME’, with vocals from Lil Uzi Vert, which serves as a thematic opener to the album. Throughout the album these elements are embraced consistently, as also seen in ‘EARFQUAKE’, in which Tyler sings “don’t leave…it’s my fault” over beautiful piano chords. EARFQUAKE also contains a feature from the energetic Playboi Carti, who effectively breaks up the song, adding to the composition as a whole. ‘Running Out of Time’ further illustrates such elements, as does ‘A Boy is a Gun’, featuring significant soul elements.

Thats not to say there isn’t any rapping here. ’New Magic Wand’ effortlessly describes the desperation Tyler experiences in preventing a loved one from leaving. It’s a confronting and desperate track which perfectly embodies Tyler’s emotions. ‘PUPPET’, features a Kanye West verse which, while sounding like it was recorded with a children’s microphone, prevents the tracklist from becoming monotonous. This is an ongoing theme for the album, in which numerous layers of sound bury other artists contributions. If you’re coming here to see artists features you’ll be disappointed.

All of these songs establish a clear and concise story of romance and heartbreak. Executed in a much more straightforward manner than his prior albums which often featured complex storylines, IGOR simply tells the tale of falling in and out of love and the emotional consequences associated with such a process. ‘I THINK’, a Kanye West influenced synth track embraces falling in love, whilst standout track ‘GONE GONE/ THANK YOU’ perfectly represents the emotional reactions associated with breaking with a partner, describing both the process of letting go and thanking them for the time spent together. Indeed, the two-part song also embraces the nostalgia associated with a failed relationship, blending effortlessly into the next track ‘I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE’.

As a composition, IGOR flows perfectly, illustrating a beautiful, yet tragic storyline of falling in and out of love, an experience which many of the audience members may resonate too. Though the album fails to establish a standout single, that isn’t Tyler’s purpose in the creation of IGOR. Instead, Tyler aims to create a story of love, heartbreak and acceptance. Though departing significantly from the successes of Flower Boy, IGOR further expands Tyler’s styles, creating his best work yet.

9.3/10

Written by Jacob Matthews

In 2018, Lachnes released the infectious ‘Interstate’, a song which quickly became a fan favourite. The up and coming Australian artist has now released a new single ‘Sidelines’, which builds off the success of ‘Interstate’ excellently.

The track instantly draws the listeners attention with an energetic, beat and a vibrant and catchy hook. According to Lachnes himself, the song’s message revolves around “[loving] a girl [even though] she has no idea that you’re interested in her”, and finding the right time to tell her. Thematically, the song continues from ‘Interstate’, with the track having a personal meaning to Lachnes, who describes how it “reflects the experiences of [his] love life”.

With both verses detailing the struggles of loving someone who “plays with your head” as Lachnes describes it, ‘Sidelines’ perfectly portrays the conflicting feelings associated with love whilst providing a catchy pop/r&b hook and instrumental, continuing to develop Lachnes as a talented Australian artist.

Lachnes’ progress is remarkable, with ’Interstate’ and ‘Sidelines’ clearly demonstrating his talent for creating catchy and memorable songs. With an upcoming project in the works, Lachnes is most definitely an artist to look to in the future.

Written by Jacob Matthews

With ‘Long Live Mexico’, Atlanta rapper and YSL signee Lil Keed presents an enjoyable, yet unoriginal and overlong project. Heavily influenced by Young Thug, the project is named in memorium after his friend ‘Mexico’, who passed away at the beginning of the year. At a lengthy 19 tracks, is Lil Keed able to deliver on a star-studded tracklist?

The project starts off strong, with woozy trap bangers ‘Ride the Wave’ and ‘Oh My God’. Throughout the project, Keed consistently maintains a bass-heavy, relaxed instrumental sound similar to Gunna’s ‘Drip or Drown 2’ project. Track 3, ‘Anybody’, featuring Atlanta rappers Lil Duke and Gunna, is a particular standout, with Keed drowsily rapping over a laidback guitar instrumental.

However, Lil Keed fails to maintain the listeners attention throughout the record. ‘Long Live Mexico’ quickly becomes repetitive, with the vast majority of songs sounding very similar in their execution. Featuring bland lyricism and basic trap beats, the tracklist fails to capitalise on a few standout moments from Keed. Indeed, the Young Thug assisted ‘Proud of Me’ is a captivating and infectious track. Concise and featuring a standout Thugger verse, it is a fantastic song to end the record. However, Keed rarely reaches such levels throughout the project.

Young Thug’s influence on Keed is constantly present throughout ‘Long Live Mexico’. Indeed, on ‘Million Dollar Mansion’ the pair sound so similar it is often difficult to distinguish between them. Similar to Gunna, Keed borrows heavily from Thug, embracing his signature melodies and high pitched vocals. This prevents Keed from establishing an identity, therefore making the mixtape unoriginal and often bland in its presentation.

Long Live Mexico’ contains a star-studded tracklist, featuring the likes of Lil Uzi Vert, the currently imprisoned YNW Melly, Nav, Gunna and more. However, many of these features are dull in their presentation, not adding anything significant to the songs they feature on. Despite this, Lil Uzi Vert maintains his consistent feature record on ‘Pull Up’, providing an energetic and catchy performance alongside YNW Melly.

Overall, though ‘Long Live Mexico’ has numerous enjoyable moments, it fails to capitalise on it’s star-studded tracklist, presenting yet another dull and unoriginal YSL project. At 19 songs, the mixtape contains far too much filler, with Keed failing to establish his identity throughout the project.

4.1/10

Written by Jacob Matthews

In 2018, Denzel Curry released the innovative album TA1300, a collection of songs split into three distinct sections: ‘light’, ‘grey’ and ‘dark’. The album excellently executed this concept, delving deep into Denzel’s inner emotions and presenting an often dark, moody vibe. Has Zuu managed to continue Denzel’s ascension to stardom?

Zuu is a clear departure from the style present in TA1300. While TA1300 was a deep, often emotional project, Zuu has one clear aim: to make summer bangers. This is clear right from the first track, with the self-titled song ‘Zuu’ which utilises heavy production with Denzel defiantly chanting “boy we comin out the zuu”. This bass heavy production is continued on the next track ‘Ricky’ in which Denzel energetically raps about his family history and his roots. With a blistering hook and confident raps, this marks one of the best tracks on the album.

Denzel continues this theme of bass-heavy tracks throughout the album. While TA1300 often spoke on emotionally deep and serious topics it’s clear that Denzel aimed to create a fun, vibrant album with Zuu. With ‘Shake 88’, Denzel creates a modern day club anthem, utilising pitched up vocals in order to create a catchy and rhythmic hook. Throughout the album, as also seen in tracks ‘Carolmart’ and ‘Birdz,’ Denzel continues to spout seemingly never-ending energy; one of his greatest strengths.

Despite this, there are several shortcomings to the project. Denzel fails to match the excellent lyricism he achieved on TA1300, with several lyrical shortcomings as seen on the track ‘Automatic’. On top of this, the project is too short, with the two skits ‘Yoo’ and ‘Blackland 66.6’ taking up too much time on an already short project. At just 29 minutes, Zuu could have used several more songs in order to close the album on a better note. Some of the features, such as ‘PlayThatBoiZay’s appearance on ‘P.A.T.’ , are unnecessary, not adding to the overall song in a positive manner.

Despite these shortcomings, with Zuu Denzel has created a project which perfectly utilises his seemingly never-ending energy and penchant for creating catchy hooks. Zuu is a fun, vibrant project that, while not presenting any new significant ideas, is very enjoyable to listen to. 

Rating: 7.3/10

Written by Jacob Matthews