New Music Monday: 11/22

Welcome back to Music Monday! We hope you guys had a great week, so let’s reminisce on the highlights. Hey, maybe we’ll put you on. Here’s this week’s rendition with some fantastic choices.

Adele – 30

She’s baaaaaaaaack! After taking a five year hiatus from music, Adele made a return with her newest album 30. This heaven-sent album consists of twelve tracks, all of which are as beautiful as God knows what. Adele astonishingly paints her sorrow throughout every track, and really gets the listener to feel the pain she is going through. As per usual, her storytelling properly gives the listeners a great image in their mind while they try to imagine the setting Adele is placing in our head. Whether you’re listening to Adele open up to her daughter on “My Little One,” or bobbing your head while you listen to her talk to her lover on “All Night Parking,” you will enjoy yourself. This album is amazing and it really makes you go deep into thought every time you listen. 

Jacques – 10/10 (Adele did not miss and I stand by that) 

Favorite Tracks: “Can I Get It,” “Oh My God”

Bryson Tiller – A Different Christmas

Bryson Tiller returns with a very fun album for the holiday season. Tiller creates a relaxing mood for all listeners with his soothing voice, getting us ready for the holidays. Tiller sings some of the most romantic Christmas songs we’ve gotten in the past decades, like “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” ‘Last Christmas,” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” Then at the end, Tiller proves  he can do old hits as well, as seen in his astonishing version of “Winter Wonderland” that can get anybody stoked for the season. 

Viet – 8/10 (IF YOU GAVE ME A MILL FOR HOW MANY TIMES BRYSON SAID “CHRISTMAS,” I’D BE TALLER)

Favorite Tracks: “Winter Wonderland,” featuring Halo, “Be Mine This Christmas,” “Presents,” featuring Kiana Lede

Jacques – 7/10 (Literally only because of “Winter Wonderland”)

Favorite Track: “Winter Wonderland,” featuring Halo

Kanye West – Donda (Deluxe)

Mr. West released a deluxe to the most anticipated album known to man. Donda Deluxe gives us five new tracks, with features from Andre 3000, IKRO, Young Thug, and Kid Cudi. The release of these new tracks complete the album’s beauty. The production of each song is astonishing and the lyrics are nothing short of the magic Kanye never fails to deliver. Each song really stretches into the back of the listener’s mind. Topics jump from the importance of never abandoning your family, to the unfortunate loss of a loved one and what it does to a person. The release of these new songs really do open up the ears of many and remind them of West’s original sound.  

Jacques – 10/10

Favorite Tracks: “Life of The Party,” featuring Andre 3000, IKRO, “Remote Control Pt2”, “Up From the Ashes,” “Keep My Spirit Alive Pt 2.”

Viet – 9/10

Favorite Tracks: “Life of the Party,” featuring Andre 3000, IKRO, “Keep My Spirit Alive Pt 2,” “Up From The Ashes.”

Isaiah Rashad – homies begged

After months of the release of his album, The House Is Burning, Isaiah Rashad dropped  a deluxe version with four more tracks, called homies begged. The four tracks have features from the likes of Juicy J, Project Pat, Young Nudy, Deante’ Hitchcock, and UMI. The album has a range of atmospheres. There are cocky, fun songs like “RIP Young” and “Deep Blue,” as well as relaxing ones like “Geordan Favors.” Rashad also goes back his old passionate, self-reflective sound on the song “Donuts.” Rashad brought out variety and solidified himself as not only an artist of the year, but one of the best artists in our generation. Glad to have him back!

Viet – 8.5/10

Favorite Tracks: “Donuts,” featuring UMI, “Geordan Favors,” featuring Deante Hitchcock, “Deep Blue,” featuring Young Nudy, “RIP Young,” featuring Project Pat and Juicy J

Jacques – 8.5/10

Juicy Favorite Tracks: “Donuts,” featuring UMI, “Geordan Favors,” featuring Deante Hitchcock, “Deep Blue,” featuring Young Nudy, “RIP Young,” featuring Project Pat and Juicy J

Kaytranada – Intimidated 

Two years after his star-making album Bubba, the house DJ legend himself, Kaytranada has come back with his Intimidated EP. It includes three tracks, with features from H.E.R., Thundercat, and Mach-Hommy. They all create a different atmosphere with each song. The first track, “Intimidated,” is a  funky club song that has H.E.R. serenading  us with her beautiful voice. The second track, “Be Careful,” being a slow, chill track with Thundercat’s voice telling the audience to, well, be careful. The third track, called “$payforhaiti,” has Mach-Hommy beginning the song with a heavenly flow in Haitian, talking about praying for Haiti, but then switches into English as he gets into the violence happening within the country.

Viet – 9/10

Favorite Tracks: “$payforhaiti,” featuring Mach-Hommy, “Intimidated,” featuring H.E.R., “Be Careful,” featuring Thundercat

Jacques – 7/10

Favorite Tracks: “$payforhaiti,” featuring Mach-Hommy, “Intimidated,” featuring H.E.R., “Be Careful,” featuring Thundercat

Lil Yachty – “YAE ENERGY”

Lil Yacthy returns to his 2017 ways and gives us a taste of his old sound. This track is an interesting one, from the beat he uses, to the lyrics he’s saying. Overall though, it’s a pretty good listen because it is cleart that Yachty is having fun on the track. The production of this song is so “Lil Yachty,” like you’d probably find the beat of the song on YouTube if you searched up “Yachty Type Beats.” It is a great song, I really enjoyed listening to it. 

Jacques – 8/10

Viet – 8/10

Freddie Gibbs, Jadakiss – “Black Illuminati”

While fans wait for his newest album, Freddie Gibbs released a new track called “Black Illuminati,” with a feature from re-emerging artist, Jadakiss. The storytelling of this track was stellar and the lyricism was just as good. The production was simple, but still beautifully done. This is the type of music that gets old heads excited. Jadakiss did amazing on this track, bouncing back and showing us he still can spit a few bars when he sees fit. Freddie and Jadakiss as a duo really sounded amazing on this track and in the future are something to look forward to. 

Jacques – 9/10

Viet – 9/10

Earl Sweatshirt – “2010”

Two years after his last album Feet of Clay, and a whole year of only doing small verses on features, Earl Sweatshirt drops a single out of the blue. This song is probably the hypest song that Sweatshirt has dropped since his 2013 debut album, Doris. You can tell with the instrumental of this trippy synthetics, that Earl is in the groove while he talks about how he was living back in 2010. Sweatshirt talks about how he was coming up in this period of his career and how things are different with the success he faces now. This is a reminder on how far Sweatshirt has come from his lowest points to his highest high. It’s good to see him happy again.

Viet – 8.5/10

Jacques – 9/10

Well, that’s it for this week. We’ll be back soon. Remember to enjoy your holiday and dance to the music you’re grateful for, with the people you’re grateful for too. Stay safe everybody, enjoy the holiday, eat a lot!