Posted by “Oh Mr.chickenparm, we’re all so mad there was no post last week we sat by the computer refreshing your website jus absolutely clamoring for your mediocre music opinion where the hell were you?” I WAS ON VACATION OKAY. I took a week off of work (as in my actual job, no, blogging about Peppa Pig’s album doesn’t pay the bills) and I decided to unplug. I had to put down my phone and re-center myself…which I did by drinking excessively, eating large portions of unhealthy foods, and listening to a crap ton of new music while doing so. Since it’s been a while since the last TT some of this music isn’t “new new” but it’s still fresh for sure. Also, I complain about how long it takes me to write these in literally every blog so I kept my reviews/recommendations shorter than usual, and prolly gonna do this more going forward. As always if I didn’t mention a take you had on the album, just hit me up and we’ll discuss. Alright, here we go.
What’s Good?
The Sailor -Rich Brian
I didn’t get a chance to talk about this album after I spent the week it came out ranting about “The Big Day”, but folks, this album is absolutely awesome.
I liked Rich Brian before. Dat Stick is great, his debut album was a little boring but not bad, and I’ve liked the singles off this album before it completely dropped and did he DELIVER. The production is maybe my favorite off any rap album this year so far. It has a grandiose cinematic sound to it, almost reminding me of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. There’s orchestras complimenting trap beats on songs like “Rapapapa”, lackadaisical bars over an acoustic guitar beat like on “Curious”, and some beautiful Post Malone-esque sensitive songs like “Drive Safe” that is maybe one of my favorite songs of the year. I cannot recommend this album enough and anyone looking for a new sound in rap will definitely want to check him out. I think he’s only going to get better from here.
“Big Tyme” -Rick Ross (feat. Swizz Beats)
Rick Ross released his Port of Miami 2 this week aaaaaand it’s definitely a Rick Ross album. I don’t hate Rick Ross, but I think he works better as a feature on most songs as his flow can get extremely repetitive. One thing he’s consistent with though is finding great beats. The whole album is filled with awesome maximalist beats with plenty of big bass and horns and samples and this song was probably the best example of that. It’s a Just Blaze beat, who came up around the same time as Kanye and they have similar styles, along with Swizz and Ross rapping classic luxury lines over it? Can’t go wrong here. Not going to win album of the year or anything here but it’s certainly a fun one to toss on if you’re trying to feel like a boss.
“If You Pray Right” -Brockhampton
Brockhampton is gearing up to release their new album Ginger and the singles have been pretty solid. “I Been Born Again” had a cool video and a familiar sound for Brockhampton (not in a bad way), but this one is switching it up a bit. It’s a super simple beat, a little horn riff and some drums, but it’s perfect for the boyband. Each rapper just takes their best stab at dominating the beat and they’re having fun. Also, can’t not love any music video these guys make. I’m already anticipating Ginger to be a very interesting album so excited for that to come out in the next few weeks.
Trying to Find My Next Thrill -Cousin Stizz
If I’m being honest, I haven’t really listened to this guy…like not even the album I just mentioned. He’s a boston dude so I feel like I should be on him but I hadn’t really been shown his music by too many people but I heard a lot about this album on twitter so thought I should mention it. After a quick glance, this isn’t half bad! “Anonymous” has Smino on it and is over a fire KennyBeats beat, “Soso” was pretty catchy on a first listen, and I liked the beat on “Beamin'”. I didn’t dive deep into this at all, but on a quick skim of the album those are the ones I liked. Definitely nothing game-changing but worth checking out for rap fans.
“Hot Girl Summer” -Megan Thee Stallion (feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Nicki Minaj)
Is it just me or did this come out like 2 months too late? This song is fun, the beat is dancey, it’s got 2 great artists on the feature, and it’s title is one of the biggest internet trends of the past 3 months and the person who created the trend is the one whose song it is. So why did it come out in mid August? I feel like she might’ve been waiting for these features to submit their verses or something. But this song is awesome, Megan Thee Stallion comes in hot, Nicki is going off and it’s a perfect beat for her, and Ty Dolla is delivering a hook only he a man like himself can make. This song hits now, I’m just thinking about how much better it would’ve hit if it came out early June.
Spilled Milk 1 -Bas
BUY YOUR TICKETS FOR THE BAS BUS IMMEDIATELY. He is probably the most underrated rapper in the game right now. He absolutely showed up on Revenge of the Dreamers III, his last album was so dope, and now he’s releasing an EP of songs that got cut from ROTD3 and they’re all FIRE. The one I attached “Amnesia” is my favorite, but they’re truly isn’t one bad song on this 4 song project. He blends so many different styles, has great features from Earthgang, J.I.D. and Ari Lennox, and spits absolute flames like you’d expect from a Dreamville artist. Excited to see the next volume of “Spilled Milk” and y’all should be too.
i,i -Bon Iver
Thank God for this album. I’ve said this in a past TT, but Bon Iver is just prime crying music. Makes you wanna curl up in bed with all the lights off and just think about how unimportant you are. And that’s exactly what I did. It was surreal.
Frontman Justin Vernon delivered an incredible album. His last album was a little too experimental for me but I liked the idea, this album took those ideas and molded them into something beautiful. It’s a perfect blend of the Bon Iver people grew to love from “For Emma, Forever Ago” and meshes it with the more ambient/electronic/alternative sounds from his most recent album.
In perfect Bon Iver fashion, none of the song titles make sense, but they’re all great. “iMi” is the first full song on the album and it’s got this wild almost lofi sounding beat with “I am, I am, I am” repeating mysteriously like Bon Iver is some sort of ghost tryna communicate with us. “Hey, Ma” is probably a top 3 Bon Iver song for me right off the bat. Don’t even need to think about. “Full time, you talk your money up, while it’s living in a coal mine” is just an unbelievable lyric and I love the message of the song about focusing on what truly matters in life. Then we just hit this amazing stretch of songs. “U (Man Like)” is probably one of the most uplifting Bon songs of all time, including a beautiful children’s choir. “Naeem” repeats “I can hear crying” and the crying that he’s singing about is mine, alone in my room thinking about my existence. From there we just get a great grab bag of songs all featuring great lyrics, vocals, instrumentals, and choruses. I could literally go on about every song but “Faith”, “Marion” and RAbi are just mind-blowing as well.
If you can’t tell, I absolutely ate this album up. Easily going to make my top 10 albums of the year list. A must listen.
Camp Flog Gnaw 2019 Line-Up…Who’s The Mystery Guest?
Tyler The Creator’s “Camp Flog Gnaw” has come a long way. Last year it featured a ton of heavy hitters, including Kids See Ghosts only performance, and this was at Dodger Stadium. It’s happening at the same venue this year and has some huge names, Brockhampton, Solange, 21 Savage, Goldlink, YG, Earl Sweatshirt and many more. The part of the poster generating the most buzz however, is the unannounced headliner. Who’s the Camp Flog Gnaw Secret Headliner? I’ve got a few ideas.
- A$AP Rocky -Coming off his trial in Sweden, A$AP would obviously be a huge name. He and Tyler are obviously great friends, so it’s not unreasonable. A$AP was found guilty today though, and he has a “suspended sentence”, which I think means he’s on probation for 2 years and then if he’s good he’s ok to go? Maybe? Idk. If you’re a swedish lawyer please hit me up I gotta know if he’s legally allowed to perform at CFG this year.
- Kanye West -Kanye’s been making some joyful noise in his Sunday Service series as of late, but he hasn’t been putting out new music or advertising any shows. He still hangs out with Tyler pretty often and they’re obviously great friends. Could T have secured Kanye to perform some of his tracks from Yandhi for the first time? Or maybe has he gotten a special rendition of the Sunday Service to come through? Or will it be just straight up Ye? Who knows. All I’m saying is if Kanye is announced catch me buying a $700 plane ticket and VIP passes to Flog Gnaw this year baby.
- Kid Cudi -Cudi is another logical headliner for this. He’s been super active on social media lately, he’s acting a bunch, and he’s been doing features on people’s albums with a promise of new music around the corner. I think people would be hype to see him at this thing and he and Tyler have the relationship to make it happen.
- Jaden Smith -His sister Willow is already going and since they’re
datingreally close I was surprised not to see him on this list especially since he and Tyler are boys. Is he headliner material though? Billed above someone like 21 Savage? I wouldn’t think so. But hey, who knows. - Frank Ocean -Please for the love of God let it be Frank. I need new Frank Ocean in my life more than I need air to breathe. In fact, I don’t want air to breathe, I only want the Ocean. I will drown in Frank’s Ocean if it means we get new music. Having him release some new stuff and perform for the first time at CFG would be unbelievable. Another person who, if announced, could seriously make me consider heading to Cali for the weekend.
Who do you think it could be? Let me know if I missed someone.
We’re Getting A New Post Malone Album, It’s Gonna Be Good
Posty announced he’s got a new album coming on Fallon this week and folks, I’m excited. Look, the last time someone announced a new album on Fallon I got excited and very let down *cough* Chance *cough* BUT I have high hopes for this Post Malone album. He hasn’t made a bad album yet and the singles off this one, “Wow” and “Goodbyes”, are great. His new song “Circles” was previewed and it’s sounding like another hit just from the small snippet. This is something to look forward to in September once the summer albums start to lose their luster.
Harry Styles is NOT Prince Eric?
We were absolutely BAMBOOZLED yesterday with this Prince Eric news. Ever since the damn live action Little Mermaid was announced Disney’s been TEASING us with the rumors that the #1 Man (in general) in the world was going to be playing Prince Eric: Harry Freakin’ Styles. So yesterday when it was confirmed he was playing him, I was GASSED UP.
Then, just a few HOURS later, we get this BS.
YOU REALLY GONNA BLUE BALL US LIKE THAT MICKEY MOUSE? A massive smh from me. This movie was going to make several billion dollars if Harry was in it, but now??? They’re probably only looking at 1, maybe 2 billion tops. It might as well be cancelled.What a missed opportunity. Everyone else could be wonderful, they could get the second most talented man in America to play Eric, but the whole time he’s on screen I’m gonna be thinking “nah, Harry woulda been better”. Really just bummed about this news. My positive mind is thinking “maybe he can’t be in the movie cuz he has a new album coming out and he’ll be on tour” and my negative brain is thinking “maybe he’s made enough money he doesn’t need to act or make music and is going to retreat and live in the wilderness for the rest of his life”. So one of those two things is going to happen and I’m praying to god it’s the first one.
Lizzo MURDERED Her Tiny Desk Concert
Lizzo has already solidified her spot as the next big star in music. That’s just a fact. I haven’t seen a personality like this in the music industry in a LONG time and she displayed it in the most natural and stunning way on her Tiny Desk Concert.
First of all, she played the hits. Which I love. A lot of times people will use a Tiny Desk Concert to like plug B track songs…why??? This stuff’s supposed to go viral on Youtube ok. What’s the benefit of doing deep cuts? The old geezers who still listen to NPR aren’t gonna dig up back-burner songs from like Hobo Johhson they’re just waiting for the old white people to get back on air and talk about politics. So Lizzo did this completely right.
She has hilarious commentary between tracks, referring to the “tiny ass desk” and singing like a baby crying if the baby was Mariah Carey was absolutely awesome.She broke out the damn FLUTE??? Not to mention her bangers “Cuz I Love You”, “Truth Hurts” and “Juice” all played beautifully in this smaller setting. I’m so glad we got this. And so recently after Bas gave us his Tiny Desk, which I highly recommend as well.
If you watch 2 Tiny Desk Concerts in a row there will be about a million more in your “recommended” section on Youtube and you can fall down hours and hours of awesome performances. I’ve probably seen 100 of these from some of my favorite artists and I hope I get a hundred more.
This brings me to the Question of the Week: What’s Your Favorite Tiny Desk Concert?
Let me know on Twitter, IG, Log-In with WordPress and leave a comment, venmo me (bitcoin only) or just talk to me over a candle-lit dinner at an establishment of your choosing (as long as you’re a woman with lots of money who will pay for my meal and is also willing to turn this into a long-term relationship where I end up being a stay-at-home Dad). Thanks, see ya next week.
djchickenparm.com 