Here, we have the definition of a totally random album that draws my attention. Damian Lillard, two time NBA All Star and face of the Portland Trail Blazers, releasing a commercial rap album? How could I not see how this goes down? Under the moniker Dame D.O.L.L.A, Lillard has impressed me with brief freestyles and verses before but this is just taking his rap career to another level. I'm extremely intrigued to see what Dame has in store here. Is it better than former NBA stars who got into hip hop? Does he actually have the talent of putting together an album? Let's see what Dame D.O.L.L.A. has cooked up with The Letter O.
This album presents something pretty interesting. While I figured I'd have a lot to talk about with this NBA player getting into hip hop and how bad things could have gone, I instead am left with a pretty run-of-the-mill, admittedly generic rap project. This is one of the many albums you're gonna hear where not much is really done wrong, but there also isn't anything to blow you away. Even though Dame didn't do anything to impress me all that much, he definitely did what he had to do to have a solid, respectable album under his belt. I appreciated how versatile he was on this project, as he seemed to cover a lot of bases. The Letter O featured some hard-hitting bangers, personal stories, romantic tracks, and soul influences. Among all this variety though, Lillard keeps up the theme of his hometown and childhood. I liked how much description he would use to portray his come-up in the city of Oakland and how he got to where he is today. On the tracks Wasatch Front and Growth Spurt, he is definitely giving me a clear visual image of some of the hurdles he's jumped over in his life.With those two songs being at the beginning of the album, it was cool to hear Dame coming out of the gate with a personal, introspective vibe. There are a lot of different types of song concepts here, but I like how this project keeps up the same laid-back, jazzy feel for the most part. It's very satisfying to hear Dame taking the sound of his album so seriously as he clearly put a lot of effort into many parts of The Letter O.
On this album, Damian Lillard really does show off his technical rapping skills, and even though I had heard verses here and there, I was doubting how well he could spit on some real tracks. He has a good flow, sounds comfortable over the beats, and can put a good hook together too. I think the track that most shows off these strengths is Loyal to the Soil. This track is pretty gritty, as Dame spits about the reputation he's built up as a big time star, and how he still wants to be loyal to Oakland, his hometown. He raps at his best on this, and there is even a Lil Wayne feature, something I was thrilled to see. Wayne absolutely rips this track apart, in my opinion. This not only stands out as the best verse by anyone on this album, but simply one of his best verses in a while and one that just makes me want to hear some new Wayne music. On the album opener, Bill Walton, I really thought Dame found a chilled out beat that he sounded perfect on. He came through with some nice bars, NBA-related lines, and an overall solid track to begin the project and introduce people to who he is as an MC. On some of these tracks, Dame and the people he works with flash some moments of versatility, for good and bad. He shows that he does know how to craft some good hooks, such as on the hard-hitting track Roll Call, and Wasatch Front as well. He reaches out to Marsha Ambrosious and Adrian Marcel for some melodic hooks on the songs Thank You and Baggage, respectively. I thought both of these songs were solid and Dame sounded fine on some different production. If I've got any complaints with this album, its that some of the times Dame went outside of the box it didn't work. I was excited for the Juvenile featured-song Legacy, but the song was a total mess in my opinion with a pretty weak-sounding hook. The song Pillow Talk was also the sort of thing that I'd advise Lillard to stay away from, cause he does other types of songs a lot better than how he approached that. Overall, this album definitely doesn't have anything amazing that will blow me away, but was I expecting that? No. Dame D.O.L.L.A. put out a solid project with a clear understanding of songwriting, production, and putting together some nice verses. The multi-talented Damian Lillard showed me that he can more hold his own when it comes to music.
Wrap Up
+Well put together tracks, clear cohesion and sound going throughout
+Dame proved he can not only spit verses, but be versatile and deliver hooks
+Emphasis on his personal come-up that made it interesting
-No moments to REALLY impress me, run-of-the-mill and generic overall
-Takes a few risks that don't work in his favor
Best Tracks: Loyal to the Soil, Bill Walton, Roll Call
Worst Track: Pillow Talk
7.3/10
With Mac Miller, you truly never know what you're going to get. The Pittsburgh rapper's career has been a roller coaster thus far, with total artistic shifts that seem to happen every few albums. When Mac really made a switch in sound in 2013 on Watching Movies with the Sound Off, it seemed like he found something he was comfortable with. He only cleaned it up on GOOD AM, a pretty solid and fun album with some good replay value. Mac is a guy who is always experimenting and doing new things with his musical range, so let's see if he evolves further on The Divine Feminine.
After some thorough listens with this album, I feel a lot of different opinions going through my head about it. With a situation like this, it can be difficult to properly review the project. On The Divine Feminine, Mac Miller took a pretty sharp turn from his last project, which was a high-energy collection of uptempo tracks. This new album is only 10 songs, all centered around women, love, sex, and in general a lot of the lessons he's learned from women throughout his life. It's pretty interesting to see Mac go ahead and create an album with a core structure and concept like this. He's dabbled in love songs in the past, but here he's making it a centerpiece of the artistry. How he went about making the music, though, is where my opinions change. While I am impressed by the album concept and flow, I'm disappointed in how a lot of these songs sound. Mac had an excellent thought process towards this album, but in my opinion the execution was off.
The Divine Feminine has a very pretty, relaxing, and atmospheric sound throughout it that I'm pretty into. Mac got some good producers together for this album, and I think it sounds professional and gets the romantic concept across. My main gripe with this album, which oddly is something I liked a lot on GOOD AM, is Mac's vocal performance. I honestly didn't like how he approached a lot of these songs vocally at all. His singing has never really resonated with me and on this he seems to do it more than ever, which single-handedly turned me off of some songs. There were also times where I felt his vocals made songs with otherwise good features not nearly as good. There's the track Cinderella, where I think Ty Dolla Sign put in a good hook, and the overall melody of the song is very nice. But, Mac's rapping didn't do anything for me and it felt boring to listen to. A couple of songs here were a bit unbearable because of how Mac sounded. Soulmate, Congratulations, and Skin were all, in my opinion, some of Mac's weaker tracks that he's done. Some combination of bad singing, boring flow, or corny lyricism made these tracks lowlights for me. Another gripe I've got here is the song lengths. While I think this project flows pretty well, some of the songs go on for way too long and I think a lot of people will just get bored eventually. Songs such as Stay, Cinderella, and We were pretty decent, but going on for over five minutes didn't work in their favor.
There were a small handful of songs on this album that really saved it, and reminded me that Mac Miller simply has tons of talent. This guy can put together incredible songs, and I was at least happy he flashed that a little bit on The Divine Feminine. Dang! with Anderson .Paak, is absolutely phenomenal, and the best track on the project by a long shot. I know I had complained about song length, but this song has the catchiness, melody, and emotion to justify that length. Everything about this song is awesome, and I wish Mac went with grooves like this more often on the album. Planet God Damn was pretty solid as well, as it had a laid back vibe I liked, combined with a very well-done hook. It seemed like Mac didn't try nearly as hard on this track, effortlessly delivering his lyrics over the beat in classic Mac Miller fashion. The only other song here I was substantially impressed by was God is Fair, Sexy Nasty, where I feel Mac and Kendrick Lamar put together a fun, melodic collaboration that combined the direction that both artists seem to be going in these days. Kendrick sounded great singing all over this and Mac's rapping was solid. Lastly, this song wasn't Mac's best singing performance but I need to shout out My Favorite Part for Ariana Grande's performance. She totally saved this track from complete boredom, sounding so strong and confident. Her singing impressed me so much, and I liked when her and Mac started singing together near the end too. I really enjoyed these tracks and they flashed a lot of potential that Mac has when he does romantic songs. The thing is that this potential didn't show nearly enough here. The album isn't bad, but I don't think its very polished. Some lazy singing, odd song lengths, and boring tracks really led to this album being sort of mediocre.
Wrap Up
+Cool, unique, and interesting concept for Mac Miller to go with
+Album flowed together well and some single tracks were true standouts
-Mac's singing sounded subpar for the most part
-Some songs were far too long to enjoy
-Not much replay value with how boring some of the songs become
Best Tracks: Dang!, Planet God Damn, God is Fair Sexy Nasty
Worst Track: Soulmate
5.9/10
I'm back and ready to hit you with some reviews. Today, I'm actually talking about something pretty hard-hitting, so get ready. Danny Brown, an underground MC from Detroit, broke out into the nationwide rap scene in 2011 with his album XXX, which, if I might add is absolutely amazing. Danny showed himself as a dynamic, wild, and emotional guy on the mic. Characterized by his high pitched voice and lyrical range, Danny caught on with a lot of people. While I was a bit disappointed by his follow up in 2013, Old, it wasn't a bad album by any means. Now, Brown is back with Atrocity Exhibition. Let's see what he has in store for us now.
Even by Danny Brown standards, this album is WILD. Here we see him devolve further and further into his whirlwind of drug abuse and insanity. As he illustrates this over some of the most nutty rap instrumentals I've ever heard, I seriously get the feeling that this guy is special. Who else is doing this? He starts us off on an aptly named track, Downward Spiral. Over a pretty cool little rock-inspired groove, Danny gives us what the name of the track entails. Even with the success he's had, its so hard for him to get out of the hole he's dug for himself. This was a low-key, yet powerful opener. On Tell Me What I Don't Know, Danny notably goes in with his lower, more reserved voice that you probably remember from the second half of XXX. It seems whenever he uses this voice he's talking about some pretty real topics. With this track he's talking about the stuff that goes on in Detroit, and all the dangerous things he's seen and is still seeing today. These two tracks were solid, but I absolutely loved the next two, Rolling Stone and Really Doe. Two candidates for some of Danny's best songs ever, these two already have me thinking this album will be something special. Rolling Stone has a beat that is awesome, as it sounds so grimy and cavernous. The vocals on the hook from Petite Noir fit it perfectly and I love how they fit into the track. Danny does his thing on the verses and the song comes together very well. Really Doe is a monstrous posse cut with an all-star lineup. I loved Danny, Ab-Soul, and Kendrick Lamar's verses over the booming Black Milk beat, but it was Earl Sweatshirt's verse at the end of the track that hit the hardest. Earl is at the top of his game right now, and this verse showed how much of a grasp he seriously has on riding a beat with his unique flow. Really Doe is a candidate for best song of 2016, in my opinion.
The album relaxes a bit with the track Lost, a pretty chilled out but also slightly creepy song with Danny doing his thing over a really cool sounding sample beat. This relaxation doesn't last long, though, as the next three tracks are clinically insane. Seriously, you won't hear much rap that sounds like these. Ain't it Funny, Golddust, and White Lines are some of the most creative and crazy music this guy has ever done in his career. Never have I heard beats like the ones these tracks have, and Danny somehow just rides them effortlessly with his cackling delivery. The two I was most blown away by were Golddust and White Lines. Golddust somehow weaves in a headbanging punk guitar riff that keeps coming in and out of the track. Danny goes crazy over it and it ends up just sounding like something he was meant to do. That is how well he flows despite the abstract instrumentals. White Lines similarly has an extremely unorthodox beat and Danny just sounds great on it. Lyrically, Danny really comes back into the drug abuse black hole on this track, sounding like someone who has seriously been through some awful stuff. You are just really hearing a man fall apart on this track, and its insane how vividly Danny does this on the mic. Brown comes with a total banger on Pneumonia, a super fun track aided by Schoolboy Q's frequent ad libs in the background.
Danny goes through the last few tracks getting a lot more fun, starting with Dance in the Water, basically a banging anthem that also has some lyrical wisdom tied into it, with Danny echoing the title of the song in the hook. After From the Ground, a nice, relaxed song with a good hook from singer Kelela, comes When it Rain, a song I literally think I could write about for hours. This might be the wildest, most ridiculous song and musical concept I've heard this year. The crazy thing here is just how comfortable Danny sounds riding a beat like this that I feel like I've literally never heard anyone rap on in my life. Danny makes it into a total banger with a fun hook and rapid fire verses. The next two tracks, Today and Get Hi seem to be the only ones I'm not totally crazy about. While I love every other track I think only like these two. They're good but I won't be replaying them like I will with others. I will admit Get Hi is a funny track with B-Real fitting well on the hook. I love how Danny closes this album with the gritty Hell For It. He sounds determined here, getting past his drug abuse issues and going at the people who have doubted him. Overall this album is outstanding. I never thought Danny could make something that could hold a candle to XXX, but here he pulled out all the stops. I never thought I'd hear some of the sounds I heard on this project, but if anyone can do it, its Danny Brown. This album isn't for everyone, and it might even turn off some fans of Danny with how wild he lets his artistry get. If you really let yourself get immersed in the insanity here, you might have an extremely memorable listening experience.
Wrap Up
+Ridiculously forward thinking and wild instrumentals
+Brown keeps up his constantly excellent lyricism
+Illustrates the sounds of drug abuse better than he ever has before
+Always mixing things up with relaxed songs, bangers, serious lyrical tracks
Best Tracks; Rolling Stone. Really Doe, When it Rain
Worst Track: Today
9.6/10
