Compton Menace - Menace Monthly, Vol. 6

I listened Compton Menace's #newmixtape - Menace Monthly vol.6. It's apart of his Monthly series of mixtapes. It's good production and decent song making, but he didn’t shine lyrically. The lyrics were lack luster, there was no excitement or punch, nothing that made I heard nothing that made me eyebrow go up.  The songs didn’t have catch, the hooks were not catchy. All of the elements of the songs just didnt fit together and make the magic that a good song or album delivvers. It's a decent listen, but I didn't have a particular favorite song.  I didn't hear a stand out or go to track, neither did I hear a single.  I'd give it a  C+

Conway - Look What I Became

I listened to Conway the Machines's #newmixtape - Look What I Becam.  The  production can be better and it needs to be better , he needs beats with stronger drums and a fuller sound. He needs to find a good engineer also.  Most of the beats are random sounds and a lack of percussions or rhythms. He also needs to work on the hooks, lyrically and delivery wise he's nice, he's working on varying up his subject matter; he just has to get the total song making aspects down. It's street music but he needs more variety in just about every aspect( style, subjects, beats, and deliveries). I liked  “Vino D”, “Half of It”, and “You Made It”. I don't here any singles, nothing that'll get club or radio play. The songs I liked I wouldn't constantly replay and theres not enough on the album to make me want to replay it. I'd gove it a C. 

Trae The Truth - Exhale

I listened to Trae the Truth's  #newalbum- Exhale. It's sit and chill music, it could have better versatility and variety. It's all low tempo, most of its kind of dark. Lyrically its good, the production is good ,it just needs to be more varied, the song making is good they can just be a little bigger. Theres no lead single, or anthem or particular song that stands out that cements the project. I liked Exhale”, ”Same Ol Love”. I'd give it a  B-

Don Trip - They Don't Love You

I listened to Don Trip's #newmixtape - They Don't Love You.  It's great lyrically, I like that  he doesn’t require  a good beat to deliver a fire verse, but would benefit from working with some different producers and artist to expand his creativity and sound. The hooks could be better and attention to detail in the total song making process could be stepped up.  He’s good but he’s stagnant; he hasn’t expanded his skills, dept, or sound and he doesn’t do much experimenting nor does he take  any risk. Its good lyrically but it’s not versatile; you won’t hear it on the radio, in the club, nor would it inspire you to go see him perform. “Get It”, “Austin 3:16”, and “Nothing At All” were the my favorite tracks. I'd give it a B-

Maino - On Everything I Love

I listened to Maino's new #mixtape - On Everything I Love. It's a good solid consistent listen from beginning to end with next to no skips. Every song is listenable, the production was full and rich. The songs were good but there was no go to or standout track. I didn’t hear a street, club or radio single. And it’s moderately repeatable, meaning you’ll acknowledge it's a good album but it’s unlikely you’ll want to listen  to it again instantly. It’s the type of album that if you were going through your playlist looking for something to play and you saw it you’d be like, “ this was good, ill listen to this”, or”oh, i forgot about this Maino”. It’ll be slept on, ill gove it a B+, it's just missing that something that puts it over the top and into the upper echelon. 

Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee

I listened to Rapharl Sadiq's #newalbum -Jimmy Lee.  Its a good album, but it’s definitely not a mainstream album. It's a concept album so all of the songs work together, more than each being stand alone tracks. It's a very mature listen people that like jazz, blues, and that really like instrumentation will like it. It's the type of album that will be received better in a live performance and when it's probably played out of order and mixed in with other songs in his catalogue; but also because it deals with some heavy concepts that the artist would explain before going into them. The album will go over most peoples heads. It's a good chill listen and if it gets any radio play it’ll exist in the adult contemporary and jazz spaces. I didn’t hear a hit single or anything that could cross over or anything particularly repeatable. I’d give it a C+