Brandon Mattesich

This Week in Music 

Welcome to this week’s issue of Sound Bite, where we’re talking big developments on the beef front.

Kendrick Lamar finally dropped a response to Drake, and it’s the most personal diss yet. In the six-minute track entitled “euphoria” Kendrick attacks not only Drake’s music but his validity as an artist, saying “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk I hate the way that you dress I hate the way you sneak diss” while simultaneously going after every notable flaw Drake has. Further, Kendrick challenges Drake’s blackness as an artist, a constant point of contention and insecurity for Drake, as well as threatening to tell the truth about him (Drake) if he keeps lying about Kendrick in his own disses. 

This comes at a hard time for Drake as he recently removed his second diss “Taylor Made Freestyle” after Tupac’s Estate threatened legal action stating, “The Estate would never have given its approval for this use. The unauthorized, equally dismaying use of Tupac’s voice against Kendrick Lamar, a good friend to the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately, compounds the insult.”

On a bit of a more humorous note, the beef between Quavo and Chris Brown seems to be escalating in a far more entertaining manner than that of Kendrick and Drakes. After a release by Quavo which compared Chris Brown to the likes of a “Crackhead Michael Jackson,” Chris Brown decided to take a more unconventional route of retaliation. According to popular speculation, a recent show of Quavos was almost entirely bought out by Chris Brown leaving Quavo to perform in front of a very empty arena. Previously a similar stunt had been pulled by 50 Cent, but even that was not at this scale.

Isaac Dobmeier

Columnist

So Bladee (my favorite artist ever) dropped a new album. 30 songs. Out of nowhere. Packed with easter eggs from previous projects that fans will devour, “Cold Visions” is a capstone achievement of sorts for the artist, as well as an evolution of his spiritual-focused, ethereal sound in recent years. This transition could also be labeled a regression, returning to the “evil Bladee” edge that was a hallmark of his work from 2013 to 2018. As far as the content of “Cold Visions” goes, it’s honestly incredible. To roughly summarize the album’s dense themes, Bladee’s not doing well. He’s grappling with turning 30, emotionally numb, antisocial and sick of the underground stardom he’s accrued over the last decade. Sonically, Bladee might be at his artistic peak here. The ad libs! The dark lyrics! The production is stellar and Bladee works so well on the rage beats that pepper the project (I soyjaked irl hearing the F1LTHY producer tag on the opener after so many years without). So many longtime collaborators have standout contributions, shoutout Yung Sherman on “YUNG SHERMAN,” Sickboyrari aka Black Kray on “OTHERSIDE” and all of Yung Lean’s features especially. My only criticism is that it can’t be my favorite Bladee album (that spot is forever reserved by “Working on Dying” sorry) but it just might be one of his best. The AOTY race is already a wrap. 

Favorite tracks: 

• “SAD MEAL”
• “FUN FACT (feat. Yung Lean)”
• “YUNG SHERMAN (feat. Yung Sherman)”
• “KING NOTHINGG”