This Week In Music
Welcome back to Sound Bite! This week I’ll be catching you up on everything you missed over Winter Break, and catching up with some artists I feel like deserve another listen. So from Tyler, The Creator to Mac Miller we’ll be covering a little bit of everything on this week’s Sound Bite.
Lil Baby recently released his latest album “WHAM” to mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. There are definitely a few standouts on the album, such as Young Thug’s verse on “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber” which was probably my favorite song on the album. Overall though I was pretty underwhelmed with this release, and I feel as though Lil Baby has not lived up to his early career hype.
Tyler, The Creator released a new single over break entitled “THAT GUY”. The song, which uses the beat of “Hey Now” off of Kendrick Lamar’s latest album “GNX”, is a freestyle that proves Tyler’s ability to flow over almost any beat. Not only does this song showcase his versatility, but it serves as his first official entry into what I would consider the fight for the top three. In this song he boasts about the response to his latest album, and the applause he got performing at the Kendrick Lamar concert “The Pop Out”. And to be honest, I think it’s very arguable that he deserves a top three spot.
Mac Miller’s Estate also released a new single recently, and they are consistently proving that they are probably the only estate who knows how to ethically handle an artist’s music after their passing. “5 Dollar Pony Rides” is tragic in the sense that I love the lyrics, and I see the vision but the vocals just really feel like they are lacking that polish you would get on a final recording. Thundercat’s instrumentals really elevate this song, and despite its lack of polish I think it’s another good entry into Mac Miller’s catalog. While I wish Mac were still around to finish his upcoming album the way he wanted to, I think “Balloonerism” still holds a lot of promise and I’m very excited to review it.
Lastly I want to give a shout out to Waka Flocka Flame for literally no reason other than that I feel like he deserves more recognition than he’s currently getting. Over this past Winter break I went and relistened to a lot of his biggest hits, and they easily still hold up. As an artist I think he was groundbreaking and although his current music isn’t necessarily pushing the envelope in any way I would really hate to see his legacy get lost to time. If Waka Flocka Flame is a name you’ve heard before but you’ve never listened to any of his music, this is your sign to dive right in.
