Focus Hip Hop

Music Writing with a Focus on Underground Gems

  • Album Review | Cloud Envy – Back to the Flows

    This album was released on June 26th this year. Before I review this album, I should disclose that Cloud Envy and I actually have kind of a history together. We went to the same elementary school, and I attended the release party for this album, so him and I are pretty much homies at this…

  • EP Review | NoFace, Rapper – Filthy 2

    This EP was released on April 2nd this year. It’s the sequel to the first Filthy EP which came out just a month prior. I enjoyed the original project a lot, so I pretty much knew that I would like this EP before I even listened. The whole thing is produced by Killer Kane, who…

  • Album Review | brainorchestra. – E-Town General

    This album was released on February 4th this year. brainorchestra. released one of my favorite extended plays of 2020 with The Wizard’s Scroll, so I’ve become a fan over the past 12 months. I didn’t get around to covering them on this blog, but his Marmalade & Sacred albums were really good too. I figured…

  • EP Review | S. Reidy – I Started Grieving Today

    This extended play was released on March 19th this year. S. Reidy released a really dope EP last year entitled Sketchbook, and I loved the lead single for this new project, so I have no reason to believe that this won’t be a good listen. Every track is produced by Die Cute. The first track…

  • Don’t Sleep | Mantis the Miasma – Cold Soul

    Don’t sleep on this new record from Mantis the Miasma. It was released on June 12th this year, and is the second album I’ve heard from Mantis in 2021. The first one was called Miasma Theory, and it was entirely produced by Iceberg Theory. It was kind of mediocre to me overall, but I saw…

  • EP Review | August Fanon & Defcee – We Dressed the City with Our Names

    This extended play was released on June 4th this year. Defcee released one of my favorite extended plays of 2020 with ceenick, and has solidified himself as one of the best writers in the underground right now in my opinion. He released a deluxe version of ceenick earlier this year, which was amazing, and now…

  • Protected: Stay Focused Podcast | Episode 4: Queen Latifah – All Hail the Queen

    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

  • The Best Songs of March 2021

    If you used to follow my Twitter profile or keep up with the changes on my LinkTree, then you’re probably aware of the playlists that I’ve been doing of my favorite tracks from each month. I started doing it around 2019, but for whatever reason I just didn’t mention it on this blog. I’m gonna…

  • Album Review | Big Gucci Krow – Cold Summer Night

    This album was released on May 23rd this year. Big Gucci Krow is another Souless artist who I first became familiar with around the beginning of the year when he dropped his Blessed Life EP. I don’t really have much background on this project in particular, but I think I’m gonna dig it just because…

  • Album Review | Armand Hammer & The Alchemist – Haram

    This album was released on March 26th this year. Armand Hammer released one of my favorite albums of 2020 with Shrines, so naturally I’m pretty excited for this project. When this project was announced, I was 99% excited and 1% worried. It’s really cool that The Alchemist is producing an album for Armand Hammer, but…

  • Album Review | Mach-Hommy – Pray for Haiti

    This album was released on May 21st this year. Mach-Hommy is an underground artist with whom I’ve had a pretty rocky past. I tried listening to his HBO album, but I couldn’t get through it because it was so fucking boring. That’s like one of the only times I’ve given up on an album before…

  • Protected: Stay Focused Podcast | Episode 3: Kool Moe Dee – How Ya Like Me Now

    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.