Focus Hip Hop

Music Writing with a Focus on Underground Gems

  • Don’t Sleep | Dos Monos – Dos City

    Don’t sleep on this latest album from Dos Monos. These guys are a Japanese rap trio signed to Deathbomb Arc, who are pretty much the go to label if you’re looking for experimental music. They began teasing this album about halfway through 2018, but it wasn’t officially announced until February 10th this year. The album…

  • EP Review | Maxo – Lil Big Man

    This EP was released on March 15th this year. I’ve seen some people calling it an album, but Maxo himself referred to it as an EP on Twitter. I’m not really that familiar with Maxo at all to be honest. I’ve only ever heard one song from him. My friend Nick Lowery recommended the second…

  • Don’t Sleep | The Lasso – The Sound of Lasso

    Don’t sleep on this new instrumental album from The Lasso. I usually don’t cover instrumental projects, but when they are this good I have to say something about them. I was pretty goddamn impressed with The Lasso’s work on Lando Chill’s album from last year, Black Ego. I guess I’d forgotten how good the production…

  • Album Review | TreaZon – Troublesome

    This album was released on March 11th this year. It was originally supposed to drop on the 8th, but it got pushed back due to some “technical difficulties that was outta our control.” My introduction to TreaZon was his interlude on my favorite mixtape of all time, Searching Sylvan by QuESt, who is now known…

  • Album Review | DaBaby – Baby on Baby

    This album was released on March 1st this year. This is pretty much my first time listening to anything DaBaby’s ever done. I’d never even heard of him until I watched an episode of Justin L. Hunte’s YouTube series, The Drip. Shoutout to Justin Hunte. He makes really great content. If you’re not subscribed to…

  • Mixtape Review | Ace Hood – Body Bag, Vol. 5

    This mixtape was released on March 1st this year. I usually don’t review mixtapes that are just a collection of freestyles over other people’s beats, but I feel like Ace Hood is a really under-appreciated artist, and I don’t see that many people talking about this project, so I wanted to give it some shine.…

  • Album Review | 2 Chainz – Rap or Go to the League

    This album was released on March 1st this year. There didn’t really seem to be that much hype going into this project from what I saw. He didn’t really have a big lead single for it. Late last year he dropped that Hot Wings Are a Girl’s Best Friend EP, which was pretty bad. I…

  • Album Review | Blu – A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer Night

    This album was released on March 1st this year. I’m a pretty big fan of Blu. Obviously my favorite thing he’s ever done is Below the Heaven’s with Exile, which is an amazing album. However, I haven’t loved everything he’s released this decade. That Jesus mixtape he dropped under the name B was just okay…

  • EP Review | Substantial – Recompositions

    This EP was released on March 1st this year. For some reason the Bandcamp page for this project has the release date listed for February 22nd, so I was pretty disappointed when it didn’t drop that day. As of 2:12 AM on March 1st, it’s still not available on Bandcamp. It’s on iTunes though, so…

  • Album Review | T-Pain – 1UP

    This album was released independently on February 27th this year. I honestly don’t think this is gonna be that good… I like T-Pain a lot, but I haven’t really liked any of the singles he’s released for this project. Also, after perusing the tracklist, I’m not too pleased with the features he’s gathered for this…

  • EP Review | Alex Wiley – Tangerine Dream II

    This EP was released on February 22nd this year. The only project I’ve ever listened to from Alex Wiley is Village Party II, which came out in 2015. I didn’t love that record, but it has a few songs that I really like. My biggest criticism of that record was the fact that Alex Wiley…

  • Album Review | Lil Pump – Harverd Dropout

    This album was released on February 22nd this year. This is probably gonna go down as one of the most hated albums of 2019. Lil Pump is one of the most hated rappers out right now. This may come as a surprise to some of my followers, but I actually like Lil Pump. I think…