So in the last installment FLY wondered if whatever happened on this New Music FLYday would possibly match last week. And FLY'm not sure if I've got an answer to that question because all the major releases this week were a lot different from the highlights from the previous FLYday, but there was some serious CINECAST!ing heat this week in a way that I wasn't exactly prepared for, even when doing my glance over the releases before bed last night. Don't see much of a point in delaying, because, while we don't have a ton of things to get to (with FLY not having had time to get to the new Shamir album, and having little interest in checking out the Bryson Tiller or whatever his name is), what did hit this week all kind of brought similar heat in different ways. Which means we're starting with albums this week, and I reckon that we'll just go in the order in which I listened to them. That also means we're beginning in the south.
Just a few days ago there was an announcement that Savage Mode 2 was going to come out, the follow up to 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's Savage Mode (and kind of follow up to the fantastic duo project Without Warning from 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin), and I'll be honest that I had relatively low expectations. WW was something I liked a good deal, but 21 Savage isn't someone who I've loved before, though Metro Boomin has definitely proven himself to be one of trap's hitmakers over the years, even if I kind of 'get' his sound by now. Though the third time truly is the charm (ignoring that this is technically the second time, but also actually the third), because even though it doesn't feel like they are doing all that much different, and 21 Savage's trademark/incredibly repetitive and lazy adlibs are still very much present throughout the songs, it hits the mark incredibly well. There's a fun enough framing/narration from Morgan Freeman which threads the album together, but we are pretty much just trying to go from banger to banger. For the most part it moves really well, though it gets feature heavy early with the (of course) titled "Mr. Right Now" that has Drake rapping in the way that best suits him, but gives way to the top notch "Rich N**** Shit" that has the Slime God himself blessing us with another classic. While it very much has Young Thug in his current sound, at this point he's pretty much perfected it, and he works surprisingly well with 21 Savage. Hard to say if this is a modern trap classic or anything, I don't think it reaches those heights, but the whole project is super solid and features a slew of heaters, so can't be mad about that.
Now we go across the country to the West coast, with probably the modern take on classic west coast sound, at least in a mainstream sense, in the form of YG's latest, My Life 4Hunnid. Think it was just last week or the week before I wrote about "Out On Bail", and also know I, at the very least, wrote about "FTP" when it came out, assuming that we had to be building to another project from YG, and here we are. FLY, as I may have stated before, is a bigger YG proponent than most, and he delivers another solid project here. There are a couple of clunkers, unfortunately, as he continues to try and squeeze in some more R&B influenced songs in to these projects when he has shown much greater strengths as a writer and rapper than someone doing more traditional slow songs, but sometimes you have to take the bad (the song with Chris Brown, and the one with Gunna) with the good (pretty much the rest of it), and it's easy enough to overlook the flaws because when YG gets to rapping he does it with the same sharpness and insight that has marked the best portions of his career. With a little trimming down I'd put this right in line with his strongest albums, and you have to continue to like how he shows vulnerability and insight in his way along with how he spotlights other upcoming artists from the LA area. Hell, you even get a pretty good Lil Wayne verse. Not a lot to dislike here, even if the album as a whole isn't top tier YG. Not that I'd consider that bad, again, YG has proven himself more than capable of putting together fantastic albums throughout his career, and I'd still consider this to be another really great one. Time to jet set again though, we've got a long way to go...
Because FLY'm coming back, back from Cali, Cali to the East coast to New York. For the third time in as many weeks (FLY think?) it's Griselda. And after a couple of top notch releases from Conway The Machine and Armani Caesar, we're back to the chief figure with Westside Gunn and his Shady Records (this means relatively little to me, tbh, but suppose it's worth mentioning) debut with WHO MADE THE SUNSHINE. And we wrap up this tour de force of street rap with Gunn's unique style that has him returning to the form of Pray For Paris from earlier in the year. The beat here are different though, much more of a raw sound that works well with his rapping style. As expected you get some great guest spots from Benny, Conway, and Armani, but also some surprise appearances from Busta Rhymes and Slick Rick. Those kind of make sense, Gunn being a couple of years away from 40 in this late career blowup, as I imagine they are closer to contemporaries for him than someone like Tyler, The Creator or Joey Badass were on Pray For Paris, but you also cannot entirely escape this being another Westside Gunn project. I think it hits way better than the latest Flygod mixtape, and might even bridge the gap between that sound and Pray For Paris, but what that says is, pretty much, if you're in to Gunn then you'll probs be in to this, and if you're looking for an entry point this is as good as any. This one actually ended up being my most listened to album of the day, still really liking Gunn's sound and energy, and I do think, top to bottom, it's the strongest project of the week.
I did also listen to the new 18 minute The Alchemist project, but it's a solo work and mostly production. There's one song that has Westside Gunn drop an enjoyable verse, but I largely don't have much to say about this.
As far as singles go there were just a few quick hits that I'll go through relatively fast as FLY will be working on the weekend like usual, and also the thing I want to write most about I feel like I would have already done at some point before? But, again, these posts don't get fact checked. The biggest one, at least based on what was surfaced to me, is likely "Don't Stop" by Megan Thee Stallion featuring the week's second feature from Young Thug. FLY continues to be impressed by Megan Thee Stallion's tracks, and this one is no different, even if the Thug verse isn't as adventurous as I'd like for it to have been, but a banger nonetheless. "Gun Smoke", the latest from Stunna 4 Vegas, which took me a couple of listens to get fully on board with, but I'm in. Stunna surprised me early on this year and continues to deliver just some fun CINECAST!ing heaters with machismo flair. The last hip hop one comes from Fivio Foreign featuring Polo G and produced by Kenny Beats in the form of "Bop It" that pulls a sample from the classic game of the same name. Kenny Beats has really been crushing it this year, as has Polo G who is strong here. Not sure what you really get from Fivio Foreign, but I guess it's alright.
Anyway, we're at the part where FLY will try and not to repeat himself anymore than he has. Saw the release of a new single this week from Demi Lovato post-engagement cancelation with "Still Love Me". The songs that Demi has released this year have been so spread out that, while I assume we're leading towards an album, I do worry that it's going to be these songs and idk what else we'll get, but the supposed build up to it has been incredibly strong with all of these songs being fantastic. Her come back song from January was a powerful ballad, "I Love Me" saw her returning to the pop sound that she crushed with "Sorry Not Sorry", following that style up with the Marshmallo song "OK Not To Be OK" a few weeks back, and returning to a ballad again. Demi's voice is so strong and well defined, her writing is as great as always, and if she maintains this quality the album that eventually comes is set to be something special, even by the lofty stands to which I hold Demi.
Now, it truly is FLY bed time, we've got an early one.