(Throwback) Concert Review #1 - Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. tour

My DAMN. tour review

After seeing Travis Scott's lackluster performance, Kendrick came in and saved the day, thank goodness he was the headliner.

Basically, I went to go see Kendrick Lamar, & Travis Scott on the DAMN. tour (missed DRAM, but I didn't really care) on Tuesday, August 8th, 2017 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Here's a picture of my ticket...

VVV, Vol. 3 (R&B Edition) - SZA, Syd, Bryson Tiller & Sabrina Claudio

The first R&B projects that I'll be reviewing in this very special edition of Very Velocious Verdicts!

I named this blog "Hip Hop and Other Things" for a reason. Variety is the spice of life, and even I, an avid hip hop fan, can get "burnt out" or "tired" of the genre from time to time.

Which is why I'm switching it up and reviewing R&B projects that have come out this year. A couple projects that are well known (SZA, Bryson Tiller) and a couple that are not so well known as the aforementioned well known projects (Syd, Sabrina Claudio).

As far as R&B as a whole goes. I do have my episodes where I listen to exclusively R&B for like a week or so. Obviously, I'm more experienced in listening to hip hop BUT music is music, and a lot of the times, R&B and Hip Hop intersect so much the line between the 2 genres become one giant smear. 

But I've talked for long enough, let's get to reviewing these R&B projects in the very non hip hop edition of VVV!

Let's start with SZA...

My Top 10 Hip Hop Songs of 2017 (So Far) + Honorable Mentions

It's time for My top 10 hip hop songs of 2017 (so far)

Time FLIES By

It's already MIDYEAR List Season. Yes, 2017 is already halfway dead and gone. And as we approach the 2nd half of the year, I want to reflect on what the year has given me so far in Hip Hop Music and more. These are my top 10 songs of 2017 (so far).

As always...we must start with the honorable mentions (there are 2) for this mid year list.

HONORABLE MENTION #1...

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN: My track by track review

My Review for Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN."

Kendrick Lamar. K. Dot, Cornrow Kenny, or Kung Fu Kenny, is a rapper from Compton, California. After releasing a series of mixtapes dating back to 2003, Kendrick finally got people talking with his 2010 mixtape titled "Overly Dedicated". And since releasing that mixtape, Kendrick went from just your run-of-the-mill, internet struggle rapper, to being the next big thing in Hip Hop and boy, did he not disappoint.

Or did he?

VVV, Vol. 2 - Kodak Black, Joey Bada$$, Rick Ross, Freddie Gibbs, Starlito and Don Trip & Jonwayne

Albums I'll be reviewing in the 2nd installment of "Very Velocious Verdicts"!

Welcome to the 2nd installment of Very Velocious Verdicts (VVV for short!) Basically, I take projects that I've heard that I think deserve a review, but unfortunately would take too much time to review track by track, and I review them in a shorter review format. Thus, allowing me to cover multiple projects at a time, but in a quicker manner.

Also, a word on the new Kendrick Lamar album...

Drake - More Life: My track by track review

Cover Art for "More Life"

Drake. Does this man even need an introduction at this point? Even if you've been marginally aware of popular music in the past 7 years, then you have heard of this man before. To put in perspective how famous this man is, even my 74 year old grandmother knows who he is. Now, you may be saying "Well, just because she's older, doesn't mean she can't keep up with the times!" and if you are saying that, you have to understand something. My grandmother comes from a 3rd world country called "Belize" (as does the rest of my family), she spends the majority of her days cooking food, looking after kids, and watching movies on the lifetime television network. The closest she gets to current technology is the house phone and flip phone she uses when she's out and about. She is literally never near a radio, or watches anything related to what the current, popular music is on TV. Just lifetime network movies and cable news...and even still, a 74 year old immigrant from Belize knows who Drake is...

Very Velocious Verdicts, Vol. 1 - Future, Oddisee & Mozzy

Albums I'll be covering in the first installment of this new series!

Okay, so as most of you probably already know. I write a lot. Covering each track on each album at first, on paper, seems like a great idea. But the problem with hip hop (and music in general nowadays) is the over saturation of tracks on albums. It seems like the art of short, and concise albums is lost in 2017. Every rapper, it seems, just loads their track lists with upwards of 16+ tracks, with runtimes of up to one hour and 30 minutes.  1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES FAM. THAT'S 3 EPISODES OF "SEINFELD" WITH THE COMMERCIALS INTACT, THAT'S INSANE AND UNNECESSARY. There are literally movies out there that can be watched and re-watched in that time period. The point is, I don't like overly long musical albums. Doesn't matter who it is. Let Michael Jackson & 2Pac come back and release a joint album together. If that project is 25 tracks or more, they can BOTH go back to the graves they dug themselves up from (RIP though, I love both artists, no disrespect)...