S H I E L D H O U S E

Release Date: Nov 2nd 2018 Label: Epic Album Link:      I was not at all expecting to review this album, nor was I expecting to hear it. Swizz Beatz, though he is a legendary producer in modern Hip-Hop, is not known to release actual albums. He typically just works production and raps on others songs. The only other album he has ever released is 2007's One Man Band Man . I pretty much exclusively know him from his production work on 2000's Kanye albums and Rick Ross albums, and he is always recognizable in his production style, which is often very slick and varied; mixing new sounds and old soul samples. His voice is also distinct, husky and dark, he sounds more like an old man than he does a skinny 30-something.       Poison is his newest album, and is only 32 minutes long but Swizz says he had "70 songs ready for this album" and decided to cut it down to 10. Though he left the purported Kanye/Bono song, and a same-song showcase of Jay Z,...

Release Date: July 20th Label: 88Rising  Album Link:      The moods of my listening patterns change when I hear a song I really like for the first time, I will end up searching for more like what I just heard. This patterns increases in intensity until after a certain point I will end up hating a song because I have listened to it so much...      Thankfully, this has not been the case with "Midsummer Madness" the centerpiece song to this label compilation debut album for 88Rising. The label in question are a media brand focusing on celebrating contemporary Asian artists, sporting such names as Joji (formerly Pink Guy/FilthyFrankTV), Rich Brian : a talented Indonesian Rapper out of Jakarta, Keith Ape : a South Korean rapper who comes off as much nicer than his music would have you believe and can effortlessly switch between Korean and English mid verse. And finally, Higher Brothers : an extremely charismatic and exciting fo...

         A lot of good songs this month! I have found myself openly exploring more music, and that is a good thing. I find that within a month's time, I will usually stick to one sort of "atmosphere" when it comes to music, by that I mean emotion. If i'm in the mood for "sad" music, as is per the norm, then I will listen to anything ranging from The Killing Joke, The Handsome Family, Opeth's Rock albums (more on those at some point in the future), Empyrium, and Light Jazz. A "happier" playlist might include Rap, Celtic music, Steve Winwood, or Mastodon. While it can be diverse, I feel like with the way that I listen to music a list made up of songs with the same "vibe" or "atmosphere" can get boring, or even worse: listened to for the sake of listening to something.       Because of this, I explored a bit more into other moods this month and I felt very rewarded in doing so. In all honesty, this blog is as much for mysel...

Release Date: June 8th 2018 Label: GOOD Music, Def Jam Album Link      Hot on the heels of fan polarizing album ye , Kanye West returns with Cleveland born hip hop artist Kid Cudi, famous for 2009's Man on the Moon: The End of Day . Together they've debuted under the name KIDS SEE GHOSTS, dropping a self-titled album in the process. The collaboration between the two is nothing new of course; Kanye noticed Cudi back in 2008 at a Def Jam meeting, and has acted as Cudi's mentor ever since. The two worked together on Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak , an album that would shape the future of not only Kid Cudi, but other popular rappers today such as Drake, Frank Ocean, Childish Gambino, and B.o.B. West also served as executive producer on Man on the Moon: The End of Day , and Kid Cudi continued to work with Kanye on all of Kanye's future projects. The creation of this new group was announced back in April 2018, and production on this album started over following Kanye We...

Release Date: June 1st 2018 Label: GOOD Music Album Link:      This review will be a bit different, with Josh and I both taking point, providing our opinion on this long-awaited album.      Sometimes, our musical tastes intersect: Kanye West is one of the most long running examples of that intersection. We will be laying out our opinions on the songs, composition, and production on the album and how it holds up in Kanye West's modern discography. By modern I mean his past two albums because I can speak for the both of us when I say it is not going to hold a candle to his older albums. Following that, we will each provide opinions on each of the songs on the album in order, one after the other. We will not be delving into the political aspects of the lead up to this album, and only will comment on Kanye West as a person should it be reflected in the content of the album. Kellan:      I was cautiously optimistic when it came to thi...

Release Date: March 30, 2018 Label: Get On Down Spotify Link     Czarface Meets Metal Face is the team-up album by hip hop's super individuals; Czarface, a group consisting of the underground duo 7L & Esoteric and east coast legend Inspectah Deck, and MF DOOM, the underground villain best known for his numerous rap personas (Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn, King Geedorah, and Doom to name a few). A true testament to Czarface & MF DOOM's superhuman rap vocabulary ,  Czarface Meets Metal Face is a lyrical gun show through and through.    I'm a huge MF DOOM fan, and every good MF DOOM fan knows that the metal faced villain never puts out new music anymore. Notably, the last full length album Doom appeared on was his collaboration with Bishop Nehru on 2014's NehruvianDoom . Even more disappointingly, back in August-September 2017, Doom had a partnership with Adult Swim to release new singles each week, free to stream under the name of The Miss...