Summer Music Recap

Summer Music Recap

Tej Sheth, Reporter

In recent years, when major projects from the biggest artists were blessing our speakers and headphones on a weekly basis, fans got a little spoiled and accustomed to the onslaught of new material we received. Especially compared to last year, 2019 has seemed more like a drought in need of a savior. Here we look at some of the biggest releases of the summer:

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“So Much Fun” by Young Thug- After a summer that saw albums flopping like fish out of water, Young Thug- the father of the current rap wave–came through in August to save the rap game and save the summer. Thugger’s debut album lit my face on fire with his wacky voice and mind blowing delivery, highlighting production from Wheezy and Southside. Thank you to the goat for ending the summer with so much drip. Album highlights include “Hot” (ft. Gunna), “Bad Bad Bad” (ft. Lil Baby), and “Ecstasy.”

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“The Perfect Ten” by Mustard- DJ Mustard has been timelessly delivering his bouncy basslines and deceivingly layered textures for the whole decade. The recognizable tag of “mustard on the beat” previously crafted the beats for Post to be. The producer had his shining solo moment with this album, enlisting an all-star cast including of Future, Migos, Nipsey Hussle, A$AP Rocky, Meek Mill and more. Album highlights include Baguettes in the Face (ft. Nav, Playboi Carti, A Boogie wit da Hoodie) and Interstate 10 (ft. Future).

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“7” by Lil Nas X- After helming the #1 spot on Billboard for over 18 weeks (and counting), “Old Town Road” set a new record and became the most popular song OF ALL TIME. We all got to witness history. Lil Nas X cashed in on his popularity by releasing this rap-rock-country-alternative genre hybrid EP. The songs weren’t overly complex or lyrical, but were catchy and heavily memed. It was enough to keep Lil Nas X relevant until his next release. Album standouts include Rodeo (ft. Cardi B) and Panini.

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“The Lost Boy” by YBN Cordae- After going viral on previous songs–as well as picking up steam from Kung Fu, Cordae gained a pretty wide following before his debut album. “The Lost Boy” surpassed everyone’s expectations as the subject matter and lyrics were extremely sophisticated for a 21-year-old. Songs like RNP (ft. Anderson Paak, prod. J.cole) was a fan favorite. My only criticism is that his flows and cadences were a little too predictable on many occasions. With age, he will grow and this is overall a very strong debut for him.

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“Revenge of The Dreamers III” by Dreamville- The compilation tape from J.Cole’s Dreamville label was the result of a 10 day marathon recording session in Atlanta’s legendary Tree Sound Studios featuring labelmates JID, Bas, Ari Lennox, EARTHGANG, Mirrorland and basically everyone else in the industry. The album has a song for everyone in every mood, as the roster includes a wide variety of talent. It seemed like over a 100 people were on the tape, but it was surprisingly cohesive. Standouts are Sacrifices (J.Cole, Smino, Saba, EARTHGANG), Wells Fargo (JID, EARTHGANG, Buddy, Guapdad 4000), and Sunset (J.Cole, Yung Nudy).

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“IGOR” by Tyler the Creator- The most experimental album of the summer, Igor was highly polarizing among fans. It still was the #1 album when it was released, moving 172,00 units in its first week and is a strong album of the year candidate. Igor was entirely produced by Tyler in his bedroom and was composed with static noise, muffled vocals, and out of tune synths that somehow came together to form beautiful music masked in a blonde wig and colorful suits.  Nothing like it has been produced before, as fellow artists in the industry credited this project for its creativity. Standouts include EARFQUAKE (ft. Playboi Carti, Charlie Wilson) and I THINK (ft. Solange)

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“Father of Asahd” by DJ Khaled – DJ Khaled’s 12th studio album had EVERYONE on it. Travis Scott, Post Malone, Justin Bieber, 21 Savage, Cardi B, Jay-Z, J Balvin, Beyonce, John Legend, Lil Wayne… all of the prominent names in the industry made the tracklist. Somehow, with so much star power, DJ Khaled spent 4 million on advertising and failed to make a single hit — and failed to earn Billboard’s Album of the Week nod, which made DJ Khaled throw a tantrum and sue the media company. Basically, one big hot mess. If the album wasn’t spammed with “WE THE BEST” and “DDDDJJJJJ KHALEEDDDDD” it probably would’ve been #1. Huge failure.

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“The Big Day” by Chance the Rapper- While on the topic of flops, we arrive at Chance the Rapper. I can’t say we didn’t see this coming. This was probably the BIGGEST FLOP IN HISTORY. From Chance’s recent singles and features (the cringey “Groceries”), everyone was hoping Chance would rediscover his form for album mode. Instead, what we heard was worse than anything we could’ve imagined. Chance got too caught up in the pressure and over-texturized and complicated his beats. Chance produced a trio of classics with “10 day,” “Acid Rap,” and “Coloring Book,” but his debut album, and his chance (no pun intended) for a superstar moment was wasted with this trash music. He needs to rediscover his passion and simplify his beats to get back to putting his soul into music.

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“In my Defense” by Iggy Azalea- Iggy Azalea was outsold by a talking cartoon pig’s album. Peppa Pig ftw. “Control the Streets Vol.2” by Quality Control – The label which hosts the likes of Migos, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and City Girls released a fan-pleasing Volume 1 to this series. However, that was at the height of the mumble rap phase. Two years later, hip-hop is moving back to a more substantive, lyrical driven force, which leaves little room for error for these talents. Sadly, many of the tracks feel like leftovers that weren’t used for projects, or were created in 5 minutes. A hit or two might come out of this because of the names attached, but it likely won’t hold much staying power.

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Other notable summer music: 

Standouts: Misunderstood by Yung Bans (Going Wild, SOS) Bandana by Madlib and Freddie Gibbs/ The Plugs I Met by Benny the Butcher
Zuu by Denzel Curry (RICKY, SPEEDBOAT)
Flops: Indigo by Chris Brown
Legendary by Tyga