Conway the Machine & The Alchemist — LuLu EP

Conway starts strong 2020 with an excellent EP composed by seven tracks and produced entirely by The Alchemist. The guests are ScHoolboy Q and Cormega.

MC Melodee & Cookin Soul — My Tape Deck

Collaborative album between MC Melodee and Cookin Soul.

Black Geez x Eto — Flour City Street Bible

Rochester makes his gritty voice heard on this Black Geez album entirely produced by Eto. The guests are Street Justice and 38 Spesh.

Cookin' Soul — Big Dilla [mixtape]

This is a tape tribute to J Dilla & Big Pun, realized by hip-hop Spanish producer Cookin' Soul.

Flee Lord & Chase Fetti — Mandatory Respect

Launched on the underground scene by Westside Gunn in "Hitler Wears Hermes 6", Flee Lord easily and very quickly dominated this first glimpse of 2020. He releases his second studio album of 2020, while his previous record seems destined to be one of the best of the year, which would make him one of the 2020 rookies.

42 Dugg — Young & Turnt, Vol. 2 [mixtape]

Second studio album for Dion Hayes aka 42 Dugg, trapper from Detroit, Michigan. The moniker refers to Crips, so does the cover. For his second album, he brings out 14 tracks for a total of half an hour, and three guests (Lil Baby, Yo Gotti and Babyface Ray). Most of the tracks are generic, trap rhythms, sometimes decent hardcore slow deliveries, rare samples, functional hooks. There are several interesting variations, such as g-funk synths ("Y&T 2"), piano samples ("It Get Deeper"), dark trap beats ("Turnt Bitch"), plus, Lil Baby & Yo Gotti come out with the club banger "Not a Rapper" (I'm starting to think Supa Hot is one of the biggest inspirations of the period). Nevertheless, this tape is energetic, generic and gray, 5/10.

Slim Thug — Thug Life

Slim Thug, from Boss Life to Hogg Life, now Thug Life. He doesn't change his topics, he doesn't change his style, he remains faithful to his fans and consistent to his discography. The cover is a tribute to that of the album of the same name of 2Pac's group.

Joyner Lucas — ADHD

Several commercial mistakes are the fundaments for the failure of Joyner Lucas' debut album, starting with the unintelligent choice of releasing about ten singles on an album with a dozen tracks.

Real Bad Man — On High Alert, Vol. 1 EP

First EP from producer Real Bad Man, who can't go wrong calling Roc Marciano, Flee Lord, Eto, Maxo, Pink Siifu and closing the tape with a final posse featuring veterans like Masta Ace of Juice Crew, Kool Keith of Ultramagnetic MCs, AG of DITC and Sadat X of Brand Nubian.

Cookin Soul — 4 Dilla Vol. 3 EP

Third tribute effort to J Dilla.

It starts from "Belong", excellent jazzy instrumental track with amazing female soulful sample looped in background, that envelops the tracks in a maternal soft way. Follows "Couldu", jazzy good piece with great female soulful sample looped in background. "Sure" it's a splendid jazzy ethereal cut with a dope female soulful sample looped in background contrasted by scattered male shots. Closes "Fallin'", light and relaxing jazzy instrumental with male soul sample looped in background that which settles and follows the current of production offered by Cookin Soul. 8/10.

Cappadonna — The Pillage

In 1998, Darryl Hill better known as Cappadonna, releases his debut album, ending a cycle of four glorious years: in 1995, he presented himself to the rap world as one of the top guests of Raekwon's debut, the following year he's at the center of the cover of "Ironman", between Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, and is one of the main protagonists of the album, positively. 1997 saw him fully promoted through the Wu-Tang ranks, gaining several appearances on the "Forever" double disc, including the one in the "Triumph" banger, while '98 cemented him in the game as a legitimate Wu-Tang rapper. Cappadonna is still an affiliate, when he comes to the threshold of his debut: he's among the very first members of the supergroup, but shortly before the recording of "36 Chambers", the rapper ends up in prison, and is replaced by Method Man within the Wu-Tang Clan. Back on the street, he's forced to chase all the others, struggling to prove that he deserves a place within the group and that, if he hadn't been incarcerated, the Clan's debut wouldn't only have been his too, but it would have been even better. Don't you believe it? Me neither.

Murs & 9th Wonder — Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition

First collaborative album between LA rapper Murs (Living Legends) and Winston-Salem producer 9th Wonder (Little Brother), consisting of eight cuts plus two interludes for a total of thirty-five minutes of listening: many reviewers have pointed to the reduced playing time as a weak point of the project, when it's instead one of the strengths of the album, along with the quality lo-fi production provided by 9th Wonder.

Inspectah Deck — Manifesto

Inspectah Deck's fourth studio album, still far and distant from Wu-Tang. Look at the cover: Morpheus Inspectah Deck shows his moniker with the Wu-Tang symbol, but at the same time, he gives up the Wu-Tang. The production is provided by a dozen different producers, including Rebel INS himself, The Alchemist and Agallah, while only Raekwon & Cappadonna among the guys of the supergroup collaborate on the album, in addition to external guests Termanology, Planet Asia, Kurupt and Billy Danze, and Deck's friends Fes Taylor and Carlton Fisk.

Childish Gambino — 3.15.20

Donald Glover's fourth LP is a confusing mess right from the start. It comes out on its website on 3/15, it should be "Donald Glover Presents...", then it's withdrawn after one day and released in streaming the following week, untitled.

Cookin Soul — 4 Dilla Vol. 2 EP

Wonderful tribute EP to J Dilla.

"Sweet Luv" is a piece that features a great male soul sample looped in the background, smooth jazzy bridge on the hook, lively and enthralling, energetic, excellent instrumental jazzy rhythm. "Hello Girl" offers another splendid male soul sample looped in the background, simply dope jazzy production, energetic, sunny, brilliant, excellent choice. "Understand" is a good, simple, jazzy, lively instrumental, female soul sample looped in the background, good track. Closes "Luvdrug", jazzy choice with female soul sample looped in the background, good instrumental. 8/10.

Hus Kingpin — The Wave Riddler EP

Third project of 2020 for Hus Kingpin, this EP consists of five very short tunes for a total of 10 minutes of listening. It's quite short.

Cookin Soul — Whateva Vol. 2 [mixtape]

That's beautiful. Milwaukee, Ja Rule presents himself on the Bucks pitch for the NBA halftime performance, but the crowd isn't down with him, clearly, and his DJ has the computer crashed:

"Are we reeaaaaddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

I guess not."

U-God & Twilite Tone — Bring Back God (The Pre-Seeds to Dopium) [mixtape]

First mixtape released by Lamont "U-God" Hawkins, a Brooklyn native rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. The cover is good: there's a large yellow U that recalls the supergroup logo, inside which "God" completes the author's name in black, while at the bottom in white the name of the author is shown again, that of Twilite Tone, responsible of the mixing, and the title in gold. The tape serves as a prelude to the rapper's next LP, "Dopium", from which he borrows five songs. Five more are skits and interludes, so ten original tracks remain. Cappadonna is the only accredited guest, but the full versions of the songs on the album released the following year, see the additional presence of GZA, Scotty Wotty, Killah Priest, Leathaface and Large Professor.

Planet Asia x DirtyDiggs — Arctic Plus Degrees (The Sun Don't Chill Allah) EP

First EP of the year for Fresno rapper Planet Asia, second for Los Angeles producer DirtyDiggs, on their third collaboration after releasing a couple of extended plays in 2015. The guests are Tristate, Sauce Heist, K. Burns, V-Knuckles, Flashius Clayton and Supreme Cerebral.

Cookin' Soul — 4 Dilla EP

Tribute tape to J Dilla open by "As Long As We Got Love", some sirens introduce the track, boom bap vivid, cheerful jazzy beat, with good soul samples in background from "Just as Long as We're in Love" of Terry Callier. Pretty good instrumental cut. It follows by "With Ur Love", among the best production realized by Cookin Soul: the beatmaker samples a classic hidden gem from Atlantic Starr debut album, "With Your Love I Come Alive", to realizing a deep and wonderful instrumental cut. Jazzy cheerful beat, heavy, relaxing vibes, great boom bap that really gives value to this song, perfectly created. The next one is, like the previous one, among the best song invented by the producer. "Best Times of My Life" is composed by an incredible sick sample of "Those Were the Best Times of My Life", another hidden pearls from the debut album of The Modulations. The sirens open this track, as usual in this sick tape, then jazzy vibrant and cheerful rhythm, with that amazing sample that's perfectly fit with the beat in an ecstatic track. This extended play almost perfect is closed by "Heartbroken": dope samples in background from "How Could You Break My Heart" by Bobby Womack, cheerful and lively jazzy production, with soul shots scattered in background, pretty great instrumental cut.

Rating: 9.3/10.

Kurtis Blow — Back By Popular Demand

By popular demand Kurtis returns to the game in 1988, after leaving for... two years? Aight. Last, exhausting, album released by Kurtis Blow. He's out of shape since at least a shine, nothing here lives up to his best: the rhythms, funky, always bare, don't entertain, his delivery is bland, without desire, even when he tries to drop hardcore he seems off. Unjust ending in which, for the first time ever, he renounces the ballad (but not to singing).

TooBusy — Red Tape

First album-producer tape released by TooBusy. Guests are Ruste Juxx, Blaq Poet, Low Tha Bow, Keith Murray, Pacewon, Aela Hopeful Monster, Reks, Edo G, Billy Danze, El da Sensei, Ill Bill, Planet Asia and Rah Digga.

Cookin' Soul — Soulmatic [mixtape]

Tribute tape to Nas' "Illmatic". One of the finest tapes by Cookin Soul.

El Camino — Don't Eat the Fruit

First effort of a productive 2019 by El Camino, Griselda rapper on the second studio album. This record sees a street rapping with classic Griselda arguments aimed at the mafia rap fueled by a dark and jazzy production.

Statik Selektah & Termanology — The Quarantine

Among the weakest efforts by 1982, the duo of Lawrence, Massachusetts, composed by the rapper Termanology and by the producer Statik Selektah, brings out one of the first (perhaps the first) hip hop album dedicated to the pandemic theme.

2Pac — Me Against the World

On December 1, 1994, Tupac Amaru Shakur born Lesane Parish Crooks is sentenced to a prison sentence of 1,5 to 4,5 years for a crime he did not commit, framed by people who he believed to be his friends. This is just the latest of the many problems with the law that this young artist has had in recent years, and it's the toughest, because until then he had always gotten away with it somehow: in October 1991 he's brutally beaten by the Oakland police, the following year in Marin City a stray bullet from a pistol registered to him kills a child, then he beats another rapper with a baseball bat, beats director Allen Hughes who expels him from the cast of the movie "Menace 2 Society", and in October 1993 an argument with off-duty cops near Atlanta resulted in a shootout in which 2Pac shoots both of them, avoiding prison only after investigations revealed that the two officers were drunk and under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.

MC Eiht — Official

Twelfth solo album of West Coast legend MC Eiht who wants to kill the game with a product of 27 cuts, 105 minutes and 0 (ZERO) skits! Holy makaroni, it's surprisingly solid, good and consistent, at least 'til halfway: it offers a relaxed, chill record with West Coast vibes on light and generic trap and jazzy rhythms functional to the easy-going bars of Eiht and his guests — Cherell Terri ("Bring Em' All", "You the One", "Tru Story"), Problem & Xzibit in "Profiles", Tinigi Star ("How We Do"), James Savage ("Sirens") and above all Chill, present in over a third of the album which makes it a half-CMW product. The only flaws are the listener's attention that tends to fade after half an hour / forty minutes and due to the monotonous flow and the exaggeration with the only adlib that the rapper has available, it's used too many times (gyeah!), doesn't help that it's his unique adlib.

Rich the Kid — Boss Man

Easily among the worst projects of the year, don't look at the genre. Rich brings lyricism bragga-trash and bad delivery, with a generic and boring style, without desire, without effort, without personality, on generic and bad trap rhythms.

Blueface — Find the Beat

Debut studio album for Johnathan Michael Porter: 41 minutes, 16 songs, 13 producers, 9 guests, 4 singles, 3 charts, 1 Blueface.

Kurtis Blow — Kingdom Blow

After I don't know how many products published, Kurtis Blow still doesn't know exactly which direction to take with this hell of rap. Where I go? Bah, I try to play them all on more skeletal rhythms than before, maybe jazzy, maybe funky, maybe funky with guitar licks mix in an unlistenable ballad ("Reasons for Wanting You") and I also place George Clinton and Bob Dylan (!!!), maybe that's ok. And it's not ok. A Kurtis Blow never inspired from start to finish miserably wastes the two legendary guests spots and six other rhythms relying on... I don't know what, I don't know. 3/10.

Count Bass D — CBD

Lo-fi rhythms, all generic but decent, Count Bass D doesn't seem to want to deliver, performs sluggish, lazy and slow, weak, unwilling, almost mumble.

Kurtis Blow — America

Basing the rap album on a couple of strong singles and putting in forty minutes of fillers becomes a stale formula on this Kurtis Blow album. The veteran rapper insists on singing to create danceable rnb pieces, and he alternates disappointing rapping with bad singing. In the midst of this heavy, pale and muddy mediocrity, one of the rare tracks guessed by Kurtis in his career comes out, "If I Ruled the World": light, enveloping, essential, tight jazzy rhythm, with an excellent hook and a decent rapping of Blow; the song will then be improved by Nas with Lauryn Hill in the mid-nineties. 5/10.

Cookin' Soul — Lost Tapes Instrumentals

Tape tribute to Nas. Cookin Soul opens this tape with a beautiful jazzy instrumental, first of several light and relaxing beat. The second track is a light, cheerful, jazzy rhythm. Also, alive has jazzy vibes among a minimal drum machine, then "Life's a Bitch": splendid jazzy boom bap, soulful, light, relaxing vibes, nice homage.

Fat Boys — Big & Beautiful

The Fat Boys' sophomore jinx comes as the trio releases CD number three rather than their second effort, as usual. Abandoned Kurtis Blow as unique beatmaker, the guys produce over half the album themselves (Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales alone, Darren "Buff Love" Robinson and Damon "Kool Rock-Ski" Wimbley together), also relying on Dave Ogrin, Fresh Gordon, Albert Cabrera and Tony Moran, as well as the live instrumentation of Doug Grama, Jeff Johnson and Gary Rottger.

Jadakiss — Ignatius

Record that leaves a little dumbfounded. It's generic stuff. And don't expect it from Jadakiss. It's generic stuff and you don't expect it from those who proclaim himself top five dead or alive.

M.C. Hammer — Let's Get It Started

In the mid-nineties, MC Hammer is a local rapper from the Bay Area who tries to break into the mainstream circuit. Funded by privates, the boy gets the budget to make an album and from the trunk of his car sells between 50 and 60 thousand physical copies. At that point, he attracts the attention of the majors, and Capitol secures him. Between 1987 and 1988, Hammer re-records the songs he had already released on his debut album ("Feel My Power", 1986), adds a couple of new ones and publishes a "new" LP, "Let's Get It Started".

Lil Uzi Vert — Eternal Atake

Second studio album for Lil Uzi Vert, three years after his debut, "Luv Is Rage 2". Here's an admirable album cover and many forgettable songs all similar to each other that inflate the project to the point of exceeding the hour, with simplistic, generic and tasteless jazzy trap rhythms and very limited themes: his senseless lyrics are spit out with a syncopated and insensitive flow and with a monotonous voice that ignores the rhythm, with all due respect to the producers (I read Chief Keef and TM88 among others, but there's an average of one beatmaker per song). If the trap albums are all like that, it's all a treat! 4.5/10.

Megan Thee Stallion — Suga EP

Third EP by Megan thee Stallion, a rapper from San Antonio who grew up in South Park, Houston, Texas. Freed from contractual problems with the 1501 Certified label, the artist publishes a project of twenty-five minutes and nine tracks under 300 Entertainment: the EP gets an excellent international commercial response, at the expense of a reduced quality of content and music. J. White, Helluva, The Neptunes and Timbaland are in production among others, but they all disappoint by making generic boom bap trap rhythms, while the guests are uninspired. The tape starts well with the first songs, then drops sharply and closes with several tracks delivered singing with the help of the autotune. Forgettable effort. 4/10.

Kurtis Blow — Ego Trip

What swansong album rap would it have been for Kurtis Blow? One solid, certainly irregular, the boy struggles to keep up with the "new youngs" of the game, but the material is partly good — Run & DMC help in the intro: great boom bap jazzy skeletal, dark, heavy, with line of disturbing piano on the first hook and jazzy bridge with cheerful piano in the second, triumphant — thanks to the "AJ Scratch", and to the basketball ode in which Kurtis Blow drops some names in front of a soulful female hook ("Basketball") and an essential and tight jazzy rhythm, and the title track, which suffers less with an essential skeletal funky rhythm, jazzy tastes and a rapper delivery more inspired here than elsewhere. The remaining songs, R&B fillers without peaks, don't pay due to the uninspired delivery of the rapper: Kurtis wants to sing, still, always, forever. Take "Under Fire / AJ Scratch" as an example: the rhythm could also be decent with its tight and skeletal funky sound, and he delivers decently, but the track has little to do with the previous and the following, inevitably undermining the fluidity of listening. 7/10.

Kurtis Blow — Deuce

Second effort by Kurtis Blow: he focuses entirely on disco and funk songs (except for the last cut, rap rock), decent grooves, positive vibes and decent rap, but here he sounds bored (together with his support band), delivering lyrics not too different from his debut. The record starts well and up to "Starlife" holds up, then drops with frightening evidence in the end. It remains accessible, discreet listening, without notable highs. 6/10.

M.C. Hammer — Feel My Power

Stanley Kirk "MC Hammer" Burrell from Oakland, born in 1962. It means he's about 24-25 years old. Above all, it means that the rapper has been selling his records for about two years on the street and from the trunk of his car and he's blowing up in the nightclubs of the Bay Area. He tries to live by founding his own independent label thanks to some friends and thanks to the benevolence of the local DJs; Hammer manages to make a name for himself: among the most requested on the circuit, he earned a contract with Capitol Records and releases his second effort. It seems that this record is the union of some of his hit singles such as "Let's Get It Started" and some cuts present in his second LP.

And we end up with a sort of raw and skinny beats (except "The Thrill Is Gone", which has a sound dominated by jumping synths, pretty fresh rhythm), functional hooks in series, many failed, some R&B hooks, some female background, many scratches scattered everywhere and a weak rapping despite the hardcore delivery perpetually attempted by Hammer. 3/10.

G Herbo — PTSD

A coherent album for most of the listening, the trapper reconstructs his difficult past and proposes more mature lyrics compared to his previous efforts, helped by a cleaner and better but irregular production. His rough and flowing delivery style adapts well to minimal and extroverted trap rhythms, however, several generic and mediocre beats emerge which slow down the smoothness of the project. Despite not having a banger (some guests work good, some don't), interesting are the ideas of making Jadakiss trap's "Still Feel Me" (personally, it doesn't work), opening with Dinasty's intro and closing on the Beanie Sigel classic "I Can Feel it in The Air", where Sonta plays the role of Melissa Jimenez and G Herbo pulls out good rough and heavy delivery. 6/10.

Juelz Santana — #FreeSantana [mixtape]

Santana ends up in prison in 2019 due to charges of possession of firearms. He brings out this project that comes out fifteen years after his second studio album, seven years after the last solo effort and three years after the last tape released: it's an honest mixtape, it still breathes Dipset vibes, despite Camron isn't present.

West Street Mob — Break Dance Electric Boogie

Second LP from West Street Mob, the group of Joey Robinson Jr., son of the owners and founders of Sugar Hill Records Joey and Sylvia Robinson. The group is also composed by Sabrina Gillison and Warren Moore, while Bill McGee and Leland Robinson (other son of Joey Sr. and Sylvia) are sometimes credited as part of the West Street Mob.

WC and The Maad Circle — Curb Servin'

Second and last studio album by WC and The Maad Circle, a group that broke up the following year. DJ Crazy Toones is responsible for most of the beats, the rest are provided by Dr. Jam, Madness 4 Real, Ice Cube, Rhythum D. Guests are former member of Maad Circle Coolio and future members of Westside Connection Ice Cube and Mack 10.

Kurtis Blow — Kurtis Blow

Kurtis Walker was born in Harlem in 1959 and in the early seventies he became passionate about hip hop and approached this culture initially as a breakdancer and subsequently performing as DJ in the block parties and in clubs with the name of Kool DJ Kurt. He gets the stripes of MC around 1977 and on the advice of his manager Russell Simmons, who shortly thereafter founds the independent label Def Jam Recordings, he changes the moniker to Kurtis Blow. He performs with several artists of the hip hop scene of the early seventies and his DJ is Russell's younger brother, Joseph Simmons, who in the same period founded his group together with Darryl McDaniels and Jason Mizell.