Beanie Sigel — The Reason

A year after his debut, Beanie Sigel returns with another album that follows the formula of the previous one. Just Blaze is the lead producer with nearly half the beats, Kanye West and Rick Rock produce two each, the other rhythms are created by 88-Keys, Bernard "Big Demi" Parker, Sha-Self and No ID. The guests include State Property rappers Freeway, Young Chris and Omillio Sparks, Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, Rell, Scarface, Kurupt and Daz Dillinger.

Flee Lord — Lucky 13

Flee Lord's third effort in less than sixty days is a prohibitive pace. Step forward compared to the album previously released with Chase Fetti, but in hindsight, lower than his next album, "Hand Me My Flowers". It's an honest record, it has its strong points, but in large part this is due to the guests that the New York rapper decides to have here: Nems, Conway and Daniel Son, among others. The production made by DJ Shay is simple, light jazzy boom bap, midtempo, carpet on which Flee Lord has shown to be perfectly at ease during the last few months.

Elcamino — Money for Bail

Second effort of the year for Elcamino after the collaborative tape with 38 Spesh that fans and insiders have decided to set aside. Until now, the choice to provide mini EPs as if they were official studio albums isn't paying for the Buffalo rapper: this project, which can also be found under the name "The Minotaur", boasts nine tracks and lasts less than eighteen minutes, is free of weaknesses and aided by a production excellent, full of killer bars projected with a smooth flow and dope by the rapper. The guests all suffer a little in front of Elcamino, but they offer flowing verses and some are covered by a soulful female sample looped in the background which facilitates the fluidity of the songs, if needed. Among the guests who do better, I think Miserable Genius should be mentioned: on the simple and somber light jazzy rhythm of "Plague", that rapper from Buffalo rips the song with a calm and velvet delivery, excellent test.

Conway — The Devil's Reject [mixtape]

Conway's good mixtape that accompanies a midtempo production with ethereal flashes of Daringer on which the rapper seems to be particularly at ease: he releases the first of a series of solid personal projects. Westside Gunn, uncredited, opens the tape on a good boom bap jazzy midtempo, tense and dark by Daringer, excellent delivery of the duo in Rae & Ghost style. "Oil Money" (excellent rhythm, excellent delivery) and "6 Kommas" — nice sample from one of the greatest hits of Future; the rhythm is good, Daringer giving it a boom bap, here Conway makes a solid test, semi-classic ish. When the rhythm changes to the alternative funky, the rapper finds himself unfit ("New Slaves"). Remedy "The Mobb", a beautiful dark jazzy beat taken from Mobb Deep, Conway to live up, he attacks the production immediately with sharp flow and rough delivery. On this tape, he proves effective on different jazzy variations, from darker vibes to some more alternative and pop rhythms: in "So Appalled" he brings out one of his best light-hearted performances on an excellent boom bap jazzy surrounded by a dystopian and intense mafia-like mood.

Enjoyable tape, recommended for Griselda fans.

Highlights: "Oil Money", "6 Kommas", "The Mobb", "So Apalled".

Rating: 7/10.

Freeway — Free Will

Freeway returns to the circuit, despite his serious health problems, and releases his first solo album in four years, his second with Babygrande Records. The boy still shows that he's hungry in an album that features some of the best productions of his career, courtesy of Frank & Scholito, Girl Talk, LES, Tryfe, Chemist and Money Alwayz.

Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five — Piano

Second album for the legend Melle Mel, arrives in 1989. Too late. The debut was already late, but the sophomore is really far from the current scene. Everyone passed in front of him. Despite everything, this record is clearly better than the debut of five years earlier. The production is made with minimal funky rhythms and jazzy bridges, the hooks aren't a revealing part and they only do their job, part of the weight of the album falls on the shoulders of Melle Mel, who manages to deliver worthily for fifty minutes. It's fluent, but you feel that he's struggling to go at a higher speed than usual, the beats help him, but they cannot do miracles. There are some honest attempts ("White Lines II", "Old School", "Piano", "Free Style", "Revenge") that stands above the mediocre tracks, supported by sublime samples (Isaac Hayes, Bob James, JBs, Babe Ruth, Earth, Wind & Fire, James Brown, the usual "UFO" by ESG and also some rap acts of the caliber of Schoolly D, Rakim, Mantronix and Public Enemy) and the MC tries new delivery types, however, his tracks are a bit too long: except the final one, no one goes under four and ten minutes, it's exaggerated, with a more compact duration, let's say around 35 minutes, it'd also have been a three and a half. 6/10.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again — 38 Baby 2 [mixtape]

After the winter "Still Flexin, Still Steppin", Gaulden places another record at number 1 on hip hop albums chart in spring 2020.

DirtyDiggs — Above Cloud Vision

DirtyDiggs tape of 27 minutes divided into 10 pieces in which about 20 underground MCs alternate with the mic: 2Eleven, Baby Gangsta, Chuuwee, Trizz, Defari, Jay Worthy, Cyph, Tristate, TF, Airplane James, Dreebo, Flashius Clayton, Skunkz, Ricky Hyde, Phonk P, Osbe, Edidon, and Carson Caruso. Obviously, I don't distinguish anyone and the guys don't do much to stand out on an honest and acceptable production by the LA producer duo who previously collaborated with at least a third of these rappers. There's also Planet Asia, he makes a good impression here, only with attacks he looks like a professional compared to others. Decent tape, surely fans of the underground LA scene might find something interesting. 6/10.

Berner & B-Real — Los Meros

Second collaborative studio album between San Francisco rapper Gilbert "Berner" Milam Jr. and South Gate rapper Louis "B-Real" Freese. Cozmo and Vidal Garcia are the main producers, the rest of the music set is provided by CJ Washington, Trax FDR, Dam Jams, Stinje and SAP. The guests are Ty Dolla Sign, Wiz Khalifa, Xzibit, Hennessy, Dave East, Rick Ross, Nva, Everlast, Baby Bash, Paul Wall, Cozmo, Demrick and Alemán.

Jungle Brothers — Keep It Jungle

This album is a half-hour party, crackling, fun and lively, the group brings back some healthy new school in 2020. But it doesn't seem too inspired, it doesn't hold the quarter of an hour and almost ends up offering bars in a mumble style, ending up being one of the most sensational pet rocks of the year: this record is dated almost even before its release. Two decades have passed since the last good album, three from the classic, the Jungle Bros returns but honestly nobody missed them, we enjoy the classic. 6/10.

Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five — Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five

Debut LP for the Bronx group Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five, composed by Grandmaster Melle Mel, Scorpio, Cowboy (all in the cousin group Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five yet), King Lou, Kami Kaze, Tommy Gunn, DJ E-Z Mike, Dynamite and Clayton Savage. The minimal funky combined with slightly fickle themes and the exhausting length of this project make the record indifferent to listening just after few minutes. Album that comes out a couple of years later than its time, with a formula that in the meantime has fallen into disuse: the remix of the classic "White Lines" is the only cut that is worth tackling (I don't recommend spending the eight minutes of the only "World War 3", for example), however, this remix seems to be reflected in "The Message", with the difference that here the mirror is dirty and half broken: to me clearly inferior to the original one. 4/10.

Shabazz Palaces — The Don of Diamond Dreams

Their fifth studio album was released three years after the last and almost a decade after their classic. This effort is extravagant and flat, consisting of a quite decent first part to which a second one tasteless, very uninspired, is added. The production continues to change, but it can never properly support Butler's monotonous delivery: the songs, seasoned by a useless and lame autotune in background, are more or less all generic up to annoying, the album is just forty minutes, but it's tiring and prohibitive for anyone who isn't fond of the genre. 4/10.

Che Noir & 38 Spesh — Juno

First album of the year for the Buffalo rapper Marche "Che Noir" Lashawn. The artist from Rochester 38 Spesh is the producer. The guests are Eto, Jai Black, Ransom, Planet Asia, Street Justice and Klass Murda.

Run-DMC — Run-DMC

Self-titled debut album by Queens hip-hop group Run-DMC, consisting of Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell. They grew up in Hollis, Queens. As a teenager, up-and-coming hip-hop promoter Russell Simmons recruits his younger brother Joseph, initially as a DJ for Kurtis Blow, a rapper managed by Russell. Under the name of "DJ Run, Son of Kurtis Blow", the young Simmons begins to perform together with Kurtis Blow. McDaniels goes from athletics to DJing, getting into hip-hop after listening to Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and taking the name "Grandmaster Get High", so Joseph Simmons convinces him to be a rapper and McDaniels starts under the name "Easy D". Simmons and McDaniels begin going to Hollis Park in order to rap for the local DJs that were playing there, the most popular being Jason "Jazzy Jase" Mizell, with whom the boys become friends. Russell Simmons helps his brother Joseph to record his first solo single, "Street Kid", but the song does not get attention. Joseph insists on rap and decides to record again, this time with McDaniels, but Russell denies him help this time, because he doesn't like McDaniels' style.

Wiz Khalifa — The Saga of Wiz Khalifa EP

Wiz Khalifa offers an interesting showcase for some excellent guests in this mixtape. Quavo, Tyga and Logic stand out, while Wiz offers performances a little below his level, for example in "Still Wiz" (...) he steals the beat from the classic to make a version of it. That hell of a piano is always dope. The delivery of the Wiz, less. I prefer the rhymes of Hova spitted by the Doctor on the lowrider next to Snoop. More than the chorus sung by Logic on the generic trap rhythm of the last piece, in which he gives a pretty average verse, to steal the scene is Tyga, who's incredible, he's always in "Taste" mode, probably facilitated by a trap rhythm that is tailored for him. Wiz's light-hearted delivery creates tracks similar to "Clouds in the Air", which slips away without leaving you anything. 5/10.

BladeFox — Another Big Fly 420

EP that actually tells me little. The jazzy production is slightly above average with a splendid deep female soulful sample that introduces the introductory track (then, the sample is brutally strangled and looped tight), on which Fly Anakin goes pretty smoothly; the sax sample is a nice addition to the second song. The trap rhythm of "8th Grade High" is a bit generic, syncopated and lackluster, while "Give It Life" returns to offer a jazzy, tight and simple beat, with piano in the background before the fifth song, a dark joint with rhythm dark and tight jazzy with a sharp and minimal drum machine. Throughout the project, Anakin and Big Kahuna OG don't dominate the tracks or do too much to attract the listener, so it's simply an honest effort. 6/10.

Jamal Gasol x DirtyDiggs — 100 Blunts in Venice EP

Collaborative extended play between Niagara Falls, NY rapper Alfonzo "Jamal Gasol" Maye and Los Angeles producer duo DirtyDiggs. The tape consists of five songs and a couple of guests, Flashius Clayton and Planet Asia.

Cypress Hill — Black Sunday

Second studio album by Cypress Hill, a group formed by B-Real in rapping, DJ Muggs in production and Sen Dog who makes random sounds in the middle of the record. The album comes out two years after their debut, made with 14 tracks for a total of about three quarters of an hour, and is distributed by Ruffhouse and Columbia Records.

Shyheim — A/K/A The Rugged Child

At the age of 14 years, 5 months and 5 days, Shyheim Dionel Franklin is one of the youngest kids to debut studio albums in the world of hip-hop music. He's not the first kid to enter the rap game, nor the last, nor is he the youngest ever, but unlike pretty much all the other kids who have attempted to break through the music industry, he signs with a major label and CAN rap.

Trust Army — Army of Trust II

This album is a sequel of "Army of Trust", tape released the year before by the crew Trust Army and its leader 38 Spesh. Entirely produced by Spesh, the performers are Elcamino, Flle Lord, Grafh, The Musalini, Blass 89, Planet Asia, G4 Jag, Fred the Godson, Che Noir, FreeHustle, Rasheed Chappell, Street Justice, Black Geez and Estee Nack.

Westside Gunn — Pray for Paris

Third studio album by Westside Gunn, rapper from Buffalo, New York. For his first effort of 2020, the artist decides not to release his debut with Shady Records yet and makes another independent record, signed by Griselda Records. The beats are handled by half a dozen different producers, while rapping is provided by several guests, including Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher, Keisha Plum, Boldy James, Joey Badass, Tyler the Creator, Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano.

Fat Boys — Crushin'

With studio album number four in as many years, Brooklyn hip-hop trio Fat Boys manage to get back on their feet and return to the top of the rap game after the flop of their previous album. That was also their last effort with Sutra Records, the boys in fact signed with Tin Pan Apple owned by their manager Charles Stettler. The production of the new album is handled by the Fat Boys themselves, Latin Rascals, Gary Rottger, Eddison Electrik and Van Gibbs.

Eazy-E — Eazy-Duz-It

Eric Wright was born and raised in Compton. He had to make his own way in a densely criminal environment and, as a criminal himself, managed to stay alive until the age of twenty. It's easy to write and to read, doing it is another story. Around the age of twenty, he manages to join the N.W.A hip hop group and has enough money to open his own independent record label: he founded Ruthless Records. With NWA, he releases N.W.A. and the Posse, an effort that achieves considerable success and that launches the group towards "Str8 Outta Compton", the second studio album that projects NWA towards legend. The album is released by Priority and Eazy-E's Ruthless, which, a month after that classic, releases its debut album, "Eazy-Duz-It".

Freeway & The Jacka — Highway Robbery

On the heels of the promotional mixtape "Write My Wrongs", rappers Freeway and The Jacka release their collaborative album. For the veteran rapper from Pittsburg, California, and member of Mob Figaz, it's yet another collaborative project with another artist, while for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania emcee, it's the first official joint effort with another rapper, four years after the collaborative album with Beanie Sigel was released by an internet label. The album consists of fifteen songs, some already proposed in last year's mixtape, behind the keyboards are Jeffro, RobLo, Traxamillion, Young L, Serg1, Maki, G Koop and Jake One, while the guests are Cormega, Freddie Gibbs, Husalah, Killer Mike, Paul Wall, Trae Tha Truth, Joe Blow, Dubb 20, Fam Syrk, Blahk Jesus, Rydah J. Klyde, Ampichino and London.

Big Ghost Ltd. — Carpe Noctem

After many interesting projects including an album with Hall n Nash ("Griselda Ghost"), an album with Crimeapple ("Aguardiente") and an album with 38 Spesh ("A Bullet for Every Heathen"), Big Ghost LTD debuts solo with an album-producer by gathering several underground rappers with whom he collaborated in precedence to make hardcore posse tracks halfway between the vintage Wu-Tang and the dusty modernity created by Griselda: Big Ghost realizes a dark jazzy lo-fi production, while most of this streetcore album is dominated by the bars of Eeste Nack (6), Recognize Ali (7), Asun Eastwood (6), Mooch & Rigz (6) and Rome Streetz (6), however, with a few excerpts, the performers sound similar to each other in an almost indistinguishable way and without exceeding themselves particularly above these dark vibes, with their verses braggadocio coke / drug rap reported in vogue by the Buffalo trio.

Kool Keith x Thetan — Space Goretex

I don't think I understood really well-well-well, what is this thing. What is it?

Naughty by Nature — Forgotten Quarantined Archives EP

EP by Naughty by Nature that comes out surprisingly nine years after the last effort, almost ignored by public and critics. Same fate seems to be reserved for this long extended play, almost half an hour for seven songs without skits.

Killarmy — Full Metal Jackets

Killarmy's fourth album, who expected it? It comes out in spring 2020. Twenty-three years after the debut, nineteen after the last album, released in 2001. The cover shows the group's return to full form, military uniforms, explosions, machine guns, guns everywhere, bodies that continue to fall under the blows of our men, who when they don't kill with bullets draw their swords, keeping the strong Wu symbolism alive. A helicopter stands out in the sky, lightning and thunderbolts are raining down, above is the title, a clear reference to the Kubrick film to which the group clung to in their first CD in 1997, then 9th Prince announced as producer. Top left, the cover changes depending on the edition: in this one for example there is the name of the label that publishes the project in red, the name of the group in black and a tank underneath. In other editions you can find the 9th Prince label in white and the historic Killarmy logo together with the group's name, above the Wu-Tang logo in black.

Westside Gunn — Flyest Nigga in Charge, Vol. 1 [mixtape]

January 2, 2020. On this date, Westside Gunn decides to release his first mixtape, dating back exactly fifteen years before. It's a pretty interesting tape, because it's not exactly a rapper exclusive effort. 26 cuts, it seems immense, instead it has 9 skits, so in reality it reduces to 17 songs for a total of just over an hour. In addition to Westside Gunn, in this effort, among the first of what will be the future Griselda house, there are also Kannon (aka Conway), Benny, Cutter and above all a magnificent showcase for the talent of Machine Gun Black. This mixtape is the son of the influence of the late nineties, it draws from Mobb Deep and LOX passing by AZ, Nas and Jay-Z. The title is a tribute to Prodigy's "H.N.I.C" and features a good but generic jazzy production, several spot on soulful samples and raw, street, braggadocio and gangsta lyrics delivered with a smooth flow by basically all performers: it's one of the best efforts of 2005, I remember a few better ones (Kanye, Edan, "Be", "DANGERDOOM", "The Minstrel Show" and Quas) and if I go to look, few others can be added. Hidden between skits and freestyles, there are several raw pearls in this tape, I report a couple of them below.

Highlights: "'08 S**t", "How It Feel", "S.E. Gang Freestyle", "Benny and Machine Gun Blak Exclusive", "Kannon Exclusive", "Death Keep Callin Me", "Leezy Freestyle".

Rating: 8.2/10.

Killah Priest & Jordan River Banks — Journey to the Planet of the Gods

Killah Priest's first work in three years, the Brooklyn rapper releases a mixtape entirely produced by Dutch production team Godz Wrath: Ciph Barker and Black Marvel make two rhythms each, while the rest of the tape is made up of the beats of Jordan River Banks. The soundscape chosen by Banks is experimental, sometimes with drum, sometimes without it, different lively instruments and with excellent samples, often melodic. Killah Priest shines lyrically by bringing back his typical themes and some abstract stanzas, delivering lyrics with a calm, confident, flowing style and sometimes becoming one with the beat chosen by the producers. The final section of the tape excels with several fantastic rhythms and a practically flawless rap by the performer. Consisting of an hour of listening and nineteen cuts, the tape anticipates his next masterpiece "Rocket to Nebula" and marks a great comeback for the Wu-affiliate.

Highlights: "Shape of the Land", "Planet of the Gods", "Tokyo Robots", "Uttam", "Colloidal Silver, Monoatomic Gold", "Super Wars", "New York Train", "Other Side of the Moon", "Waterman", "Black Water Dolphins", "Nazareth Pt. II".

Rating: 7.8/10.

Freeway — Diamond in the Ruff

Solo studio album number four for Leslie Pridgen aka Freeway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pivotal rapper of State Property and what was once a veritable empire, you may remember, Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella. In fact, Freeway has engaged in several projects throughout his artistic career, and counting collaborative albums, efforts with his group, EPs and mixtapes, his catalog exceeds a dozen releases, some memorable as his unforgettable debut "Philadelphia Freeway" (2003) and as his latest winner, the Jake One-produced album "The Stimulus Package" (2010).

D Strong & Giallo Point — Suitcase Full of Gunz

Showcase for indie artists, it's not a good showcase in fact, it could be better.

Cookin Soul — Lofi Papi (Beats)

The instrumental version of the tape tribute to Drake appears to be with "0to100", a simple and minimal drum machine, a lo-fi skeletal rhythm, a pretty vivid and acceptable, light production. A rather light production follows, skeletal and vibrant drum machine, light jazzy beat; Cookin Soul builds a circular but almost agile, relaxing sound. The third one is possibly one of the highlights of this instrumental tape: light and minimal drum machine, light jazzy beat, minimal, pretty dope. Great job by Cookin Soul. Then, "Walkit". That's a deeply soulful rhythm, with soulful female sample looped in background. Jazzy beat, light, tight, lean, dope production. The next one has a light jazzy rhythm, with clock's tik-tok tight in background and heavenly musical carpet in background. "Over" keeps a jazzy skeletal production, midtempo, extravagant. It's followed by "Lookalive": soulful sample looped in background, simple and minimal drum machine, jazzy lo-fi beat, potentially is a great production, but Cookin Soul chooses to keep this rhythm tied to a pole, preventing it from vibrating towards the highs of this tape. The next one presents an evident homage to Biggie, sampling "Ten Crack Commandments" for this light, tight jazzy beat with simple, minimal and syncopated drum machine, the rhythm then slows down until it disappears in the end. "Notalive" is the last instrumental track that the beatmaker decide to insert here: drum machine simple and vibrant, eclectic jazzy rhythm, good vibes.

Highlights: "Sickomood", "Walkit".

Rating: 7/10.

Conway — Amerikan Greed [mixtape]

Conway's third mixtape that follows the game and changes his musical choice by leaving the wake of DJ Khaled and moving within the trap scene, with rhythms made by different producers on which he drops bars helped by hooks with autotune. Twelve tracks, four skits. It's a sort of long EP, decently made by Conway, but he doesn't revolutionize the game: even without having evident weaknesses, nothing remains in your head and the choice to insert skits every two tracks breaks the pace of the tape.

If you've ever wondered what it'd be like to listen to Conway on trap rhythms, this is a good choice [the only one, fortunately]. Otherwise, it's not an essential listening, neither for an East Coast fan, nor for a Griselda head.

Quebonafide — Romantic Psycho

Quebonafide blesses 2020 with some pop rap. I state that I have no idea who he is, so, for those who come here in my own condition, I summarize his career: born in 1991 in Ciechanów, he made his debut in the rap game at 22 y/o with the collaborative album "Płyta roku" (with Eripe) and made his solo debut two years later.

Conway — The Worst of Conway [mixtape]

Conway's second mixtape. As for the previous one, this too follows the production of DJ Khaled, with heavy and simplistic rhythms that are often lightened here to facilitate the slow and flowing delivery of Conway.

Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five — On the Strength

Melle Mel and Flash get back together on an album, it's 1988. But it sucks like it stayed five years earlier. We must find some merit, there's the fact that the disc doesn't see the presence of ballads (even if "The King" tries, with his R&B pop dance vibes).

GxFR — Don't Get Scared Now EP

First original collective effort by the GxFR (read Griselda) family: presents Conway, Westside Gunn and Mach-Hommy, at the time (2016) signed with the Buffalo label and part of the group Griselda, which angrily delivers an hardcore EP that brings back the gangsta at its origins, it's one of the grimiest efforts you can face. Daringer's production is typical of the collective sound and is based on jazzy and slow rhythms that need to be left to breathe in order to be more appreciated.