Guest features include Joyce Wrice and Destin Conrad.
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Stream Kanye West’s New Album ‘DONDA’
Is this Ye’s ‘Sunday Service’ gift to the world?
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Smino Drops Impressive New Album “NOIR”
A total of 18 dope tracks to keep on repeat.
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Best of 2017: The Album Picks of the Year
Our definitive list of the albums we’ve had on rotation.
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Album Review: Kaytranada – 99.9%
Joy, that slither of space where the body, mind, and emotion sync beyond the pieces of happiness we are afforded in this life. It’s hard to articulate and difficult to define, but we know joy when we are inside of it; life makes sense.
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Album Review: James Blake – The Colour In Anything
There is no congregation at the church of the lovelorn: only a few scattered bodies that pray with the lover, who is lost. On James Blake’s third album The Colour in Anything, we find an artist searching for meaning about the self, within and post relationship. Here, Blake gets help from Justin Vernon, Frank […]
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Album Review: White Boiz – Neighborhood Wonderful
Get comfortable in that chair of yours, reading this gonna take some time. The two artist who make up White Boiz, Krondon and Shafiq Husayn, have been putting in work for years: leaving their unique imprint on the sound of the west coast underground. Their debut album, Neighborhood Wonderful is about Los Angeles and the […]
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Album Review: SiR – 7 Sundays
In the internet era, it is very easy for “creative” things to catch a huge ephemeral wave, then fade, or on the other hand, become overlooked completely. Rarely is there a nice in-between where products are digested and valued on their own merit. Inglewood native SiR’s debut LP, Seven Sundays, is one of those creative products that […]
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Album Review: Bryson Tiller – T R A P S O U L
Bryson Tiller – T R A P S O U L (RCA, 2015) In a near vanished line that separates rap and r&b as genres in 2015, there is a nexus of three artists that guide the sound of the mainstream, and shape the stylistic impulses of emerging musicians. The three are the evocative, sensitive […]
Read moreAlbum Review: CJ Trillo – Undrafted
“Cohesiveness, elegance, tranquility,” – these are three things that LA-based MC, CJ Trillo urges his fans to find in his latest full-length album, Undrafted. The recent and long-awaited release follows his 2013 mixtape, Volume 1: Nostalgia, which had fans patiently waiting, and we can see why. Ever since we caught ear of his Heavy mixtape, […]
Read moreCoffee Required to Listen to Eric Biddines’ “Planet Coffeebean 2”
What an odd thematic to place upon an album: coffee. That’s not to say that the concept won’t work, but in the mainstream, the drink and hip-hop mixture usually involves something with a more potent, ethanol base (though bearing a similar dark brown hue,) but while the drink has been around for centuries, the artisanal trend […]
Read moreALBUM REVIEW: Earl Sweatshirt – Doris
Last week Odd Future MC and talented wordsmith, Earl Sweatshirt, dropped his debut LP, Doris. Though the skills were already evident with the young spitter for quite some time now, there were always questions of whether or not he could hold down a complete album by himself. I got my hands on a copy and […]
Read moreREVIEW: Homeboy Sandman – Kool Herc: Fertile Cresent EP, Produced by El RTNC
Kool Herc: Fertile Cresent is Homeboy Sandman’s 8th studio album, 4th EP, and 5th offering since finding an artistic home at Stones Throw Records. The latest disc is entirely produced by El RTNC (formerly Rthentic RTNC). Although El RTNC did work on HBSM’s previous albums, “First of a Living Breed”, and the “Subject Matter EP”, […]
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Album Review: Mac Miller – Watching Movies with the Sound Off
In the Hip-Hop game, first impressions are tremendous, especially for rookies. This goes for the indie rap game in particular. Building credibility through respected media outlets is important, as is label loyalty. Not to mention, if your name is thrown into that conversation of “rappers to watch out for,” you’re golden. Right? Wrong. At least […]
Read moreAlbum Review: Talib Kweli – Prisoner of Conscious
Prisoner of Conscious is the 5th solo album by legendary lyricist, Talib Kweli. With a career that is approaching nearly 2 decades, Kweli is still one of the most talented and consistent emcees in the game. Though I wouldn’t say Prisoner Of Conscious is a perfect album, I pleasantly found it to be among the […]
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THE 5TH ELEMENT MAGAZINE 