Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs

The concept of ‘being comfortable in your own skin’ seems to be one that Thebe Kogatstile (a.k.a. Earl Sweatshirt) is consistently working towards. Recently, the way he has tentatively answered interview questions with a kind of shy awkwardness and perceived the world with an acute, unabashed balance, has presented a man with wisdom beyond his …

Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition

Where to start... If there’s any album which perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being in a manic, drugged out state of being, through both the extreme highs and desolate lows, exemplified in production, lyricism and overall frenetic energy, it’s 2016’s Atrocity Exhibition from Detroit native Danny Brown. After taking a 3 year break from his generally well received 2013 LP, Old, …

Pink Navel – raw navel

Abstract variations of droney instrumentals mix with outsider beats and introspective slam-poetry style rapping on Pink Navel's most personal release yet. Polished, synth-driven production slither between melancholic themes, illustrating bittersweet tones whilst his sometimes robotically-delivered lyrics portray an awkwardly depressive persona. As highlighted in the alarmingly casual spilling of, “I just want to kill myself …

cLOUDDEAD – cLOUDDEAD

“I lost my liquid tongue for the wet pen” To me, the pinnacle of hip hop, although it’s not the easiest thing to call hip hop in the first place. Everything about cLOUDDEAD is so surreal, cryptic, dense and mysterious. It’s like hip hop’s final boss, a 70+ minute opus of both production, where shards of …