Celebrating 10 Years of Peerless: The Debaser Album That Started It All

Note: I’m an idiot. For the past year I’ve had it in my head that this album’s release date was May 10, 2010. I said over and over I needed to make sure I had something ready for the album’s anniversary, because I wanted to celebrate a record who’s birthday was undoubtedly going to fly under the radar, and it wasn’t until May 9th that I realized the album actually came out on May 4th. That’s why this is nine days late. Sue me.

On April 8, 2010, 2DopeBoyz premiered an exclusive leak of Debaser’s “Don’t Sleep,” which featured a guest spot from Living Legends’ own The Grouch, and this street single would act as the sole promotional piece for Debaser’s sophomore album, Peerless. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I clicked on that link for the very first time, my life was about to change forever. You see, prior to hearing “Don’t Sleep,” I had yet to be exposed to the world of Sandpeople, and I only opted to try the track due to the guest spot attached, so one could only imagine my elation when those crunchy, distorted synth notes burst through my speakers for the first time.

Review: Trench Is A Turbulent Effort From Twenty One Pilots

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

Every once in a while I’ll come across an album that stumps me. It isn’t bad, it isn’t good, I’m not even neutral on it, the record simply exists in this void where it completely fails to render any kind of emotional response from me. Last year it was Preoccupations’ third album, New Material, and this year it was the third album from Twenty One Pilots, Trench. Every time this happens, I pretty much stop writing for a while, because I’m struggling to communicate the blank slate that appears in my mind whenever I listen to the album in question.

Review: OnlyOne Continues His Solo Streak With Fuck You

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

For those who’ve been following me for a while, especially those who are familiar with my writing on my previous blog, it’s been no secret that my relationship with OnlyOne’s music has been a bit complicated, to say the least. As I was getting into the Sandpeople collective in 2010, OnlyOne’s input on the group’s 2000s output instantly made him a stand-out voice for me, as he was the youngest member of the crew, and thus had a presence that didn’t feel too far removed from what I was writing during high school. However, as the group’s collective output fizzled out with little fanfare, I think Only had trouble finding his voice as a solo act.

Review: Joy As An Act Of Resistance Is An Explosive Sophomore Effort From Idles

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

Do you guys remember when Brutalism first came out? What that experience was like when those opening snare hits come in just after the woman’s screams? Because I do. Every time I listened to that record prior to writing my review, I couldn’t help but wonder how Idles would improve on their sound, or where they would go musically and lyrically to avoid sounding derivative. Brutalism was such a near-perfect exercise in rage and anguish that I was truly unsure if there was any way the band could manage to make their music heavier, yet 17 months later, that’s exactly what they did.

Review: Fine, I’ll Say It – Eminem’s Kamikaze Shouldn’t Exist

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

Look, before you grab your pitchforks and start yelling “All art has a right to exist,” I want to say I agree wholeheartedly. I love music, I love that it exists, and I love that there are artists, songs, and albums that have audiences even if I personally find them boring, lackluster, or generally uninteresting. However, I do believe Kamikaze, as it exists in its current state, is a record that should have never been released. Not only do I think the album’s a complete mess, I also believe it is marginally worse than 2017’s Revival, and I say this knowing I’m in the minority here.

Review: Travis Scott’s Astroworld Is Deeply Frustrating

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

For the past month or so, as the threat of this review has loomed on the horizon, I’ve been dreading the moment I had to sit down and collect my thoughts on Travis Scott’s third studio album, Astroworld. For the sake of transparency, it’s important to note that my relationship with Scott’s music has been an interesting one, to say the least, as his 2015 debut Rodeo was my first introduction to contemporary Trap music. Up until that point, I had been actively avoiding it, as I found artists like Future and Young Thug to be vapid and mildly irritating.

Review: YG Loses His Edge On Stay Dangerous

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

When you look back at this past decade, it’s weird to think of YG’s trajectory as a commercial artist. I remember when he was first breaking onto the scene, crafting a lot of the same lackadaisical pretty-boy Party Rap that controlled the airwaves towards the tail-end of the previous decade. That sound and sub-culture at the time never really appealed to me, but then My Krazy Life came out in 2014, and while it was undoubtedly flawed in its execution, the record was proof that YG would eventually become an important voice in West Coast Hip Hop music.

Review: Gorillaz Struggle To Regain Their Footing On The Now Now

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

When Gorillaz were gearing up to break their seven years of studio silence with Humanz in 2017, there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air because, for some, Gorillaz was one of those projects that dominated in the 2000s. Their first two records are Alternative classics that helped introduce a new generation to a wide range of musical styles they maybe were not interested in or privy to prior to their exposure to the band’s debut. However, after releasing Plastic Beach and its on-the-road follow-up The Fall in 2010, the band was said to have broken up, leaving a crater of creativity in the scene.

Review: Jay Rock Seeks Redemption On His Third Album

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

Regardless of how big and successful Black Hippy and its various members get from now until their careers reach their closure point, I will always have a soft spot for Jay Rock, not only because he was the first member I heard as the 2000s came to a close, but also because I don’t think he gets nearly enough respect as an emcee within the Black Hippy camp. I think part of this has to do with the fact that, lyrically, he’s overshadowed by the technical abilities of K. Dot and Ab-Soul, but from a pure storytelling perspective? No one else from the crew could have released a song like 2010’s “Life’s A Cycle.”

Review: NASIR Is A Messy Entry In Nas’ Already Shaky Discography

Note: My music reviews will always be “late.” It is my belief that albums should be listened to in different moods, settings, and after extended breaks, all while conditioning yourself to accept what you were given as opposed to what you wanted. Only then can you give a legitimate and honest critique of the material.

Nas, Nasir, Escobar–regardless of what you call him, there’s no denying the fact Nas is a legend. However, depending on who you ask, the extent of his legacy is often up for debate, because for the past 20+ years, the artist known as Nas has been living in the shadow of his debut album, 1994’s Illmatic. At just under 40 minutes, Illmatic served as a concise collection of real, down-to-earth street tales, but with each subsequent release, the spark that made that album so impeccable seemed to whither, as his records became bloated affairs overwrought with filler.