I have a rule for myself, the rule is that I don’t engage with any type of technology until at least 20 minutes after I wake up. This gives me, my body, and my mind time to enjoy the sunrise, enjoy the day starting, and not be immediately bombarded with nonsensical bullshit from the internet as soon as I open my eyes. This is a sort of meditation for me as I drink my coffee. Then Friday comes, and all of that goes straight out the window, one of the first things I do after getting my coffee is open my phone and check Spotify and immediately see the thousands of new songs that were released. 5-6 hours later I can start to contemplate this article and compile this list to give to you guys. This doesn’t include the rest of the weekend that is filled with the new and emerging artists that I listen to.
As always here are some of the songs that didn’t make the list, do with them what you will:
Olivia Rodrigo – good 4 u single
Migos – straightening single
Internet money ft don toliver uzi gunna – his & hers single
Elaine – right now single
Leon bridges – motorbike single
Paris Texas – boy anonymous album
Calboy – ten toes down single
Rowdy rebel ft a boogie – 9 bridge single
Sam Fischer – simple single
Russ – status single
Otis Kane – perfect single
Nicki Minaj – beam me up scotty mixtape rerelease
Now comes the honorable mention section which if you have followed this article is usually the great singles of the week. These songs are all pretty good in their own right but just missed making the list because for the most part I personally can’t justify putting a single on the list over a great full project because more goes into the project and there is the possibility for more great songs.
Peter rosenberg ft method man Raekwon willie the kid – next chamber single
This is exactly what you would expect from this crop of rappers together. Great old-school boom-bap Hip-Hop song. Real rap, real lyrics, real bars. If you’re a fan of real lyrical Hip-Hop you will love this record. All of them still got it.
Katy Perry – electric single
This is an incredibly powerful single with a great message from an artist that is known for this type of song and music.
“You go the power now / you’re electric.”
jorja smith – be right back album
I am a big fan of Jorja Smith and this album is no different. A good R&B album with great feeling, emotions, and singing. Everything you would want and expect from a Jorja Smith project.
Now for the main event, the top five songs/projects of this week.
Starting off with an old “Buy You a Drank” sample gave me that nostalgic feel right off the bat to pull me in. Then you add Kehlani harmonizing with T-Pain and his signature autotune you have a hit on your hands. They sound like a match made in heaven together on this track. This is yet another great T-Pain or Kehlani single. Either one of them could’ve killed this song by themselves, doing it together made it that much better.
“Right now I’ll let you think you have me in the palm of your hand…Get that good love while you still can.”
That is one hell of a way to start your project. Alaina comes right out the gate talking that shit and continues through the entire project. This is a strong R&B/Pop project. The beats coupled with her melodies are perfect and make for an enjoyable listening experience.
“stfu,” has possibly one of my favorite starts to a song of all time, “Shut the fuck up.” I had to run the song back because I thought I missed something. I replayed that start a few times before getting to the rest of the song because I was so stunned and happy that a song started this way. It is a great song and one of my favorites on the album. And not just because of how it starts.
“Indica,” is a feeling every person that smokes weed has had before. Let me get the fuck home and smoke this blunt because this day sucks. “I just need the I.N.D.I.C.A until I can’t see straight.” I know that feeling. You have had the longest day ever and can’t wait to get home and face that entire blunt to forget all about everything.
Ending the album with the line, “Thou shall not be a bitch / Thou shall be a bad bitch,” is possibly one of the best ways to end an album that I have heard. I love everything about this project, I loved it more than I thought I would. She captured me from the first song and kept me interested the whole way through. I didn’t have one skip on this project and certain parts had me laughing just because of what she said and how she presented them. This project is good.
This is a true country album, as true as a country album can get. Everything from the melodies, his voice, his lyrics, the banjo, the guitar, and the signature twang, everything about this project from the first second, from the first note screams country.
Starting the hook of the first song with, “I’d rather drink a hot beer…Burn my fishing gear…Go hunting with an unloaded gun,” to a girl rather than see her is the polite country way of saying, “You can fuck all the way off.” I found this absolutely hilarious and awesome at the same time. This drew me into this album way more than I thought I was going to be.
“Somewhere She Ain’t,” is that terrible love feeling we all have had at the end of the relationship where everything we do, everywhere we go, everything thing we hear reminds us of that person. You can’t go anywhere without seeing their image and you just want to go as far away as possible to get away. And even that doesn’t work. You can’t escape and sometimes we just simply don’t want to.
The best part of this album for me is his voice and his tone. I love nothing more than when a true country male signer has that low burly voice and scoops that low note. It gets me every time and he does that on every song on this album and it made me enjoy it that much more.
I think it is safe to say that when I saw this project had dropped and it was sitting at the top of the newly released list on Spotify that it was a forgone conclusion it would make this list. However, it did have to earn its spot as I have left major artist projects off before. But it didn’t take long to show why it should be on this list. Even after becoming an A&R, a label owner, taking time off, and growing dreds, Cole shows why he is still at the top of some rap lists and shows that he can still rap. Like there was ever any doubt though right?
This is one of those albums and Cole is one of those rappers that you need to listen to more than once time through to catch everything that he said and that he put in this project. I will defiantly be catching things I missed as I go through it two and three times, and that will not take away from my listening experience in fact it will only enhance it.
The one gripe I have on this album is 21 savage. Putting him on the last verse of what I think may be the best song on the album I think was a mistake and completely miss. Then again I probably would have thought that about putting him on any record. Why he feels it necessary to say, “21” as an ad-lib after every single bar is maddening to me. Cole killed this beat, Morray murdered the hook, then 21 savage came and killed the record and not in a good way. It took me completely out of the song and practically made me skip his verse and the end of the song.
“Envy keep your pockets empty focus on yourself / If you broke and clowning a millionaire the joke is on you.”
Cole still got it, and shows that he still has the ability to create amazing projects. I think his fans would agree we wish he would do it more often, but what are you going to do. If he continues to drop music like this I am ok with waiting as long as he wishes to create it. Keep doing your thing Cole.
“Starting up a wildfire in my heart.”
A slow true R&B project with great-sounding vocals all the way through. The first song hearing these vocals with the echoed reverb and sultry sounds throughout grabbed me immediately. Then transitioning to the second song which starts with nothing but strings had me captivated even more. The best part is those strings flipped to a John Legend – 2000s R&B type track that had me like, “Oh My Gawd!”
“I can see your breath in the window written sorry / You’re fogging up our friendship.” I mean come on man, who comes up with that imagery, who comes up with those lyrics, who comes up with those feelings? “Dying in the subtlety,” is one of the best songs on this project.
“It’s like you haven’t tasted pain and suffering…Love is just a passion.” He continues to show his incredible writing throughout the whole project. It is one of the best-written R&B projects I have heard of in a while. He shows you the feelings we all have gone through when we are trying to make the relationship stay on track and trying to make the good days come back. Then he ends the song with an electric guitar solo. That is like the cherry on top.
Everything about this EP is magnificent, there is nothing bad about this project. I don’t have anything else to say except GO LISTEN TO THIS PROJECT!
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