Justin Bieber - Swag 2 (R.I. Review)

Justin Bieber was a meteoric pop artist and one of the first artists to be discovered from the internet. However, with Scooter Braun's help, Justin made a persona and discography that was original and impressively optimized to the taste of the entire female gender. Justin has gone through many transformations both internally and externally, but what's been consistent is his social finesse. Swag 2 is a very excellent album if not a little too long. Justin Bieber is a source of pride to his audience and his name is synonymous to pop music. The one problem is for love songs, he doesn't seem the most sincere. Maybe it's just his media presence, but for a 44 track album, the song about eating the fruit in the Garden of Eden raises questions.

Earl Sweatshirt - Live Laugh Love (R.I. Review)

Earl Sweatshirt was one of the pioneers of indie rap culture as the prolific secret weapon of the "Odd Future" music collective. He had humble beginnings and managed to scale up hipster culture organically. However, the transition to adulthood was hard for Odd Future. Live Laugh Love is about that struggle to maintain approval from a world that is highly hypocritical and not always looking out for people that look like Earl. Making music that aligns with the lifestyle of some of his audience while trying to align with the rest of his audience is very clear in the lyrics. It's a lot of apologizing and justifying. Off-beat rap has gone from a joke to a defiant stance, but Earl's talented enough to stay diabolically on topic while mumbling his bars. It feels like the music his audience listens to in spirit, but the conclusion of whether or not he manages to please his particular supporters feels uncertain on this album.

Chance, The Rapper - Star Line (R.I. Review)

Chance, the Rapper is back with a new album. He's a fantastic rapper, but 2025 audiences don't seek intellectualism or authenticity, or at least the gate keepers don't. Chance, the Rapper is smart and puts a lot into his bars, but his brand is deprecated and bland. Why should you listen to him? He doesn't have a strong cross-over audience or strong ethnic fan base. The best thing about this album are the bars' quality themselves, but hip hop audiences are looking for other things right now. Chance, the Rapper needs an angle besides intelligence. The irony is from a technical standpoint, this is one of the best albums of this year.

Metro Boomin - A Futuristic Summa (R.I. Review)

Metro Boomin is a famous record producer known for scoring movies, countless viral collaborations, and immaculate instrumentals. The best thing about Metro Boomin is he has a duality of urban authenticity and futuristic excellence. The production on this album is nearly everything but conventional hip hop in nature. It can be enjoyed as full fledge hip hop, but it works as cultural exposure like it's several other genres. A Futuristic Summa is a fun, light-hearted, introduction to Metro Boomin and his culture.

Tyler, the Creator - Don't Tap The Glass (R.I. Review)

Tyler, the Creator is back with new music in 2025. I always feel bad reviewing his albums too early because there's so much nuance in everything he drops, and I never catch everything the first play-through. The cover of the album features red leather pants (questioning his acceptance), a Maga inspired hat with "glass" written across it (questioning his acceptance), and big hands (which question his culture's perception). Igor was the last Tyler album that tried to be universally sanctioned. "Don't Tap The Glass", "Chromakopia", and "Call Me If You Get Lost" were his attempts to assimilate with a more hip hop friendly audience. That's not a bad move in a world where many audiences are not encouraged and sometimes not even allowed to support other culture's content. The problem is Tyler's appeal is his track record of consistently breaking those barriers. There's a bar where Tyler says, "They say I can't relate to regular people, but I was never regular". It's funny, but it is extremely true. 

Lazer Dim 700 - Sins Aloud (R.I. Review)

Lazer Dim 700 is a rapper from Cordele, Georgia that became relevant from very minimalistic music videos of himself rapping around his neighborhood. Lazer is a pioneer of a new wave of minimal effort rappers. People connect with the sentiment of rebelling against quality. To be fair, people often ruin the beauty of elite content by being pretentious and mean. Lazer Dim 700 has one flow, but it stands out. It's a short matter of fact observation followed by a short pause. He's got a sense of humor and he doesn't take himself too seriously. The interesting thing about his presentation is that it resonates with suburban culture without being overly intellectual or victory competitive.

Playboi Carti - I Am Music/Music (R.I. Review)

Playboi Carti is a rapper from Atlanta Georgia. Playboi started an honorary member of Asap Mob, which meant he had a dual market and a lot of clout before he had music. From his first released song, he was different. He has a score to settle with elitist culture and it manifests itself in this extremely nuanced competitiveness in his lyrics and presentation. However, that's why he's so popular. His conquest is soothing to his marginalized audience and is consistently victorious as well. This album is as good as his former releases and the collaborations are impressive. His branding is based on effortlessness, but it kinda feels wrong to praise such lazy writing. If he wanted to, he could do a better job of earning his position as an artist but we'll see how many times he can get by with his current formula.

SZA - SOS Deluxe : LANA (R.I. Review)

SZA is an rnb singer from St. Louis, Missouri. She was a peculiar signee to Top Dawg Entertainment because before SZA, they had been a pretty hard rap label with no track record of producing artists that sound like SZA. She has a hip hop cadence in her raw song writing and rapper-featured high moments. There's something infectious about her humility and relatable subject matter. However, that same presentation makes her incomparable to other females at her level of fame. Maybe she doesn't want that. SZA is good, but there's room to be a little more. Maybe she needs a strong, memorable song or to be rebranded with more mainstream appeal but SZA has proven her ability to achieve and maintain the spotlight.

The Weeknd - Hurry Up Tomorrow (R.I. Review)

The Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd is a singer from Toronto Canada who you couldn't miss if you tried. He's more popular than most pop stars which is even more impressive when you consider how experimental his presentation is. Hurry Up Tomorrow is the halfway point between his last pop releases and his former style. He has diluted his eclectic melody writing to better assimilate with his ethnically singular connections and fan base. As a result, the songs are good, but not great. The features of Playboi Carti and Travis Scott are the high-points of the album, but it's not because they are more talented but because they keep The Weeknd in a better mentality. The Weeknd sounds a little sad, which isn't new, but his albums post-fame have been a little happier. For some reason sadness at the top is more alarming because there isn't the hope of escape using success. Abel needs to take a break and find himself before making more songs about pain.

Central Cee - Can't Rush Greatness (R.I. Review)

Central Cee is a rapper from Shepherd's Bush London. After going viral several times, Central Cee has released his most high-profile album, "Can't Rush Greatness". The album starts strong and stays consistent. The lyrics are about his authentic come-up story and harsh lifestyle; delivered just complicatedly enough to be impressive while understandable. His bars aren't very memorable because there are few pauses and his lyrics are all at the same level of cleverness. Cee has a formula that works well for him, but it would have been nice to be surprised every now and then.