1-O.A.K. – "Slide Thru" (feat. P-Lo)
There's two things actively working against this song. 1-O.A.K. is a very difficult name to google. And there's already a song out called "Slide Thru." Disregard that for a second because I can't get enough of this song. I believe 1-O.A.K. taught at the community center that the HBK kids worked at and mentored a few of them specifically. He's been featured on their songs here and there, but this is his first foray into an actual solo career. This song is a hit if I ever heard one. I love how it goes from hook to rap verse to hook to sung verse and doesn't follow a typical song structure. And if we really let "Who Booty" be a thing two years ago, there's no reason this song can't work out.
Iamsu – "Show Me" (feat. 50 Cent & Jay Ant)
I talked about this here.
Young Bari – "Bigger Than Me"
After hearing his verses on the HBK Gang tape and E-40's album(s) last year, I was really excited to hear a proper full length from Young Bari. Bari's been loosely affiliated with the HBK guys, and it was his song that the Gang claims DJ Mustard borrowed from. His voice is super interesting, sort of like Katt Williams meets Young Thug, and, at least from the features I heard in 2013, the kid can flow. But his Mob Solo mixtape was just boring to me. It's a lot of stories about his life but not in any interesting sense. His hooks get repetitive, and he could have used some better beats.
D-Lo – "Ghetto" (feat. Magnolia Chop & Sleepy D)
D-Lo's Keep It On The D-Lo album flew right under the radar, but it really is excellent. It's unfortunate that KMEL doesn't play local music because, like I mentioned when the Mustard/HBK riff started to gather steam, this album is way more representative of the Bay Area sound I identify with (think Traxamillion and hyphy-era EA-Ski). Sage and 'em might have people convinced all there is to do here is party, but "Ghetto" brings back an aggression the East Bay has been missing. I could do without the off-key hook, but you don't really get more Bay Area than that.
G-Eazy – "Let's Get Lost"
I honestly haven't paid much attention to G-Eazy. One, because he's white, and two, because his name is G-Eazy. He's bubbled on the scene for a little while now and has been much more successful than his cohorts during the same time frame (because he's white). Up to this point, there hasn't been a song that identifies him as an artist, but he's clearly on his way to stardom. And in a post-Macklemore-texting-Kendrick world, it's sickening how aware of his situation he probably is. "Let's Get Lost" isn't even that bad of a song. It's actually kind of good. It's the type of song you can rock with publicly until you inevitably see a sorority girl singing along to it. The video is very well done too.
Adrian Marcel – "2am" (feat. Sage The Gemini)
This technically wasn't released in April, but it's actually sorta in rotation at KMEL. In terms of R&B joints by random California artists, "2am" is better than TeeFlii's "This D" but not quite Rayven Justice's "Slide Thru". That is my assessment of this song.
P-Lo – "Can't Tell Me Nothin" (feat. Kool John & Skipper)
This is a Mannie Fresh ripoff with some boring raps.
Mila – "Hell Yeah" (feat. Clyde Carson)
I'm happy Sage basically brought real club songs back, ones meant for dancing and not aggressively jumping up and down. I live in the South Bay though, and the music that gets played here is so perplexingly random it makes my brain want to explode. Hopefully some club in Oakland will play this regularly. The NSFW video is a nice touch.
Derek King – "What It Do" (feat. IAmSu!)
Where did all these R&B guys come from? And why do they all have names that are so difficult to remember? Iamsu is very good at rapping. He also tends to say nice things about women in rapping form, and it's not even corny. I already forgot whoever sings this song's name.
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