T.I. Us or Else: Letter to the SystemI'm not sure what I want from T.I. at this point. In theory, this album is a good thing. A rapper of T.I.'s stature and career making a point to craft an entire album to protest systemic racism and police brutality seems like it isn't a bad idea. This album is not it. Maybe T.I. is better off making the music he used to make and just making a charitable donation or something, creating an all-black Atlanta based credit union.
Justine Skye 8 Ounces
I still don't understand who Justine Skye is. She's signed to a major, has had official music released, but does not ring a bell for whatever reason. That's technically the curse of the music business. You can make the right moves and still be susceptible to a label that's confused or a musical climate that's not quite flexible. There's not even that many young, black female pop/R&B singers on the scene at the moment (Tinashe and Sevyn are the only ones I can think of), but Skye is just sort of there. She's friends with the Jenners, makes her way around the trendy NY scene but has no hit. This EP is entirely produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart probably for the purpose of getting that hit, but that's probably not going to happen. The EP is good though, and some of it is great, easily Tricky and Terius' best work in years – somewhere between the Eletrik Red and Mariah albums but nowhere near as good as either. It's nice to see them start to get their groove back together.
Yo Gotti White Friday (CM9)
I understand Yo Gotti's history as an independent musician in theory, but I'm not actually familiar with much of it. Given how long he's been around, it's great to see the recent success he's seen. His albums with Epic seem to be a little too 2010s major label formulaic but he finds a way to breathe excitement into at least a portion of it. "What Happened" a dedication to his manager that just passed is great.
J. Cole For Your Eyez Only
It doesn't make sense that J. Cole is as successful as he is. Not because I don't like him, but because his music shouldn't be popular. The way it sounds with its weak snares and low quality sample reconstruction like an album you'd find in the Tower records dollar bin in 1996 and its content, erections in math class and all, should not be appealing to a national audience. People for whatever reason seem to be attached to him. This album isn't that bad. There's multiple songs from the point of view of someone who thinks he'll die soon and needs to impart wisdom to his family before that happens, but it's hard to tell if that's autobiographical or entirely fictional.
Ab-Soul Do What Thou Wilt.
I don't know what the hell this shit is.
