Artist Spotlight: Lushlife

Was planning on doing an album review, but I realized that this album came out months ago. Rather than showing my lack of comprehension of time and beating a dead horse by giving it more positivity I decided not to review Plateau Vision but felt I should write about Lushlife in some fashion. I felt the latest Artist Spotlight entry would be appropriate.

My summer has been highlighted by me discovering new artists to add to my music collection. Joey Bada$$, XV, Gorilla Biscuits, Death Grips, and now Lushlife. From the praise of Myke C-Town of Dead End Hip-Hop I decided to look into Lushlife and his latest release, Plateau Vision.

My Favorite Music Project of 2012...so far

1. Death Grips - The Money Store

Ah yes, number one! And I must admit, this really wasn't a hard choice at all for me to make...like at all...at all. 1999 was excellent but I haven't legitimately enjoyed an album this year quite like I've enjoyed listening to The Money Store. 

If this is your first time hearing of Death Grips, first of all find the nearest wall and slam your temple against it now.  No that was mean, and I probably should warn you that Death Grips' sound is not for everyone. It's very experimental, hip-hop, unorthodox, aggressive, dark, and MC Ride's voice will not be loved by many. If you have previously enjoyed aggressive metal, punk, or any experimental music then this style of hip-hop will be easier to listen to for you compared to someone who's coming off of listening to say, Wale or Drake. 

MC Ride of Death Grips portrays a character in his music that is a complete 180 to his actual self. The character is scarred, violent, and graphic at times, but it's just that...a character. MC Ride as a person is surprisingly timid and soft spoken, only amplifying the appreciation of Ride's writing when you realize what type of person is actually behind the mic.

I was really not into Death Grips' debut mix-tape Exmilitary, was it too abrasive for me? Probably so, but it didn't stop me from giving the group another try with The Money Store. And am I glad that I did. After giving The Money Store a chance I'm starting to listen to Exmilitary in portions to see if I like it the second time around, crossing fingers.

What separates The Money Store from Exmilitary? Simple, the sound. This album is much more catchy and melodically appealing to a wider audience than Exmilitary. At times, even a little poppy, which oddly enough works as Death Grips keeps their edge but just sprinkles a little "catch and pop" in the middle.

In summary, Death Grips is not a hip-hop group that will appeal to most, in fact I think maybe a handful of people I know would even give two songs a listen. Most would just rip out their speakers and probably recite a Holy Prayer of some kind after. I'm an open book when it comes to art so the style of it doesn't put me in a judgmental state. I will say if you asked me a year ago that I'd enjoy a Death Grips album like this, I'd have to catch my breath from the hysterical laughter. Anyways, there it is my list for the top 5 music projects of 2012 so far.

5. Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania

4. Big K.R.I.T. - Live from the Underground

3. Logic - Young Sinatra: Undeniable/fun. - Some Nights

2. Joey Bada$$ - 1999

1. Death Grips - The Money Store

Top 5 Music Projects of 2012...so far (#2)

 2. Joey Bada$$ - 1999

Sorry for the delay. Coming in second I have Joey Bada$$' 1999. Bada$$ was apart of an Artist Spotlight and few weeks back and I felt it was necessary to point this out to avoid any possible confusion:

I originally stated that 1999 was the best mix-tape I've heard this year, and that's exactly what it is, a mix-tape. Hinting that the project coming in at #1 has to be an album, right? Right.

I would say more about this mix-tape and how much I love Joey Bada$$ but I pretty much gushed over it in the Artist Spotlight, so I suggest reading that, and my favorite album of 2012 so far will be up soon...

Top 5 Music Projects of 2012...so far (#3)

3. Logic - Young Sinatra: Undeniable

&

fun. - Some Nights

Waht a tweest!  M. Night Shyamalan style, huh? A two-way tie for 3rd place in the countdown, and yes that is a very very mainstream album on the right, I enjoyed fun.'s album quite a bit. And Logic was one of my favorite artists of last year and his latest project gets love as well.

Logic 

 

First I'll start with Undeniable. As I previously stated, Logic was one of my favorite artists of 2011 he's shown versatlity to not only appeal to fans of lyrical gangsta rap, as well as fans of more modern sounds like Drake, Lupe Fiasco, etc. 

His mainstream appeal come from songs like Numbers and Tic Tac Toe where his flow is very Drakey...actually it pretty much is Drake's flow. His underground appeal is when he raps over classic instrumentals on the tracks No Biggie and the track that's a better Slim Shady track than anything Slim Shady has put out in about 10 years, Disgusting where he gets very lyrical dropping gems like "While you was learning about English, Big L was teaching Ebonics" and my favorite, "You can ask my ex, I bust quicker than two techs, caressed by a kid with category 5 tourettes".

fun. 

 

Now onto the more mainstream pick, surprised? Surprised fun. isn't the subject of one of my "THIS IS WHAT'S WRONG WITH MUSIC TODAY" rants? Yeah well no, I really do enjoy their music. The first thing that stuck to me about this album and about the band was how similar lead vocalist Nate Ruess sounds to Freddie Mercury and then the melodies and backing vocals on tracks like Some Nights  and Why Am I the One put a smile on my face as it also was very Queen inspired. This is how the power-pop/rock sound is supposed to be pulled off to me.

When I saw these guys were signed to the leader of the emo-teeny-punk label Fueled by Ramen, I was worried that it'd be just another band that I dislike but I was pleasantly surprised. The choruses and transition tempos into very powerful outros stand out to me so much that I really can't knock this album for having a few pretty horrible auto-tune sections. I'm all for auto-tune and they use it well at times but at others, it's unlistenable. But nonetheless I can't knock points off simply because I had so much fun (pun definitely not intended) giving this album listen after listen.

Top 5 Music Projects of 2012...so far (#4)

4. Big K.R.I.T. - Live from the Underground

A day late, oh well who cares. Two days ago I kicked off the list with Smashing Pumpkins coming in at #5. Now at #4 I got Big K.R.I.T.'s Live from the Underground. 

2012 is a huge year for K.R.I.T. he released his mixtape 4Eva N A Day earlier since his album got pushed back till the summer, and the project was nice but that's about it, aside from a few really really good tracks it didn't stick with me as much as his previous works. Live from the Underground (from now on referred to as simply Live by me) was considerably better in my opinion.

My Top 5 Music Projects of 2012...so far

Yeah! Music bloggin' time! I figured July is passing the halfway point for the year and now's a better time than any to come up with my top five projects for the 2012 year so far. I say projects because album implies I'm excluding mixtapes in hip-hop and that's not the case since mixtapes have recently been more populous than actual albums. This is gonna be divided into five parts, this one showing #5 on my list, counting down to #1 and then an honorable mentions list in the last entry.

And to anyone who may actually read this, all two of three of you that is...no I haven't heard every piece of musically listenable material for the 2012 nor did I intend to. This is my list of the projects I've heard and here it goooooeeeessss!

*The following list is very proudly void of any Tyga