"Clearing Out My Mind"

- Gil Scott-Heron (1970) The untimely, inhumane and grotesque, racially-motived murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmuad Arbery and Belly Mujinga have sparked an anti-racism uprising and revolution like no other in modern world history. To echo the word’s of Ms. E Tendayi Achiume (UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance); “ The world is witnessing the largest ever transnational mobilization against systemic racism…” and long may it continue. From its inception, Hip-hop music has always been used as an avenue to advocate for change and address critical issues and topics within Society. As a medium of art dominated by Black people but for the most part owned and financed by white millionaires (and millionaires turned billionaires off the back of Black artists), hip-hop is an art form which acts as a microcosm of wider society. However, my goal here is not to speak specifically to this dynamic, (but maybe

If we have learnt anything from this Coronavirus induced lockdown, its that Black culture is popular culture. And Black people continue to move the needle and dominate what’s important within society. It has been readily accepted for over a decade now that the music genres dominated by Black people; Hip-hop, Soul, R&B and Drill, are the most popular forms of music on the planet. But what this period of lockdown and quarantine has shown, in no uncertain terms, is just how much Black people and the culture that we cultivate truly dominates popular culture and wider society in ways that no other cultural force or phenomenon can even compare to. Now, of course I’m biased and thus think Black British Afro-Caribbean culture is the true dominant force in this aspect, but really Black people of all nationalities, ethnicities, and cultures hold this power to have monumental impact just by virtue of being ourselves. Within this lockdown period alone, we’ve seen Swizz Beatz & Timbaland

I'm not even 23 years old, and already I feel like the new generation of hip-hop artists are too young for me to really get into and enjoy. Barring a few exceptions, the quality of rapping is generally bad, and what's more with these new rappers it genuinely feels like every other week a new artists is in jail, involved a very serious altercation or doing some dumbshit all over social media. With that, it becomes entirely too difficult to parse out the talented artists from the whack ones and parse out the ones with common sense from the ones raised by wolves. What's worse, is that it appears the ones considered to be talented in the new generation, were also simultaneously raised by wolves. Why do I say this? Well, for the past week, which in all honesty, has felt like an eternity & that's not due to the quarantine, my social media platform have been providing me with almost daily updates on the life and times of an NBA Youngboy and the tragic and quite fran

One of the defining aspects of hip-hop in 2019, was the distinct lack of starpower on display. For the most part, all of the genres biggest names stayed home with almost no album releases and very few significant singles. With the exception of J. Cole who would release “Middle Child” in January and eventually lead the way on Dreamville’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III” in July. It was an erringly quite year for the genre’s leaders. Hov, Cole, Kanye, Drake, Pusha T, even Travis, (although he would finish the year strong with "JackBoys" ), those who typically sit at the forefront of hip-hop had a surprisingly quite 12 months. However, as we approach the end of 2020’s 1st quarter, it feels like this trend is about to come to an abrupt halt. Of course, we're still expecting “The Fall Off” album which J. Cole promised for early this year, and Drake has been periodically and systematically leaking singles a lot over the first few months of this year. But in addition to t

With Jhené having just dropped this weekend. Brent Faiyaz dropping the month before. Snoh Aalegra’s stunning tiny desk performance releasing earlier this year, alongside her 2019 album “-Ugh, Those Feels Again” continuing to receive widespread acclaim. All the while Summer Walker continues to go crazy on, and control, social media. R&B is in a great place. Personally, I can truly say, that this is the most diverse and widespread R&B has been in my adult lifetime. Almost, every other week, it feels like there is a new album, or new artist dropping great, soulful, emotional, thought-provoking and rhythmic music and carving out their own lane within R&B. Moreover, R&B’s growth in recent years is even more exceptional as the genre has grown, somewhat, void of the overt presence of its most prominent stars. Neither Beyoncé nor Rihanna have released a solo project since 2016. Bar a few throwaway tracks spattered about, Frank Ocean has remained his typically si

This ain’t gonna be long. And I know a lot of people still may not know who I’m speaking on, or even agree with what I’m saying but I just felt like this needed to be said. Earlier this week, Complex Musi c named DaBaby as their best rapper alive for 2019, and although I wholeheartedly understand this decision and how and why they came to it. I unfortunately have to strongly disagree. DaBaby had a phenomenal year. Truly phenomenal. Between “Suge”, “Bop”, “Under the Sun”, “Cash Sh*t”, even “Panini” with Lil Nas’ X, everywhere you went, you heard dudes voice. I can’t knock it at all. He had a stronghold on the charts, Spotify playlists and social media alike. And having dropped two albums with 1 (Kirk) going number 1, it’s hard to question his #1 ranking. Yet… here I am to question it. https://www.discogs.com When we talk about rap, and the best rapper of 2019, the real answer to that question in Benny the Butcher, plain and simple. Aside from having what I truly believ