We’ve had our beef. Now Kendrick’s serving up dessert.
“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy
Friday, 29 November 2024
Friday, 1 November 2024
Thursday, 29 August 2024
Triple Album Review: ‘Dark Times’ by Vince Staples, ‘King of The Mischievous South vol 2’ by Denzel Curry & ‘I Lay Down My Life For You’ by JPEGMAFIA
I haven’t reviewed many hip hop albums this year. In fact, I haven’t reviewed many albums full-stop. So, here’s a three-album-in-one review to make up for it.
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
Monday, 18 March 2024
Review of 'Blue Lips' by Schoolboy Q
Despite pushing 40, Q still has incredible energy to give, and arguably the best ear for beats in the game.
Thursday, 15 February 2024
Thursday, 2 November 2023
Review of 'Scarlet' by Doja Cat
Doja’s claws are out. Gone are the horny alien pop bops. She’s now making angry demonic rap. And it’s both fun and frustrating to listen to.
Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Review of 'UTOPIA' by Travis Scott
The guestlist is impressive and the production is fun, but it’s still not enough to conceal the fact that Travis Scott is an utterly unexciting rapper.
Thursday, 13 April 2023
Review of 'Scaring The Hoes' by JPEGmafia and Danny Brown
Scaring The Hoes sees rappers JPEGmafia and Danny Brown celebrating their mutual weirdness. If you want to get kicked out of a house party for ‘scaring the hoes’, play this album (although I can think of much worse examples if you really want to cause utter chaos. Imagine putting Trout Mask Replica on the aux. Or maybe some Merzbow? That’s how you scare the hoes.)
Thursday, 16 March 2023
Monday, 6 March 2023
Monday, 4 July 2022
Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Review of ‘Mr Morale & The Big Steppers’ by Kendrick Lamar
Mr Morale & The Big Steppers is a masterpiece – and quite possibly my favourite Kendrick album to date.
Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Review of 'Melt My Eyez See Your Future' by Denzel Curry
Denzel is sounding less aggressive and more introspective here. And he’s jumping on some of the most stylistically diverse beats of his career. It’s an exhilarating album – but is it better than his 2018 masterpiece TA1300?
Thursday, 31 March 2022
Wednesday, 9 February 2022
Review of 'SICK!' by Earl Sweatshirt
Earl is rapping on actual beats this time. But despite being more accessible, SICK! isn’t as ‘infectious’ as I’d hoped.
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Review of 'Montero' by Lil Nas X
Despite the uninspired name (he blatantly took it from a rapper name generator), Lil Nas X has fast become one of the most exciting and unique artists in modern mainstream hip hop. But is it all just gimmicks?
Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Review of 'Certified Lover Boy' by Drake
Certified Lover Boy features some of the Canadian singer-rapper’s best songs to date – but also some of his worst.
Monday, 13 September 2021
Review of 'Donda' by Kanye West
Despite the messy roll-out, the bloated tracklist (27 tracks???) and the non-existent album art, Donda is not the slapdash slog I expected it to be. In fact, there are some solid and spectacular songs here.
Wednesday, 1 September 2021
Double Review: 'Vince Staples' by Vince Staples and 'The House Is Burning' by Isaiah Rashad
I’ll get around to reviewing Donda in a minute. In the meantime, here’s a post for the hip hop heads – a double review of the two latest albums from Vince Staples and Isaiah Rashad.