Apart from Kendrick Lamar's new album and Tinashe's Amethyst mixtape, my taste for brand new music was otherwise limited this weekend. I spent most of Saturday bundling Sa-Ra releases and biking up Third Avenue through the Bronx while listening to funk-n-jazz mixes by Kenny Fresh and Flying Lotus. If, like I, you're still digging and dismantling To Pimp a Butterfly, Kenny's "Tight Songs: TPAB Edition" is essential listening, and a sort of cheat code.
Once you're finished with Kendrick, Gucci Mane would like a word with you.
Justin Charity is a writer for Complex. Follow him @brothernumpsa.
Heems "Sometimes"
Released: March 10, 2015
Heems' album takes a few obvious wrong turns, production-wise; "Flag Shopping" and "Al Q8a," worst of all, sound like beats and rhymes at harsh odds with one another. Eat Pray Thug starts strong, however, with "Sometimes" being the one sure-fire crowd sparkler that I'd pay to see him perform live. "Made enough friends like I play in the Wrens/Made enough friends; ain't no room in the Benz" is a rote boast that's funny nonetheless; such is Heems.
Grimes f/ Bleachers "Entropy"
Released: March 15, 2015
Tell me this isn't a country-pop crossover record. Tell me Carly Rae Jepsen couldn't hop on the remix to help shove "Entropy" to the highest reaches of the Hot 100 at the expense of 2010 Taylor Swift. And while you're at it, get Jack Antonoff out of my life! Get him out of my iTunes library!
Kendrick Lamar "You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)"
Released: March 16, 2015
Shouts out to Bilal and Kenny Fresh for curating my deep dive into the influences and production of Kendrick's To Pimp a Butterfly, the most fascinating rap album since, well, Lupe Fiasco's Tetsuo & Youth a few months ago, though I'm supposed to say since Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for proper effect. "You Ain't Gotta Lie" is my favorite cut from Butterfly, as it's certainly the waviest, a tender reprieve from the otherwise relentless, chaotic thanatos of "u" and the bloodshot exasperation of "Mortal Man." "We live in the Laugh Factory every time they mention your name" is the sort of compassionate sonning that endears Kendrick Lamar to old heads, good kids, parents, and street preachers alike.
Tinashe "Wrong"
Released: March 16, 2015
A "Summertime" sample in 30-degree March is somehow perfectly timed, though from a business standpoint it's odd that Tinashe would drop a great mixtape less than six months after dropping a debut album that's good but not so mind-blowing. Amethyst, however, is a rich and accelerated maturity compared to Aquarius. In Amethyst's 30-minute runtime, Tinashe rejects a couple boys while reassessing her priorities and doubling down on her self-confidence. I wasn't expecting such bold doses of personality from an artist who previously seemed as light as her own voice, nor was I expecting to hear some of the year's juiciest beats via a Tinashe mixtape. Did Ty Dolla $ign leave his jump drive on a flight or something?
Gucci Mane "Picture Me"
Released: March 18, 2015
Gucci Mane dropped 33 songs out the blue, and for once his surplus is mostly worth everyone's time. (Gucci's full of stray, occasional slappers, however.) I'm having a hard time deciding my favorite cut from these three projects. "Picture Me," for one, is an efficient, catchy refresher of how casually terrifying Guwop can be when you match his threats to a sedate piano loop and wimpy hi-hats. You say #FreeGucci, but are you truly prepared to reckon with the figurative violence to be guaranteed by his release? P.S., shouts out to David Drake for lowkey slighting Soulja Boy with his argument that Gucci Mane, rather, is the most influential rapper of the past decade.
