Listening to the new Future album leaves me with two questions: How long will Future keep releasing the same, forgettable, formulaic music? And more importantly, how long will people keep hyping it up to no end? Am I going to be seeing people posting on social media about how excited they are for the upcoming trap album by a 60 year old Future? The latter half of Future’s discography is the musical equivalent to the modern day Star Wars films, more or less a worse version of what made the name so well known in the first place, produced not out of passion for the project but passion for quick and easy cash flow. I NEVER LIKED YOU is quite possibly the most boring listening experience I’ve had all year. This album lacks everything that made Future so good at the peak of his career, there’s no personality or charisma. The production, while not technically deplorable, does not do anything interesting. These beats carry no weight, no grandiosity, and no grittiness. These beats do the bare minimum, they sound like they were made just good enough to be on some high school sophomore’s Spotify playlist entitled “Party”. All of the features on this album are also completely stripped of anything even remotely entertaining. Kanye West gives a short, half assed verse that barely makes any sense (as expected), Drake’s verses are ill fitting, lyrically strange and a little creepy at times (as expected), and Kodak Black’s voice sounds like audible cyanide (once again, as expected). Future is completely asleep at the wheel here, there is absolutely no way he is trying anymore. I feel like this review isn’t saying enough, but there seriously just isn’t much to be said for this album. For a project that’s only 48 minutes long, this thing feels like it takes an eternity to get through. The most memorable thing about this album is that it marks the first time an ad lib has annoyed me so much I see it as, well, a mark against the project. Seriously, this dude shouts out ATL Jacob so often it disrupts the flow of the album. Everytime I hear him say “ATL Jacob” it's like hearing the Wilhelm scream in a movie, it completely takes me out of it for a second. Judging by the amount of effort it sounds like Future put into this project, the title is extremely fitting. Future most definitely does not like me. If Future liked me he wouldn’t have wasted my time with an offering that was this mindless. I’d like to end this review with one piece of advice for the Future Hendrix himself; maybe think about changing your name to Past, as you sound more and more like a relic of it with every new release.

3.7/10

Why is Q-Tip on this album? Why the hell is Q-Tip on this album? Seriously, Jack, even you had to have known this does not sound good. The other day I accidentally licked the back of my hand and tasted something salty. At first I thought it was a booger but when I looked down I saw I had cut myself. Jack White’s Fear of the Dawn gives me a very similar feeling, not as bad as I expected it to be but still not good. The album seriously lacks any sort of cohesion or structure, making for an extremely disorienting and confusing listen. Jack White didn’t set out to do something with this album, he set out to do anything, anything that came into Jack White’s electric blue colored head. It makes as little an amount of sense as you would expect. The album follows a loose narrative about somebody who’s scared of the sun or... something. I’m not completely sure if I’m being quite honest. I haven’t heard an album that is thematically this bizarre since I listened to Jennifer Lopez’s weird, obsessive love letter to Ben Affleck (This Is Me... Then). It is somewhat interesting to hear Jack White in such an overproduced environment, but the production is just as weirdly random and all over the place as any of the other aspects of Fear of the Dawn. From the weird sampled Middle Eastern sounding backdrop on the song “Hi-De-Ho” (featuring Q-Tip) which sounds like something Al Jourgensen would’ve come up with on one of those early Ministry albums to the strange, up front, mixing on the (slightly annoying) female vocals on “Into the Twilight”. The production throughout the album feels like it was handled by a carnie that’s been taking hits off of the c02 supply behind everyone’s back. It’s just so random. It’s just so weird. Fear of the Dawn is the type of album that makes people wonder if an artist is on their way to becoming a caricature of themself. In the case of Jack White, I can clear that question up pretty easily: he already is. Captain Beefheart was unpretentiously weird, the music was weird because the artist legitimately didn’t know any other way to be. With Fear of the Dawn, it feels like White is leaning more towards the Frank Zappa end of the weird spectrum, weird for the point of being weird, performatively weird some might say. Fear of the Dawn is an interesting study, because the problem with this album isn’t that White is an unskilled or incompetent musician (the guitar work on this album alone is enough to prove that). The problem here is a mixture of a tired out persona and a lack of direction. I seriously do not think Jack White knew what he wanted this album to sound like before he began recording it, and at this point in his career, no one is going to question anything that he does. Had there been proper review and refinement, this project could’ve been much better. Instead we got 40 minutes of Jack White running absolutely rampant and, as someone who generally considers himself to be a fan of Jack White, it's a little too much for me. And once again, why is Q-Tip on this album? Surely nobody could’ve thought that was a good idea. “Hi-De-Ho” is legitimately one of the worst songs I’ve heard this year.

5.4/10

billy woods is the most underrated rapper. billy woods has been the most underrated rapper. billy woods will most likely remain the most underrated rapper. This album is conscious hip hop in its most boundary pushing, exquisite state. woods’ storytelling capabilities come out in full form here (believe it or not, he isn’t just saying words for the point of saying words) taking us through various perils and spoils of his everyday life, he describes getting stood up when he thought he would get laid, he describes his 11th grade friend shooting his own uncle, then showing up to school like nothing happened, he describes all this and more, and does so in a refreshingly well spoken, well worded, honest, and endlessly witty way.This album feels like a movie. This album feels like I’m sitting in the audience of The Truman Show, only instead of Jim Carrey, it's billy woods having the most comically depressing day of his life. Preservation proves himself time and time again throughout this project as an egregiously underrated producer. The production on Aethiopes is, at times, experimental, dissonant, and disjointed, while at other times stunningly pretty, and ALWAYS extremely competent, making it the perfect backdrop for woods’ dark yet self aware storytelling. Preservation covers a wide variety of sonic landscapes with his production, from Christine’s spacey, western guitar instrumental that almost sounds like it belongs on a modern Earth album to the dub groove on the song Versailles which sounds like Skream snuck into the studio while no one was looking. This is one of the most enjoyable and enthralling albums I’ve heard in the 2020s thus far. billy woods knows his capabilities. Billy woods knows he’s one of modern hip hop's greatest writers. Billy woods knows he is an artist that you, by no means should overlook - so why do you?

9.1/10

Bladee and Ecco 2k are peaking on Crest. When I listen to Crest it feels like I am peaking as well - peaking on acid with god in heaven. Crest is a masterclass in how to make an extremely progressive album while still retaining heavily accessible and beautiful pop sensibilities. The worldbuilding on this album is unbeatable. Along with producer Whitearmor, Bladee and Ecco drag you straight into their universe, with transitions and progressions that feel absolutely natural and completely seamless. The vocals on this album shine, almost wrapping around each other in a nearly unimaginable way, the auto tune used perfectly to help craft these clean and futuristic feeling songs. Bladee and Ecco play off of each other so well, it's hard not to believe they’re some kind of unified consciousness, one spirit split across two bodies (makes me sound like a new ager but, fuck it, that’s legitimately what it feels like). Crest is an album that never lets up and feels incredibly well calculated from start to finish, these don’t feel like individual songs, the album feels like an individual experience. This album is bold and shimmering. This album feels like it came from the Teletubbies universe in the best way possible. This album is like hyperpop if the overwhelming abrasion of someone like 100 gecs was swapped with the easily digested -yet- experimental progressive pop of Kero Kero Bonito. Listening to Crest is like living inside of a candy coated, ecstasy induced orgasm. It’ll be exciting to see where the Drain Gang goes from here - personally, I’m waiting for a T-Pain collab. Please Bladee, I’m begging.

8.3/10

Pusha T never fails to make me wish I was a coke dealer. Pusha T never fails to make my friends wish they were coke dealers. I’m sure if my grandmother found a Clipse album she too would have fantasies about pedaling the soft white. On It’s Almost Dry, Pusha T is in incredibly fine form, retaining the hard, cocaine dedicated rhymes that he’s become so well known for while simultaneously presenting a more mature, untouchable presence. This is where Pusha T cements himself as a modern day great. Is this Pusha’s magnum opus? Possibly. Is this one of the best hip hop albums of the year? Absolutely. T isn’t the only one who shines on this album though, both Pharrell and Kanye West have impeccable returns to form. Pharrell’s production is dark and gritty, yet flashy and glamorous, his beats feel like they would be just as fit for the club as they would for the car ride to an assassination attempt, very reminiscent of the work he did with Chad Hugo for Clipse. Kanye’s production is just as impressive, showing off his mastery of pitch shifted vocals, and endlessly looping, lush sounding samples. Where Pharell’s production is dark and stripped back, Kanye’s is bright and bold. The most impressive thing is how well it all works together, Pusha sounds completely at home on each of these beats. The never lacking flow of this album is truly a testament to how well these three individuals work together, it’s obvious that each of them has mastered their craft. It's obvious how long they have all been in the music industry. It’s obvious that none of them are even close to irrelevancy. All of the features on this album are more than satisfactory as well, even the ones that I found a bit questionable at first (looking at you, Mr. Atake). The return of Clipse on this album makes me hope and pray that the brothers are going to team up for another full project (hopefully with Pharell at the helm). Maybe I’m getting too ahead of myself though, no pressure Pusha. Overall this is an extremely well put together project by some of the most pivotal artists of this generation and should most definitely not be missed. The dense production, the hard lines about coke dealing and money, the unbeatable flow and voice. All of these artists deliver, it's obvious that everyone who had anything to do with the making of this album was giving it their all. I know Pusha is the expert here, but from my perspective, this is FAR from dry.

8.8/10