After the dust settled from NASIR, the penultimate album in the series of Kanye-produced albums released this summer, hip-hop had an explosive week. On Saturday, Beyonce and Jay Z spontaneously dropped their collaboration album "EVERYTHING IS LOVE" as The Carters, on Thursday morning Brockhampton performed a new single from their upcoming album "The Best Years Of Our Lives" and experimental rap band Death Grips dropped singles from their new album "Year Of The Snitch" prior to its release today. All in all today is a great day for all kinds of hip-hop fans, whether mainstream or not - and that’s not mentioning Teyana Taylor’s album with Kanye production, coming at some point today.

The Carters - "APESH*T", from "EVERYTHING IS LOVE"

2003 was a great year for music, especially in putting new sounds forward that’d gradually set the tone for the music we listen to today. The White Stripes released “Seven Nation Army”, Outkast released “Hey Ya” and Dizzee Rascal dropped his debut studio album, “Boy In Da Corner”. Although one of 2003s songs that’s stuck with us, and nearly every noughties compilation album was Beyonce and Jay Z’s “Crazy In Love”. Ever since then, the duo have always bought out the best in each other, whether that’s to do with the music they create or, more recently, how their relationship impacts that creation. Overall, this means that their collab album ‘EVERYTHING IS LOVE’ dropped at just the right time.

The first thing that strikes you about the album’s lead single “APESH*T” is its instrumental. Produced by Pharrell, the beat is something new and unique for Skateboard P that’s constructed from fragments of his previous work. It boasts that hard-hitting, fast-paced energy that made N.E.R.D’s most recent album memorable while also incorporating the suaver sound of “Stir Fry”, his collaboration with Migos last year. Speaking of amigos, the track’s energetic instrumental is elevated with surprise adlibs from Pharell’s friends Quavo and Offset. The Atlanta trio also co-wrote the track alongside Beyonce and Jay-Z, providing more than just backing vocals. As Beyoncé comes on the track, much like Pharrell’s production, she brings something completely new to the table. While I’m not the most attentive to Yonce’s catalogue, there’s a distinct R&B style she’s created for herself throughout the years and, while it didn’t fade, it didn’t change much either. So when Beyonce’s rapping, yes rapping, ridiculously quick and making the Migos’ triplet style her own, it’s both impressive and memorable. This new style also compliments the energy and pace of the track as a whole as well as the instrumental.

Similarly, when Jay-Z hops on the track for his verse, his style also feels revitalised by the song’s upbeat backing track. It feels a world away from the sort of rapper he was on 4:44, an album with a more sincere context that’s meant to be taken in. In comparison, this feels like a song that’s meant to be danced to. Alas, as you just start getting excited about Jay’s part on “APESH*T”, his verse ends as Beyonce takes the reigns back for even more rapping. While I expected more from Jay-Z on the basis of “EVERYTHING IS LOVE” as a joint effort, I’m not disappointed in what he did provide.

Overall, from this track alone the album looks set to be a very interesting collaboration. Moving away from what we think we know of both Beyonce and Jay-Z alike to provide something new. While the beats, flow and near everything else is different, that classic 2003 charisma and chemistry is very much present on this track.

BROCKHAMPTON - "TONYA", from "These Are The Best Years Of Our Lives"

It goes without saying that BROCKHAMPTON is the hottest, and most talented, thing since sliced bread. In 2017, they dropped three albums, a dozen music videos and a feature-length documentary on the making of it all. It came as no surprise when RCA, a division of Sony Music, signed the band with a huge $15m record deal (roughly a million per member) asking for six albums over the next three years. Everything was going amazingly for the boyband, with work already commencing on the Saturation follow-up TEAM EFFORT with select demos and studio sessions teased through Instagram Live sessions. However it all came crumbling down as Ameer Vann, the face of the Saturation Trilogy and the group’s most memorable member, was accused of multiple wrongdoings; namely sexual harassment as revealed by a past love via Twitter. Despite Vann’s apology, some time later the band issued a statement revealing he would no longer be in BROCKHAMPTON as the band were “lied to”, not tolerating “abuse of any kind” in their circle.

Weeks, and a much needed Hawaii trip later, BROCKHAMPTON returned to the scene as a musical guest on Jimmy Fallon performing “Tonya”. The title of the track alone feels more emotional then past releases. Paying homage to Tonya Harding, the athlete whose legacy was permanently tarnished in 1994 by her ex-husband’s attack on a fellow team member, to which Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation. This, unfortunately, bares resemblance to the Ameer situation, where now BROCKHAMPTON may forever live in the shadow of Ameer’s allegations and the band’s slow handling of it as opposed to their true talents.

“Tonya” however showcases this talent excellently, while also giving long-waiting fans the differentiation they anticipated. As the track begins with a piano solo from Joba alongside a Bearface verse, we know we’re strapped in for a feels trip. Choosing Bearface to introduce Tonya emphasises its emotion, in the Saturation trilogy Bearface was mostly reserved for the concluding, reflective tracks from each album - “WASTE”, “SUMMER” and “TEAM”. The emotional value present in those tracks here feels less reflective and more retrospective; looking back on the past. Although after the track’s hook, it exhibits a progression BROCKHAMPTON has always been known for - in this instance Bearface raps for the first time. While this comes as a pleasant surprise, it’s no secret that the band wanted to experiment, reinvent and push their sound beyond what was demonstrated in the Saturation trilogy, potentially aiming toward more mainstream recognition.

As the track moves to Kevin’s verse, the piano simmers as the beat kicks in. It’s surprisingly minimal in comparison to a lot of BROCKHAMPTON’s older work, but on a second listening the beat isn’t of essence as much as the lyrics are. In the track Kevin solemnly raps “I’ve been in my feelings on a island in the dirt / I feel like brothers lie just so my feelings don’t get hurt”, reflective of his feelings toward the recent happenings in his life and the lying of brother-figure Ameer, who he was friends with since fourteen. Even the members of the group known for their more energetic approaches become mellow here, showing a new kind of openness and vulnerability. There’s a moment towards the end of Dom’s verse where he gradually raises his voice until he’s near-shouting the lyrics into the microphone, climaxing on the lyric “I fantasise about a time where everything was simple”. To me it conveys a subtle sense of both anger and pain, possibly stemming from the impact of the Ameer situation on the band. Likewise as the track concludes, Matt who’s known mostly for singing mellow choruses and energetic verses takes backing vocals, screaming the chorus’ “I don’t matter”, adding to the already sombre scene the song has created.

If BROCKHAMPTON follows in the footsteps of their idol, Kanye West, this is definetly their 808’s era. “Tonya” as a track feels like the most real track they’ve released in a while, especially as an emotionally-charged response to a situation that fans, like myself, are deeply engaged in. There is light in the darkness, however, with new concepts that deviate from the Saturation trilogy being tested here with effective results. Whatever steps the boyband takes to move forward, sonically and lyrically, it’s essential that they bring the mainstream with them and affirm their talents despite a cloudy past, much like West did with his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - and we all know how that turned out.

Death Grips - Death Grips Is Online, from "Year Of The Snitch"

Have you ever had the experience of profoundly liking a song then hearing it so often that the magic gradually wears off and the song becomes worse? Well, Death Grips is the opposite of that. The premise of an experimental hip-hop band sounds interesting. In 2018 where rap is the biggest genre around and rappers are the modern rockstars, how could you possibly experiment with it even further than it already has? This question enthusiastically stays with you until you eventually come across Death Grips. With music videos like the one above, I don’t think I need to illustrate further just how “experimental” this hip hop band is. Although with their latest album, “Year Of The Snitch” they’ve taken it to new levels of bizarre with collaborations ranging from the director of Shrek to a man whose instrument is a piece of glass rubbing against his teeth. Their promotional material for the album is just as surreal, but simultaneously quite forward thinking - in particular its screen-recorded track-list reveal.

The album opens with “Death Grips Is Online”, calling back to the very first promotion tweet made for Year Of The Snitch that sent fans haywire. The track itself doesn’t have as much of an intro, choosing to instead immediately throws you, and your eardrums, into an intense wall of sound. Starting with a loud, brash modulated, guitar riff over a infectiously quick drum beat. If the job of an opening track is to place its listeners in the themes, tones and concepts of an album, this track ticks all three of those boxes in its first fifteen seconds. As well as delivering on that colossal energy Death Grips is known for, the layering Death Grips Is Online is impressive without feeling too overwhelming. Despite the fact that on every listen you notice something new, you feel as if you still haven’t heard every detail in the track. Ranging from all kinds of vocal samples to amazingly-timed recording scratching by DJ Swamp, it always has something new to offer that adds to its depth. As the track progresses to its second verse it becomes a punky, thumping dose of psychedellia as a retro-sounding arpeggio plays over a bass plethora of modular synths along its quick drums all while MC Ride softly spits over all of this. The tempo and energy of the track never changes, placating itself somewhere in the vein of trance, oddly similar to the breakdown in Childish Gambino’s hit, “Earth: The Oldest Computer”. Another great thing about the track is that regardless of all the places it goes to and the sounds it exhibits in the short space of 3-and-a-half minutes, it manages to keep the same tone, atmosphere and overall vibe throughout, constantly keeping you on your feet in preparation for whatever new beat comes next.

If you ask me; “Death Grips Is Online” fits perfectly in the gap between amazing and outright insane. It’s shocking, strange and intense all at the same time, blowing you away because there’s nothing quite like it. Once the track’s over you almost want to listen to it again, just to make sure you heard it right but also for that oddly unique Death Grips rush.