#he’s here in spirit (in grae’s book of names)

[tantaliart]

CURSE OF STRAHD: IN MEMORIAM

our campaign poster made in honor of making it to session 20! <3 @silvernsold @pepppershaker28 @bontosyl @hikamancer @ drew.

[alexanderking]

Another top 20 albums of 2018

‘My 11th list, making this nearly 10 years of top 20 lists! There’s a lot more hip-hop on this one than recent years...

“Have I left anything out?”- Albums et al of 2017:

Iman Omari – IHY: I was asked to see him live in 2017. He was on one of my favourite tracks off of Jonah Levine Collective’s ‘Attention Deficit’ project. I even checked out some of his tracks. Yet I STILL missed out on this album until May of this year!!! ...Better late than never I guess...this would’ve got a 6...

Keyon Harrold – The Mugician: I heard this one last year, I just neglected to mention it on last year’s list...

Quelle Chris – Being you is great! I wish I could be you more often: While I still haven’t necessarily gained an understanding of this project lyrically, I really enjoyed the production. ‘Worth a mention...

Blue Lab Beats – Freedom: I only got hip to Blue Lab Beats this year and ended up going down a tiny rabbit hole. This EP in particular stood out to me. I love ‘Keep Moving’ and the title track...

Ivan Ave – Every Eye: Shouts to my friend Sherman for this one! MNDSGN isn’t really one of the producers I keep an eye out for (pun intended), but I was really feeling the work on here. This might have got a 19...

Smino – blkswn: I finally got on that Chicago wave of hip-hop. I never fully got into Chance, but I really like the work of a lot of his cohorts. I feel that Smino’s flows and general sound is really accessible to fans of Travis Scott, Drake and to a much lesser extent the Migos. I thought the middle of the album slowed down a bit (even though it’s growing on me) but I really enjoy the second half...

...2018:

20) Mick Jenkins – Pieces of a Man:

I had only been listening to Mick Jenkins for about a month before this one came out. The subject matter seems to cover various elements of how a man is perceived nowadays, as well as allowing for moments of vulnerability on tracks like ‘Soft Porn’ and ‘Heron Flow’. My favourites are ‘Stress Fracture’, ‘Plain Clothes’ and ‘Consensual Seduction’...

19) Prhyme – PRhyme 2:

‘Black History’ pulled me in. I was generally engaged from ‘1 of the Hardest’ to ‘Rock It’, then I was fully engaged from ‘Loved Ones’ onwards. While a lot of the subject matter remains being who rhymes the best and attracts the most women (-_-), the wordplay and Preemo’s experimentation kept this enjoyable...

18) Kaidi Tatham – It’s a World Before You:

I keep remarking on how ridiculous this musician’s output is...and no doubt I’ll keep doing so. This project has a more straight forward structure to his broken beat/jazz stylings, most prominent in the title track, ‘Your dreams don’t mean a thing’ and ‘2Tone’. While I still find myself comparing most of his music to ‘In Search of Hope’ (my favourite of Kaidi’s work), I was glad to hear a full version of ‘Cold’ and gems in ‘Joyous’ and ‘Cupid’...

17) Layfullstop – Colour Reaction:

Some reviews have said this is an EP, while others have said mixtape or album...I’ll go with the latter for now. This is one my friend Dan put me on. This nine track project consists of impressive flows, engaging singing and strong instrumentation; enough to have me coming back to this one throughout the year. My favourites are ‘Kriss’ and ‘Suits’...

16) Anderson .Paak – Oxnard:

It may be no secret that I wasn’t really blown away by ‘Malibu’ or ‘NxWorries’. This album however struck a chord with me. It may be (what a lot of reviewers are saying) the confidence of which .Paak tells us who he is, how he can be and also leaves us with poignant messages; some’ we’ve heard a lot in the past year or so but still remains very much HIS voice. My standouts are ‘Tints’, ‘Who r u?’, ‘Mansa Musa’, ‘Smile’ (not ‘Petty’ so much), ‘Cheers’ and ‘Headlow’ (I have to accept my ignorance to a further extent on this one as the song is merely about getting head in the car)...

15) Lupe Fiasco – DROGAS WAVE:

Lupe Fiasco returns with his most ambitious body of work to date. The first nine songs have a continuous narrative of a number of African slaves who are thrown overboard during the transatlantic trade to become the Longchains; spirits that reside beneath the waves, sinking other slave ships and often saving the lives of those drowning or thrown overboard (‘Alan Forever’ is an example of this). The remaining tracks come across to me as an anthology of this world. There’s a callback to the character ‘Stack’ from ‘The Cool’, as he daydreams about finally becoming an accomplished hip-hop superstar in ‘Stack That Cheese’ and we get the fictional story of Jonylah’s life in ‘Jonylah Forever’; she’s later courted by Alan on ‘Alan Forever’...I’m rambling!

This project is riddled with educational moments and distinctive flows. Strangely enough I found that musically, the more electronic leaning instrumentals worked better for me than the traditional hip-hop sounds. My standouts are ‘Manilla’, ‘Alan Forever’, ‘Sun God Sam...’, ‘Stack That Cheese’ and ‘Happy Timbuck2 Day’...

14) Phonte – No News Is Good News:

The long promised and awaited project from Phonte Coleman comes to fruition! Much like ‘Charity Starts At Home’, this album sees Phonte predominately rapping. While there’s a tiny bit of bragging, this album takes a chunk of it to talk on the physical health of the black community, particularly in relation to food. There’s also moments that Phonte reflects on his growth as a person, an artist and as a partner, giving us another “Grown ass rap album”. A lot of the production worked really well on here too...

 13) Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge – The Midnight Hour:

‘Another project Dan put me on. This project was being conceived when Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge were approached to compose the score for ‘Luke Cage’, hence why the spacious soundscapes, occasional burst of drums and laid back midnight session playing sound quite familiar. This is a great project to listen to in the night hours (as possibly its intention?). I loved ‘It’s You’, ‘Dans Un Moment D’errance’ and ‘Together Again’...

12) Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth:

After taking us on quite the journey with ‘The Epic’, Kamasi Washington returns with this double (triple) album. For me, the music writing has shown steady progression although I felt there were less stand out solos to go back to. I’d recommend listening to this the first time in the order the title suggests (‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’), then’ as it is (‘Earth’ and ‘Heaven’)...

11) Killiam Shakespeare – A Town Called Elsewhere:

While I love Steve McKie’s work with Bilal Oliver, I had little to no knowledge of the Philadelphia collective he creates music with. The first couple of pieces on ‘A Town Called Elsewhere’ didn't quite catch my attention. But then the dramatic burst of drums and strings that open ‘1976 Heron’ did just that! From this piece onwards I found myself head nodding along with the slight rock stylings of ‘WDYKAL’, the ranting pulse of ‘Kelo B. Trippin’, the grand opening of ‘Sumido Querido’ and the rolling swagger of ‘Philip Eno Greene’...

10) Patrick Paige II – Letters of Irrelevance:

After a free EP of excellence and a breakdown of current events for his late mother, the bassist from The Internet delivers a personal and at times painful body of work. ‘Letters of Irrelevance’ covers his current status, the passing of his mother and rift it left for him and his loved ones. Paige raps some moments of reflection on ‘The Best Policy’ and ‘The Last Letter’, moments of lament on ‘On My Mind’ and ‘Ode to Inebriation’ and pulls off some impressive vocals on ‘Voodoo’ and ‘Red Knife’...

9) Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine:

‘Another recommendation from Dan! Engaged emcee couple (now betrothed) Jean Grae and Quelle Chris decided that they spent so much time together that they might as well make a collaborative album. So why not create a project that delves into the lie we often tell ourselves and others when responding to the question “How are you?”! My standouts are ‘House Call’, ‘Gold Purple Orange’, ‘Breakfast of Champions’, ‘Scoop of Dirt’ and the closing track ‘River’...

8) Noname – Room 25:

I really paid no attention to this Chicago-based emcee/singer/musician until the buzz around the release of this project; I even missed out on seeing her live at North Sea Jazz Festival in 2017...I’m so glad I finally caught up! ‘Room 25′ explores a number of moments that occurred in Noname’s 26th year of life (yes, it’s her 26th year), including an intense relationship, her nomadic lifestyle due to touring and the loss of a friend. Musically, I felt this album peaked with ‘Windows’ but lyrically I’d say on ‘Ace’ (named after the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch) and ‘Part of Me’...

Side note: Listening to this album took me down the Chicago-based wave rabbit hole...

7) Saba – CARE FOR ME:

Out of the Chicago wave, Saba took the top spot for me this year, with this cathartic project, mainly exploring his relationship with his late cousin. This doesn’t become fully evident until the closing 11 minutes of ‘CARE FOR ME’, with ‘PROM/KING’. This piece begins with Saba and his cousin becoming close and ends with his untimely death. This is followed by the beautifully harrowing ‘HEAVEN’, in which he sings from the perspective of his cousin’s spirit; this is one I often feel uncomfortable singing along to because of how personal it is...

6) Royce Da 5′9″ – The Book of Ryan:

Royce Da 5′9″ continues the trend of “Grown ass rap albums” (several of which are his previous works) with this insight into Royce’s story. The first act of the album (tracks 1-7) addresses where he’s at with current events. The second act (tracks 8-16) speaks of his younger years, covering addiction and family relationships, especially his brother and father. The third act (tracks 17-20) returns to the present, dealing with issues of mental health before closing with the joys of having just got paid on ‘First of the Month’. My personal standouts are ‘Godspeed’, ‘Life is Fair’, ‘Legendary’, ‘Outside’ and ‘Strong Friend’...

Side note: This album works a lot better without the ‘Caterpillar (Remix)’ bonus track, which for me, has the whiniest verse I’ve heard from Logic to date (even with ‘Everybody’)... 

5) The Internet – Hive Mind:

After a string of solo albums, EPs and the odd track over about two years, The Internet band reunite to give us what is possibly their most cohesive album to date. After the first four tracks (many of which were singles), this project initially took me aback by how straight forward the song formats generally become. After a few listens, it really worked for me. My favourites are ‘La Di Da’, ‘Next Time/Humble Pie’, ‘Wanna Be’ and ‘Beat Goes On’.

4) DJ Jazzy Jeff – M3:

Continuing from the inspiration that gave us last year’s ‘Chasing Goosebumps’, DJ Jazzy Jeff collaborates with Daniel Crawford, Kaidi Tatham, Stro Elliot, Killiam Shakespeare and rap group ‘The Trinity’ (I seriously didn’t intend for the roll call to be this long...) to give us the third instalment in his ‘Magnificent’ series. Lyrically, the group bounce off of each other really well, even pulling off some super rapping at times. While this is a showcase for the writing ability of Rhymefest, I felt that Dayne Jordan in particular, held his own. My favourites are ‘M3′ (the intro and outro), ‘Skaters Paradise’, ‘2 Step’ and ‘The Government’s Dead’...  

3) Vertical Current – The Future is Bright:

‘Another Philadelphia based group I wasn’t privy to until Eric Roberson shared the video for ‘Open’ on which he features. To me, this group is what would have happened to Snarky Puppy if they kept experimenting with the sound they utilised on ‘Bring Us The Bright’. Not to take away from this group at all! There’s a strong mix of Jazz, Rock, Soul/R’n’B and to an extent scoring. I can play this album in it’s entirety really easily but my absolute favourite on here is ‘Trocodile’...

2) Daniel Crawford – Revolution:

I wasn’t hip to Daniel Crawford until seeing how significant his contributions to ‘Chasing Goosebumps’ and ‘M3’ were. This had me check out what I call the “Woke” trilogy, starting with ‘Red Pill’ and continuing with ‘The Awakening’. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the conclusion had been released!

This project deals mainly with the theme of inequality in the States. An initial indication is the first official piece titled ‘Kaepin’’. The issue is more explicitly addressed from ‘Sirens’ onwards. The more Jazz oriented pieces, starting with ‘Before The Storm’ seem to convey a build up to a revolution, the drums and guitars on ‘Checklist’ sounding like a group being gathered, the urgent synths on ‘March of the Gullah’ conveying an unrelenting determination and the title track giving us the possible climax! ‘Strong features and playing all around on this one. It was almost my number one but in the end I went with...

1)

Sy Smith – Sometimes a Rose Will Grow in Concrete:

This album was entirely written, produced, arranged and performed by Smith. This has been a joy to get lost on walks to! It remains a damn shame that she is still to an extent, an unsung talent (pun intended!) despite a number of strong releases and prolific features among the underground but recognised. ‘Sometimes a Rose...’ has the general subject matter of love and being in it, but also addresses self belief on the title track and disillusionment on ‘We Were Never Free’. My favourites are ‘Camelot’, ‘We Were Never Free’, and the ‘Closer Than You Know’ segment...

Honourable Mentions: There are quite a few more albums I could mention, but I’m limiting this section to 10:

Chima Anya & Slone – People Forget: ‘Another “Grown ass rap album” from an artist who continuously shows growth in his lyrics. From reminding us to ‘Do Less’, to reflecting on where he is now on ‘It Wasn’t Always Like This’. From acknowledging the ethereal factor to (mis)fortune on ‘Luck’, to taking in those moments to appreciate a win on ‘Make Do’.

C R O W N (Formerly Lauren Crown) – Epicene: C R O W N’s third EP, addressing romance, heartbreak and the hypocrisy of our expectations of women when pursuing love. ‘Womxn’s Way’ continues to be my favourite piece by C R O W N to date, although I must say ‘How Many Times’ hit WAAAAAAAAAY too close to home!

Phony Ppl – mō'zā-ik: This was a recommendation from a tweet by ‘The Internet’; A group of vocalists, musicians and occasional emcees who somewhat help fill a void of black modern male crooners in Soul/R’n’B. There wasn’t anything I disliked on here, but there wasn’t anything I LOVED either; ‘REALLY liked, but not loved...

Lyric L – UnequiVocaL: ‘Lyric L’s sophomore project. ‘A blend of hip-hop, soul, deep house and broken beat. There were significant moments on the first half of this album (‘Dreamstate’ and ‘Try’), but the second half takes the gold for me, with tracks like ‘Expected To’, ‘Why (Find the time)’ and the humorous ‘Oh No (Here we go)’...

Black Milk – Fever: This is one I’ve only revisited a couple of times over the year. 'Fever’ delves more into Black Milk’s musical craft, the raps feeling more sparse than ‘If there’s a Hell below’. ‘Laugh Now, Cry Later’ and ‘True Lies’ deserve a shout.

JID – DiCaprio 2: This is one I ignored until I watched Dead End Hip-Hop’s review of this project. ‘Playful flows, ‘a head-nod factor and crossover appeal without losing its character at all. I just hadn’t revisited this as much as other albums...

Blue Lab Beats – Xover: I was late on this artist. This brought in the spring perfectly, with borderline Neo-soul vibes and spacious jazz pieces. There was a slump in the middle of the project for me however...

Pusha T – Daytona: While I haven’t revisited this much either, I can’t deny the attitude or the confidence of Pusha’s flows and the instrumentals. ‘Santeria’ is a standout...

Children of Zeus – Travel Light: 'Another Dan recommendation. This is a long-awaited, well deserved win for the ‘Broke ‘n’ £nglish’ cohorts. This is another one I just didn’t revisit much. ‘Kintsugi’ is a stand out for me...

Tom Misch – Geography: I got hip to this musician the day AFTER he performed at North Sea Jazz Festival. I enjoyed this album way more than I thought I would. ‘South of the River’ to ‘It Runs Through Me’ is my favourite section of the project...