Author: Bayswater Enteprise

Mac Miller Had Just Figured Out Music – And Life – When He Left

[Editor Note: We wrote a review for Mac Miller’s Swimming a month ago. Click here to read our review. We really liked it.]

Back in 2011, a white, very-Eminem-looking rapper released Blue Slide Park. That album sold a preposterous number of copies considering it was an independently distributed LP. In the SoundCloud/Spotify age, it’s the sort of thing that could be done easily. Back then, it signalled a phenom. And so, Mac Miller became a thing.

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The O’My’s: “Tomorrow” (Review)

The O’My’s Tomorrow is a low-stakes neo-soul album rife with tracks that don’t snap or pop, but instead warmly simmer and swirl around your brain. It’s the mark of a duo that have a crystal-clear idea of the music they want to make. This is ear-pleasing music – the soundtrack to a rainy Chicago day.

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Eminem: “Kamikaze” (Review)

There’s a telling skit on Eminem’s new album Kamikaze. It’s his manager, Paul Rosenberg, warning him not to go through with an LP basically full of scathing disses. You can hear it in Rosenberg’s voice – he’s dead serious about it being a bad idea. And he’s right. The aggro-rap Kamikaze proves two things we already knew about late-career Eminem. One: he can rap. Two: he cannot write an actual rap song. This is an exhausting, borderline-embarrassing album. Should’ve listened to Paul, Em.

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Blood Orange: “Negro Swan” (Review)

Blood Orange treads the same scattered, misty, non-linear paths as To Pimp A Butterfly-era Kendrick Lamar or latter-day D’Angelo on Negro Swan. Tracks lean and dart at weird angles. Sometimes it feels vexing and distant and you wish the focus narrowed. But most of the time, it’s beautiful kaleidoscopic chaos. It’s an album that feels refreshingly ambitious and unrestrained.

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