LAZER DIM 700 – Sins Aloud
Posted inRap albums

LAZER DIM 700 – Sins Aloud

Freshly inducted as a “Freshman,” Lazer Dim 700 solidifies his position with "Sins Aloud", his second album. Across eighteen short tracks, his thoughts are scattered chaotically over disorderly productions, where the wobbly sounds of plugg seamlessly blend with various other influences. All of it ultimately reflects the strangeness and fragmentation of rap in the 2020s.
EBK JAAYBO – Don’t Trust Me
Posted inRap albums

EBK JAAYBO – Don’t Trust Me

Within the broad spectrum of gangsta rap, Jaaybo focuses almost exclusively on a single theme: murder. The kind through which the EBK gang takes revenge on its enemies. The kind that makes him mourn so many fallen. All of this is unsettling. However, by balancing aggression and melancholy equally, he establishes himself as the new leading figure of the Stockton scene.
NO ID & SABA – From The Private Collection Of Saba And No ID
Posted inRap albums

NO ID & SABA – From The Private Collection Of Saba And No ID

Saba and No ID come from different generations, but they share their hometown of Chicago and a polished, refined approach to rap. Their collaboration results in a blend of jazz, soul, and introspective hip-hop. Enriched by numerous guest appearances and meticulous production, it is an eclectic work, where each track explores a different facet of the rapper, often brilliantly.
AESOP ROCK – Black Hole Superette
Posted inRap albums

AESOP ROCK – Black Hole Superette

Although Aesop Rock writes cryptic lyrics full of complex words and delivers them over science-fiction-sounding beats, his rap is very down-to-earth. It reflects on an ordinary life, on the existence of someone who goes to the supermarket, enjoys gardening and worries about his dog. But once again, nearly thirty years after his debut, Aes excels at making the ordinary extraordinary.
BEN PEDROCHE – Independent As F***
Posted inBooks

BEN PEDROCHE – Independent As F***

Another book on independent rap? The first one in English? And rather complete, informative, and efficiently put together, no less? There is every reason to welcome the existence of Ben Pedroche’s work. Even if at times it has the dryness of an encyclopedia and relies a bit too much on synthesizing what was already being said back then, without always taking advantage of the hindsight that time affords us.
MAC CRITTER – Back Door Music
Posted inRap albums

MAC CRITTER – Back Door Music

Mac Critter, the Memphis rapper, has been signed to the New 1017. However, he has since left the label, and he doesn’t really resemble a disciple of Gucci Mane. His trap music is more serious and more haunted than the master’s. His dragging, pained rap is more threatening than humorous. He is modern, and very much in tune with the times. And sometimes, too, he is striking.
LEFTY GUNPLAY & JASONMARTIN – Can’t Get Right
Posted inRap albums

LEFTY GUNPLAY & JASONMARTIN – Can’t Get Right

2025 is Lefty Gunplay’s moment. Recently released from prison and benefiting from the huge exposure brought by his appearance on Kendrick’s "GNX" album, he releases his highest-profile project yet, in collaboration with JasonMartin. In the end, though, it amounts mostly to routine West Coast rap — but a few gems suggest that the Baldwin Park rapper could do much better.
ABGR LIL CORY – Act Broke Get Rich
Posted inRap albums

ABGR LIL CORY – Act Broke Get Rich

Still unknown a year earlier, ABGR Lil Cory - the rapper from Hattiesburg, Mississippi - releases his debut album, following the success of the single “Old School.” And with this exhilarating release, with its naïve and infectious melodies about money, jewelry, and his hard grind in the kitchen, it brings an entire era rushing back to us: the blessed days of Gucci Mane’s late-2000s run.
G PERICO & DJ DRAMA – L.A. Gangster
Posted inRap mixtape

G PERICO & DJ DRAMA – L.A. Gangster

DJ Drama is a fantastic curator. On his "Gangsta Grillz" mixtapes, he invites rappers to be fully themselves, right down to cliché and formula, in order to better extract the very essence of their art. And he succeeds once again, even at this late stage in his career, when he teams up for a second time with G Perico and elevates the South Central rapper’s highly referential West Coast style.
GHAIS GUEVARA – Goyard Ibn Said
Posted inRap albums

GHAIS GUEVARA – Goyard Ibn Said

Signed to Fat Possum and heard during Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance, Ghais Guevara is enjoying a major moment in 2025. But the Philadelphia native remains what he's been since "BlackBolshevik", his breakout release : a committed, politically engaged rapper. His latest album is a critique of rap-as-spectacle, even if, and thankfully so, Ghais Guevara also takes part in it.