Posts

MUSIC Album Review: Playboi Carti Becomes The Torch Bearer of The Atlanta Sound

Image
  Playboi Carti Becomes The Torchbearer of The Atlanta Sound By Dylan Barbee Courtesy of @playboicarti on Instagram  Release date: March 14th, 2025 After four and a half long years of waiting, Playboi Carti’s highly anticipated album MUSIC is finally here. Yes, for real this time. No more delayed release dates and no more disappointed listeners.  The Atlanta rapper’s album consists of 30 songs that span across an exhilarating but long 77-minute listen. On MUSIC, Carti pays homage to Atlanta, boasts a dream team lineup of surprise features and most importantly displays his creative versatility stylistically, making the album well worth the wait.  MUSIC is Carti’s most accessible album yet as it serves as a canvas for Carti to blend all of his styles together in one project. Carti effectively combines his baby voice simplistic approach from his 2017 self-titled album with the mainstream but brash sound of past projects like Die Lit and Whole Lotta Red to tote the perso...

Mickey 17 Review

Image
A Sci-Fi Satire That Takes Icy Jabs To The Elites  By Dylan Barbee Courtesy of @mickey17 on Instagram Released: March 7, 2025 Spoilers Ahead!!! “What does death feel like?” This seems to be the burning question everyone is asking Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) after he has been forced to die sixteen times. For Mickey, death has become a form of abuse, as he is used as a real-life crash test dummy under the command of power-hungry colonial moron Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo). “I hate dying,” Mickey responds despite being a volunteer expendable, a job where he must die repeatedly.    Parasite director Bong Joon-ho’s strange new political satire sci-fi film, Mickey 17 serves as a fun watch despite taking place in the year 2054 on an apocalyptic snow planet named Niflheim. With captivating cinematography and storytelling, Joon-ho explores relevant themes surrounding authoritarianism and the importance of heroism during dark times. However, Joon-ho’s jabs at politics feel...

$ome $exy $ongs 4 U Album Review

Image
  Drake links with OVO understudy to fuel his self-pitied, R&B-heavy return to the top By Dylan Barbee Courtesy @champagnepapi on Instagram Release Date: February 14, 2025  This past year, Drake has had his name dragged through the mud in what some would say was the biggest rap beef ever. From being called a sex offender by the whole world to his two exes, SZA and Serena Williams, dancing on the Super Bowl halftime show stage dedicated to talking down on his name, Drake has had his back against the wall.  Despite this, Drake has returned to the spotlight with a R&B collaboration album with fellow Canadian artist PARTYNEXTDOOR called $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. The 21-track Valentine’s Day released album extends over a 70-minute listen. Drake returns to his melancholic sad boy R&B roots similar to his approach on past albums like his 2009 release So Far Gone and his 2011 Take Care. However, this is a collaboration album, and I can't help but recognize that PARTYNEXTDO...

Hurry Up Tomorrow Album Review

Image
  The Weeknd's Grand Finale  By Dylan Barbee Courtesy of Apple Music Release Date: January 31st, 2025  The Weeknd’s career has been a rollercoaster. Beginning as a mysterious new voice in the industry after his debut mixtape House Of Balloons in 2011, he became one the most commercially successful pop stars of all time with albums like his 2015 Beauty Behind The Madness and his 2020 album After Hours . The Weeknd’s discography has been well-decorated over the last 14 years. Now, with his latest album release Hurry Up Tomorrow the 34-year-old artist from Toronto says goodbye to his persona with a cinematic grand finale.  Hurry Up Tomorrow is a long listen, containing 22 songs that prolong to a runtime of an hour and 25 minutes. On the album, The Weeknd yearns for self-redemption and personal transformation as he is emotionally seeking forgiveness from his fans and even God. He confesses the sins of the persona he donned throughout his career and acknowledges his self-...