Category: 8-10 Ratings

  • Ab-Soul – Herbert: Review

    Mentally exhausting but exuberantly rewarding, Ab-Soul’s new album Herbert takes us through hurdles as Soul reflects on life and emotional imbalances that have placed him into a zone where the focus was his mental health. 2014’s Stigmata felt like a linear direction of drug-infused beats built with the complexities of perfectly quaffed glass, and Do…

  • Little Simz – No Thank You: Review

    Surprising us with an album at the end of the year, it sounds like the gears never stop churning for Little Simz. Her fifth album, No Thank You comes after a whirlwind of a year, where she delivered Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, boasting her status past the underground and getting recognized for the quality…

  • SZA – SOS: Review

    Continuing to succeed in her sonic expressions with a diverse palette of sounds, SZA defines how we receive the music by the album title. Layered with emotional and thematic elements, CTRL saw SZA commanding the stage and giving us a concise and consistent range of work that doesn’t make you overthink to understand who she…

  • 2022 Catch Up: Some Albums I Missed This Year

    Rina Sawayama – Hold The Girl Unlike her self-titled debut, Rina Sawayama’s follow-up, Hold The Girl, isn’t as refreshing or profound. It’s almost tiptoeing a line between more by-the-numbers electro-pop without extending her reach beyond minor tweaks here and there within its production, like the guitar riffs on “This Hell.” Beyond inconsequentially detailed anecdotes within…

  • Brockhampton – The Family: Review

    Like most boy bands, there comes a time when they have to grow and succeed individually, though not everyone will come out with an established career beyond the group. It’s rare but not impossible. It’s like when people use Beyonce as an anecdote to describe the leader of the group, or rather the one with…

  • Rauw Alejandro – Saturno: Review

    After delivering an exuberant delicacy of sounds on Vice Versa, Rauw Alejandro returns with new and expansive soundscapes that shroud over typical reggaeton tracks mixed within. There is no denying Alejandro’s allure of the electronic genre as a whole; from sounds that evolved from regions and eras, Alejandro is using it as an influence during…

  • Nas – King’s Disease III: Review

    Expected, but when? That was the question following the release of King’s Disease II by Nas & Hit-Boy. As we were aware, Nas was too, letting us know on the opening track, “Ghetto Reporter,” spitting the line: “Niggas know I don’t drop this often so cherish it (So cherish it).” With King’s Disease III out…

  • Natalia Lafourcade – De Toda Las Flores: Review

    Natalia Lafourcade has always delivered a range of sounds by valuing history and allowing it to beautifully encompasses her artistry. From Musas: Un Homenaje al Folclore Latinoamericano en Manos de Los Macorinos and Mujer Divina: Un Homenaje a Augustin Lara to her Un Canto Por Mexico, Lafourcade has been able to make a sizeable splash…

  • Fred Again.. – Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9, 2022): Review

    It was July 29th, 2022, and The Boiler Room delivered a blessing with Fred Again’s first live DJ Set in one of their warehouses. The energy that filled the room was massive, people going buck wild to the point where one gentleman accidentally disconnected Fred in the dance madness or a modern chromeomania. We’ve gotten…

  • Westside Gunn – 10: Review

    Hitler Wears Hermes 10, or simply 10. A decade later, Westside Gunn continues to be as ferocious as ever, weaving intricacies of his characters with auspicious production that shifts on a dime as he explores foundational growth as an artist. Though Westside Gunn isn’t present on all the tracks, his energy, and stylistic virtuosity breathe…