REVIEW: DJ KHALED - GOD DID

4/5

He The Best.

Ready for another one? DJ Khaled may have once said he doesn't like going down, but when it comes to putting it down in the clubs, ladies and gentlemen, he's still the best. Grinding since the Ginuwine days of playing in the background of 'The Senior's' 2003 'Locked Down' mini-movie interlude and one hell of a beat we'd love to hear on the street. The "Don Dadda" then went global with the Terror Squad chain. Making everyone dance like they were leaning back, lean back, lean back. 'All I Do Is Win' he proclaimed between balling out at NBA All-Star weekends and hilariously appearing in Spider-Man TV spots. This Marvel like the late, great Kay Slay, or Drama knows how to bring the good times in the 'Brown Paper Bag' for a world in need of his energy. Now he's taking ovaaaa again a year after 'Khaled Khaled' prayed with his kids. Just like 'God Did'. Listennn!

Lucky for you the 13th album from the New Orleans Mardi Gras starter from the swamp won't leave you crying like the tear in his eye on the front cover. That's because the track list of guest features is worth looking up to like God or Khaled literally does on the back of your CD's jewel case for the mixape murderer, dialling C for "classic collaborations'. Champagne papi, Drake-who returns the Khaled co-sign forever favour-is all over this album like the 'Certified Lover Boy' is everyone else's playlists ('Honestly, Never Mind'). And that's 'No Secret' like the less than a minute intro on reflection, or the smooth palm tree flow of 'Staying Alive' with Lil' Baby (who goes for the 'Big Time' with Future too). The lead single like a Right Said Fred, 'Way 2 Sexy' has something to do with the Bee Gees. In this nostalgic 80's time were the previous track with Quavo and Takeoff ('Party') parties all the time like you know who. Eddie and Rick. F### yo couch!

But if you want to talk about monster tracks in the port and palms of Miami then how about the opening titanic title-track of 'God Did'. Featuring the today legendary likes of frequent collaborators Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne and the BEST Jay-Z verse in years (and did you hear the Jay Electronica assists?). Worthy of the first 100 ladies free price of admission. Not to mention the beautiful backing vocals of John Legend in outro like the time Stephens and Shawn assisted Ross for his own 'Free Mason', locked down track. 

"Nosedive, they just prayin' that I crash (Huh)/Those guys, they don't wanna see you last/They'll jack up three million dollars up on your tax/A tub full of money, I still can't relax", says Ross.

"Sky is the limit, every day I reach/They was tired of me winnin', now they dead sleep/Don't wan' see me with the ring?/You better play D", the Weezy F, other Carter raps, baby!.

But then Hov...

 "All this pain from the outside, inspired all this growth within/So new planes gettin' broken in/Highest elevation of the self/They done f##### around and gave the right n####s wealth/These ain't songs, these is hymns 'cause I'm him/It's the Psalm 151, this New Testament/The book of Hov (The book of Hov)/Jesus turned water to wine, for Hov, it just took a stove/You never know how this s### could go/Me and Biggs probably got too big if they ain't book that load (What's up Hoffa?)/Hindsight is 20/20/Though he's gettin' plenty money, lookin' back now this s### is funny/I just got a million off a sync/Without riskin' a million years tryna get it out the sink (Woo)/Hov did."

Gawwwd. He just did it, like Nike.

"It breaks my heart. They aint believe in us", Khaled remarks before he sets off the fuse of this explosive, epic track. They're going to believe now like Diddy said. All for the best music mogul since Puff.

And then if that wasn't enough (what, you wanted more), then how about THE collaboration of Slim Shady and 'Ye. Eminem and Kanye West go 'Renegade' and 'Use This Gospel' over a beat that sounds like Em and Kanye's work all at the same time. Maybe that's because Ye and Dre are on the boards with Khaled as Marshall raps, "when temptation is almost like Satan is making you tryna/Take you away from your daughters/Danglin' a bunch of painkillers on ya/Wavin' 'em in your face and then watch 'em comin' extra strength/And that's why they make 'em in rectangular objects/'Cause that's the shape of a coffin". To Mr. West's Sunday Service chorus of "Use this gospel for protection/It's a hard road to Heaven/We call on Your blessings/In the Father, we put our faith/King of the Kingdom/Our demons are tremblin'/Holy angels defendin'/In the Father, we put our faith."

Let us 'Ye as we wait for the 'Donda' sequel too.

The rest of this massive 18 track for the record reads like a who's who of the industry. Lil Durk, 21 Savage and Roddy Rich 'Keep Going'. Whilst Future gets 'Beautiful' with SZA like all the stars for 'Black Panther'. We the best like Chadwick forever. 'It Aint Safe' for Nardo Wick and a Kodak Black snapshot. Before Travis Scott and Don Toliver say 'Let's Pray' for a compilation of collaboration that puts its hands together for the Almighty, because even for all the rafter worthy Hall of Fame names. Nothing is higher and few else believed. But if the 'Fam Good, We Good'. Aint that right, Roddy and Gunna? 'Bills Paid' like Latto and City Girls. 'Way Past Luck' for 21 Savage. It's all big and best. Another one. Another one. Another one. Including 'Juice Wrld Did' and the huge flag for Jamaica in 'These Streets Know My Name' and the ones of Skillibeng, Buju Banton, Capleton, Bounty Killer, and Sizzla.

But before the 'Cloth Talk' and outstanding outro of 'Grateful' with Vory prays one more time before Khaled puts this to sleep. It's the 'Jadakss Interlude' featuring who else but Kiss with your "100 guns/100 clips" Ja Rule 'New York' sample for your Versuz that takes the crown. "I'm BIG Prodigy, DMX and Pun (Rest Peacefully)/Killin' n####s for fun/Nothin' iller than son/I'ma gonna be collectin' this money long as it come/If I'm behind the barrel, then you in front of the gun (gun shot)/I'm the bullet that struct your limbs/I'm white Air Force Ones, I'm construction Timbs/I'ma do whatver it takes, just enough to win/I'm the one that your man told you not to f### with him."

You better believe it, God. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'God Did (Feat. Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z & John Legend)', 'Use This Gospel (Feat. Eminem and Kanye West)', 'Jadakiss Interlude (Feat. Jadakiss).'

REVIEW: MUSE - WILL OF THE PEOPLE

3.5/5

Musecage. 

'Apocalypse Please', pleaded the outstanding opening track on Muse's 2003 'Absolution' album. Well, it seems since one of the best British bands of this modern mainstream's last album (2018's 'Simulation Theroy' after the 2015 'Drones'), that track got its wish. And our planet is still in the midst of a pandemic after the year 2020, that was the end of the world as we and R.E.M. knew it. Therefore, the 'Will Of The People' needs the Mad Max meets Philip K. Dick act of apocalyptic prophecy in preparation. It needs its Muse. 

A band that for those who don't call them a Radiohead rip-off, but instead a meeting of the musical minds with the majesty of Queen's grand opera (taken to Wembley Live Aid extremes here for a group who took the podium for the 2012 Olympics in the new stadium), are something of an obsession. I know a couple of gents that not only have the iconic logo inked into the parts of the arm a loved ones name (figures) normally goes, but also once travelled to Phoenix, Arizona, USA back in the day from the UK, just to see them play. All the way to the dry desert, and they were about as much Steve Nash fans under that sun as they are Chris Paul ones today. Basically, they didn't go there for hoops. But this band that is anthemic and exactly what we need now for the anaemic 'Will Of The People' in this mixed-bag of a new album. Their first in four years. Two since the apocalypse. 

Marching to the beat of a new drum for the  arena rockers of glorious purpose and pomp and circumstance. One that provided not only the song for the 2012 London games, but also gave us the original pandemic's battle cry for 'World War Z', scoring in soundtracks, both a part of their '2nd Law'. Genre hopping and out of this world like the album artwork of volcanic statues (of the band?) that look like something in the Marvel clouds of 'Eternals' that still has 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' asking, "what the hell?" 

"A greatest hits album-of new songs", as proclaims the band for this self-produced album from Warner and Helium-3, not so humbly, but with wishful thinking you just have to admire. Now, this may not be the classic 'Showbiz' days of 'Origin Of Symmetry' in reflection. In all its 'Plug In Baby', 'New Born' 'Bliss'. Its operatic 'Megalomania', 'Feeling Good' like Nina Simone. Or the depths of 'Cave', for the 'Sunburn' of this 'Unintended' 'Muscle Museum'. But it's right there with the path of 'Black Holes and Revelations' and 'The Resistance'. Complete with its own new classics like the new anthem for the gaslit people (the standout single 'Won't Stand Down'), fair 'Verona' for all you Romeo and Juliet's and the lovely 'Liberation' that lays a scene of beauty for your new bliss. Besides the greatest hits thing wasn't their idea. It was Warners request for a band who just released the 2019 'Origin Of Muse' box-set. They're far from done, in hits of the past pasture. So why not combine all their records from days gone for tomorrow's new sound? 

Starting shaky with the album self-titled single and a massive music video most post-apocalyptic movie directors would kill for and the creative concept of 'Compliance', there's still legendary making lyrics to go for their legacy. "Compliance/We just need your compliance/You will feel no pain anymore/And no more defiance/We just need your compliance/Just give us your compliance/We won't let you feel lost anymore/No more self-reliance/(Com-com-com-com-compliance)", the Orwellian chorus orders. Its '1984' all over again like a Murakami magnum opus ('1Q84'). 

This ninth wonder also singles us out to 'Kill Or Be Killed' in this survival of the fittest day and age of crabs in the social media barrel. But for this LP produced everywhere, from the Beatles crossing of Abbey Road to a Red Room in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California for the record, it's the thriller 'You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween' that's going to be more fitting following this Summer day shift. Were our sweaty shirts turn to pumpkin spice and Michael Myers replaces fellow 80's top gun, Tom Cruise at the maverick movie box-office. Especially as the band embarks on their post-pandemic World tour behind the mask. Matt Bellamy making the corpse bride his muse as he sings, "you got me checking my mirror/you make me feel like I'm on the run/Where'd you hide the gun?/The kitchen knife in your hand/Are you the poison, are you the cure?/I'm not so sure." 

Matt marks this album as "a personal navigation through the fears" of "uncertainty" and "instability" in a world were "the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long, are genuinely threatened". It's clear to hear, that this is also a muse breaking free from the shackles of manipulating relations, whether in his world, or metaphor. From the cradle to the brave. 

'How Can I Move On' he asks with haunting 'Ghosts' in another hallowed track to file under 'hit'. Then the epic band reach 'Euphoria' as Bellamy bellows "give us euphoria" like he was after the new series of Zendaya's hit HBO show already (he probably is...we are). Speaking of wishful thinking again, this eco-friendly NFT album for your eco-chamber concludes with the final curtain of 'We Are F#####g F####d', which would sound so funny in falsetto, if it wasn't so f#####g true, right now. "We're at death's door, another world war/Wildfires and earthquakes I foresaw/A life in crisis, a deadly virus/Tsunamis of hate are gonna find us." Yep, that's pretty much the size of it as they genuinely ask if we believe, "we can survive all of this?" But as Matt, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard now live among us in the world they warned us about, they still provide us with the will and the resistance. Eclectic in their electronic exaltation. After all, this is for the people. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Liberation', 'Won't Stand Down', 'Verona'. 

REVIEW: TANK - R&B MONEY

4/5

Money Walks.

Salute the general! If 'R&B Money' really is the big statement album were Tank cashes out of the game. An 'Open Invitation' to retirement we hope is temporary like 'The Black Album'. His tenth LP from the vault (not including his big 'Three Kings' with 'The Bachelor' originator Ginuwine and 'Fast and Furious' actor Tyrese (can we get a sequel?)) sits on top like the cash he stacks. And this is an artist who aside from writing hits for everyone from Mary J. Blige to Jamie Foxx (with a late, great Aaliyah co-sign), has an armoury of albums. Whether it be the 'Maybe I Deserve' singer showing you he was a 'Force Of Nature', after his own 'Fast and Furious' 'Race Against Time' (love to Ja Rule). Or the 'One Man' and Grammy nominated 'Sex Love and Pain' (how about THAT sequel 'SLP' too?), that after a half-decade break started this incredible rolling run of an album, EP (the 'If You Were Mine' for the Valentines like J, 'A Classic Christmas Night' and the 'Wait's' through quarantine for the weight-room pusher) or even the 'Diary Of A Mad Man' mixtape, every other year or less, for more than a decade and change. Like it was 'Now Or Never'. Telling us 'This Is How I Feel' (groundbreaking). Getting 'Stronger' with Motown influences. Straight 'Savage' with sexual explicitly that could even make Prince blush a shade of purple. Showing us real 'Elevation' back in 2019 for his last epic too. And now this. All from the man who has so many hits he even fired shots with Chris Brown that didn't even make albums. Now he's showing 'This Woman's Work' with Kate Bush like he had on 'Stranger Things' headphones, taking it to the max. From 'Maybe I Deserve' to flat-out 'I Deserve'. No two ways about it, keeping it 100 proof. Stacked on top of Scrooge McDuck revenue, draped in gold all Tank has mined is worth its weight. And it more than glitters. From partial hearing loss, to coming back like the boss. The only one that can stop this Tank is Durrell Babbs. 

Falsettos flow like signatures scribing across the songwriting paper's pad for the 'R&B Money' call-sign album intro that sounds like a song and a thank you to the fans, when really we should be thanking him like said 'Stronger' song. It only gets smoother 'When We Dance'. "No communication/Both of us are running out of patience/Feel like times been wasting/is this defeat we're tasting" the lavish lyricist harmonizes over an outstanding opening that will have you and the one you hold closest, no longer at an arms length 'Coldest'. The slow grind stays 'Home' for your bedroom sessions were Tank compares downstairs to the heat of a fireplace for real fire. Alex Isley shows Tank 'No Limit' like a 'Summer Breeze' for the Jasmine of this piano play. "I'm the master with the P when I'm in it", Tank muses though. Giving as good as he gets. Keeping the perfect piano in play with his R&B protégé J. Valentine (managing and matching), Tank makes a chart shy chorus of "I'll f### you slow" and a lingerie video sound beautiful and romantic in all its x rating devotion to the one you love. Reminding me of the time someone commented on my last Tank album review that "he always sings about getting nasty", to which I wanted to reply, "have you seen his wife!" But that's none of my business like Kemrit with the cup as Tank tells the one he loves "I'll make you come over...and over" with tongue-in-cheek, songwriting genius King like Stephen. Taking it to the 'Morning' with Vedo. But for this man's work, it's the Bush sampling 'Can't Let It Show' that's the best reworking since neo-soul icon Maxwell's cover and then live 'MTV Unplugged' take with love. All before his 'Lonely' loyalty with Chris Brown continues with 'See Through Love' in the chamber. Another collaborative classic. But spoiler alert, like you were dealing with Mark Ruffalo for 'She Hulk' press. 'Spoil Her Alert' is a beast of a real marvel. Case closed. Wallets and you know what else open. Big budget blockbuster, but how about a classic for a man whose playlist plays like a greatest hits package (who needs one when everything bangs?)? As 'I Deserve' is a throwback all the way to the single artwork duds for Babbs, who these days is more suited and booted than early 2000 hip-hop fresh. 

"I told you I'd be home after the club/Waitin' by your phone while I'm goin' up/Way to many drinks, I was slippin'/This one have been on me all night, I'ma sleep in/She didn't waste no time, took them clothes off/And before I knew it, damn, I dosed off/Pictures of a fool, laid up in a room/With a cloutchaser, sealin' my doom", sings the man who once cried 'Lonely', "tears of a f#####g clown like Mr. Robinson after the seduction. Don't be 'Too Late' in raw relationship regret like this standalone standout that talks about the one, "cutting the water off", holding the single-life scissors. Repossession of self. 'Make Sure' you heed the warning like the Feather touch lightwork of a man who floats like an Ali butterfly as love and life sting like bee, or Bey in her 'Lemonade' renaissance. Listen up like the three-hour plus podcast with Drink Champs and rap and reggaeton legend N.O.R.E., talking about love like Brandy over spirits. And revealing the raw racism that still exists in an ignorant industry for the black man in real talk ("We love it when you talk that s###...but love?! We're cool.") 'Let's Take A Ride' he says, calling up Rotimi and TVERSE in shotgun side, handing the keys to the future of the game. All for a subtle scorcher that feels like this season, akin to a 'Summer Killer' in curtain closing for good. Especially with the beat switch tuned into the car radio. 'It's Nothing' like this man's machine like output all in quality control. Producing and manning the boards like under the armour of a hard body of work. But in reality it's not nothing...except for the one you love. It's 'Awesome' like getting suited with Blaq Tuxedo for the platinum plaque fitting. Comparing himself to Brad Pitt in whip-smart 'Bullet Train' time for this music matrix. We just hope for a resurrection like Reeves for this reloaded revolution. Because nothing is 'Regular' for this king of R&B ("trying to watch my moves, I'm ahead of ya!"). Money bands for R&B's finest on the same day South Korea's BLACKPINK give us 'Pink Venom' set to break YouTube records they hold. Still, even K-Pop can't take the crown of an underground king. What's so good about goodbye when it's to a modern day Smokey? We're prayin' like a miracle that this isn't it, yet thanking him for everything. But if this big hitting, home-run is one last dance in victory lap, then 'R&B Money' is more than safe. Locked down after some Spotify boycotting (salute the soul soldier) delay like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell against some Joe Rogan misinformation. Let's hope we can say the same about the game without its best player. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Slow (Feat. J. Valentine)', 'Can't Let It Show', 'I Deserve'. 

REVIEW: THE GAME - DRILLMATIC (HEART VS. MIND)

 

4/5

Continue...9...8.

Ever since The Game (Jayceon Terrell Taylor) reportedly threw his gold N.W.A. chain (gifted to him by Golden State Warriors 'We Believe' era, West Coast NBA legend Baron Davis) into a crowd, he's been known to throw caution to the wind. And not afraid to go against the storm of whoever has thrown him under the bus. No matter how big a Superbowl name. The former 'Doctor's Advocate' went after Jay-Z when he was a mixtape murdering King on Boost Mobile commercials with Kanye and Ludacris. Being prescribed as the next big-thing coming from Dr. Dre's office. Head-to-head with 50 Cent as the best member of G-Unit (that's just 'How They Do'), 'Hate It Or Love It'. All before falling out with said clique right after his debut classic 'The Documentary' dropped. Since then, it's been up and down for Jayceon, although his tailor made records have never taken a quality hit...even if they have in sales. But who else hasn't suffered from this like the last of one of the CD artists before we shuffled to streaming? 'LAX', 'The R.E.D.' album. Californian classic after Californian classic, came after. From 'Jesus Piece' to '1992'. Two sequels to his sought after 'Documentary' ('The Documentary 2' AND '2.5') and more mixtapes than you can tie a bandana 'round a steering column with. And now burning the couch on the beach, whilst he suited and booted gets his hair braided, The Game is far from over with the heart and mind of his 'Illmatic' to 'Stillmatic' Nas honouring album and his first since 2019's Snoop Dogg (original 'Where You From' "WestSIDE") artwork like 'Born 2 Rap'. The almost 30 track, 120 minute long 'Drillmatic-Heart vs. Mind'. All eyes on he, no double-disc. 'Sav(ing) The Best For Last' with Rick Ross, 'A Father's Prayer' like X and the 'Universal Love' with Chris Brown, Chloe and Cassie, sampling Janet's 'Got Till It's Gone' like Joni Mitchell never lies and SWV 'Right Here'. One mixtape like loaded LP that even features a 10 minute diss of one of the best, from the man who once gave us a mega remix that many minutes long. One blood.

And 'One Time' like Wyclef for the man with a reverence to California rap culture like no other. Forget who calls it the work of a vulture! Drilling for gold when no one goes platinum anymore, except Adele, Gaga and Bey. Getting into the concrete of the street with no other than the man, the myth and the West Coast legend that is Ice T. The former 'Cop Killer' lyric filler bringing New Jack to the city for a Game album that shows us almost 30 for 30 that he's back like Jordan's spell with the Wizards, but far from past his best. "I am a nightmare walkin', psychopath talkin'/King of my jungle, just a gangster stalkin'/Livin' life like a firecracker, quick is my fuse/Vendettas of death back the colors I choose/Red or blue, cuz or Blood, it just don't matter", Ice chills to a T, as Game raps, "One time for my n####s in the graveyard/Confused about religion 'cause God couldn't save y'all/Prayed to Allah like I was suited with a bow tie/Prayed to the Most High, then I went multi-/Platinum with hits, still fuckin' low-level bitch." Still crusin' on that love for 'Eazy' with Kanye West (also picking him Dreezy and CHILLER up on the Indian flute of Timbaland's 'Fortunate'). A standout, despite the fact that 'Ye needs to lay off this Pete Davidson stuff. No joke. The couch cutting continues on the Fivio Foreign assisted 'Burnin' Checks' and the 'Voodoo' pins with BOA QG , on the best of the West that sounds as cool as that coast as LeBron, AD and Russ. AKA the Los Angeles Lakers. And for these times, it's a winning one for The Game on a 'Home Invasion' that burns everything, including the kitchen sink and the straight cash 'O.P.P.' with YoungBoy Never Broke Again. But 'Go Outside' with YG and you'll really feel the heat as other rappers are merely on 'Training Day' with Game taking you on a ride around like Ice Cube of the real 'La La Land', once upon a time outside of Hollywood ("Tourists get they hand shot off throwin' up a dub/Since n####s killed Pac, ain't no California love/O.T. and Snoop C-walkin' in the middle of the SoFi/My braids to the back, no cap like I don't lie/Miss my n#### Nip, on the hood, wish we both died/If you see the red rose on Slauson, I got love on both sides"). Even if a Nipsey Hussle track is milk carton missing after his brother removed it like the "la, la, la" of a Kelis 'Milkshake' sample on a Beyoncé 'Renaissance'. 'Chang(ing) The Game' with Ty Dolla $ign and his own dynasty of a Jay-Z sample that brings back the late, great song writing genius of Static Major. And he is such.

Even Roddy Rich can see 'How Far I Came'. But on the part title-track 'Heart vs Mind', The Game brings it to the buzzer with late, great Bill Russell references, rapping "hard to think about myself when Brittney Griner doin' nine" (FREE BG). He wants all the cigar circles. Putin and every thing and one he's put his heart into only to be shown no soul. Even if with Jeremih there's 'No Smoke at the Polo Lounge', Ralph Lauren. Though, 'No Man Falls' when Pusha T states "in my Ukraine, there's no Russias", as alongside 2 Chainz, Game calls himself the "third member of Clipse" with no Malice. Alice finds new hip-hop wonderland with Lil' Wayne and G Herbo on 'Chrome Slugs & Harmony' (what a name for a track) as Tha Carter Weezy talks about picking apart the competition "like pepperoni off a pizza" (we can forgive this sacrilege for the best line since Tunechi said "real G's move in silence like lasagne", but we would have also accepted pineapple). But bumping Mobb Deep, it's the Havoc of 'Start From Scratch II' in sequel that pays tribute to the Prodigy of one of his first classics for the record. 'Flu Game' rapped like the coldest ("Yo son, if that n### Prodigy was standin' in my face right now/He’ll say "Yo, Don, you know I really f### with you"/That's why a n### out here in Kingston, smokin' the loud/Playin’ nothin' but Mobb Deep on this motherf#####' (Get away)/And the first beat I ever had on 'The Documentary' came from that n#### Havoc/So I gotta thank (You)/Looked out for a n####, I owe you one"). Dissing one of the nuanced , nostalgic and event hip-hop albums of an epic classic of a calendar is 'What We Not Gon' Do'. Before a Twista twisting 'Rubi's Rose' pays tribute to the misdemeanours of Missy like 'Is That Yo B####'. Stopping for a 'Drake With The Braids' interlude that explains why we don't have a sequel to the '100' proof (Ministry Of Defence), keeping it exactly that percent (it's not like this is The Game's last album...he always says that). It's a good job Khaled has another one with the party of 'Nikki Beach', inviting French Montana and Tory Lanez. Catching a wave like a great Frank Ocean reference while "the club (jumps) like Earl Manigault", thanks to French on his Tony Montana. Then it's "me vs. everybody", forget heart and mind as 'Talk To Me Nice' with Meek Mill, Moneybagg Yo and Blxst keeps their head ringin'. More of S. Dot is sampled like a 'Song Cry' with A$AP Rocky, saying "WHAT" for the late, great DMX on 'Money Cash Clothes'. While the great Cam'Ron offers Diplomatic Immunity for 'K.I.L.L.A's' like that killer 'Cali classic with Killa. All this and we almost forgot about 'The Black Shim Shady' diss and incredible impression. That even has Hailey responding that it's searching for "relevance" like the time Marshall Mathers warned Ja Rule never to mention his daughters name. Although some fans are claiming keeping a legends name in your mouth is the same thing that Em did with MJ (point). Back to it, Game gets 'Stupid' with Big Sean and Blueface with the '.38 Special', talking of big names. Getting it 'Twisted' with Nipsey Hussle on 'World Tours' (unplayable on streaming services), no matter who tries to Kelis it. Dissing Eminem may seem like a career ending Rule, but you have to admire the balls of someone baiting him to pick up the pen. Telling us this album will help you "understand (why he's) the best rapper alive". Tank (cashing out the game with his own 'R&B Money' this weekend) the king with his Drink Champs response to The Game saying he's better than Eminem ("at what"), although admiring the belief. Because this certainly is "the best album (of his) career", documented. It's Game time again. And he ain't playing. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: This album is almost 30 tracks long. How about the whole damn thing?

REVIEW: DANGER MOUSE & BLACK THOUGHT - CHEAT CODES

4/5

Dangerous Thoughts.

Yokohama, Japan. It's been a long time since acts have been over here on tour. Man, its been a long time since I've even got the chance to cross the pond and go back home. Ever since corona happened and artists like Bon Iver and Ben Harper started cancelling dates in Tokyo, early 2000 as a precaution. Before we all knew just how bad it would get...and still is (20,000 cases and counting). New normal now, it's starting to open up again like good conversation. A few weeks ago Fuji rocked to the likes of Jack White, Vampire Weekend, Halsey and Japanese Breakfast. Next month Lady Gaga will play the Saitama Super Arena twice like the NBA champion Golden State Warriors in Ocotber. And we've even got tickets to see Norah Jones that month in an old martial arts arena from the Olympics...the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. And if that wasn't enough in The Bay of Yoko's Billboard Live comes an iconic hip-hop group that's been in those very charts for more than a minute now. The Roots. Needless to say it was sold out long before I even had chance to pick up a leaflet at the train station. You know why. This group is so legendary. And we're not talking about the fact that they moonlight as Jimmy Fallon's 'Late Night' House band. Or that the drummer of drummers, Questlove won an Oscar for his 'Summer Of Soul' documentary before the slap heard around the world clouded over all of that like it still shouldn't. We're not even talking about the fact that raps first bigvand even has a member called Tuba Gooding Jr. (show me the genius). But we do need to talk about the fact that, lead singer of the best band in hip-hop or not, Black Thought is consciously one of the most consistently underrated emcees in the game. Keep THAT in mind when you talk about West Philadelphia, born and raised. 

Bootleggers beware! Ever since Brian Joseph Burton AKA Danger Mouse mixed Jay-Z 'Black' with Beatle 'White' to make 'The Grey Album', he's been in your area, causing mass hysteria. Tenfold...or should we say Penfold?! Going 'Crazy' with Cee-Lo Green, he made history in 'St. Elsewhere' with Gnarls Barkley (no relation to Sir Chuck running a power move on them). And then became really legendary in the world of ciphers and clicks, forming Danger Doom and 'The Mouse and The Mask' with the late, great MF DOOM, who we sadly lost in the worst year of our lives. And then in between producing albums for the Gorillaz ('Demon Days'), Beck ('Modern Guilt'), countless one's from The Black Keys and even some of the Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Getaway', he and Italian composer Daniele Luppi (who right now is giving the music for the Disney + shorts of the tree of few words, 'I Am Groot') made cinematic beauty with 'Rome' that even featured vocals from Jack White and Norah Jones (Danger Mouse produced Jones' 2012 change of tune, 'Little Broken Hearts'). But now with Thought he gives us one of the best albums of the year, firmly in the second half of the calendar. And an absolute classic to the craft of hip-hop. All the way to the seeing eye artwork in black and white with 3D glasses for the people in Tribe Called Quest colours. Are you getting the picture? Simply put, this is a "yellow everything, yellow diamonds on me, honey mustard" 'Cheat Code'.

Enter it into your phones like you used to do your consoles and the crazy, kinetic beat of the title-track that's for sure a standout. 'Sometimes' you just get albums and classic collaborations like this out of nowhere. And you know this from the first track's outstanding outset, man. We just hope this is only the beginning, rapping, "Prisoners of Azkaban, thinkin' of a master plan/Images of grandeur by Jamel Shabazz, Dapper Dan/Clap your hands whether you in Paterson or Pakistan/Richard Wright, black boy that grew into a blacker man/Early African or European, which was more supreme/The visions vary, this shit get scary, inform your team/My dignitary consigliere is more a Deen/My skin tone is aubergine, I'm a war machine." Just like Don Cheadle in these armor wars for you Harry Potters. Sage wise words in the form of a rap from the Black Thought of one of the best to do it as tried and tested as the salt and pepper in his big beard. This is the real deal, hammer and nail, 'No Gold Teeth'. For the 'Identical Deaths' of two killing it like, "I was proven effective by clinical tests/For livin’ many lives, dyin’ identical deaths/I thought why, how could this have ever been if I’m blessed?/Then I had a talk with God, that was interview-esque/He said “Rik as near as the west and far as the east/There’s a warrant for your arrest by the karma police"/The dharma was deep, our daughter was too dark with defeat/But made it here to tell the story by the chalk of my teeth." Or the classic collabos of 'Close To Famous' and the beautiful closing orchestra of 'Violas and Lupitas' ("since the glory days like Springsteen, I been clean") for this anything but chalk and cheese pair. But for all the collaborations and samples here like the ones from 'A Most Violent Year' with a legendary Oscar Isaac and Albert Brooks like the gangsters they are. Or works with Raekwon and Kid Sister for 'The Darkest Part', your reason why in 'Because' with Joey Bada$$, Russ and Dylan Cartlidge, an instantly familiar 'Strangers' with A$AP Rocky and the one and only supergroup, Run The Jewels, the 'Saltwater' with Conway the Machine and the standout 'Aquamarine' with the absolutely groundbreaking Michael Kiwanuka. It's finding 'Belize' with the dearly departed DOOM for Danger Mouse's first hip-hop album since 2005's fantastic 'The Mouse and the Mask' that's B.I.G. like this rapper was Notorious. "Ahem, your attention please/Freeze, he came to seize the free cheese/Before he flees to Belize/In case you forgot to mention, squeeze these/Just keep it on a need-to-know basis/They knew he was a negro, so no need to show faces/Back in the days of no laces/On a slow pace, they used to say he might could go places/Meh, whatever the case is/The card he played was ace of spades, but no races." Absolutely classic hip-hop, fellas. Can't cheat this code. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Cheat Codes', 'Belize (Feat. MF DOOM)', 'Aquamarine (Feat. Michael Kiwanuka)'. 

DUAL REVIEW: NEIL YOUNG - TOAST (With CRAZY HORSE) / NOISE & FLOWERS (Live)

'Toast' 4/5

'Noise & Flowers' 4/5

Youngstown.

Spotify be damned. Neil Young is still releasing music this year at a RZA and Jack White clip. Just like a Crazy Horse. Popping up every morning like 'Toast' and galloping through all the 'Noise & Flowers' of live set after live set, in concert bloom. I don't know if you know this Joe Rogan, but this rock legend is smokin'. No mask, or whatever bull#### you tried to sell your subscribers not to wear. NOT keeping them safe and definitely not having their best interests, or the ones of the world around us at heart. I'm just saying. And Neil Young's just leaving the world's most famous streaming service like Joni Mitchell, music's version of Netflix, because of your spreading of harmful misinformation in these critical times. Now all that remains of Young on a Spotify search is a few choice cuts and an assisted track off the soundtrack of Netflix's 'Bright' starring Will Smith. How fitting in another crazy post-2020 year. And the old guard of Young is going to be more than OK. From vinyl to CD his records line the walls of family homes across America, his native Canada and the rest of the Earth he brandishes across the t-shirt on his chest to promote its peace and the very dying need we have to save the planet as well as our selves and souls too. And there's always YouTube. Or Pono he used his own autobiography (the wonderful 'Waging Heavy Peace') to peddle. His own digital service people laughed at as he tried to quality control his music and much more. What's cry later led to a Tidal wave of streaming services like Jay-Z's very own in high definition. The Dylan and Springsteen like big-three legend was there first, making moves like horsing around with supergroups, going crazy like Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Pet Sounds Records is the name of a beautiful vinyl store in Tokyo, Japan between the station and my new school in Musashi-Koyama. Well worth a visit. Named after THE Beach Boys classic I tried to go in and tell them about, the new She and Him, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward album 'Melt Away'. A tribute to the one and only Brian Wilson in classic cover like an Everly Brothers honouring Norah Jones and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, 'Foreverly'. But my Japanese is still beginner and best. And you know how long it takes me to get to a point. Whilst this bumbling Brit like Hugh Grant was trying to muster up the courage with no Dutch, I heard the unmistakable sounds of Neil Young's iconic pitch over the speakers. On a song I'd never heard before, but one that still sounded instant classic familiar. All whilst giving me that fear of missing out that I'd forgot to put pen to paper for this one. It was the beautiful 'Goin' Home' off the apartment covered Crazy Horse album 'Toast'. Spreading over the speakers and my workload heading home like butter. Smooth like BTS for a man that will always hold more legend, no matter if a pop act outsells him like The Beatles. So yes, yet again like all the shows I refuse to binge in this culture, my apologies for the lateness. But then again, this previously shelved seven seal of tracks album was originally recorded in 2001. So I guess I never stood a chance. I can always sandwich the 2021 'Barn' burning follow-up (which I also forgot, my bad. But it's hard to keep up with a songbook that could even give Bobby a run for his lyrical lunch money) in with this week's latest release (in the same week the Wu-Tang Clan and White Stripe member release their own second albums of the year ('Bobby Digital and the Pit Of Snakes' and 'Entering Heaven Alive' following 'Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theatre' and 'Fear Of The Dawn'). As le noise of the epic live show of Young encores with 'Noise and Flowers' to make your garden and the Eden of his newly, even more so sacred discography grow. 

Raise your glass for this crazy album 'Toast' on both sides of your vinyl. All in a time were we digitally and purist physically value all the works of our idols and legends. From lost tracks on the cutting room floor, to B-sides. Whether it be the Boss outtakes of working overtime, or those raiding The Vault searching for purple reign now Prince has passed. 'Toast' is a set they should never have 'Quit' like the outstanding opening track. And now they haven't, giving it new life of the scrap heap of old tape reels and unshared files. "Hey, baby, I'm your man/I know I treated you bad, but I'm doin' the best I can" the husband of Daryl Hannah sings, making a splash. 'Standing In The Light Of Love' like Adam and Eve, he takes us above like the call to 'Throw Your Hatred Down' that cuts the garden in closing on his 'Flowers' live set. Whilst 'Going Home'' he's, "weaving through the buildings/Cutting through the streets/Slicing through the culture/Piling on the weeks." 'Timberline' and the closing classic rock refrain of 'Boom Boom Boom' give this album and its adopters classic Young/Horse guitar. And on the beautiful love song 'How You Doin'?' he even gets his Joey Tribbiani on, friends. Singing and yearning, "I miss the feeling/I miss the light/But I got faith in something/I'll never give up the fight". And he never has. Brooding and showing us a 'Gateway Of Love' in an album recorded in the same year the towers fell and now released in an even crazier world just over two unbelievable decades later. But we're still 'Rockin' In The Free World' of his beautiful 'Noise' in black and white. Scrawled over iconic artwork like thorns. 'I've Been Waiting For You' he opens his shoe with for those in attendance who were waiting all night or perhaps their whole lives for this man's live harvest. Gigging to the moon as couples sway beautifully without a sound around them like the fantastic John Krasinski and Emily Blunt in 'A Quiet Place' too. 'Helpless' in 'Winterlong' to this 'Mr. Soul' and Al that he holds in the 'Field Of Opportunity'. 'Are You Ready For The Country' and all the classics from a master musician who rolled through all of rocks sub-genres with beautifully blended ease? 'From Hank To Hendrix' all the way to 'Alabama' as 'On The Beach' like a Cadillac sticking out the sand he sings, "the world is turnin'/I hope it don't turn away/All my pictures are fallin'/From the wall where I placed them yesterday." "I need a crowd of people" he pleads as the audience in attendance that night roar their approval in stirring solidarity. Part of the leg of his Summer 2019 European tour with Promise Of The Real in band backing. This set is a sobering tribute in dedication to a fallen friend. Giving his late comrade and manager of 50 years, Elliot Roberts his flowers after he passed away two weeks before the tour. A real and raw reminder through all this white noise of just how precious life and love is. And how we have to hold on to it, just like our art and expression. For all it's worth. No matter the cost or what else is lost. Oh, to be Young again. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Toast' - 'Quit', 'Goin' Home', 'How Ya Doin'?'. 'Noise & Flowers' - 'I've Been Waiting For You', 'Rockin' In The Free World', 'Throw Your Hatred Down'.