REVIEW: PRINCE-SIGN 'O' THE TIMES (2020 SUPER DELUXE EDITION)

 

4/5

The Signs 'O' The Times They Are A-Changin'.

It's times like this you wish Prince lived again. 2020. Kobe. Chadwick. Corona. Police brutality. Black Lives are supposed to Matter but we still don't have justice for Breonna Taylor like we will keep saying her name until we one day do. We said, "arrest the cops". Not slap them on the wrist. Slap some cuffs on those wrists. What is with this virus and disease of a year? A century ago this decade roared in decadence like a Gatsby. Today looks like the end of days. But by royal appointment of purple reign. From the Lakers King James, to a Prince in resurrection he once cosplayed. It looks like the beautiful ones will save us, instead of smash the picture in reflection. Eye no ur gonna luv dis 2. We need something to jam the funk out to. Especially in a time where we should have been celebrating the 2020 Olympics here in Tokyo, Japan with the neon fireworks of a closing ceremony. It was four years ago we lost a man who could show stop Superbowl's with doves too. Prince passed in 2016 which somehow seems yesterday and a lifetime away. In what was until now the calender formerly know as the worst year when we lost Bowie and Ali and gained nothing but Trump and Brexit. And what a time to lose music's throne just years after another King of Pop. Prince was live from Lianne La Havas' (what a self-titled album he'd love this year) living room like quarantine, 'Hit N Run' guerilla touring like he had not tomorrow and releasing the freshest, future albums in similar volume. But the moment he played his last key his Paisley Park Castle was raise and his vault broken into. And from the stripped down and essential, 'Piano and a Microphone 1983' album that played like many of his last also private shows, released two years back and last years 'The Beautiful Ones' autobiography excerpt and outtakes, it just hasn't felt the same, but still we feel joy between the pain with his words and work. And sometimes like the 'Hollyrock' banger and animated Hollywood video of similar tribute sometimes we just find something that shines special amongst all that buried treasure. Just like the 'Sign 'O' The Times'. Those being from 1987 classic that many Prince heads crown as his best album. Even more than the king 'Purple Rain'. The latest of Prince's epic reissues and super deluxe edition from the Paisley Park vault may just be his biggest and best at a world wonder of 8 hours long for your Netflix kids binge age. All hail the times.

"In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name/By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same/At home there are seventeen-year-old boys and their idea of fun/Is being in a gang called The Disciples, high on crack, totin' a machine gun/Time, times." That's how the greatest lyric off the greatest song off the greatest album of the same name began to end a decade that was rife with Reganomics and the crack and AIDS epidemic. And in this year where we have two more in COVID-19 and rampant racism (although racism was alive in its unwell world then. As Will Smith says, "racism isn't getting worse. It's just getting filmed"), rereleasing this album seems more than fitting. It seems necessary in the good fight against all this evil. As soon as you feel like you can 'Play In The Sunshine' again, moving to these rocking beats like a 'Housequake' you will be nostalgia reminded of a time that seemed better again. With 'Little Red Corvette' and 'Raspberry Beret' essential classic track names like the beautiful 'The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker' and classics amongst classics you forget until they fondly come brewing back into play like 'Starfish and Coffee'. But it's when you, "I think about it all the time baby, all right" hear the classic Prince kick beat of 'It' remastered in all its glory like a Stephen King Pennywise adaptation when you just feel how great it is to have this back, like we only wish we could have the man too. "Tonight is the night for making", 'Slow Love'. Drop the needle on this one you love as you drop your hand on the shoulder of the one your heart belongs to in a two step in the name of body and soul. But 'Hot Thing' its when you hear that beat off one of the standout singles on this double disc of definitive hits that you'll really lose your mind like the heat of Summer season. All before the cutting room floor opens up a new crop of old talent in the 'Love and Sex' 'Emotional Pump' and 'Colors' of the man with 'A Place In Heaven' like the God that he is. 'And That Says What?' Look 'Above The Wall' (Donald) and into a 'Crystal Ball' 'In A Large Room With No Light'. And then you will see 'It Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Lady Sings'. Time to catch the 'Train' with 'Adonis and Bathsheba' to 'Soul Psychodelicide' because you shall go to 'The Ball' too. With essential tracks like 'Eggplant' and 'Blanche' and worthy singles like 'I Need A Man' and 'Jealous Girl'. This is 'Crucial' like the 'Rebirth Of The Flesh' in this 'Cosmic Day'. This is the album you want 'Forever In Your Life' like that things best follow or the peace sign the 'O' often represents from the love symbol in these times. 

Side two and all the other discs. This is even bigger than the 'Sign 'O' The Times' movie. 'U Got The Look' (and how about the 'Long Look'?) and now the sound too in iconic record after inspired remaster for all the senses. "Boy versus girl in the World Series of love" and now all the bases are reloaded whilst you try to make it to home plate, swinging big like Babe with this record on. But 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' get the wedding organ march ready for this gender reversal in falsetto for a track that TLC covered classically like Beyonce "sometimes I trip on how happy we could be" ab-libbed on her '03 Bonnie and Clyde' with Jay-Z like 'The Beautiful Ones' of Mariah Carey's 'Butterfly' with Dru Hill and Ginuwine's 'When Doves Cry' with Timbaland (we still can't get over on some Chappelle Show pancake hoops story that Prince approached G in a club and said he doesn't normally like people covering his record's, but Gin's was cool, before disappearing into the dust and club smoke as 'The Bachelor' double raked) like the time Prince gave his songs to others like 'Manic Monday' for The Bangles, Alicia Keys 'How Come You Don't Call Me' and of course 'Nothing Compares To' Sinead O'Connor. The sound of a 'Strange Relationship' and then the signature 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man' whose guitar solo could never take the place of the time he by surprise made the late, great Tom Petty and everyone's guitar gently weep in tribute to George Harrison (remember he threw the guitar up and just left. You know who caught it and probably handed it back at the pearly gates, My Sweet Lord). Just like this remaster could never take the place of the original recording out the booth. But just put it on 'The Cross' and realize how important this album was for a man with the sexual vogue of Madonna, bringing those Springsteen statements with his Dylan record, a child of Marvin and Sly and the Family Stone like a rolling one, or black Beatle. "Ghettos to the left of us/Flowers to the right/There'll be bread for all of us/If we can just bear the cross", he sings on a powerful project he changed like the lyrics to 'The Christ' when he converted to becoming a Jehova's Witness. Sanctified from sexual to secular. Saturday night to Sunday morning. 'It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night' when you listen to this live and the unique Utrecht, Netherlands live show in beautiful, bountiful bonus here featuring all the hits on the versions and B-sides of this spirited reflection of a super album. Segmented in orange and a ghostly image of the artist playing that iconic artwork background for a time when The Artist Formerly Known As dressed in a Jubilee of yellow leather like a Marvel X-Men character from the same decade, classic animated series. Complete in tribute with box set linear notes and musings from the likes of Lenny Kravitz (we're still waiting for that, "this is just for us" duet album) and Dave Chappelle talking about hoops with the late, comedic great Charlie Murphy like breakfast can wait. "Eye" was wrong. You're going to 'Adore' this like that jazzy sax. As you sing this chorus in I it concert to the fade out a whole working day later. Because it 'aint over yet. N.S.F.W. If you're in work tomorrow. You're going to be partying all night long like the 'La, La, La, He, He, Hee' to the dogs bark in beat to the street. "You've got none lives. I've only got one" Prince signature screams before lamenting the 'Shockadelica"of the Cosby's Camille. Or how about 1985's 'Teacher, Teacher' sensei like a Sting from The Police's 'Don't Stand So Close To Me'. All these outstanding outtakes and more like the atmospheric 'All My Dreams', a 'Wonderful Day' we all want to see again and 'Can I Play With U' featuring MILES F###### DAVIS like INXS rocking with Ray Charles on 'Full Moon, Dirty Hearts' could make a whole new lost album of their own. And they kind of do with 'Visions' of 'Power Fantastic' for the 'Witness 4 The Prosecution'. Because the 'Signs 'O' The Times' have changed in 2020. If we could only make peace with the rest. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Sign O' The Times', 'It', 'If  I Was Your Girlfriend.'

REVIEW: ALICIA KEYS-ALICIA

4/5

Miss Keys.

"The talents of Alicia, my fault, Ms. Keys," Nelly rapped over The Neptunes whilst debating between Beyonce and Da Brat and Trina and Eve with Justin Timberlake and N-Sync over who would make the perfect 'Girlfriend' (but this is the remix...turns out it would be Ashanti). It's 2001. New York. The hottest Summer. Months before the towers tragically fell. It was a different time. It was a better one. More innocent, before all those lives lost. 'Life Was Good' like a Nas album would say almost a decade later. But this year like Busta Rhymes and Rampage the King of the streets of New York was on the remix of the biggest hits from the hottest new artist of our time, generation and millennium. Ever since we saw the braids, those eyes, and the fingers of Miss Keys tinkling over the ivory as her incredible, "I keep on falling in love with you" vocals came into play, we held on to every one of those words too. All the way to the 'Songs In A Minor' classic worked on from musical talents like Jermaine Dupri (to the Harlem shake of 'Girlfriend' with ODB samples because Wu Tang is for the children) and G. Flowers (whats up old friend?) that diamond became a worldwide classic that still unmistakably sounds like the streets of New York like Norah Jones 'Come Away With Me' (she has an album out too in the year of women in the uplifting 'Pick Me Up Off The Floor'). 'A Woman's Worth' matched all that as this woman's work was showing us the makings of a young legend like the 'Wuthering Heights' of Kate Bush. And like the 'Fire We Make' (what a New Orleans duet) of Maxwell covered her, like a 'Girl 6' Keys covered Prince like 'How Come You Don't Call Me No More'. Making this song what Sinead O'Connor did 'Nothing Compares 2 U' like a Bangles 'Manic Monday'. Alicia was everywhere like yellow cabs. Curating the Disney basketball movie, 'Glory Road' soundtrack like an amazing Spider-Man song with Kendrick Lamar and even getting her own 'MTV Unplugged' album like the Hov and neo soul greats in Nirvana. 'Satisfaction' like Eve. She just wanted to rock you and boy did she like a Rolling Stone cover. All before opening her 'Diary' to absolute classic entries like 'You Don't Know My Name', 'If I Ain't Got You', 'Karma' and an incredible Stevie Wonder 'Karmasticion' remix. The 'Superwoman' like 'No One' else gave a cape to all the girls and made it a big three like you'd never see her again 'As I Am', before returning like sleeping with a broken heart with 'The Element Of Freedom' and an 'Empire State Of Mind' NYC anthem as iconic as a Yankee cap. This 'Girl On Fire' with 'Another Way To Die' even did a Bond theme like Billie Eilish or Adele with White Stripe Jack White. But starting a beautiful 'Blended Family' with superproducer husband Swizz Beatz, it's been an Olympic four years since she like her last classic has been 'Here'. But now she's back like the 'Bigger Love' of John Legend this year with 'Conversations In The Dark', or the time both these pure, perfect pianists ivories married on the Kanye West G.O.O.D. produced 'You Don't Know My Name'. Never forget it. 

The Grammys 2020. This was supposed to be the return of the roaring twenties like Gatsby, old sport. New decade, new rules like Tower Records. But then a helicopter crash took Kobe Bryant and his Mambacita GiGi amongst other families and the rest of our year followed this same solemn suit from the Black Mamba to the Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman. The black hero and biopic king of real life heroes like Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and James Brown. As we all took to the streets to protest that Black Lives Matter following another 8 minutes and 46 seconds of police brutality that leant on the neck of George Floyd who like Eric Garner couldn't breathe. His life cruelly, evily and discriminatingly taken by those who are supposed to practice courtesy, professionalism and respect. Taken like Breonna Taylor in her own home and how many more? Whilst we still haven't arrested the cops. And we haven't even begun to talk about coronavirus and what COVID-19 has done to this terrible twenty, twenty. Or the notorious RBG. Where is the justice? Keys learnt about the late Laker legend during halftime at the Grammy's in Bean's house of STAPLES in what seemed like mere moments since his number 8 and 24 were raised to the rafters like, "Mamba out". Rallying together with Bryant's favourite Boyz II Men she lead a moving tribute and now in the toughest times of the worst year, 'Alicia' is here again as superwoman saves the day like "yes I can". Back in the year of 'Women In Music' like the Part III of Haim's greatest album. Taylor Swift's surprise 'Folklore' in lockdown. Lady Gaga's other world 'Chromatica'. Lianne La Havas' self-titled soul. A return to the Best Coast, or Phoebe Bridgers' 'Punisher'. Not to mention the legend Miss Jones, or what we're about to get from Lana Del Ray any day now. Asia's Aimyon and a South Korean Blackpink like KATIE. The world is changing and like God it is a woman. And for all the Ariana's and Adele's, there's still nobody like Alicia. Baring all on this burnt orange artwork of her new first name, self-titled album she reveals her naked truth. Right from the 'Truth Without Love' inspired intro that brings the purity of the piano back in all the keys of its soul. Before hopping into a 'Time Machine' like H.G. Wells or we all wish we could this year on this funky, futuristic cut telling us and "young life" that "flies out the window", "no we can't rewind, life ain't a time machine/But once you free your mind, there's beauty in everything." Now even if I ain't got you my boo, ain't that the truth? 

'Authors Of Forever', "wherever you are it's alright", "whoever you are it's alright" she tells you on one of the most inspiring tracks by the shore for all you freedom writers like Hilary Swank's million dollar baby class. Whilst on 'Wasted Energy' there is none for the start of some classic collabos here for someone who has worked with everyone from Usher and Ludacris to John Mayer, beginning with a Diamond Platnumz star. "Why did you f### up the chemistry" she says on a track that does anything but, even if this probably won't be able to get much pre-watershed radio play. But that's OK. Alicia has already passed the 'Grey Whistle Test'. This 'Underdog' is now the top one over uplifting acoustics that show Keys isn't just all about the Steinway like Marhershala Ali in his Oscar winning 'Green Book'. Singing for the "hustlers trading at the bus stop, single mothers waiting on a check to come, young teachers, student doctors, sons on the frontline" for this call to embraced arms. "Rise up". Like the smooth sounds of a '3 Hour Drive' in the middle of the night with the soothing mid-note hour of Sampha's neon delivery on this journey giving life. All before Tierra Whack knocks it out the park with the 'Me X 7' dynamic duet that sounds fresh as a brand new day like this singers former single. But if you want a real collaboration and the best one since she lit a flame with Maxwell (when they were supposed to make a Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell duets EP that we still want to see and hear like the vault of that Prince and Lenny Kravitz album in the sign o'these times) then how about the Spanish guitar, open-shirt atmosphere of the Miguel assisted 'Show Me Love'? The man who has blessed everything from 'Lost In Your Light' Dua Lipa records and 'Porcelain' Red Hot Chili Peppers covers sings, "yeah, I showed you love like it was passionate/I just wanna bask in it, winnin' it like a championship" as diving in like the Michael B. Jordan and Zoe Saldana video he crashes "like a deer inside of headlights". "Inside" of headlights people. 'So Done' it may have been almost a half decade since we last heard from Alicia aside fork the afrobeat of the stunning single 'In Common', but this Khalid assisted gem of a jam proves with a 'Free Spirit' this legacy making legend knows all about the future like an 'American Teen'. "Now you're falling for a person that's now even me" she sings however on the beautiful harmonies of 'Gramercy Park' offering mercy to a young love in bloom for this swiping generation who don't even know who they're liking anymore. 'Love Looks Better' when she's back behind the piano however for a traditional Alicia anthem. "All I ever, ever wanted was a dollar a chance" Keys sings for herself. A queen who took her chance and turned it into gold bars. All before this tinkling of the ivory begins to sound like an 'Empire State Of Mind' for the New Yorker on the Snoh Aalegra assisted 'You Save Me' which sounds as beautiful as the traditions of one of her timeless ballads. We had four years without this voice? Unthinkable! But like a Nas 'UBR (Unauthorised Biography Of Rakim) how about one neo soul star giving it up for another on 'Jill Scott'...featuring Miss Jill Scott herself? As in interlude to the most inspired beauty of 'Alicia' Jilly from Philly on her own titled song on this self-titled album says, "when you are righteously loving somebody/And that somebody is righteously loving you too/It's a vibration/That everybody everywhere/Can't help but receive/It's entrancing/It's a goodness/Luminousness/Victorious energy." But then some stirring strings of some beautiful violins give way to the 'Perfect Way To Die' and the powerful names on the street of all we lost video debuted on BET for all the Black Lives that Matter. Which is all the Black Lives for those ignorantly shouting, "all lives matter". "Simple walk to the corner store/Mama never thought she'd be getting a call from the coroner." What more can you say than that? Well, there's so much more we need to do right now and forever. Let's get to work. It's a 'Good Job' this album finishes on an inspiring note of "don't get too down, the world needs you now". For all "the mothers, the fathers, the teachers that reach us". "You're the engine that makes things go. Always in disguise my hero". Now fly! Away with the perfect reprise companion piece to this author of freedoms 'Journey' autobiography  that began this year she's given us all hope for. More herself, this is 'Alicia'. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Love Looks Better', 'Jill Scott (Feat. Jill Scott),' 'Perfect Way To Die'. 

REVIEW: AIMYON-HEARD THAT THERE'S GOOD PASTA

4/5

Heard It In A Pasta Life. 

Tower Records, Tokyo. The cover of every major music magazine in Japan is graced by the face of this J-Pop star sensation. 'Rockin' On Japan' on a bicycle like a Neptune. 'Nylon' Japan in a 'Spring Closet'. 'Commercial Photo' with a perfect portfolio. Or both sides of 'her' in the shutter. And 'Talking Rock' to 'PMC' so much more in 'Musica'. As a matter of fact all the way to 'Ginza', she's on every shelf you see this month like her new album coming right off the moment it's put on. Just like on the front of your 'TV Bros' with a plate of spaghetti bruh. This is Aimyon and I 'Heard That There's Good Pasta'. So you should twirl your fork and not your hair and check it out like a restaurant recommendation. Because this is the biggest thing in Japan right now like a Haruki Murakami novel or the latest anime Gaijin. Let her be your guide shining in this lonely night like neon from Tokyo to Kyoto, lost in translation like a Phoebe Bridgers song for another album of the year like Haim for these 'Women In Music' in a 2020 that needs their way to save the day. 'Pasta' is one of the best albums in the world since Maggie Rogers 'Heard It In A Past Life'. Everyone under the land of the rising sun is thinking about her like the 4'o clock in the mornin' zonin' echo's of a South Korean K-Pop singer KATIE, about to be bigger than BTS like Blackpink. But this is J-Pop and the amazing Aimyon is about to be even bigger than all that with her third album. Following the 'Marigold' singers 'Excitement Of Youth' and stunning sophomore set, no slump, 'Momentary Sixth Sense'. Alive with talent like her 'Tamago', 'Nikumarekko Yo ni Habakaru' and 'Ai wo Tsutaetaida toka' extended plays. Past the bar of her no ceiling talent. Now hear all about it.

Nishinomiya's very own. A 25 year old already on the top of her game, only a quarter of a century in. One hundred percent. Following in her audio engineer father's studio steps in making music over French accordion. Moving in and out to an acapella, acoustic end over surrounding traffic note that showcases more talent than karaoke bars in Tokyo on a Saturday night, Aimyon brings a sense of hope to the worst year on the optimistic opening of 'remember the days we're talking rubbish in the twilight'. Were with nuanced nostalgia we can remember the good days when we made small talk in the background of big landscapes. As she sings, "love doesn't solve everything" and "I may be able to do anything with money" but, "I want to live a comfortable life" for a world swiping through broken hearts and promises, with a debt of real meaning and moving, just trying to find a place to call home. On the beautiful 'Harunohi' she laments love of "memories and memories on a bench on which you sit" at a "Kitasenju Station platform silver ticket gate", before smoking that all out on 'Cigarette' like 'On This Day We Say Goodbye', as stubbing love out she sings, "The muddy past. It's the days of clinging. With muddy feet. Climb a mountain without a goal. Being in love." Many shattered hearts this year are going to repair themselves with gold over this one like cracked ceramic. Reminding themselves that their struggle is what makes them strong in the end. Just like after every dark night, there is the light of a 'Morning Sun', singing like the birds until she gets all she deserves.

Showers and shadows of the moving music video to her stunning single 'Naked Heart' shows Aimyon baring all her soul for us to see in a Pennywise attracting yellow slicker. "How long will it stay like this?" She asks through the hurt." "I'm going to be alone. I gradually hate myself. I envy someone," she admits. All before revealing that she's, "in love now. With a naked heart." The purest measure of that deep devotion. On the sweet 'Marshmellow' with J-Pop punk guitars girl group Scandal would be proud of and a groundbreaking stop-motion photo video Aimyon sings, "Riding a comfortable rhythm. Run on the land you have never seen. I envision a wild idea. With a delusion that is almost like a dream. Sleeping beauty and Mashimaro Hill", for the ultimate Japanese Summer song after Sakura season, post Autumn leaves when the sun does. But it's still clear on the beautiful 'Her Blue Sky' for a country that treats day and night very differently in its pastel to neon, atmospheric light. Just like the amazing anime of the same name it scores and soundtracks. 'The Smell Of A Midsummer Night' is a dream too with guitars as bawdy as Shakespeare for this soon to be globetrotter when the 'rona gets to steppin'. Singing about "a lost kitten who is confused by a map that is irrestible", that "melts into the brain miso" like Ryu Murakami. Soupy lyrics like "it smells like a midsummer's night and has the same scent as the paint. Various color love starts to dance I am one of them tonight" keep us cooled as the weather here in Japan drops the need for our fresh A.C. But the 'Potpourri Leaf' like leaning in to smell those flowers is not lost in Bill Murray or Scarlett Johansson here. Its lyrics sound as beautiful as any here Googled into English. Like the Route 66 sounding ride of 'Chika', rolling to an "Escapist excursion. Inside the inner part of my heart". Or you could say, "エスカピストの遠足。 心の奥." Or something of that nature. Still in classic closing, the at her most beautiful, 'Living Like That' is truly atmospheric. All the way to the acapella "la, la, la's", ad-lib fading out and bookending this classic album that blooms in pasta yellow flowers for the pollination of its purple reign. Japan like the rest of the world has been through it in this coronavirus crucified calendar that began with that cruise ship here in Yokohama and has seen us lose everyone from the Black Mamba to the Black Panther as Black Lives Matter. And right now Tokyo was supposed to close out their 2020 Olympic Games, but taking the podium and offering hope like Hokusai flowers to the crowd with her holy trinity, this is Aimyon's ceremony. 'Marigold' takes the gold. Take Aim. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Naked Heart', 'Her Blue Sky', 'Living Like That'. 

REVIEW: BIG SEAN-DETROIT, VOL. 2

4/5

Detroit Piston. 

Oh God! "All I care about is mom, and how to get it all, all the time." Don't bother Big Sean, he's working, like the brilliant bold bars over the years that energize us like a convenience store Snicker in the afternoon. Just like that one 'Workin'' off Puff Daddy and The Family's 'MMM' (Money Making Mitch) mixtape that should have been an actual album. Or the one were Kanye West's protégé f####d with the G.O.O.D. Music 'Clique'. Rapping, "I tell a bad b#### do whatever I say/My block behind me, like I'm coming out the driveway/It's grind day, from Friday to next Friday/I been up straight for nine days, I need a spa day (spa day)/Yup, she tryin' to get me that poon-tangI/ might let my crew bang, my crew deeper than Wu-Tang." Now "pullin' up in that Bruce Wayne" the "f##### villain" is back driving like a Blake Griffin dunking Piston with his 'Detroit, Vol. 2' sequel that has everyone up in the air like the Slam Dunk Contest champion over a Kia or the bucket boy players on the awesome artwork album cover. The 'Roc Nation' rapper who is 'Finally Famous' after entering the 'Hall Of Fame' has more hit albums under his belt as a more serious Fabulous. Whilst those in the gossip columns are more concerned with pulling punchlines over who is ex was. Life is never what it used to be and the only thing that can rewrite those lines are the bars of a man who will always have the last word when he's putting on for his city like the protest music videos where he throws up a fist for black power (because all he wants is his freedom) and shows there's so much more that matters here.

"Cutting umbilicals" on the opening track, 'Why Should I Stop', why should he? Even coronavirus won't keep him at bay as he raps, "This shit the antidote, this the cure cancer flow/Stop a pandemic and the globe/The product of old 'Ye chopping up the sample flow/Dilla and Pimp C, the thriller." Whilst on 'The Godfather' Don sounding 'Lucky Me' Sean says like Simon with guns and roses,"Yeah, I done slashed h##s like I'm Slash on some rock star s###/Even bought Slash old crib, that's rock star as it gets/And have my hands on the R&B legends you couldn't handle/Whether you do music or not, you wish you could sample/And I had to live through the scandals/Public humiliations and breakups on camera/It's a living nightmare when your dream girl has to get canceled/And you gotta delete all the photos and shit like you never Instagrammed it." Telling his followers no matter what the media says he feels the pain we all go through every day in this love in life where we lose more friends online than we do in the real world were we can't even shake each others hands anymore. But it's the 'Deep Reverence' with the dearly departed Nipsey Hussle that really hits home like Crenshaw or this COVID-19 2020 where we have lost so many friends and family along with the Black Mamba Kobe, the Mambacita GiGi and now the Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman. The late legend who said, "the best thing you can do for someone is inspire them" raps on the big opening, "Y'all still learnin' street lessons?/From the mastermind, first you master grind, then your team catch it/This time it’s for the money, I don't need credit/And I'm the don 'cause the streets said it," with flowers for him and all we've lost on the chain link fence of this album cover. Rest in power.

Growling like 'Wolves' or rock stars with Post Malone, Sean riffs and raps more whilst Post delivers like The Mailman, Karl Malone, parting the competition like Moses. All before smoothing it out with Ty Dolla $ign and Jhene Aiko on the soulful 'Body Language' that you can feel without words like the look of somone whose saying more than their mouth could possibly ask to cash. Going 'Harder Than My Demons' this Big doesn't need a guest list to lock horns with the best. Referencing everything from Luther Vandross (can never get too much of the purest soul) to wearing a different type of mask in this brave new world, rapping, "I don't take disrespect, I take charge (Woah)/I'm in the mirror lookin' at a work of art (Like, God)/Hard work don’t mean shit if it ain't smart." Word...like on the street, leaving everyone else staying home like March. "It's not about the trophy/it's what it took to grab it" the winner says on 'Everything That's Missing' with neo-soul legend Dwele. Before zoning the f out on 'ZTFO'. GTFOH, this Don has more in his consigliere. Guarding his heart with Anderson .Paak, Earlly Mac and Washington's Wale, before respecting it with Young Thug and Hit-Boy. But it's 'Lithuania' with Travis Scott that really scores like copping one of the guest spot artists iconic Jordan's. They sound as G.O.O.D. together as the time they both appeared working with Diddy. It all comes 'Full Circle', Don to John with Puff himself and Key Wane as Sean Combs like one of his famous tradmark ad-libs says next to Big with 'Hypnotize' memories, "Took all the pain that I knew and made songs/When God said, "Let there be light," he made Sean." Then the 'Feed' of 'The Baddest' over a Pharoahe Monch like 'Simon Says' Godzilla beat links with another Don for 'Don Life' with Tha Carter, Lil' Wayne. Before a 'Friday Night Cypher' and the best of raps hallmark game plan in years grinds over a Clipse sample and features Tee Grizzley, Kash Doll, Cash Kidd, Payroll, 42 Dugg, Boldy James, Drego, Sada Baby and the Bad Meets Evil of Royce Da 5'9" and some local kid from around the way called Marshall. Making for the best ten minutes since the last time you had sex. But even after that like 'Pac, Sean raps 'Still I Rise' like an Outlaw to finish strong with Dom Kennedy like Mister Cee. G.O.A.T. Nas recently released his latest greatest 'King's Disease' and in this infectious time Big Sean is catching that fever even more common than cold. Add some compelling stories from comedian legend Dave Chappelle, neo-soul one Erykah Badu and the one and only Stevie Wonder than you have the innervisions of some inspired interludes that have the making of a classic piece of work and words in music's  storytelling genre of rap. Losing himself in big collaborations, but staying in his own lane like J. Cole with no features, going down 8 Mile Road with his fellow man from the D. Big Sean Don with the inspiration of Sean John takes us home. Not the same man, but never forgetting where he comes from like a Bad Boy for life from the Palace of Auburn Hills. So much so we can't wait for Volume 3 from Big Sean's life and times. "And I run this like it's no lights, going hard the whole night/Cause I ain't going back to my old life, I promise." TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Lucky Me', 'Deep Reverence (Feat. Nipsey Hussle)', 'Harder Than My Demoms'. 

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: PHARRELL WILLIAMS-ENTREPRENEUR Feat. JAY-Z

4/5

Black Power Matters.

TyAnthony Davis. Sounds like the 'brow of the Los Angeles Lakers Basketball player. Actually it's a teacher who reversed the fortunes of 20 schools in his district performing in the bottom 5%. Founding his own school like NBA LAL legend LeBron James with the promise of Vox Collegiate Junior High. "Your voice is power". Write that on the board like lines ten times. Pharrell said 'You Can Do It Too' on the Neptune's debut solo set 'In My Mind' complete with animated avatar. Can you have it like that? Let's do it. Tyler the Creator could. Doing it and creating his future that's still happening to this day. His honor list longer than a mixtape track one. Founding Honey's Kettle 20 years ago, Vincent and Arlene Williams expanded their family business with their children during this cruel COVID pandemic. Iddris Sandu at 23 has already wrote algorithms for apps like Snapchat, Uber and Instagram...now he's doing several for himself. Despite backlash Beatrice Dixon attribute the success of her feminine product line Honey Pot's to the success of other black women...but that backlash is the only thing that's toxic there. Here in Tokyo, Japan, brothers Arthell and Darnell Isom created the first black owned anime studio. Read that again. 'Insecure' actress Issa Rae began her Hollywood career filming a low budget web series in South L.A. Now on that same block she's building her own empire that's looking for the next star to shine in the city of them and angels.

It's only right now at this point too we take a moment of silence for Nipsey Hussle. And for Kobe Bryant. And for Chadwick Boseman.

Like Skateboard P with no skateboard shops in the hood, Neighbors Skateshop kicked and pushed like Lupe Fiasco. Now they cooooast. Running the city like Diddy, Alrick Augustine has followers like when Tom Hanks just felt like running as 'Forres Gump'. Designer. Rapper. Community activist. What more can you say like Jay-Z (he's here too)? Make sure you put some respect on Six Sev's name. And Chance Infinite. Who took the surname amount of money he earned in the music industry and brought Harun Coffee Shop to his community. Denise Woodward could have given up when 86 investors wouldn't Partake in her cookies of the same name,  but the 87th didn't. His name? Shawn Carter AKA Jay-Z. And if you want My Two Cents, check out Chef Alisa's vegan food that's good for the soul, the planet...and our four legged friends. Don't believe us? Why don't you ask one of their regular customers? His name is Barack. Working from home is the norm now, but Angela Richardson took some homemade cleaning supplies and turned them into a product line. Now sadly for something sobering. Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy related complications. What can we do about this? Debbie Allen is looking into it and out for us after her own childbirth experience. Creating a safe space to give birth outside the hospital in the comfort of mother's own homes. As the CEO of Tribe Midwifery. Like the CEO of Miss Bennett Fitness. The CEO's of Black and Mobile. The CEO of Trill Paws Dog Accessories. The CEO of Third Vault Yarns back in London. The first black Valedictorian of Princeton. Now tap your temple to this. Can't make another meme when you're too smart for all that. Broadway star Robert Hartwell dances in front of a plantation were his ancestors were enslaved. It recently went up for sale. 400K, cash. He just bought it. Talk about taking the power back.

Compton Cowboys of California. Hugh Augustine's of Los Angeles. The Simply Wholesome Health Food Markets, dot com. The Soul Food House of Tokyo, Japan. The Nail XPerience of Paris, France. M.I.O. prints of Dublin, Ireland. Caked and Baked of Tel-Aviv, Israel. Umoga Production in Dublin, Ireland. Avila Diana Art of London, England. The Artisan Grower in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (YES!). The Maison Chateau Rouge of Paris, France. All these black businesses owned by all these black entrepreneurs are honoured in the video for Pharrell Williams new single, 'Entrepreneur', whose video means so much more like Childish Gambino's, 'This Is America', but today for a much more positive way. In the same day South Korean pop juggernaut BTS' explosive, 'Dynamite' single broke YouTube records, Pharrell and Jay-Z weren't 'Frontin''. Last week the pair who have changed clothes on more tracks than catwalks released the most beautiful and best the same day we got new albums from King of New York, Nas ('King's Disease') and the Las Vegas heartland strip of The Killers ('Imploding The Mirage') straight out of Sin City. But as the two most famous faces in urban music didn't even appear in their blockbuster collaboration video we all knew it meant more. They let their words and the work of their subjects do the talking. And boy do they sing like a Pharrell's falsetto. The 'Happy' go lucky hit maker who sang for 'Freedom' now leads a chorus in a time we're we need it now more than ever. The worst year of our lives in the new decade of 2020 that began with the tragic loss of Kobe and GiGi and has only yesterday seen the loss of the Black Panther, Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall in the amazing actor himself, Chadwick Boseman. A symbol we need right now raising a fist like what should be an Olympic podium and forming a cross like Wakanda Forever, or another King in number 23, taking a knee and paying tribute. Because Black Lives Matter and in a year were COVID-19 is taking even more lives we will keep saying it like all the names the evil disease of racism has took. All until they arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor and people like George Floyd no longer have to die using their last words to say, 'I can't breathe'. Singing for 'Hidden Figures' again like all the 'Marilyn Monroe' and 'Lost Queen's' this 'G I R L' record makers has before. Pharrell gives everyone their moment in one that feels as epic and euphoric as that getting familiar time he showed me and you that he could rap along to OutKast's 'Elevators' for a 'Maybe' freestyle remix by Clinton Sparks before those guitars came back in. Now watch us all react like he and we the first time we were introduced to 'Alaska' and a young N.Y.U student by the name of Maggie. Turning all the pain into all our power, Pharrell sings, "I am black ambition/I am always whisperin'/They keep tellin' me I will not/But my will won't listen," reminding us to "let go" and "risk it all" in call and response chorus if we "want to fly". Chanting, "black man" again and again as Jay-Z adds his two cents and bars, "Serial entrepreneur, we on our own/Stop sittin' around waitin' for folks to throw you a bone/If you can't buy the building at least stock the shelf (Word)/Then keep on stackin' 'til you stockin' for yourself, uh/See, everything you place after black/Is too small a term to completely describe the act/Black nation, black builder, black entrepreneur/You in the presence of Black Excellence and I'm on the board/Lord." God knows you should heed these words and watch this work. If you've got an idea run with it. Because you can do it too and "mister entrepreneur", "you never know what's in store". This is black ambition. Witness...and testify. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

REVIEW: THE KILLERS-IMPLODING THE MIRAGE

4/5

Casino Royale.

Exploding back on the Las Vegas strip like the Flamingo of Sin City, The Killers are back like somebody told you. Even if the glistening heartland neon lost in the 'Miss Atomic Bomb' deserts looks like a mirage. Imploding and losing more members than Ryan Adams is fans, The Killers are staring down the barrel, like Brandon Flowers was going solo again for 'The Desired Effect'. But you know this roulette town only really wins when your backs against the wall and you're rolling with your last hand. And what an ace in the hole this band can still play as the wheel turns. "Have all the songs been written?/Have all the truths been told?/Has all the gas been siphoned?/Do the banks still carry gold?" Flowers asked on the last track of the last album, the wonderful, 'Wonderful, Wonderful'. I guess not. As with "back to back with Springsteen" hope that was born to run from the sand to the sin of Nevada, he Tyson knockout gets back off the canvas with lasting lines like, "When the train returns to the rails/When the ship is back in the harbor/I will make you happy again/I can see it, I believe it," like making one last play for the one that got away. And in 'Imploding' and its mirage magnificent album artwork. From the opening heartland hallmark 'My Own Soul's Warning' track that is as traditional Killer as a knife and gun as the jacking guitar and vivid vocals burst out the chamber. To the classic closing title track epic after the perfect dreams dry precursor, that sounds so beautifully and goose pimpling 80's it could end a John Hughes movie, word to the freeze frame John Candy still. This is no death of a discography dynasty. Be still, The Killers are back and the 'Battle Born' boys still have chips and clips at their disposal in the Springsteen season of their songbook shelving classic career.

Glastonbury gassed up last year with all their direct hits with a shot at the Great British countryside night, Flowers and his Killers in bloom refused to wilt in the midsummer heat for a night's dream that showed he really was 'The Man' ("come round"). In a 'Hot Fuss' the band showed exactly why they can brag their bravado with singles from their showstopping set. What band aside maybe The Beatles can boast five of their most famous and biggest hits to open one album (aside maybe the 'Summer Girl', 'Now I'm In It', 'Hallelujah', 'The Steps' and 'Don't Wanna' of Haim if they put those singles in that order for their 'Women In Music Pt. III' album of the year) other than this former fab four? 'Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine' (like this writers idol sister will always be), the meme inducing 'Mr. Brightside', 'Smile Like You Mean It', 'Somebody Told Me' and 'All The Things That I've Done' for you soul soldiers. And don't forget, 'Andy, You're A Star'. Still, it's not like The Killers haven't had hits since then. They're only 'Human' in this 'Day and Age' ("or are they dancer"). There's the 'Bones' that read your mind in Tokyo, Japan, or 'Sam's Town'. Their Bowie age or solo 'Crossfire's'. And of course the whole 'Battle' reborn in the pull of the slots. But 'Souls Warning' is really Killer like their always classic clips for the post MTV, music video generation once it kicks in. The first of two minus the band like their actual line-up is hallowed Hollywood and Americana ground with a famous actor filling out the roll for this mini movie. But cut, print and wrap the lyrics like, "If you could see through the banner of the sun/Into eternity's eyes, like a vision reaching down to you/Would you turn away?/What if it knew you by your name?/What kind of words would cut through the clutter of the whirlwind of these days?" As constellations of American eagles and all the pretty horses as clear as the snow on this desert night stand on top of a pick-up like a stetson, you can see the rousing of their reputation come on up like the rising.

Constant craving. At Glasto The Killers brought out the Pet Shop Boys, Johnny Marr big guns and now this band increase their legend by collaborating with 'Miss Chatelaine' herself, Canadian singer/songwriter K.D. Lang for the standout 'Lightning Fields' that sounding as 80's as her could bring thunder to this canyon like a nuclear test that left all those old Americans lining up on the strip with excitement to Geiger see how radioactive they were (ahh innocence. Ahh Americans). The coolest collaboration since they put Woody Harrelson at the start of a record reciting a Bible verse....cheers. Even former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham gets his chance to shine in the background, unlike he does on his SNL sketch starring the funniest man alive, Bill Hader. What's up with that? But it's OK. Whilst "puts out a cigarette and gets on the bus", 'Blowback' is one of the strongest second songs on any album you've heard in ages from a band that knows that you can't just get out the gates early, you have to maintain the run. Like for one example U2's 'Elevation' off 'All You Can't Leave Behind' being followed by 'Stuck In A Moment That You Can't Get Out Of' for late INXS, greatest frontman of all-time, Michael Hutchence. One these Las Vegas aces like the WNBA team have been honing for almost twenty years. Two decades later and they're still the one. The last of a 'Dying Breed' like the Black Keys-esque beginning track that got this band of brothers is all Killer, no filler. The strong single along with the 'Caution' ("let me introduce you to the featherweight queen.") warning first one and the brimstone beat of 'Fire In The Bone' that is just too funky, is the flesh and blood of this band. "It's the most romantic song I've ever written", Flowers says of the ode to his 'Dying Breed' wife. "if you're looking for strong and steady/Well, baby, you found it/We'll weather the coldest night/Baby, we're a dying breed/When everyone's compromising/I'll be your diehard/I'll be there when water's rising/I'll be your lifeguard/We're cut from a stained glass mountain/Baby, we're a dying breed." This one wins the race for a man who loves fast and furious American muscle as much as bandana born Bruce biopic. The pace picks up even more as we're 'Running Towards A Place' we don't know as Flowers religiously sings, "give me the eyes so I can see." Weyes Blood infuses 'My God' with even more holy spirit, "crawling back to your arms" for a lead singer and his leather clad and hair cream outfit like a Presley throwback that has never been afraid to storm the gates of Graceland with their hearts on their rolled up Billy Fury sleeves. There's a resonate power in vulnerability, that's not insecurity but strength. Even 'When The Dreams Run Dry' like 'Have All The Songs Been Written' in closing for the last note "beating the birds to Acapulco Bay". Take it from me for the record, I don't know who needs to hear this but The Killers are still one of the greatest bands of our generation, or all time...and that's no mirage. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'My Own Souls Warning', 'Lightning Fields (Feat. K. D. Lang)', 'Imploding The Mirage'. 

REVIEW: NAS-KING'S DISEASE

4/5

Kingmatic. 

COVID-19 has crippled 2020 as the coronavirus still has ahold of our year. With cinemas closed and NBA games bubbled in quarantine, many artists are taking it back to locking themselves down in the studio. And 'Illmatic' rap legend Nas who is 'Stillmatic' with it has a 'King's Disease' like Laker LeBron James watching the throne like former rival Jay-Z. The G.O.A.T. who used to, "take Summers off because (he) loves winter beef" is back in this scorching season like '10 Points', as he scores like Mike from the free throw line with everyone holding up double digit cards. "King/Michael Jordan gives back and you didn't know it/Like LeBron does but it's just seldom they show it." The man who "started saying "Peace King" on (his) song 'The Flyest'" is back to write a book on his life...and do you think anyone will read it?! No f###### doubt! Loved like the great Malik Sealy, the one the players hate dearly is here for us in a time where life really is a bitch...but they're AZ's lines right?! More on that later. Its been a minute since we got a long play from Nas. Two years back he released the classic 'Nasir' in a seven track album series produced by Kanye West in an album of its times that still resonate now like the call to arms protest of, 'Cops Shot The Kid'. All from the voice of a generation we need right now in the Black Lives Matter movement as much as we need to arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor. Last year Nas also reeled off his long awaited 'The Lost Tapes 2' sequel. But if we're talking full length like a 'Live At The BBQ' verse it's been a long time since 2012's, 'Life Is Good'.

New York, New York, 'The Don' Nastradamus returns like it was all written in a new decade no one could have seen coming. He pays rest in peace respect to a man he once dissed in the late Laker great Kobe, aswell as the Los Angeles rapper who followed his inspirational take on the hip-hop genre like Tupac in Nipsey Hussle on 'The Cure' of an album that has so much to unpack like it's religious album artwork for a man who used to portrait his streets and the shelves with pictures of himself as a kid or Tutankhamen. The 'Streets Disciple' and 'God Son' is needed more than ever right now like when hip hop was dead. Because this resurrection is the King and disease or not, that will never be untitled like the album he tried to call the N word with attitude to make a social statement that matters like the back of NBA players jerseys right now. The crown is his too even on a Friday were we get new music from the heartland Vegas city sinners of The Killers for the 'Imploding The Mirage' record. Not to mention a new YouTube record breaking 'Dynamite' single from South Korean pop juggernaut BTS and a groundbreaking music video from 'Entrepreneur' Pharrell celebrating Black excellence featuring the man who was making 'Dead Presidents' back in the day with Nasir, Mr. Shawn Carter. Cue the, "is that everybody", "you wanted more" Doctor Strange and Wong, 'Avengers: Endgame' meme. But once the big beat of the opening title track comes into play we know whose going to be on repeat all the way until the same next week he knocks his opponents into. "I made the fade famous, the chain famous/QB on my chest match the stainless/Amazing Grace, I'm gracefully aging/Without masonry, I made more paper to play with/No rap in my playlist, sold dimes on my day shift (King)/So, can I breathe? Can I walk? Can I speak? Can I talk?/Can I floss without you wanting me outlined in chalk?" Can I live? Police and racist white America take note. This is one raised fist you can't unclench.

Lucky 13 for Mr. Jones. The big hitting Hit Boy production keeps knocking like these guys were rolling dice with Brandon Flowers in Sam's Town this weekend. 'Blue Benz' will have you top down riding on repeat, circling the block, it's so hot. Whilst 'Car #85' with Snoop Dogg's go-to soul chorus legend like crushed velvet, Uncle Charlie Wilson washes as one of the freshest things Nas has ever recorded. Hit Boy even makes a feature for the record on 'Ultra Black', rapping "We goin' ultra black/Raiders, Oakland hat, I smoke to that/Pre-rolls and 'gnac, what's the results to that?/C-notes and bags (Uh)/She knows I'm classy like I'm Billy Dee Williams/(Smooth)", landing like Lando in this solo star like Gambino's millennium falcon. It gets even hotter on' 27 Summers' like Jay-Z writing a letter to that season in retirement on Memphis Bleek's '534' for a record that will hopefully make the Rocafella giant dust off his mic and it can all be Ali and Frazier, Lakers and Celtics again for these Black Republicans taking over the government. Big guns in the form of Big Sean and Don Toliver are brought out on 'Replace Me', Brucie B on 'The Definition' and the amazing Anderson Paak on 'All Bad' that is all good. Showing Nas has been keeping his ear to the street and the times a'changin' as raps Dylan worked on his great American book of rhymes. But it's the soulful sample of 'Til The War Is Won' featuring Lil Durk that is the most inspiring and influential streaming stroke from the iconic artist in calendars. As the 'Daughters' poet illustrates everything from his fallout with Kelis to the community as a whole saying, "Let's see where the black family at/We need each other, with bad tempers, we defeat each other/Single mothers, my heart's bleeding for you/These coward men, that were beating on you (Never me)/Let's silence them, with a silencer/For the violence of relationships/Hold your head up, don't take that shit, run away from it/I shoulda ran away myself, the amount of pain I was dealt/And I'm a man, my job is to help." Say no more. This says it all. Still on an album of big moves and collabos like the A$AP Rocky and Fivio Foreign, 'Spicy' bonus, our Firm favourite concerns the fiasco of another reunion we hope leads to another comeback album in collaboration...even if the good doctor says the first one was a flop. Once everything comes 'Full Circle' with what we said was coming in AZ and Cormega you really know what's on the way for a pivotal hip-hop moment. The second Foxy Brown breaths on the mic you know it's on like an old Lil' Kim beef for all you Nicki and Cardi's. And just wait until you hear who comes after. Moments like this are what make hip-hop and now Nas is coming we hope this one lasts forever. Tap your phones because the God M.C. has answered the call. King back, cutting a hell of a deal, this is one disease were we don't want the cure. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Blue Benz', 'Til The War Is Won (Feat. Lil' Durk), 'Full Circle (Feat. The Firm)'.