 Written by: The Administrator Despite a proclamation that 2024 would be the year I review whatever I want, audience expectations be damned, our coverage of hip hop here at the Sleeping Village has been lagging behind my actual listening habits to a pretty significant degree. Here's an attempt to remedy that! Atlanta's up-and-coming BabyDrill released this single on Friday, June 21st, and it's been on solid rotation all weekend. Worth talking about, methinks. I enjoyed ScoreGod, BabyDrill's album released back in February of this year, but admittedly haven't listened to with any regularity since the first few days post-release. With a limited beat variation and a lack of features on the back half, I did find his forceful monotone delivery to get a little repetitive. That said, several tracks were certified bangers. In the context of singles, his flow is fun and engaging. In any case, ScoreGod clearly demonstrated a lot of promise, and this is an overly expository way to say that I was excited to hear this latest track, "Dracula," outside of the context of a larger project. And this is quite possibly my favorite song from him yet. "Dracula" leans into the darker side of the current ATL trap aesthetic, and BabyDrill's delivery is urgent and hard-hitting, yet juuuuust effortless enough to indicate a certain air of confidence. His flow works quite well over the spooky beat, which is focused and polished. Bottom line? While the track doesn't really embody a particularly impactful experimental/horror vibe and is far from a sonic outlier in the current meta, "Dracula" is a pretty damn listenable track that bodes very well for future projects. BabyDrill - Dracula was released June 19th, 2024. BabyDrill can be found:
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In a continuing attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we slumbering scribes are making an effort to publish the little one-off reviews that were previously (and arbitrarily) deemed too short for publication. Here's a mini-review of one of Hus Kingpin's many, many 2023 releases.
Written by: The Administrator
The tree has, alas, been discarded. The strands of light coiled in storage. The stockings haphazardly--carelessly, even--crammed in a drawer. Despite a distinct lack of holiday decor 'round these parts, I'm not ready to let go of that alleged magical Christmas spirit quite yet. Hence today's spotlight on Holiday Hus 2: Cocaine Christmas. This seasonally appropriate soundtrack, courtesy of the ridiculously prolific Hus Kingpin, provides a short and sweet lingering taste of the most wonderful--scratch that--worst time of year. Featuring no features and seven tracks across a delightfully brisk eight minutes, this project shows Hus Kingpin's characteristically confident raps over some tastefully dusty, chilly, and occasionally eerie instrumentals. Hus eschews hooks and classic song structure in favor of quick coke rap snapshots, giving the whole affair a laissez-faire and airy feel that contrasts wonderfully with the subject matter. It's a fun juxtaposition, and he plays into the implicit humor of the contrast--the entertainment factor is high. Had I heard this prior to publishing my EPs of the year list, it would most certainly have made the cut. I've had this on repeat for the past few days, and it has yet to grow stale. If forced to pick, my favorite tracks herein are the debonair yet somber "Fireplace" and the calmly menacing narrative of "Snow White." With that said, every song here, including the intro and outro, are absolutely worth your while if you enjoy--casually or otherwise--the allure of underground hip hop. Despite already dropping two (!) additional projects since this EP was released, Hus has another new LP coming in just a few weeks. Before the next in a looooong line of quality releases arrives, I recommend checking out this one out. Listen below and find it here! Hus Kingpin - Holiday Hus 2: Cocaine Christmas was released Dec. 15th, 2023. 
Written by: The Administrator
While compiling my list of 23 favorite hip hop albums of the year 2023--a task which has been significantly more difficult than initially anticipated, due exclusively to figuring out how the fuck to narrow it down--I realized that a variety of tracks were going to slip through the year end list cracks. Thus: a playlist containing 50 of my favorite rap songs of 2023. These are the tracks that I inevitably hit repeat on, the tracks that pumped me up, the tracks that made me return to an artist or project time and time again. This is an unranked list--everything here is fire and most certainly worth your while. Check it out below! |
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