“Dead People,” a taut collaboration between Jake One and Southside, has a minimal boom that’s both mechanical and warm, as 21 muses cleverly over the losses and gains he’s experienced via the title’s multiple meanings. His debut major-label album cracks the shades on his sound, welcoming non-ATL producers (DJ Mustard, Jake One, “Magnolia” mastermind Pi’erre Bourne), but remains grim and trimmed of excess. T.A.Ītlanta’s 21 Savage burst on the scene a couple of years ago as a sexy sociopath with a syrup-y drawl, playing out deadpan horror-movie scenes over intoxicatingly spooky low-end beats from go-to producer Metro Boomin. Tyler enlists Steve Lacy, Rex Orange County, Anna of the North, Corinne Bailey Rae, Frank Ocean and Estelle, using the array of voices to add texture to already lush instrumental arrangements. He laments absent friends on “Boredom” and longs for a romantic partner on “See You Again,” but ironically, Flower Boy reaches great heights because it’s such a group effort. Lonely,” which poignantly asserts the album’s recurring theme: the price of success is isolation. “They said the loudest in the room is weak/That’s what they assume, but I disagree/I say the loudest in the room is probably the loneliest in the room,” he raps on the two-part stunner, “911/Mr. Sonically and thematically, it’s Tyler at his best – as a producer, composer, arranger and songwriter – and at his most sincere. But Flower Boy is the first true testament to his talent. Tyler has evolved too he’s released three increasingly mature albums which have shown him growing as a man and a musician. In the years since, Odd Future has disbanded and its members and affiliates have evolved into some of pop music’s most important artists (see: Frank Ocean, Syd, Vince Staples). Seven years ago, when Odd Future mania first swept the Internet, we were collectively transfixed by the crew’s gravel-voiced ringleader, Tyler, the Creator. It might be his most important statement yet. After chasing and reaching his rap dream, Meek realizes that success can’t save him. It’s a unique album, uneasily freighted with dread. “Fuck That Check Up” and “Ball Player” bang hard, but can’t erase the dark reality contained in cold-eyed tracks like “Heavy Heart,” “Young Black America” or “We Ball.” Meek remains haunted by his past and this recent controversial incarceration – he was arrested, then cleared, yet still went to jail for violating parole – smacks his fans in the face with the harsh truth that maybe Meek’s lyrical paranoia is justified. Unsurprisingly, Wins and Losses brims with psychic pain, brightened only by tiny bits of pride that he’s achieved a certain level of fame and financial security. Complex.Meek Mill‘s third major-label album opens with motivational speaker Eric Thomas declaring that, when it comes to dreams, you have to “see it when no one else sees it … feel it when it’s not tangible.” It’s an apt message for a particularly bleak chapter of Meek’s life – he was released from house arrest in 2016, he broke up with Nicki Minaj in January of 2017 and now he’s locked up again due to a disputed probation violation.
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