Music Reviews
All Amerikkan Badass - Joey Bada$$
Focusing of problems of systemic racism and police brutality, All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ is the second album released by Brooklyn rapper, Joey Bada$$. On the second track of the album called, “For My People,” he sings: “Tryna stay alive and just stay peaceful / So hard to survive a world so lethal,” shows off how hard and cruel the world is. “Temptation” starts off with a speech of a nine year old girl, Zianna Oliphant to the Charlotte City Council about the police shooting of Keith Lamont. “I’ve come here today to talk about how I feel and I feel like we are treated differently than other people. I don’t like how we are treated. Just because of our color...doesn’t mean anything to me.” Throughout the first wave of verse there is a mix of soothing guitar blended with slow beats. All the while, Joey Bada$$ raps about the pain of living in a community where finding a job or maintaining dignity is constantly under attack by a government “trying to take away what’s ours.” The smooth legato of the background music is in direct contrast to the suffering painted by the lyrics. The last lines concluding: “Do not stop. We are black people and we shouldn’t have to feel like this.” His song “Land of the Free” continues the critique of Amerikkka (with three Ks) as a place where African Americans are sacrificed to the “free loaders” In conclusion, the album is the perfect flow of Joey Bada$$’s mix of brutal historical and contemporary facts with a milk and honey sound to compliment the album. This album is a 9 out of 10 album with 5 stars.
Atlas - Parkway
The Score is a rock band rocking out in the most epic ways. This album “Atlas” is sang and played to be extremely uplifting and intense. The band Puts the vocals and instruments together in such a way that makes you feel like you can climb mountains. Lead singer, Mike Score, practically yells his lyrics out to you, in a changing volume tied with the instruments played behind his voice, giving such a good feel to the listener. In his middle song “The Only One” he surrounds his focus on how he’s The only one, no chains will hold him down. He then commands to scream out that you are the one to not be held down by chains. He sings with a slowly fading voice tied with his guitar, drums, and insane piano getting stronger, leading his listeners to each chorus with such finesse in this song and his many others. Each song, although each song has the same uplifting tone, is different in its own way. Each song has a different topic to be sang about on stage and this shows how he can really show his skill with his songs without being redundant.
