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NxWorries are Back Like They Never Left with Sophomore LP “Why Lawd?” (Album Review)

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NxWorries is an MC/producer duo consisting of Oxnard recording artist Anderson .Paak as well as Los Angeles producer Knxwledge. Signing to Stones Throw Records in 2015, their debut EP Link Up & Suede that same winter was an impressively lo-fi neo-soul outing & the full-length debut LP Yes Lawd! built upon those 2 sounds venturing out in contemporary R&B, west coast hip hop & smooth soul too. After an 8 year hiatus however, they’re linking back up for a highly anticipated sophomore effort.

Following the “ThankU” intro, the first song “86Sentra” is a jazzy lo-fi hip hop opener reminding that he did the Super Bowl LVI halftime show with some of the best to ever do it whereas “MoveOn” takes the smooth soul route to discuss being unable to do things that he used to. “KeepHer” featuring Thundercat brings the trio together singing about money being unable to keep their romantic interests over some funky guitar licks just before “Distractions” has a bit of a stripped-back feeling to it refusing to let anything slow him down.

H.E.R. joins NxWorries on “Where I Go” after the “Lookin’” interlude fusing neo-soul, smooth soul & contemporary R&B for a duet as to where .Paak & Knxwledge have been leading into “Daydreaming” crossing over psychedelic soul, neo-soul, smooth soul & hypnagogic pop to fantasize about meeting a woman he’s never met previously. “FromHere” featuring Snoop Dogg mixes neo-soul & west coast hip hop pondering where they go from this point forward, but then “Fall Thru” brings a contemporary R&B flare telling his partner she gon’ have to quit her job.

“Battlefield” sides with those who’re one of a kind or no one else like .Paak rapping his ass off over a slick beat to begin the 2nd half of Why Lawd? while “HereIAm” dabbles with gospel by incorporating organs admitting he ain’t doing shit when it seem like he might be doing things. “OutTheWay” featuring Rae Khalil is a syrupy-synth ballad about starting to think all they need is each other prior to “SheUsed” jumps over guitars singing about the pain taking it’s toll on his heart.

Meanwhile on “MoreOfIt”, we have NxWorries giving off an orchestral hip hop vibe paying off their mommas’ mortgages while the “NVR.RMX” featuring Charlie Wilson on the hook feels like a soulful passing of the torch if you will especially since they lock in near the end of the 2nd & final hook. “DistantSpace” sensually asks if it’s too late with a former partner & ahead of the “EvnMore” outro, the west coast hip hop/neo-soul hybrid “WalkOnBy” featuring Earl Sweatshirt ends the album perfectly showing vulnerability within them.

Almost a decade in & the MC/producer duo in those 2 styles of music mentioned in the final song return after an 8-year hiatus to prove that they haven’t lost a step whatsoever. Knxwledge & Anderson .Paak refine their distinctive combination of soul with the rhythmic percussion & groove of hip hop music that makes nu soul stand out expanding beyond that even on occasions in favor of jazz rap, contemporary R&B, west coast hip hop & smooth soul.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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Hip Hop, News, Video

Aesop Rock Still Has A Flare For Intricate Wordplay & Bugged Out Visuals

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Lyrical wunderkind Aesop Rock was a standout sensation during the Underground Hip-Hop boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. His poetic imagery and didactic bars were complex conundrums that many listeners enjoyed unraveling. The MC/producer worked with the likes of MF DOOM, El-P, and the Weathermen during a celebrated time in Rap music, especially in New York.

While Aesop made his name as an artist with the Mush label, and later, on El’s Definitive Jux squad, this decade he’s been rolling with the Rhymesayers family, co-founded by Atmosphere. As recently as 2016’s The Impossible Kid, Rock has made some of his best Hip-Hop in years. He keeps the art exciting through interesting visuals, rugged flows, and compelling takes on the state of the culture.

Aesop Rock Mourns A Fallen MC & Spits Personal Bars Of Pain (Video)

Outside from his respected solo catalog, Aesop has enjoyed the craft of collaboration. The Portland, Oregon transplant has side groups/projects with fellow Weathermen alum, Cage (2 of A Kind), Homeboy Sandman (Lice), Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz (Hail Mary Mallon), Kimya Dawson (The Uncluded), and his latest endeavor, Malibu Ken, with producer Tobacco. The latter duo just released the video for their second single, the slightly uncomfortable and purposefully awkward “Corn Maze.”

As he is prone to do, Aesop raps about his nervous and awkward tendencies. He transforms his own experiences into a poetry so esoteric, it demands dozens of listens to decipher. The beat is similarly challenging but the fuzzy drums and synth plinks are exactly the kind of sound-bed Rock excels on.

This 2003 Conversation With MF DOOM Is The Interview Of His Career

The quirky visuals of “Corn Maze” are a handled by Rob Shaw, Aesop’s longtime videographer. The animation is clearly a tribute to Saturday morning cartoons from the early 1980s, but will likely remind many of Adventure Time as well. The plot is simple: three adventurers must unite to stop gargantuan, cyborg rat.

Aesop’s wordplay is as sharp as ever. In the second verse he raps, “In a lavish rabbit hole with no rabbits/  Young dumb dust bunnies jump into traffic / Casually gussied up and done feeling unsung and savage / Punk we have come for your cabbage / I’m bad news travel like a rat through your cabinet / Spaz Twenty paw pads full of scabs / Often a false ad full plaid all dander / Blast off black jackdaws on his antlers / Zero faithers / Wearily fear his neighbors / Some day we’ll find a way to make these billionaires obey us / Some day we’ll earn a subdivision gaudier than reprobates / Who sit around impressed and guess the order of the Tetris rain / With Biblical as reckoning / Son of surly Satan torn asunder / Private number, public urination / We socialize with pundits who encompass all the wrong stuff / I count the bread quick, I got some walls up.” The full-length album is due next month on RSE.

Slug Unpacks Atmosphere’s New Album & Puts His Rumored Alchemist LP To Bed (Video)

Press photo by Ben Colen.

Lyrical wunderkind Aesop Rock was a standout sensation during the Underground Hip-Hop boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. His poetic imagery and didactic bars were complex conundrums that many listeners enjoyed unraveling. The MC/producer worked with the likes of MF DOOM, El-P, and the Weathermen during a celebrated time in Rap music, especially in New York.

While Aesop made his name as an artist with the Mush label, and later, on El’s Definitive Jux squad, this decade he’s been rolling with the Rhymesayers family, co-founded by Atmosphere. As recently as 2016’s The Impossible Kid, Rock has made some of his best Hip-Hop in years. He keeps the art exciting through interesting visuals, rugged flows, and compelling takes on the state of the culture.

Aesop Rock Mourns A Fallen MC & Spits Personal Bars Of Pain (Video)

Outside from his respected solo catalog, Aesop has enjoyed the craft of collaboration. The Portland, Oregon transplant has side groups/projects with fellow Weathermen alum, Cage (2 of A Kind), Homeboy Sandman (Lice), Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz (Hail Mary Mallon), Kimya Dawson (The Uncluded), and his latest endeavor, Malibu Ken, with producer Tobacco. The latter duo just released the video for their second single, the slightly uncomfortable and purposefully awkward “Corn Maze.”

As he is prone to do, Aesop raps about his nervous and awkward tendencies. He transforms his own experiences into a poetry so esoteric, it demands dozens of listens to decipher. The beat is similarly challenging but the fuzzy drums and synth plinks are exactly the kind of sound-bed Rock excels on.

This 2003 Conversation With MF DOOM Is The Interview Of His Career

The quirky visuals of “Corn Maze” are a handled by Rob Shaw, Aesop’s longtime videographer. The animation is clearly a tribute to Saturday morning cartoons from the early 1980s, but will likely remind many of Adventure Time as well. The plot is simple: three adventurers must unite to stop gargantuan, cyborg rat.

Aesop’s wordplay is as sharp as ever. In the second verse he raps, “In a lavish rabbit hole with no rabbits/  Young dumb dust bunnies jump into traffic / Casually gussied up and done feeling unsung and savage / Punk we have come for your cabbage / I’m bad news travel like a rat through your cabinet / Spaz Twenty paw pads full of scabs / Often a false ad full plaid all dander / Blast off black jackdaws on his antlers / Zero faithers / Wearily fear his neighbors / Some day we’ll find a way to make these billionaires obey us / Some day we’ll earn a subdivision gaudier than reprobates / Who sit around impressed and guess the order of the Tetris rain / With Biblical as reckoning / Son of surly Satan torn asunder / Private number, public urination / We socialize with pundits who encompass all the wrong stuff / I count the bread quick, I got some walls up.” The full-length album is due next month on RSE.

Slug Unpacks Atmosphere’s New Album & Puts His Rumored Alchemist LP To Bed (Video)

Press photo by Ben Colen.

Source: AmbrosiaForHeads.com

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