Adeboye Adeoye

Adeboye Adeoye is a student at the University of Georgia studying Economics, Sociology, and Music Business. As an avid playlist maker, he always looks for connections and themes across albums and genres. He listens primarily to Hip Hop but enjoys R&B, Neo-Soul, Pop, Afrobeats, Indie, and more beyond that as well.

Review: Musiq Soulchild & Hit-Boy: ‘Victims and Villains’

Posted on by Adeboye Adeoye

Following a six-year hiatus from releasing his own music, Musiq Soulchild returned to the scene in early March 2023. Victims and Villains is a collab album with producer Hit-Boy. This new album comes nearly 23 years after the release of his debut studio album Aijuswanaseing (I just wanna sing), but he still continues his E.E. Cummings-esque aversion to conventional capitalization and syntax.

Musiq Soulchild is a veteran of the music world and a foundational figure for modern R&B artists. Songs like “Love” and “Halfcrazy” are timeless classics, with the latter even being heavily sampled on Lucky Daye‘s 2022 breakout hit “Over”.

Hit-Boy is known primarily for working with rappers and is no stranger to working on collab projects. Burden of Proof with Benny the Butcher along with all three iterations of Nas‘ King’s Disease series are some of his most notable recent work.

The album opens with a question: will i touch the sky. Backed by a groovy bassline and enhanced by smooth vocal layering, Musiq’s talent and artistry is evident on this track. This is the most personal song on an album where almost every song is about love or a relationship. He laments in the chorus, “Feels like I’m drownin’, tryna keep my head up / Don’t lеt this broken smile tell you a liе / Lost in the crowd with myself to find.” This feeling of anguish is a relatable phenomenon, and it provides context for his mindset on the rest of the album.

Track two, i remember you my ex and track three, imreallytrynafuckwichu, serve as foils. The former is a vulnerable male breakup anthem in which his decision to stop the relationship outweighs his fond memories of the past. On the other hand, the latter is a more macho song where he lets a girl know that he’s down for whatever. It also has the album’s only listed feature, The Husel, who in reality is Musiq Soulchild’s rap alter ego.

The crux of the album is the title track, victims and villains. On my first listen, the simple drum beat and the expressive piano clued me in that he was about to really speak from the soul. He feels fooled and betrayed by a woman who has falsely claimed vitcimhood but in truth is actually a villain. He asks her, “Just how far will you go / Your mask is comin’ down / Thought no one would ever know.” The song’s strength lies heavily in its simplicity and repetition. It feels cyclical in the same way that an argument normally does when it comes to relationships.

On the seventh track, white rice déjà vu, he employs several similes and metaphors in his descriptions of a woman like, “You would think it’s white rice by the way we spoon”, “Love like a shot of Henny, I would chase it”, and “She wanna ride like an ’84 Caprice / You’ll be my passenger all between the sheets”. This track made it evident to me that Musiq Soulchild has definitely been influenced by popular R&B singers of the last few years. These lines feel more like rap bars rather than the lines of a love song, a stylistic choice that’s characteristic of contemporary acts like Brent Faiyaz and Bryson Tiller.

The final track, we were just binging, ends the album and a relationship, comparing them to a TV show that you would binge. What was once the source of joy and fun has now become tired and bored. It’s a somber but poetic end.

Yeah, we put on quite a good show

Now it’s time’s up, next episode

No need to re-up our subscription

The season has come to an ending

Oh, and I know in good time

You’ll find someone just right

Ain’t no victims or no villains

We wasn’t in love, we were just binging

Musiq Soulchild & Hit-Boy, “we were just binging”

With recent features on projects from Kehlani, Freddie Gibbs, Robert Glasper, and EARTHGANG, this project is likely the proper introduction to Musiq Soulchild for many new-generation fans. It details either different perspectives for a single relationship over time or a collection of multiple love stories accumulated by one man with different women. It doesn’t have the same sort of magic to me that his first few projects do, but sticking too closely to his traditional style would only beget music that’s tired and forgettable. As a whole though, this is a cohesive project and a worthy return for a music legend.

Review: Blu & Exile: ‘Below the Heavens’

Posted on by Adeboye Adeoye

Below The Heavens is a phrase that immediately strikes one when they read it. Coincidentally, it is the title of the 2007 debut album of Los Angeles rapper-producer duo Blu & Exile.

Looking back at Hip Hop in the 2000s, we can place most popular rappers into one of two lanes. Flashy and “hardened” MCs like 50 Cent, Cam’Ron, Ja Rule and Diddy embody the spirit of the “Bling Era,” an aesthetic that many today still associate with rappers. On the other hand, more eccentric MCs, like Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and OutKast led a resurgence in the popularity of “alternative” hip hop. Generally, compared to their bling counterparts, these alternative rappers employed more sung choruses and “conscious” messages.

This album answers the question: what if alternative rappers hailing from Chicago, like Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco, were from Los Angeles instead? As the name suggests, this album skillfully intertwines religious themes with the stories and ideas of an exceptionally talented underground rapper.

Vocal samples are littered by Exile throughout this project, most notably in the opening track, “My World Is…”. Sections of Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” and The Dells‘ “I Can Sing A Rainbow / Love Is Blue” where they sing “blue” are used in the song’s intro, chorus, and as ad-libs. Blu uses the song to introduce himself and begin the religious motif the album is predicated on. He describes himself as “a product of a God-fearing pastor” in the first verse and exclaims “and my mission’s just beginning, call it Genesis” at the start of the third.

On the fifth track, “In Remembrance of Me,” Blue is backed again by a vocal sample. The chorus of The O’Jays‘ “How Time Flies” repeats as Blu examines and contrasts his childhood, high school experience and current life. Lines like “At 18, I headed off in the streets without guidance / Just the eyes of God watching over me” provide insight into the details of his life. In the next verse, he tells us, “My mom thought that I was too young to make this song / Because I’m only 22, but John Barnes has a long path behind him.” Just like Nas, whose work is subtly referenced throughout this album, Blu, or Johnson Barnes III, is an artist releasing insightful and layered work. When you hear this section, it really grounds the album, making his realness and wisdom more evident.

Track eight, “First Things First” is the broke rapper’s version of J. Cole‘s “Work Out.” In this playful song, Blu does his best to throw game while acknowledging his lack of money, something that girls would usually associate with rappers like him. The lines, “Now, don’t get it twisted broke niggas need love too / And underground rappers like to chill at the club too” encapsulate the feel of the song. We aren’t given a peek into his psyche like we were in prior tracks but instead, we get to feel his personality shine as he skillfully rhymes and progresses the narrative of the track.

On “No Greater Love,” Blu continues the narrative of the last track while returning stylistically to what we’ve already heard. “Theme From Love Story” by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles is sampled, so we hear Smokey sing “there is no greater love” throughout the song. The approach is unconventional, but this is a love song nevertheless. Blu exclaims his love for an unnamed woman and explains the title of the song in the refrain. “Yeah nah, ’cause on the real y’all there is no greater love / People try all the time trying to break us up.”

“The World Is… (Below the Heavens),” track 13, is the climax of the album. Exile interpolates a Nas classic, “The World is Yours.” In the first verse, Blu outlines his journey with religion.

I was trained to be a soldier for God
But as soon as I used my own thoughts
I kinda got lost in this smog called reality, where hell is a fallacy
And Heaven is a fantasy created by man, so don’t believe in it
You came in here with nothing then you’re leaving with
Nothing so retreat from this world of deceitfulness
But my people it’s time to rise
Realize there’s a heaven whether you think it’s inside or in the sky
Reach for it before it’s gone eternally
And you stuck here below the heavens for eternity

Blu & Exile, “The World Is… (Below the Heavens)”

Blu explains that he has had problems reconciling his religious upbringing with the harsh reality of life. We are informed by the rest of the album, that Blu is definitely a spiritual man, but now we learn that he isn’t really a religious one. When interviewed by Passion of the Weiss in 2016, in fact, he said “I’m religious without a religion”. In the next verse, Blu talks at length about hell. So often, people describe themselves as “going through hell” or “in hell” but Blu wants us to understand that “heaven” is what we make it. He tells us, “hell is what you choose to call the present,” and in what are likely the most succinctly powerful lines of the album he closes the track, “So you can call it hell but brah… / I can say I’m below the heavens.”

Fifteen years later, Blu is hailed as a legend of underground rap, and this was the beginning of his ascent. He exhibits so many of the qualities of a great rapper. He teaches but doesn’t preach, he is intellectual but digestible, he has the poise and skill of a star but never sacrifices his bars. As outlined by a 2017 Vice article, the release of this album was botched and Blu’s label went under. Interestingly, that only added to the mythos of the project. With only 3000 CDs originally released, secondhand copies went for hundreds of dollars, a testament to Blu and Exile’s skill, ear for good beats and relatability. Each of these songs is powerful in its own right. Combined with the full and lively production of Exile, Blu’s wit, passion, bars and experience make this album a timeless classic.

Review: Little Simz: ‘NO THANK YOU’

Posted on by Adeboye Adeoye

Little Simz closed out 2022 with the release of her fifth studio album NO THANK YOU. Announced just one week before its release, the 50-minute album was subsequently accompanied by a ten-minute short film. Simz, an English rapper born to Nigerian parents, is an independent artist who released her first album in 2013. Now, at just 28 years old, she displays the poise, technical ability, and unapologetic honesty of a much more seasoned act. Backed up by choral and orchestral arrangements, she navigates her disillusionment with the music industry and money, her status as a black woman, and the value of self-worth.

The songs on this project are long-winded and introspective as opposed to the hard and punchy tracks that characterize the UK rap scene and much of her earlier work. She battles challenges on all fronts with several refrains on this album referencing her faith in God.

Throughout the whole album, Simz asks a lot of questions. In some cases, these questions are rhetorical and used to brag and in others, they are devices that help drive her narratives. On the first track, “Angel”, she asks “what did I expect from those livin’ the corporate life?” Disillusioned with the payment structure of the music industry, this idea is a recurring source of anger for Simz. “No Merci” is a double entendre; It is both the French translation of the album title and a blunt warning to others of how merciless the industry is. Simz raps “They want you rushin’ life decisions over a three-course meal / Next thing you know, you’re doin’ free tours.” These lines are especially poignant after she canceled her 2022 North American tour just months before the release of this song because of financial infeasibility.

The West African-style drums on “X” combined with the choir, strings, and horns give this track an anthemic feel. “Been beaten on, we been chewed on / But it happened years ago, so we should just move on” is an eerily familiar sentiment that many in the Black diaspora are told by others. As the track progresses though, Simz asserts the strength in her Blackness and her family, specifically mentioning her grandfather whom she was named after. “Simbi”, a shortened version of “Simbiatu”, is a nickname that only her closest family and friends call her. “Broken” is an equally emotional but more somber track. Simz goes between detailing the ways people hide their pain and uplifting those who struggle with mental health and hope. Her second verse ends with a series of positive affirmations to the listener while her third verse ends with “Why is mental health a taboo in the Black community?”.

The aptly named “Heart on Fire” is an outpouring of Simz’s thoughts and emotions. In the lines below, Simz describes how easily money corrupts just by listing a series of wants.

"Do it for the love, nothin' more
Nah, maybe to cop mum a house, but nothin' more
Maybe to sort my cousin out, but nothin' more
Maybe I'll get the new coupe and nothin' more
Fifteen to a hundred shoes, nothin' more
By the time you know it, that list never stop growin'
And you don't know what you even do this for"
Little Simz, “Heart on Fire”

The track, and the album as a whole, are thematically reminiscent of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. In songs like “Wesley’s Theory” and “For Free (Interlude), Kendrick describes how his love of music has waned as the temptations of Lucifer and the music industry have pushed him to be a more material person just as Simz does.

Simz continues her work with producer Inflo, who has credits on every song from all of her last three albums. Similarly, Simz and Cleo Sol extend their long list of collaborations, with the singer-songwriter providing background vocals on most of the tracks.

This album reaffirms Little Simz’s status, not as one of the best female rappers or one of the best in the UK rappers, but as one of the best rappers, period. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (SIMBI), a contender for the best album of 2021, may not have been surpassed, but this is a worthy addition to an already incredible catalog of music. I feel emboldened by her words and think that the radically different production choices seriously add to the album’s value. This is lyrically dense music, but there is value in playing these songs, whether that be alone and listening through headphones or driving around with friends and bumping up the car speakers.