“Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1” by Kim Petras

Hope Moshi

Rating: 10/10

It’s October, the month of fright and festivity. To spark the spooky season, Kim Petras, a transgender German singer-songwriter, released “TURN OFF THE LIGHT VOL. 1,” a Halloween-themed EP, on October 1. Not only is the album well put together, Petras successfully mixes pop with thriller and fright. If you tend to enjoy staying indoors during the chilly October while munching on some Halloween candy, then this is the album for you. Petra’s voice is clear and goes smoothly over the futuristic styled beats giving you the feel of classics, especially the hit “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. I appreciate the timing of the album release, because, you can jam to the music all month long. Petras has an amazing storyline in the album and each track has a different story that hooks you into the Halloween thriller plot overall.

The album starts off with the track “O m E N,” an instrumental tune that effectively puts you in the Halloween mood. “Close Your Eyes,” the following track, is a narrative of Petras being a monstrous lover that won’t let go of you once she grabs you, so you are forced to, as she sings, “give in to the horror.” The eighth track on the album, “Boo! B***h!” is my favorite. The closing track of the rollercoaster album ends synth-heavy, which adds to the overall upbeat style of the album and keeps your hands in the air.

Overall, the album deserves a perfect score, because not only are the beats amazing, but the album has a theme behind it that is well implemented, and the vocals are perfect for depicting the thriller story. Petras is an amazing artist who really took listeners on a ride in this project, and I can’t wait to buy her future albums. 

Photo courtesy of XXL Magazine

“YSIV” by Logic

Alex Metzger

Rating: 8/10

Happy Young Sinatra season everyone! Over the crisp sounds from producer 6ix’s boom-bap kit, the Logic train is back for the second time this year. With a new album titled “YSIV,” the Maryland MC is reviving his Young Sinatra mixtape series for one last hurrah. Logic’s former use of these free tapes was on his come up and they suffered from low quality production, repetitive rhymes, and a severely lack of features. But this time around a smoother, more polished sound, complemented by well placed features from Ryan Tedder, Wale, and the entire Wu-Tang Clan, propels this project to possibly Logic’s best mixtape yet in terms of content diversity, differentiation in flow, and thought-provoking lyricism.

Bobby T opens the project with the continuation to the closing on flow on “Everybody” and some phone calls from his fans, of whom are all speaking about what his decade long career in the rap game has meant to them. This inspiring message is followed up with the morbidly themed “Everybody Dies,” and four minute throwback to his earlier mixtape days, “The Return” which features some of the crispiest production I have ever heard. The Wu-Tang drums and otherworldly piano mixes that perpetrate and mesh perfectly with Logic’s five differing flows and Maryland accent, which elevates this project from mediocre to excellent.

Logic has a tendency to repeat the same message multiple times across albums, and “YS4” does not escape this trend. “The Glorious Five”, “One Day”, “YSIV”, “Legacy”, all float upon the same message, and by the time Logic is telling you to “Put your mask on first like they say in the airplane cuz” in the ninth minute of “Last Call” I, even as a long time Logic fanboy, was rolling my eyes and considering swapping to Eminem’s “Kamikaze” for possibly the 100th time.

In terms of other content on the album it does exceed expectation. “Ordinary Day” with Hailee Steinfeld is a nice change of pace from Logics usual humility and doesn’t just stop there. Drake’s “Wu Tang Forever” suddenly doesn’t seem too impressive when Logic pulls the same title on him and gets a feature from every living member of the Wu-Tang on it too. Essentially throwing them an alley-oop to start the eight minute banger 90’s rap nerd heaven, Logic pulls off a complex and intricate flow which should define this albu m, and probably the term “Boom-Bap-Rap” for hopefully the next decade.

All in all, Young Sinatra’s final stand seems to be a success. Spreading the message of peace, love, and positivity in the most badass way possible, Logic nails every verse with technical style unmatchable by most rappers of 2018.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

“Tha Carter V” by Lil Wayne

Jailyn Broughton

Rating: 8/10

On September 28, 2018, Lil Wayne released his highly anticipated twelfth studio album, “Carter V.” In this album, Wayne touches on a range of topics, such as family, politics, and the law, but the songs that I enjoyed were “Mona Lisa (feat. Kendrick Lamar)”, “Don’t Cry (feat. XXXTENTACION)”, “Dark Side Of The Moon (feat. Nicki Minaj),” “Dedicate” and “I love you Dwayne.”

“I love you Dwayne” is the first song of the album which features Jacida Carter, Lil Wayne’s mother, giving a heartfelt message to her son about how proud of him she is and how much she loves her son no matter what they have gone through in the past.“Don’t Cry” is the second song on the album, and it serves as evidence of the rough life that he has endured and how far he has come in life.

In the song “Dedicate,” Lil Wayne talks about the rap world and how he has helped shape it into what it is today At the end of the song, Lil Wayne inserts an excerpt from President Barack Obama’s 2009 speech at the NAACP saying, “they might think they’ve got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow. But our kids can’t all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne.”

The crowd favorite “Mona Lisa (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” which is the eighth song is a story about a couple, where the girlfriend decides to set up her boyfriend for a robbery. This collaboration between Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar allows the listener to have a way to connect with both of the characters in the song.

My last favorite song, “Dark Side Of The Moon (feat. Nicki Minaj),” is a powerful love song on the album where Wayne and Minaj  use metaphors of the earth ending to show that they will always be their significant other. Regardless of how many years it takes Lil Wayne to come out with a new album he always finds a way to keep people interested in his music.