DJ Khaled x Drake. Joey Bada$$. The Kid LAROI. WizKid x H.E.R. August Alsina.
Another quarantined Saturday with nowhere to go and no one to see, but lucky for me, there are new singles to judge.
The biggest artist in the world dropped a DJ Khaled two-pack. Joey Bada$$ finally returned with a pack of his own. Wizkid and H.E.R. may have dropped the song of the summer.
But as engaging as all those artists and singles are, none piqued my interest as much as the "Entanglements" single by August Alsina. More on that later.
How it works: Each song will get a short review followed by a Tinder-style rating of swipe right or swipe left. For Tinder context, swipe right means approval, and swipe left means rejection.
The same concept applies to this series, but instead of the swipe deciding sex or no sex, they dictate stream or no stream.
Disclaimer: If the intro didn't give it away, this series is freer than other articles on SoundSports. Bias will show. Jokes will flow. If you happen to be a recruiter trying to gauge my fit in your company, pick another article.
DJ Khaled "Popstar" ft. Drake
DJ Khaled's role in music doesn't get talked about enough, but that's an article for another day.
For now, just know these two major points:
Artist verses on Khaled songs are an accurate scale of the artist's current form.
Khaled placements serve as the early rollout for many artists.
Evidenced by any DJ Khaled project, artists tend to give the producer unfinished ideas or the rejects from their projects. Sometimes Khaled turns those scraps into hits and sometimes those scraps sound like, well, scraps.
Here's where things get tricky for me and simple for Khaled.
When an artist like Drake is involved, scraps are no longer scraps. For example, an album of Drake's "scraps" sold over 100,000 first-week units and went number one on Billboard last year.
So does Drake rapping about nothing and rhyming "my girl" back-to-back-to-back-to-back sound like scraps? Absolutely.
But it's Drake, so Rolling Stone says it has song of the summer potential and it's currently number one on iTunes charts.
Swipe: Left
DJ Khaled x Drake "Greece"
I've been listening to "Greece" in this exact quality and runtime since March. The Khaled ad-libs were the only addition, and that told me everything I needed to know.
Remember those two points about Khaled's music earlier, well, "Greece" and "Popstar" are evidence of both.
Drake's been hinting at his album for months, and these two singles are the official start of that rollout. Both songs focus on throwaway subjects like Drake being rich and Drake being famous, but it's the sonic difference between the two that makes me interested in his upcoming album.
"Greece" doesn't sound like anything Drake has ever done in his career, leaving many people to accuse Drake of biting The Weeknd's sound.
Is there some semblance of Starboy-era The Weeknd on "Greece"? Yes, but that shouldn't be the main takeaway.
There's a much bigger problem at hand.
Drake is Thanos but with two hands worth of infinity stones now.
Drake has added the Starboy sound to his gauntlet of UK drill, Atlanta trap, New Orleans bounce, dancehall afrobeat, trap R&B sound collection. This next album could go in any direction to break all streaming records.
Swipe: Right
Joey Bada$$ The Light Pack
The Light: The days of me playfully hating on someone I actually like just to spark conversation with loved ones is over.
I did it with Derrick Rose, and I still regret not savoring his prime. I did it with Chance the Rapper, and he dropped The Big Day. I did it with Joey Bada$$, and he went away for three years.
"The Light" is the first solo track from Joey Bada$$ since 2017, and it sounds like it.
The track feels you in on his mindstate since his last release with lines like," I admit it, I was gone for a lil' minute, it's like I lost my glow, yo, my inner light was dimmin'. "
Then he does a complete 180, going from vulnerable confessions to confident predictions.
If the lyrics of "The Light" come true, his next project will cement him as a top-5 rapper, win him a Grammy, and end mumble rap.
Swipe: Right
No Explanation: This song was allegedly finished around August 2018, which served as the peak popularity of Pusha T. To say my expectations were high would be an understatement.
Lyrically, I was not let down.
Joey's first verse paints him as the chosen voice of a generation, and Pusha T's verse is a nice response to his most common criticism of only rapping about crack. But it's the final verse from Joey that makes the song and reminds you how special he is.
He flips a Wizard of Oz reference into a gun bar, then carries that same reference across almost every other bar in the verse.
My breakdown probably doesn't do it justice, but go read the lyrics and try to spot every reference. It's like a lyrical spot the differences game, but instead of differences, it's references.
That's actually a good game idea.
This article is evidence of SoundSports' monetary claim to a future spot the references music game. Any attempt to monetize a spot the references music game without SoundSports' expressed written consent will be met with legal action.
Swipe: Right(if lyrics are your thing, otherwise Left)
Shine: Sampling Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" is like a 10 posting "not looking for anything serious"; it's an instant swipe right followed by the thought that it's too good to be true.
In the Tinder case, the 10 was probably a catfish, but in Joey's case, the automatic swipe right was a song about the importance of artistic control.
The 25-year-old Joey Bada$$ has been getting offers thrown at him since high school, making him the perfect blend of age, talent, and experience to preach the importance of ownership.
The song, much like the rest of the EP, won't attract much attention on its surface level, but it's a needed message.
Swipe: Right
The Kid LAROI "Tell ME WHY"
The Kid LAROI had a standout feature on Juice WRLD's album, so I decided to follow his next moves. Not to suck myself off or anything, but that was a great decision because this guy seems destined to blow.
"Tell Me Why" is currently trending on Youtube, and it's not hard to see why.
Most Juice WRLD fans probably thought like me and were met with a song that many consider a direct tribute to Juice. The Kid LAROI's connection to his mentor Juice WRLD along with his age(16 years old) and genre(real emo thug is his Twitter handle) all point towards him being the next emo-rap superstar.
This single is a good start.
Swipe: Right
Wizkid "Smile" ft. H.E.R.
Last week, I swiped left on a reggae-style H.E.R. single. This week will not be the same.
I don't know if it's like when an attractive person stands next to another attractive person and becomes more attractive, but H.E.R. next to WizKid on this reggae single sounds way better than H.E.R. alone on her own reggae single. In fact, H.E.R. sounds perfect on this song.
Time will tell if the song charts near its quality, but it's as much of a summer vibe as anything I've heard this year.
Swipe: Right
August Alsina "Entanglements" ft. Rick Ross
At what point does Will Smith shoot August Alsina?
This isn't even me coming from a place of toxic masculinity. Or maybe it is. I don't know. But I do know August has crossed whatever slim line existed in the swinger code of ethics, and Will has to shoot him.
I honestly believe he can beat the case too. All Will has to do is present the following lyrics:
Exhibit A.) "You just want a nigga that's gon' break your back".
Exhibit B.) "Girl, you fuckin' with a youngin', I be doin' shit you like, don't do talkin' when I see you, all your hear's love sounds, goin' round for round, you want a nigga that take you down."
Exhibit C.) "I'ma pull up when he dip."
Exhibit D.) "Girl I know I fucked up your hair, lay you down, and hit it right there."
Exhibit E.) The hook alone!
To add more insult to injury, Rick Ross, who has nothing to do with the situation, is on the song doing double entendres with Will and Jada's names and referencing Tupac.
Oh, and there's a bounce sample scattered across the track. August wants people to dance to stories of him and Jada.
Again, at what point does Will Smith shoot August Alsina?
Swipe: Right(regret it after)
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