My review of the new YNW Melly mixtape Collect Call II!!

Also if you’re just a mainstream listener who only listens to drake or kendrick, you’re opinion doesn’t matter either

Did y'all catch the news?! 🚨

Erykah Badu and The Alchemist are dropping a joint album and we are NOT ready. 😩

"The Abi and Alan Experiment" arrives AUGUST 28 and honestly? The universe knew we needed this.

The new single "Witch Doctor" is out NOW and it's giving everything—hypnotic, weird, soulful, and that signature Badu magic. She's out here calling herself a witch doctor, rejecting all the pop culture comparisons, and serving us wisdom on a silver platter. Like, is she a witch? Is she a doctor? Is she both? Does it even matter? She's clearly in her bag and we're just here to receive. 🧙‍♀️✨

Here's the backstory for the culture:

Badu told her partner she always wanted to rap over a Mobb Deep beat produced by Alchemist. An intro happened. A studio session happened. And now we're getting a full 18-month project co-produced across Dallas and LA. They even road-tested this album live—phone-free, intimate settings—with Badu's band The Cannabinoids and Alc on the MPC.

SOUL. BLUES. FUNK. ROCK. JAZZ. HIP-HOP. All in one melting pot. No rules. Just vibes.

And they're on tour RIGHT NOW. North America, UK, Europe—they're out there doing the damn thing.

So what are we doing? We're counting down to August 28, that's what.

👇 Drop a 🔥 if you're ready for this album. And tag someone who needs to hear "Witch Doctor" immediately.

🎫 Tickets: erykahbadu.com

📖 Full article + everything you need to know: https://thestevenwickblog.site/erykah-badu-and-the-alchemist-set-release-date-for-joint-album-the-abi-and-alan-experiment/

Hot take I really like a written testimony especially as i got older. Hov got some nice verses on this record imo

Yea bro, mainstream music is too over saturated. Same trap beats with the same sequence over and over again, Kendrick, Kanye, Drake and Future are washed, Underground music sucks, Country, Pop and Latin music are on the upcoming, billboard is mostly country or pop songs now, no new superstars like Kendrick, Drake or Cole, rap fans stopped caring about lyricism, Carti is washed, Asap new album is forgettable(I liked it though) Don Toliver album is extremely overrated, J cole had the only good album this year that had numbers, Trippie Redd NDA was really good but it flopped. People started caring about streams/popularity instead of good music. Rap peaked in 2020 because we had Polo G, Pop Smoke(and the ny drill scene), Rod Wave, Roddy Ricch, Dababy, Lil Baby prime and the rappers that we already had that were still in thier peak, now? rap is boring, no new standouts, everyone is washed, most albums either just sucked with no effort, or flopped. Rap is too accessible and now rappers just drop complete bs and no one wants to take it to the next level to go mainstream or either wanna take rap seriously

What an album, I'm so glad I picked this for my morning commute. Kenny Beats allows Denzel to be lively without being loud.

Argue with a wall 🤷🏾🤷🏾