April has brought along a few albums worth listening to. Check them out.
dvsn
“Sept. 5th”
Canadian producer-singer duo dvsn (pronounced “division”) was a mystery because the two artists only had a few songs online by the time their debut album, “Sept. 5th,” came out last week. But the two have been generating some buzz thanks to Drake signing them to his label, October’s Very Own, in February. The duo’s song “With Me” gained some attention when it was played on OVO Sound Radio’s seventh episode on Beats 1 radio. “Sept. 5th” is a great album, and Drake’s co-sign should be enough reason for you to listen. OVO has been killing it in 2016 with one of the better albums already released in 2016 coming from labelmate Majid Jordan. Meanwhile, Drake is set to release an album this month, and PARTYNEXTDOOR will do the same later this year. dvsn is next up, and you need to stop sleeping on them and listen to “Sept. 5th” ASAP.
TWENTY88
“TWENTY88”
Last week, Big Sean and Jhene Aiko announced they were forming a duo and then released their first album together under the artist name “TWENTY88” on Friday. Big Sean and Jhene Aiko have collaborated a few times in the past and have always made great music together. Big Sean and Jhene Aiko forming a duo and releasing an Extended Play was surprising and seemed too good to be true when rumors started circulating on Twitter. At first, “TWENTY88” was only available for purchase on iTunes and streaming on TIDAL, but the album became available to stream everywhere on Tuesday. “TWENTY88” is dope and a must-listen.
Terrace Martin
“Velvet Portraits”
While I usually cover hip-hop, I think a lot of hip-hop fans could appreciate the new album from Terrace Martin. This extremely talented jazz and funk musician has worked with a lot of different artists. Terrace Martin contributed a lot to Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly,” with production credits on many of the songs. If you’ve heard a saxophone or other jazz instruments on “TPAB,” it was probably Martin. “Velvet Portraits” is extremely chill and has both lyrical songs and instrumentals. Take a listen while you’re studying or laying out by the pool ignoring your responsibilities. The album can be purchased on iTunes or streamed on the Bandcamp app.
Kanye West
“The Life of Pablo”
While “The Life of Pablo” has been out since February, you were only able to stream the album through TIDAL — until Friday. West finally made the album available on all streaming services and available to purchase at shop.kanyewest.com. If you were one of the 500,000 or more who pirated “The Life of Pablo,” you might want to stream the album on whichever service you use, because Kanye has made numerous changes to several of the songs. Many of the edits are added vocals or smaller lyric changes. When the album was first released, many fans wanted the original version of “Wolves” that featured Vic Mensa and Sia instead of the solo version. Well, Yeezy heard the fans and replaced “Wolves” with the original version but still kept Frank Ocean’s part as its own song. Kanye has made it clear he’s going to continue making changes to his album, so stream “The Life of Pablo” to keep up with the latest edits.
