New Hip Hop Adds: 2 Chainz, Denzel Curry

2 Chainz w/ Lil' Wayne - Collegrove: I'm going to come clean, I wasn't really a fan of 2 Chainz's music until I saw his webshow, Most Expensivest Shit. His unique sense of humor, self awareness, and rap persona definitely stand out in an era where plenty of rappers come off as glorified carbon copies of one another. So when I heard that he was coming out with a new project after being silent for several years, you know I had to hop on the hype train (even Kendrick couldn't distract me). Despite being formally dubbed as a 2 Chainz project, Collegrove is most definitely a spirited collaboration project between the former and Lil' Wayne. Featuring some hard hitting production from Metro Boomin' and Mike Will Made It, Chainz and Weezy exchange rhymes over some fun instrumentals. Both rappers manage to stay on par with each other, with Chainz's presence actually making Weezy sound listenable and enjoyable to me, which is very rare.  What's great about this project is that it never tries to be deeper or more insightful than it really is, and is just pure fun over it's entire course. While it's no classic, it's definitely a great album for its time and will receive some repeat plays from me for the next few months. Recommended tracks on here are Dedication and MFN Right. SHAWN

Denzel Curry - Imperial: aye. how y'all doin fam. A couple weeks ago that man Denzel surprise dropped Imperial on soundcloud. for those who don't know, it's the Carol City rapper's third major release following Nostalgic 64 (slap) and 32 Zel / Planet Shroom (also a slap to a lesser extent). What can I say? Homie can spit. Imperial sees him finessin over some spacier, slower beats than what's heard on his first two projects, but he makes it work. He's also experimenting a little bit more with singing and hooks so that's tight. Compared to his past projects, there are definitely less definitive bangers but its a solid project and he's definitely not slackin in any way as a lyricist. I fuck with ULT, Story: No Title, Knotty Head, Zenith, This Life. Don't fuck with Gook purely as a song title. JAISON