Album Review: Saturation 1-3 by BROCKHAMPTON

BROCKHAMPTON is a 15 member strong rap collective who call themselves the “All American Boy Band”. The member of this group are from mostly Texas and Florida but have members from Connecticut and all the way from Northern Ireland. You may be wondering where these guys met. These people met on a Kanye West forum ever since dropped a mixtape under the name BROCKHAMPTON and since then have been making music under that name.

The Saturation series is three albums all released in the same year with about one to four months in between each release. The crazy thing is that each album (which are about 15-16 tracks or about 44 minutes each) are all of very high quality. Today I wanted to talk about these three great albums.

Saturation 1 or Saturation released on June 9th, 2017.

First is the amazing album Saturation, this is their first studio album but their second project following their mixtape All American Trash. First I want to talk about STAR. The song STAR. The song basically uses celebrities or stars to create wordplay like the line “Chris Paul, I’m assisting” or “I’m going interstellar, I feel like Matthew McConaughey”. The beat is similar to older rap using background music that sounds like actual instruments unlike other rap that used drums and of the like its used something akin to a horn.

Next, I wanted to talk about GOLD. This song shows off more of the collective’s rap chemistry with the handoffs they do in the song. This song has a darker atmosphere, which is something that BROCKHAMPTON does a lot in their music. This song has a something that sounds like a bongo drum and a sound that’s similar to a bottle being hit.

Finally, I wanted to talk about the track FACE. This a more soothing track, with a slower drum beat accompanied by a guitar-like strum.  It’s a love song with hints of depression which isn’t new for BROCKHAMPTON, the topics of love and depression. This track is a must listen period.

Saturation 2 was released on August 25, 2017

The second studio album and third project of BROCKHAMPTON. More of the same high-quality music here such as the track GUMMY. GUMMY starts off in the most misleading way possible, so much as saying it here. The beat is more based on this whining sound, it’s really nice yet hard to describe.

Next, I wanted to talk about SWEET. This song is more Arabian based sound wise with a flute-like instrument in the background. This track the questions you get when you’re moving on in life like “shouldn’t you have a big ass ego?” or “shouldn’t your mom be done paying the house?” It’s really interesting to hear the collective’s opinion on success and graduating high school.

Finally, I want to talk about JELLO. This is more fast-paced that talks about making friends and it talks about the start of the group and how they became BROCKHAMPTON. This song focuses on a faster-paced drum beat and a guitar.

Saturation 3 released on December 15, 2017

This the third and final of the Saturation trilogy, Saturation 3. This album is a fitting end and has my favorite BROCKHAMPTON song on it BLEACH. BLEACH is a more chill, soothing song with a sad chorus sung by Ryan Beatty. It gives me a nostalgic feeling that I can’t describe anything about.

Next, I want to talk about BOOGIE. It was the teaser track for this album. This song is more exhilarating and brings more to the chemistry of BROCKHAMPTON. It almost gives off party atmosphere with the horn-like sound in the background. It really makes you want to dance to it.

Finally, I want to talk a lesser appreciated track, LIQUID. It’s about the problems one of the members faced when he was younger. It’s a sadder track akin to FACE or BLEACH. It has a slower piano beat that’s stripped back to focus on the lyrics.

These three albums are amazing, I highly recommend these three albums to any fan of music as BROCKHAMPTON is one of the best rap collectives that is currently making music.

The link to all these songs is going to be right here in a spotify playlist.

Update: They just recently announced their next studio album Puppy right after canceling Team Effort to be released in Summer 2018.

Album Review: Vaudeville Villan by Viktor Vaughn

MF DOOM’s mask that he’s known for, is based on the Marvel villain Doctor Doom

Viktor Vaughn is one of many aliases of New York rapper MF DOOM. This rapper has existed a while before my time, around 1999 when he dropped his debut album Operation Doomsday. Ever since that album MF DOOM has been the face of underground rap, slowly gaining popularity through albums like Mm… Food, Madvillany, and this album Vaudeville Villan. MF DOOM has gone under names like Viktor Vaughn or Madvillain, either way, this rapper has a long history that spans many years and the popularity he has shows that.

 

Vaudeville Villian was released on September 16th, 2003. It’s crazy that this album is 15  years old this year and yet I’m just getting around to this. This album is 17 tracks long featuring tracks like Saliva,  Raedawn, A Modern Day Mugging. Even though I’m not going to talk about it in detail, Open Mic Night Pt.1 and Open Mic Night Pt.2 as the skit and song combo that these two tracks create as if you’re in an open mic night yourself listening to upcoming artists can’t be overlooked.

The first track I want to talk about is called Saliva. This track shows the main appeal of MF DOOM in general, great flows, great lyricism and a focus on the actual words opposed to the trend today that puts a focus on background beats sacrificing complex lyrics. The beat feels like a product of the time, more bombastic but still feels dark and foreboding, that’s just his style.

This is the song, I highly recommend it.

Next, I want to talk about Raedawn. This track gives more of MF DOOM’s style of more, darker, unsettling background tracks over high-quality lyrics. but this background track is an outlier track with how off-putting it is. It’s hard to put into words but there’s a drumbeat that is covered by this weird unsettling almost creepy effect that can be described as a record scratch. Either way, this track is great.

Here’s this great track.

Finally, I want to talk about one of my personal favorite tracks on this project, Lactose and Lecithin. This track is one of the best examples of MF DOOM’s crazy good flow. This track is one of my favorite songs in general, the darker, more intense sound, the flow is smooth like always. The intro to this track gives off the supervillain motif that he tries to push with his mask and all.

This song is fire

I love this album, it’s really good. It’s a darker version of rap that you just don’t get any more. I recommend this album to those who really like rap and like really good flows.

Next time I plan to marathon one of my favorite rap groups BROCKHAMPTON starting with Saturation.