Future’s 2024 Run
It is undeniable how good of a year Future had in 2024, earning three Number One Albums on the Billboard Chart and clearly shifting the culture with his two joint albums with Metro Boomin. He may not have the global impact of Kendrick Lamar, but for an established legend and pioneer for Trap Music, having one of the best years for a Hip Hop artist in recent memory, is crazy over ten years into his career! With their already existing classic catalogue, we knew Future & Metro’s collaborative effort would be special, especially after being in the works for two years. Starting off with ‘WE DON’T TRUST YOU’ this is clearly the best project as it holds the strongest performances from Future, Metro and all the featured artists. I particularly love Metro’s use of the vocals from late Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy, where he tells us which rappers he hates the most. With the incorporation of this clip throughout the promotional material and whole album, it provided a level of cohesiveness to listeners and a thematic framework embedding all the themes and messages into ‘WE DON’T TRUST YOU’. Although it is overall a quality album, the repercussions following the release will be the main factor for it to be considered a future classic. Reminiscent of 2017’s ‘FUTURE’ & ‘HNDRXX’, the follow up album ‘WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU’ would be more R&B focused. Although it contains stand out melodic performances, I feel like half the songs struggle to land. The additional ‘WSDTY’ Disc 2 and ‘MIXTAPE PLUTO’ provide extra tracks for fans, with a classic raw disjointed approach, serving as a thank you and proving Future’s constant output.
WE DON’T TRUST YOU (4/5 🔁)
Favourite Tracks:
‘We Don’t Trust You’, ‘Young Metro’, ‘Type Shit’, ‘Like That’, ‘Fried (She a Vibe)’ & ‘WTFYM’
WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU (3.5/5 🔁)
Favourite Tracks:
‘We Still Don’t Trust You’, ‘Drink N Dance’, ‘Out Of My Hands’, ‘All to Myself’, ‘Nights Like This’ & ‘Streets Made Me A King’
MIXTAPE PLUTO (3/5 🔁)
Favourite Tracks:
‘LIL DEMON’, ‘SKI’ & ‘BRAZZIER’
Kendrick Lamar - GNX
Off the back of his relentless year, it felt like, Kendrick Lamar had the whole world waiting and willing to stop whatever they were doing to hear what he had to say next. Dot popped back out in November with a 12 track project, heavily inspired by the West Coast, giving a window into his mindset after all events that had transpired. Setting the tone straight away with the intro ‘wacced out murals’, Kendrick provides a raw and unapologetic perspective clearly declaring what type of timing he is on. Toning it down with more fun songs like ‘squabble up’, ‘hey now’, ‘peekaboo’ and clear Super Bowl Stadium slapper ‘tv off’. The album also includes brilliant introspective tracks: ‘man at the garden’ calmly spitting why he deserves that top spot, ‘reincarnated’ channeling past lives of exhilarating artists over a Tupac sample and ‘heart pt.6’ where K.Dot reflects on his early years in the industry and time at Top Dawg Entertainment, leading to his eventual departure. Old label mates and unstoppable collaborators Kendrick & SZA come together for Number One hit ‘luther’ and beautiful outro track ‘gloria’, Lamar also includes many West Coast artists on the project where they all have their own distinct moment. Whilst each feels authentic to their character, the track and overall project, some are clearly better than others, with specifically Az Chike on ‘peekaboo’ having the best performance. Taking a more stripped back approach with his sixth studio album, ‘gnx’ definitely grew on me a lot with all twelve tracks serving their own purpose, it definitely feels like riding round in a black Grand National!
Favourite Tracks:
‘wacced out murals’, ‘luther’, ‘man at the garden’, & ‘dodger blue’
4.5/5 🔁
Tyler, The Creator - CHROMAKOPIA
After killing off his most recent alter ego “Tyler Baudelaire” in the 2023 ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ Music Video and breaking his bi-yearly album cycle, there was intrigue amongst fans as to what direction Tyler would go in next. Unexpectedly, announcing his eighth studio album ‘CHROMAKOPIA’ in October 2024, Tyler wasted no time promoting the project with the intitial explosive trailer, followed the next day by the album's name, release date and cover art announcement. Adding to the excitement green shipping containers would appear across America and additional short music video teasers would be released building up all the anticipation. Breaking the industry standard, Tyler would make a bold move by releasing ‘CHROMAKOPIA’ on a Monday morning. He felt by doing this people would have more time “to dive in and really listen”, reflecting his desire for the albums intention. With the concept being pretty much unknown, the album ended up being his most personal and definitely most mature body of work covering his complex emotions with themes of Reflection, Love, Paranoia that comes with Fame, the fear of starting a family due to his own trauma and that self belief which allows him to be so confident with his work. Although some may think, this album does not introduce a character or persona but rather a symbolic manifestation of who Tyler is, with his self awareness and vulnerability on full display despite the mask.
Favourite Tracks: ‘St Chroma’, ‘Rah Tah Tah’, ‘Noid’, ‘Darling, I’, ‘Sticky’, ‘Tomorrow’ & ‘Like Him’
3.5/5 🔁
CORTEIZ X NIKE Air Trainer Huarache “ONYX”
Another crazy collaboration from Nike & Corteiz, this time taking on the Air Huaraches. Coming in three colour ways only getting better with each instalment, this crep once again comes in the specialised box with additional CRTZ & Nike gold Dog tags attached. Owning the ‘Light Bone’ and ‘Triple Black’ colour ways, the latter is definitely my favourite and the best with it being the only Huarache to ever include real Pony Hair. The London based brand continues to level up with interactive real life events like “DA MANNY MAZE” & New York Newsstand Pop Up proving why CRTZ RULES THE WORLD. I might not recommend driving and walking around in these all day but they’re still a perfect shoe!!!
5/5 🔁
Playboi Carti - MUSIC
With the most anticipated Rap album of recent memory, all Carti had to do was literally drop and even that seemed hard as he was still making changes hours after it was meant to be out .. ANYWAY .. Playboi Carti definitely delivered with his 30 track third studio album giving off chaotic mixtape vibes, filled with features and his own evolving styles. Funnily enough those positives I just listed can also be negatives, in retrospect ‘MUSIC’ is disjointed and could be quite jarring listening front to back - then again Carti literally told us in 2022: “Music because that’s all it is at this point.” and that’s exactly what it is, with songs for everyone on this project. To say Carti seems to be a perfectionist throughout his whole career this album feels like he didn’t really care which could be a result of the drastic changes and years of delaying. Carti is at the biggest point of his career commercially with ‘MUSIC’ being not only his highest selling album first week but the overall highest selling rap album in 2025. Even though this project did feel safe, Carti is still such a polarising artist so it doesn’t really matter cos if you don’t like it You’ll catch up later.
Favourite Tracks:
‘RATHER LIE’ with The Weeknd, ‘TOXIC’ with Skepta, ‘CRANK’, ‘LIKE WEEZY’ & ‘FOMDJ’
3.5/5 🔁
I still look forward too and have high hopes for “BABY BOI” if that ever drops..
Read more about ‘MUSIC’S MAIN CHARACTER’ Playboi Carti in RELOAD MAGAZINE ISSUE 5.
The Studio
The latest comedy from the great minds of duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg known for: Superbad, Pineapple Express, This Is The End, The Interview - The Studio shows the two at their visual best and most mature as they poke fun at [and display] the modern madness in Hollywood. Providing another heavy hitter for Apple TV +, The Studio is a smart and self aware show that provides a fresh take on the American Satirical cringe comedy genre, stylishly achieving this through the cinematography, production design and costumes. Despite the chaotic rhythm and constant humour the show gives off, all these impressive additions are still very much clear. Even with the scale of seemingly impossible shots, the show is made through the amazing ensemble casting: Seth Rogen (Matt Remick), Kathryn Hahn (Maya Mason), Ike Barinholtz (Sal Saperstein), Chase Sui Wonders (Quinn Hacket), Catherine O’Hara (Patty Leigh) and Bryan Cranston (Griffin Mill). PLUS an array of crazy cameos, some of my favourites being: Martin Scorsese, Anthony Mackie, Zoë Kravitz, Dave Franco and Ice Cube. Season One is mainly episodic with each episode having a standalone central issue that needs to be resolved by Matt and the team, however the overarching storyline results in a satisfying Two-Part Finale conclusion that is wacky yet heartwarming. Definitely one of my favourite shows in recent times, can’t wait for Season Two!
5/5 🔁
PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake - $ome $exy $ongs 4 U
Maybe I was just sad on Valentine’s Day and that was the reason it was a painful first listen but this album has heavily grew on me the past few months. Definitely not a perfect project as it is at times bloated, like most recent Drake albums there are still many hidden gems. ‘$$$4U’ marks a solid return to form for an artist whose back was against the wall. With clear standouts ‘SOMETHING ABOUT YOU’, ‘SOMEBODY LOVES ME’ and the amusing ‘NOKIA’ proving Drake can still get an organic catchy hit, I much prefer the R&B deep cuts like ‘RAINING IN HOUSTON’, ‘GREEDY’ to the thrown in Rap tracks ‘BRIAN STEEL’, ‘GIMME A HUG’ that feel forced. I further appreciate the experimenting including the interlude ‘PIMMIE’S DILEMMA’ and trying out a different style of song with ‘DIE TRYING’ which much better portrays Drake’s mindset whilst still offering great performances from PND & Yebba. Both providing the most refreshing and some of best moments on the project. As well as the music, I really enjoyed the aesthetic of this album from the teasers, physical CDs, Vinyls, Zines and the overall art direction which was heavily sculpted by Ben Dorado, Drake’s frequent collaborator. ‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U’ is a long overdue full collaboration project from PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake bringing that signature sound the two have created whilst still managing to pull some rabbits out of the hat !
Favourite Tracks:
‘CN TOWER’, ‘SOMETHING ABOUT YOU’, ‘NOKIA’, ‘DIE TRYING’, & ‘GREEDY’
3.5/5 🔁
JACKBOYS, Travis Scott - JACKBOYS 2
With the second compilation album being teased all year long by Travis Scott and the Cactus Jack crew, it finally arrived on the fitting Houston 713 Day. Now with new members: SoFaygo & Wallie The Sensei, PLUS a star studded collection of appearances from Waka Flocka, 21 Savage, Playboi Carti, Future, NBA YoungBoy, GloRilla, Tyla, Vybz Kartel and more! Hosted by Houston rap legend Bun B, the 17 tracks really feel like a party that’s all over the place (whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing I’m not sure). Offering some stand out performances from the Cactus Jack members, the messy release does align with some of Travis’ recent criticisms that can’t really be denied..
Pulling on different flows and sounds, it was a very abrasive first listen but I do think the songs will grow once given further listens. Despite, being released on a Sunday ‘JACKBOYS 2’ commercially will do well with it likely set to debut at Number One due to the die-hard fans and physical bundles. I‘m probably being too critical cos it’s still was a fun listen and I do really like some of the tracks, maybe my expectation was too high.
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