| Not No Number One: Isaiah Rashad’s “Nelly” | September 24, 2015 |
Isaiah Rashad returns to pay tribute to the greatest of all St. Lunatics.
| The End of Days: Ab-Soul’s New Album | July 8, 2014 |
Max Bell carried the cross so you could play Candy Crush 2012’s Control System was an inspired and unforeseen coup. Ab-Soul brought inquisition and introspection, paranoia and conspiracy theories by the oz. There were hits of DMT, witty wordplay, and pineal gland prodding. It was the Carson native’s claim to the title of ‘Best Behind […]
| Isaiah Rashad – “Heavenly Father” | March 14, 2014 |
Max Bell went to Catholic school. Cilvia Demo is the best TDE release of 2014 thus far (review here). Oxymoron has its merits, but Rashad deals in introspection more poignantly. His wit and wordplay are sharper. His precocious wisdom is tempered by bursts of willful waywardness. In other words, he loves smoking trees and hates advice. So […]
| The Rise of Isaiah Rashad & TDE | February 4, 2014 |
Doc Zeus is from parts unknown. For an independent rap label approaching total rap game domination, you might not have noticed that Top Dawg Entertainment spent the majority of 2013 scarcely releasing music. After a run of multiple great releases in the two years leading up to Kendrick Lamar’s platinum-selling, Grammy-snubbed masterpiece, good kid, m.A.A.d […]
| Schoolboy Q: “Man of the Year” | January 17, 2014 |
Max Bell once owned a bucket hat. It’s Friday. You may or may not have shit to do. But if you’re already reading this, then you should take a few and watch Schoolboy’s video for “Man of the Year.” “Man of the Year” is a party in the trees as much as it is on […]
| Isaiah Rashad & SZA Have Love, Will Travel | November 11, 2013 |
Ain’t shit changed, but the lack of coast that Tosten Burks adopted. As Schoolboy readies Oxymoron, as Yeezy teaches K.Dot about leather jogging pants, as Ab-Soul keeps giving guest verses to every blog rapper and his mother’s extended family, as Jay Rock clings to people’s memory, TDE’s next generation extends further introduction. So far, they’re […]
| Mini-Doc: The Life and Fast Times of Black Hippy | August 26, 2013 |
Max Bell’s skyline is the clearest. Jay-Z’s second annual Budweiser Made In America Festival is this Labor Day weekend. Somehow Black Hippy aren’t at the top of the bill. Perhaps to rectify this (and many, many other things Jay-Z must atone for), Hov’s company Life+Times has released a short documentary (16 mins) chronicling TDE’s performances […]
| Sipping on Some SZA: TDE Expands | August 19, 2013 |
Will Hagle is warning you now: this post is acronym-heavy. Several days ago, Top Dawg Entertainment’s roster consisted entirely of Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul. Although there have been rumors that others were to join the label in the wake of its recent success, nothing was official until news broke yesterday that […]
| Schoolboy Q Just Wants to Party All the Time | August 20, 2012 |
Slava P wrote this while sipping Cabernet out of a Stanley Cup. As part of TDE appreciation week, Schoolboy Q released a new, Kenny Beats-produced track titled simply, “Party.” Now, if I showed up to a party and saw someone who resembled Schoolboy Q posted up against the wall, I would show myself out faster […]
Deen prefers his Kool-Aid unsweetened. Allow me to be slightly presumptuous and assume that you, the reader, have been reading my posts here. Maybe you may have detected some level of ambivalence in regards to everyone’s new darlings – the Top Dawg Entertainment guys. I’ve read a bunch of complimentary shit about these guys in […]
