billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - july 20, 2019 (VIDEO)

Okay, so a bit of a rough episode, but it resolved alright enough...

Anyway, back to disappointments - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - july 20, 2019

So am I the only one who feels like all the album bombs I've been predicting just are not happening in the same way they used to? Maybe it's a matter of diminished hype or maybe the charts hitting equilibrium surrounding streaming so that larger numbers are demanded to break through, or hell, maybe it's just a lack of the truly big names shaking up the charts, but I was expecting impact from Dreamville and while we got a couple of songs, it really wasn't that many, which led to another slow week this summer for which I'm not complaining, but still seems bizarre.

video review: 'revenge of the dreamers iii' by dreamville

Well, this was a mess... but if you had heard the past two compilations from this label, it shouldn't be that surprising.

Anyway, I've got my sixth year anniversary come up on Wednesday, but first, Billboard BREAKDOWN - stay tuned!

album review: 'revenge of the dreamers iii' by dreamville

So I don't tend to cover label or posse collaborations projects, and believe it or not, I actually do have a reason. They're rarely focused or well-curated, the spread of talent isn't all that consistent, and it can be tough to pin down the exact mood of the thing, especially if you've got a collaboration with a bunch of bonafide spitters. Because on the one hand, they're trying to go bar-for-bar and there's some level of intensity... but on the other hand, it's all supposed to be casual and making a few moments of magic in the studio while you pass the blunt around, which can lead to some real tonal dissonance.

And if anything, I expected that to be all the more pronounced on the newest Dreamville collaboration. Now full disclosure, I did go back to hear the first two, and while they both had some striking moments, it was exactly what you'd expect from a label headed up by J. Cole, where in addition to my other issues, the early criticism is that a lot of his acts either sounded like him or were R&B singers - not always the best thing when the songs started losing focus. And given that I'm not the biggest J. Cole fan by any metric, I didn't have high expectations for Revenge Of The Dreamers III - yeah, J. Cole is in a very different space than he was in 2015 and he has a more diverse and well-rounded group around him, but I hadn't been impressed by the song that had charted and I wasn't really buying into the hype. Sure, it's longer - have to get those streams somehow - but isn't the point of a label collaboration to emphasize and promote that talent, not bring in guest appearances from over a dozen other acts?

But fine, this is going to be one of those overblown collaborations trying to simultaneously create hype and sound relaxed and creative, so again, low expectations... but what did we get out of Revenge Of The Dreamers III?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 29, 2019 (VIDEO)

Okay, this looks to be a pretty busy episode... eh, we'll see.

Next up, let's finally deal with the Raconteurs - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 29, 2019

There's something about this week that feels big. Not a lot of of new arrivals but we had two smash into the top 10, along with a few notable departures that give me the feeling that we're on the cusp of a major shakeup... although given that album bombs are a little less of a thing in 2019, I'm not sure I'm seeing the release on the horizon that's truly going to do it.

video review: 'dicaprio 2' by j.i.d.

I honestly did not expect to have this review ready to go for tonight... but it came together faster than I expected, which was nice to see. 

Next up, Resonators/Trailing Edge - stay tuned!

album review: 'dicaprio 2' by j.i.d.

I think my reaction to J.I.D. was pretty much the same as just about anyone who stumbled across him on hype alone, beginning with, 'okay, his voice is a little weird and pitchy but man he can flow', followed by 'my god, this guy's debut is seriously good', and of course followed by 'holy shit, J. Cole signed somebody to Dreamville who doesn't sound like him - and is actually quality!'

I kid - somewhat - but seriously, J.I.D. came right the hell out of nowhere for me and a lot of other people, and one of my biggest mistakes in 2017 was not reviewing his debut album The Never Story, mostly because it was a really damn good album but also because he's the sort of Atlanta rapper I don't feel gets enough attention - lyrical, but unconventional and offkilter in a way that reminded me of some of the old Dungeon Family crew, along with a fair bit of Lil Wayne, Kendrick, and Anderson .Paak. Now there were some moments that didn't quite click as strongly as I'd like from that debut, but given that the buzz for DiCaprio 2 was pretty high - a sequel to his breakthrough EP and following a string of pretty impressive guest verses, especially with Denzel Curry - I really was excited about this. So, what did we get from DiCaprio 2?