104: Smino - Luv 4 Rent (Album Review)

It’s here… the 2022 TVC Awards featuring a whole bunch of hosts and your favourite music critics Jon and Tope

This week Jon and Tope break down the joint LP from Drake and 21 Savage (Canadian-British project).

Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (35:48) BINA intro; expression & music as a necessity (50:15) “Humble Abode” EP, “This is Not A Film” EP, learning the guitar (01:01:28) Honesty in music, Boundaries (01:12:08) Blackjack, sense of identity (01:22:45) Looking ahead

Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (04:03) Big Steppers Concert review (09:32) New releases and Latest News (22:27) Smino intro, Album Art (30:25) First impressions of “Luv 4 Rent” (37:14) Features (44:03) No L’s , cyclical nature of album (4rm Da Source & Curtains); favourite and least favourite tracks (01:04:41) Closing thoughts

This week we chat in the studio with Twyce, winner of Cord Social’s ‘Up Next’ competition

Timestamps: (00:00) Intro, Spotlight Series #103 (05:33) New releases and Latest News (27:21) Kamzo Intro, “Sent Back Podcast” the public perception of Lil Baby (37:55) Looking back on Lil Baby and Gunna, the lead single “Heyy” and the Budweiser advert (50:18) General thoughts on “It’s Only Me” (01:11:58) Best tracks (01:27:37) From Now On (ft. Future), comparing Lil Baby to Future; Lil Baby’s career moving forward (01:32:55) Closing thoughts

Timestamps: (00:00) Intro, Spotlight Series #102 (05:51) New releases and Latest News (28:11) Ope intro, the hip-hop landscape in 2012 (40:56) Favourite tracks on GKMC - what makes GKMC special? (51:43) The Art of Peer Pressure - GKMC’s qualities compared to TPAB (01:01:12) Deluxe tracks - TPAB’s succeeding qualities (01:10:37) Album of the decade? What happened to that film? (01:18:38) Looking at later Kendrick works

Timestamps: (00:00) Intro, Spotlight Series #101 (04:19) New releases and Latest News (19:41) Hamza intro (29:26) Freddie Gibbs’ run between his last solo project and now (37:47) Initial thoughts on $oul $old $eparately (46:23) Album skits; album singles (Dark Hearted, Too Much); Gold Rings (56:35) Feel No Pain (ft. Anderson .Paak & Raekwon), Lobster’s Omelette; Album themes (01:06:38) Rabbit Songs (Space Rabbit, Rabbit Vision), Grandma’ Stove, PYS (01:15:13) Pain & Strife, Zipper Bagz, CIA, Benny The Butcher beef (01:23:26) Decoded, how $$$ contributes to Freddie’s legacy

This week we interview Jon and Tope, co-hosts and creators of “The Vinyl Collective”, a weekly music journal on the hip-hop and R&B landscape, to discuss the pair reaching their milestone of 2 years and 100 episodes. Timestamps : (00:00) Intro, Spotlight Series #100 (10:08) New tracks and Latest News (29:48) Interview with The Vinyl Collective: Part 1 (01:08:42) Interview with The Vinyl Collective: Part 2

Timestamps:  (00:00) Intro, Spotlight Series #99  (05:14) New Music & Latest News  (27:38) Main topic intro - Context for what change means and putting artists in categories  (41:28) Artists changing and producing a split fan base  (51:27) Do artists need to be multi-faceted?  (01:10:47) Can classics come out of one-dimensional artists?  (01:19:17) Closing, Now and Then playlist