WSBU The Buzz

Review by Matt Mackenzie

RIYL: Hoodie Allen, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa

Recommended Tracks: Dang! (Track 2), Cinderella (Track 5), God is Fair, Sexy Nasty (Track 10)

Grade: A

Debuting back in 2007, Mac Miller entered the world of rap as an up and coming artist. Today he is well known because of albums like Blue Slide Park, Watching Movies With the Sound Off and GO:OD AM. Each of these albums was a hit with listeners and can be known as his classics. Now out with The Divine Feminine, his fans expected and got another hit album from the well-known rapper.

Listeners can distinctly tell the difference between rap and any other genre through the fast paced lyrics along with the rough and tough sound. Don’t expect that from The Divine Feminine. Mac Miller had the genius idea to slow it down to half speed but keep the semi-rough sound he is known for. With major collaborations with major artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Cee Lo Green, Ty Dolla $sign and Ariana Grande, Miller brings a fresh new sound to his music on the album.

Songs on the album such as “We,” “My Favorite Part,” and “Dang!” showcase their featuring artists with a verse or so, but even with their small part to the song, the artists make it probably ten times better. Other songs such as Cinderella and God is Fair, Sexy Nasty which feature Ty Dolla $ign and Kendrick Lamar showcase the featuring artist exquisitely through either the hook, chorus, or a collaborative verse with Miller.

The only downside I saw with this album was in the songs “Congratulations” and “God is Fair, Sexy Nasty.” In ”Congratulations,” the intro to the song can be found unnecessary since it just repeats “The Divine Feminine. An album by Mac Miller.” Now it can be imagined that the listener already knows these two pieces of information hence why they are listening to the album. The other part that can be seen unnecessary is the ending to “God is Fair, Sexy Nasty” where an older woman talks about her love affair with her husband. Taking about four minutes to get through the story, I saw it as a way to kill time and expand the songs length. It is understandable that this story be added since the majority of the album talks about Mac Miller’s experience with bad relationships, but I still was not a fan of the little ending story.

With exceptional background beats and lyricism flow, The Divine Feminism will most likely be seen as a hit for the later part of 2016. Fans can only hope for Miller to either continue to be this spectacular or exceed expectations. Tell your friends about this album and hope that they enjoy it as much as you did.

Review by Justin Myers

Recommended Tracks: “Pick Up the Phone,” “Wyclef Jean,” “Swizz Beatz,” “Kanye West”

RIYL: Rae Sremmurd, Travis Scott

Grade: B

With this new album, named JEFFERY, Young Thug put together very interesting tracks. Critics were skeptical about the album at first, not because of his music but his album cover, which he got roasted for on social media. Besides that, he named all of the tracks after his idols. I gave this album the grade of a B, as each song had very good beats behind it but some of the songs were just of him mumbling or yelling for no reason. For example, there is a song on the album named “Harambe” after the gorilla who was shot in the zoo, and I couldn’t tell you one word he said in that song. For Young Thug, this album was good overall and was one of his best albums that he has put out so far in his career.

Review by Daniel Nelligan

RIYL: The Wonder Years, The Front Bottoms and Real Friends

Grade: B+

Recommended Tracks: “Wedding Singer,” “Holy Ghost” and “Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind”

Holy Ghost by Modern Baseball is the band’s third album and they are back with more of the same sound that makes Modern Baseball great. From top to bottom, this album is filled with masterfully crafted songs, and even though I listed just my three personal favorite tracks, I recommend giving the whole album a listen.

As I previously said, Modern Baseball releases more of the pop punk sound they are known for, and on this album, their vocals are stronger than their previous two. Even though it seems we get a Modern Baseball album every 2 years, and we get the same style of sound from the band, the themes of this album do seem rather different than the last two.

It almost sounds like the band grew a little bit, and sing about serious problems. Brendan Lukens went to rehab and was diagnosed with manic depression, alcoholism, cutting behavior, and marijuana addiction, so some of that experience went into the writing on the album. Guitarist Jake Ewald wrote all the songs on the album’s A-side and Lukens did all of the songs for the B-side. I really recommend this album to anybody not only as a fan of this band but as pop punk in general.