One Friday brings five new releases

Friday, March 24, was one of the greatest days for music in months. Not only were fans surprised by a brand new Kendrick Lamar track along to go with the release date with his new album, but Gorillaz had released their first new songs in years featuring multiple prominent artists, and Raekwon, Goldlink, and Mike WiLL Made-It all had albums come out the same day. So how do the releases stack up?

1. Kendrick Lamar released his new track, “The Heart Part 4,” his first new music since Untitled, Unmastered released in March 2016. In the track, Lamar raps at several different speeds to several different beats, and provides his own chorus at the beginning of the song. Lamar takes an aggressive tone against naysayers and takes shots at fellow rappers Big Sean and Drake. Kendrick also disses Donald Trump on the song and announces a potential release date for his next album, which was April 7. The production is diverse and grabs the ear. When Kendrick changes the speed of his rhyming, he does so seamlessly, and the track leaves fans anticipating a new album. The song also leaves the potential of a feud between two of the biggest names in hip-hop, Drake and Kendrick, as well as a feud between Big Sean and Kendrick — one that has been brewing for years. “The Heart Part 4” gets an 8.5 out of 10.

2. British band and cult favorites Gorillaz released their first new music in almost seven years with their four singles “Saturn Barz feat. Popcaan,” “Andromeda feat. D.R.A.M.,” “Ascension feat. Vince Staples” and “We Got The Power feat. Jehnny Beth.” Each individual single is great in its own right and can be categorized into different genres of music. The genre of the tracks range from hip-hop on “Ascension” to a reggae/techno sound on “Saturn Barz.” The production on each track is great, the featured artists take the spotlight while Gorillaz limits their vocal involvement, and it works well. There isn’t an obvious story or theme to the tracks, but the songs are taken off Gorillaz’ upcoming album Humanz, so maybe a theme will be more evident on the album. Gorillaz’ four new singles get a collective 8 out of 10.

3. Wu-Tang Clan frontman and hip-hop legend Raekwon dropped his new album The Wild. The album is plentiful with high-profile features. Lil Wayne, CeeLo Green, P.U.R.E., Andra Day and G-Eazy all are featured on the album, and none of the features misses a mark. The album is very reminiscent of 1990s East Coast Rap, and is meant to represent Raekwon’s early years of life in the streets, as well as the stories of people who still live there. The intro track is not a great start. Raekwon raps in spoken-word form and it doesn’t seem fit the tone of the rest of the album, but Raekwon makes up for it with the two songs that follow. There are a couple throwaway tracks — and when those songs are removed, it becomes clear that this album would have better been suited as an EP. Production quality varies track to track. At its best, the production is great. At its worst, the production is fairly subpar. Overall, the album is not without its faults, but is still a good listen. Raekwon’s The Wild gets a 7.5 out of 10.

4. Goldlink is an artist who has been woefully overlooked ever since his first mixtape The God Complex was released in July 2014. Despite the mixtape being ranked 19 on Spin’s Top 40 Hip-Hop albums and being included on XXL Magazine’s 2015 Freshman list, his follow up mixtape And After That, We Didn’t Talk was met with great critical success but limited commercial success. Hopefully Goldlink will receive proper recognition with his new album, At What Cost, released March 24. Goldlink on his past projects has been praised for his storytelling ability, and that holds true with At What Cost. The album is Goldlink’s tribute to his hometown of Washington D.C. Goldlink was quoted in an interview with Vibe as saying, “My biggest influence is my city…. We have our own lingo, our own culture…. It 100 percent shaped me into the person I’ve turned into.” From songs about night life such as “Herside Story” to the feature of fellow D.C. native and rapper Wale, this album is a testimony to Goldlink’s love for his city. Goldlink does a great job of switching up his flow from song to song. His rhythm is never repeated from the previous song, and his features add and don’t hinder the track. The one negative is the production. There is too much going on throughout the album with the sound. Songs like “Summatime” and “Herside Story” have a distinct R&B sound whereas songs like “We Will Never Die” and “Crew” have heavy trap beats. The lyrics by Goldlink also aren’t as clever or witty as his two prior mixtapes. Overall, At What Cost was a well-meaning message to Goldink’s hometown, but suffered from varying quality of production and inconsistent lyrics. At What Cost gets a 6.5 out of 10.

5.The last album to go over is producer Mike WiLL Made-It’s album Ransom 2. Mike WiLL is one of the most prominent producers in music today. He has produced songs for artists such as Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and many more. This album was a sequel to his 2014 mixtape, Ransom, which featured artists like Big Sean, Juicy J, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar. Ransom 2 is not lacking in starpower. Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Gucci Mane, 21 Savage, Rae Sremmurd and Pharrell Williams all make features on the album. The production itself isn’t too diverse — Mike WiLL mainly produces trap beats. The quality of the songs is dependent on the quality of the features. “Burnin feat. Andrea” and “Perfect Print feat. Kendrick Lamar, Gucci Mane and Rae Sremmurd” are a couple examples of songs that have great features, but songs like “Hasselhoff feat. Lil Yachty” and “Razzle Dazzle feat. Future” are examples of songs with weak features that do the album a disservice. There is no story or theme to the album, the album was made just for the sake of making songs, as most producer albums are and there are just as many hits as there are misses in terms of the tracks. For that, Ransom 2 gets a 5.5 out of 10.