2021 - HipHop

Daily Discussion Thread 01/06/2021
Album of the Year Write-Up #17: Spillage Village - Spilligion
Dr. Dre’s house targeted by burglars while in hospital
Dr. Dre - I Need A Doctor
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
MF DOOM RIP MURAL IN SAN DIEGO CA (Track: MF DOOM - Lunch Break (2020) (Prod. By Flying Lotus))
JPEGMAFIA x Freaky - Lets Hit a Lick On The White House!
Ice Cube - Arrest The President
N.W.A - Fuck The Police
Interview with DJ Kenn: At age 20, DJ Kenn from Japan, wanted to do something with his life. So without knowing any English, he moved to Southside Chicago alone to pursue music. There, he meets a young Chief Keef to help produce some of his earliest music.
[FRESH VIDEO] LUCKI - WIDEBODY
[FRESH] A-F-R-O - Big Belly
supportnothing - FUCK MITCH MCCONNELL
J Dilla - Fuck The Police
Pawns in the Game- Mac Dre ( Let’s remember not to type cast rappers as not being lyrical based on a hit record).
Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')
Chief Keef - Love No Thotties
Andre Nickatina - Train With No Love (Hidden Classic Rap track that deserves more recognition).
Thundercat - Tron Song
[FRESH VIDEO] Lil Durk & King Von - Still Trappin
Beast Coast - Left Hand (feat. Joey Bada$$, Flatbush Zombies, UA, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, & CJ Fly)
[FRESH] Key Glock - Off The Porch
Royce 5'9", Joe Budden, NORE discuss Eminem & Snoop Dogg situation (Jan. 5, 2021)
A Tribe Called Quest - Busta’s Lament (prod. J Dilla, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed & Bay-Lloyd)
Rio Da Yung OG sentences to 5 years in prison

Daily Discussion Thread 01/06/2021

Posted: 06 Jan 2021 09:28 AM PST

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Album of the Year Write-Up #17: Spillage Village - Spilligion

Posted: 06 Jan 2021 09:33 AM PST

Artist: Spillage Village

Album: Spilligion

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Background

Spillage Village is a hip-hop collective consisting of

The duo Earthgang, Olu and Wowgr8 (FKA Johnny Venus and Doctur Dot)
Rappers/Singers J.I.D, Jurdan Bryant, 6lack, Mereba, and Benji
Rapper/Producer Hollywood JB

Originally founded when Earthgang recruited JID who attended Hampton University with them. Hollywood JB met Olu at a block party, and also introduced them to his brother Jurdan Bryant. They released their first mixtape, Bears Like This in 2014. Later joining the group was Mereba and 6lack, the latter who was living at Earthgang's house. They released their second mixtape, Bears Like This Too, in 2015.

The group finally started to see some success when Earthgang appeared alongside J Cole on the DJ Khaled song Jermaine's Inuterlude, which was also produced by Hollywood JB. An extended version of the song became the first single for their next mixtape, Bears Like This Too Much, renamed Can't Call It. Their next mixtape had more mainstream collaborations including Dreamville members J Cole and Bas, as well as production from Mac Miller and Childish Major. Dreamville eventually signed Earthgang and JID, and all Spillage Village members sans Jurdan Bryant appeared on Revenge of the Dreamers 3.

The collective teased the release of their next project throughout 2020, with the release of singles End of Daze, Baptize, and Hapi, along with the announcement of new members Benji and (potentially/unverified) Deante Hitchcock. The album, titled Spilligion, was finally released on September 25.

Quick Member Overview

EarthGang: Olu and Wowgr8 (FKA Johnny Venus and Doctur Dot) make up EarthGang, an eccentric Atlanta hip-hop duo. Their often compared to Outkast, which is not unwarranted, given they share a similar frentic production style and quirky personalities, but they've certainly carved out their own lane for themselves in the Atlanta scene and proved they're more than an Outkast clone. The duo met in High School and released their first EP, The Better Party, in 2010. Since then, they've released a series of EPs, including the trilogy Rags, Robots, and Royalty, as well as their first two albums Shallow Grave For Toys and Strays With Rabies. By this time they'd built up quite a dedicated following, and dropped their debut Dreamville album Mirrorland in 2019 to mostly praise. Songs to start with are UP and Meditate.

J.I.D: Another Atlanta rapper known for his fast paced and technical skill, J.I.D burst onto the scene with his Dreamville debut album The Never Story. After becoming a 2018 XXL Freshman, J.I.D dropped his sophomore album DiCaprio 2 to mostly praise, and his upcoming albums The Forever Story is poised to be his best given the snippets he's released. Check out Off Deez, Never, and All Bad (for his more melodic style).

6LACK: (Unfortunately) pronounced Black, 6LACK is mostly known for his buttery smooth and melodic singing voice, which he puts to good use on both rap and RnB. With a strong talent for songwriting, his first two albums FREE 6LACK and East Atlanta Love Ltter were released to positive reviews for being thoughtful and moody. Don't let his music deceive you though, the guy can seriously spit, he used to battle rap in his youth. Check out Pretty Little Fears, Know My Rights, and his Kenny Beat's Cave Freestyle. Unfortunately he makes only a small showing on Spilligion.

Mereba: A talented vocalist who's music constantly blends elements of indie, folk, soul, and RnB. Mereba has been collabing with Spillage Village members since 2015, and her debut album The Jungle is the Only Way Out was released in early 2019. She also flexes her rapping skills on Spilligion. Check out Sandstorm and Black Truck.

I'll confess that I don't know too much about the remaining members, as they haven't released much solo music. Jurdan Bryant and Hollywood JB are brothers from Atlanta, and Hollywood JB has done a decent amount of production for Dreamville artists. Hailing from Pittsburgh, and the brother of Dreamville inhouse producer Christo, Benji is the newest addition to Spillage Village.

SPILLIGION

I'll start off by saying this album is a pretty big departure from their original sound, although they still pay respects to their Atlanta roots with an intro from Atlanta legend Big Rube. This departure caused a bit of criticism on the albums release, especially since the first two singles off the album feature the most traditional sounding hip-hop on the album. While still decidedly hip-hop, the album is a massive amalgamation of soul, funk, RnB, folk, and even some jazz and swing, which lead it to being one of the most musically inventive albums of 2020.

The albums core message and sound is heavily reflective of it's recording process. The last few months of production had the members of Spillage Village quarantining in a house together during the COVID-19 pandemic. At it's core, the album is about positivity, reflection, and companionship in uncertain, almost apocalyptic times, or as I like to describe it "Sparking a blunt and singing around the campfire about the end of the world". The album is FUN, fully of endearingly sloppy yet compelling group vocals, creative instrumentation and musical licks, and long, extravagant, and completely unnecessary song outros. The energy on this album likely would not have been the same if not for the strange, unique circumstances surrounding it's creation.

I think one of my favorite parts of this album is cohesiveness and chemistry between group members, something you don't always see with larger collectives. My personal standout was Olu, who is a fucking ROCKSTAR on this record, from his aggressive verse and hook on Baptize, to his completely over the top vocals on Cupid

"Sounded like a Marvin and Tammi song In that pussy, throwin' a tantrum"

and closing out with his gorgeous, sermon-like verse on Hapi. Every member gets their time to shine, although JID does have more than his fair share of excellent verses on here. Mereba gets to flex her vocal ability on her mostly solo track PsalmSing, Benji has the best verse on the already stacked Shieva, which Jurdan Bryant also has a killer verse on. The only sore point here is 6LACK, who only has 2 verses, both decent, on the project. He wasn't present during most of the recording process however, so that may be the reason why.

The first song on here is Baptize. It's an interesting choice to lead, with a much more sinister tone than the rest of the album. The song sees EarthGang and JID discussing themes of poverty and police brutality, relevant due to current events in the US. Not to mention it's a fuckin BANGER, with excellent production from Hollywood JB and Christo, and a trippy outro featuring vocals from Ant Clemons. The following song is PsalmSing, a solo track from Mereba with group vocals from the rest of the village. The drop on here is heavenly and really captures the campfire vibe more than any song on the album, with the beat consisting of hand drums and some light acoustic guitar (I also discovered while writing this that the outro vocals are done by Atlanta group Hero the Band, who are weirdly not credited).

Ea'alah is one of my favorites on here and has JIDs best verse on the project. The chorus is pure positivity, with JID talking about praying for peace and family. Thematically the song takes on even more current events, with Olu rapping about COVID-19

See we've been wrestlin' with this nasty plague, that's kinda like the flu I ain't a doctor, I don't know, but I know rich folks dyin' too And I know they gon' get their treatment first, when that shit gets approved, and that's some BS

which turned out to be quite prophetic (though most people probably guessed it as well) with cough Trump cough. Also I think the ringtone before Olu's verse is a nice touch. The next song, Mecca, is one of the weirdest/coolest cuts on here, with a psychadelic folk-rock hook (sounds very Talking Heads inspired). Yet another solid JID and EarthGang collab.

Judas features production from Monte Booker (a personal favorite of mine) giving a beat that's somehow even more off kilter than the rest of the album. It's the most feature heavy song, with Buddy, Masego, and Chance the Rapper all lending vocals. Chances verse on here is very, very good, which automatically gives the album at least a 7 for getting a good verse outta (recent) Chance. This song took a little to grow on me, but Masegos hook is infectious and JID gives yet another good verse.

The next two songs run into my biggest issue with this album, which happens with almost all group albums, where songs keep falling into hook/Artist 1/hook/Artist 2/hook etc. patterns. Oshun is the biggest offender of this, there was no reason for their to be 4 hooks with short verses in between. Still, Olu gives a light and sweet hook, and we see one of 6LACKs verses on the project. It's not a bad song by a longshot. And I personally love the energy they bring on Cupid, a fun love/sex song, but the best part is it's outro, where the electronic and hip hop elements slowly disappear into a minute long swing beat.

Now the BEST song on the album, Shiva, is really fucking good. Wowgr8 delivers the hook with a suprisingly good singing voice, and then every Spillage Village member brings their A game for their respective verses. Special shoutout to Olu's

It's gettin' pretty hot in here

The hotbox done turned to a coffin

I'm coughin', don't do that shit often

Checkin' my pockets, I lost it

and Benji's

It ain't my fault you ain't keepin' up with last place

You can't last long livin' fast paced

This a track meet, not a drag race

I'ma do my dance on a bad day

Still got the keys to my feet (Vroom)

The song is about perseverance in the face of hard times, and really feels like the pinnacle of the albums core message. The artists almost do a little celebration at the end of the song with a bunch of "Heys" and "Whoas".

The final two tracks draw it back a little bit for the close. Hapi is the most spiritual track on here, and just feels important. It takes it's time to make it's point over it's 6 and a half minute runtime, and showcases Mereba, Olu, and Benji passionately rapping/singing about wishing for a better world but still making the most of the one they have. Then the closer Jupiter is a fully non hip-hop song, and has the village singing together and waiting for the end of the world. It's honestly a beautiful track, a little messy at points but that adds to it's charm, and it really is a perfect conclusion.

Overall, this isn't the perfect album by any means. But the passion, creativity, and camaraderie behind the project, mixed with the perfect storm of it's recording process and release era, makes it my favorite album of 2020. I hope to see more genre blending like this from artists who don't do it often in the future. And depending on how 2021 goes we might really need some more of this positivity coming out.

Enjoy your blunt as the world ends.

Discussion