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Alright everyone, this is slightly different than my usual album reviews that I do. Obviously you all know at this point that I am really hip-hop focused on here but am always taking suggestions of albums I should check out. @yogidream.scapes recommended that I check out this album the other day. Normally the band isn't one I'd listen to on my own, but I was encouraged to check it out due to the overwhelming number of HipHop features! The whole album was pretty great, but naturally the songs with hip-hop features stood out to me the most so you'll see those as the top tracks below!

Instynct

This song is actually the start of the album and it is featuring Skeme and OG Maco. You may know OG Maco from his "U Guessed it" song, but his flow on this is definitely much different (we'll get to that a little later though). If you are familiar with Skeme at all, then his verse on here will sound really familiar. He stays to his usual style but the whole beat of the song is different than anything he usually raps to so it still offers variety that we aren't used to seeing on here. OG Maco COMPLETELY changes his style from what we are used to hearing from it. He actually is pretty calm throughout his verse compared to his usual yelling style, which is why I actually enjoyed it a lot more. I think he would have had a lot more staying power when he initially came on the scene if he stuck with that kind of delivery for his own work. Song ends with more of its rock roots, but still a pretty awesome calm ending!

Dangerous

The last person I expected to be on this album was YG, but it was definitely a welcome surprise. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to The Neighbourhood's individual members and what not, but the song starts with a very R&Besque tone to it based off the singer's style. It was definitely a welcome change of pace, and I think the whole band does a great job with going them ore R&B route. Once I started listening to it and hearing the direction it was going, I got a little nervous with where YG was going to go with it since he is pretty hit or miss with R&B slow beats like this. I'd say he was definitely on point with this song, nothing really new lyrically but he rode the beat to my expectations. No complaints there.

Hate Machine

You may have seen this one stylized as "H8M4CH1N3" if you download this mixtape (which I recommend), but it is the same song as the one I am talking about here. Danny Brown hits his second feature of the mixtape here and he absolutely kills it. So it is no secret that I am a huge Danny Brown fan and was excited to hear his verses on the whole tape, but as soon as this song's beat started I got so excited. The reason why I love Danny Brown so much is because he takes beats that no one should be able to successfully rap to and absolutely KILLS it. The beat is so simple but hypnotic, seemingly impossible to rap along to, but Danny just hops right in and goes right over it immediately. What an incredible end to the tape!

Obviously I talked a lot about the rap portions of the mixtape, since that is what I'll really be able to somewhat talk about accurately! Don't take that the wrong way though, I really liked this whole tape all the way through. Thank you so much to @yogidream.scapes for the recommendation!

As you can see, I'm more than happy to take recommendations on rap or rap influenced albums to keep them coming!