Evan Nabavian wrote this in Pac blood. 2Pac isn’t exactly the rap martyr du jour right now. Yes, he is rap’s greatest firebrand and any rapper-cum-revolutionary owes him a debt of gratitude, but direct emulation of his style and sound is rare outside of Freddie Gibbs. Popular rap styles change with the seasons and it’s […]

Tosten Burks is the target demographic. Time for field results from 4/20. Those game-worn tracks that earned that grand honor of being played on repeat on such a holy day. May all your holiday activities have been full of Devin and Snoop, but dude, may all your future gatherings squeeze in these recent new smoke-stained […]

Evan Nabavian also enjoys the musical stylings of Bill “Spaceman” Lee. “Spaceman” is an indictment of wack rapping. But Co$$ belittles inferior MCs with a vainglorious exhibition rather than a crotchety lecture. A scion of the West Coast, Co$$ switches his flow often enough to make the nimble jazzy beat sound sluggish. He relies on […]

I’ve already done the sales pitch for Co$$ and the first leak from his forthcoming debut, Before I Awoke is further validation. Subtly paying homage to 2Pac (“my thoughts are so deranged“), Co$$ and Blu assert themselves as LA’s best one-two combination this side of Pau and Kobe. There’s a lot to unpack in this […]

Since the release of his Freddie Gibbs collaboration, Co$$ has been gaining traction within blog circles–which speaks to the wisdom of paying a hot rapper for a guest spot. You are guaranteed a listen, which is more than the gibberish publicist press releases that clog my Gmail. But I suspect that Cashus King never gave […]