Dray Reviews

Atlantic Bad Boy Wondaland Arts Society     "This is a cold war.  Do you know what you're fighting for?"                      ~ Janelle Monáe,  Cold War      Hello, everyone!  Welcome to episode 11 of my album reviews, as well as part 3 of my reviews of projects headed by Big Boi and/or his protégés. apparently.  First, there was himself and André making their boldest statement to date as OutKast with Stankonia , and after that was Killer Mike (who, if you may remember, started off as a guest feature on one of the tracks from the aforementioned album) and El-P (not a Big Boi protégé) releasing their second outing as Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 2 .  To top off this accidental trilogy of interconnected reviews, we get to take a look at my favorite artist between all three, Janelle Monáe; specifically her 2010 debut album The ArchAndroid .      Before we even get into the album itself, some backstory is needed for context on both where I stand with her music and her overa

  THIS IS A CONSCIOUS AND POLITICAL ALBUM, SO EXPECT TO SEE THEMES OF POLITICS, RELIGION, AND OTHER CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS     "I don't brag enough, you de facto suck."                     ~ El-P, Lie, Cheat, Steal      Hello, everyone!  Welcome to episode 10 of my album reviews!  Last time, I talked about a well established hip hop duo's grand statement to the world.  Today, I'm arguably doing the exact same thing with Run the Jewels' second album, their 2014 modern classic Run the Jewels 2 .  This is the second outing from El-P and Killer Mike (third if you count the latter's 2012 album R.A.P. Music that was produced by the former) and is constantly cited to be their best record to date.  What do I feel about it?  I'll get into that in a bit, but before I do, let me give some context on where I stand with this duo.  I had heard of them for years but for some reason I never really listened to them until the RTJ4 cycle began.  My first song of theirs w