Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Late rapper Pop Smoke’s debut CD overloaded
BPop Smoke
“Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” Republic
“Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” is in tragic company. It’s the fourth posthumously released rap album to enter the Billboard pop chart at No. 1, joining releases by the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, and XXXTentacion.
“Shoot for the Stars” is the work of the Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke, who was shot and killed during a robbery at a house he was renting in Los Angeles in February. (This month, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged four people with murder in the case.)
The first thing you notice about Pop Smoke is his gravelly rumble of a voice. He conveys a sense of weary gravitas, a feeling that, though only 20, he had encountered a lifetime’s worth of trouble. Had he? Who knows, but he sounds like he could be twice his age.
His rugged flow connects back to Biggie, a legendary King of New York. And that’s a title many felt the charismatic Smoke was poised to claim on the basis of two “Meet The Woo” EPs that preceded his debut album.
Among those who pegged him for greatness was 50 Cent, who mentored the young rapper — 50 appears on “Shoot for the Stars’” “The Woo”(Smoke’s favorite word), and 50’s “Many Men” is sampled here on “Got It on Me.”
“Shoot” captures Pop Smoke’s charisma and fluid, versatile approach. His timing was impeccable. He knew all he needed to do was growl “Grrrr …” to drive fans wild.
The album falters is in its posthumous assemblage. The 19 tracks on the bonus edition thankfully include “Dior,” the 2019 hit that celebrates a designer shopping spree and has become an unlikely Black Lives Matter protest anthem.
But the album is also overloaded with features: three from Migos’ Quavo, plus Future, Swae Lee, Lil Baby, and DaBaby. It’s understandable why they wanted to jump on what was destined to be the hot hip-hop album of the summer. But turning “Shoot” into an all-star entertainment event dilutes its impact.
— DAN DELUCA
BMy Morning Jacket
“The Waterfall II” ATO
My Morning Jacket’s recording sessions for 2015’s “The Waterfall” produced a flood of material, enough that the band toyed with releasing a triple album. Instead, after staying out on the road, they moved on. Leader Jim James released a handful of solo albums, and the rest of the band stayed busy — backing up Philly’s Tim Showalter for Strand of Oaks’ “Eraserland,” among other things.
Now, five years downstream, we get “The Waterfall II,” a gentler and less conflicted partner. The lyrics for the otherwise excellent first “Waterfall” — with its keening anthems and extended guitar jams — had traces of bitterness and cynicism. “The Waterfall II,” on the other hand, is full of airy, unhurried songs about finding hope after being disillusioned.
Aside from the heavy stomp of “Wasted” and the funky groove of “Magic Bullet,” the tone is comparatively subdued, but varied, from the Beach Boys orchestration of “Still Thinkin’” and the Bakersfield twang of “Climbing the Ladder” to the mountain folk of “Run It.” Often, James lifts a melody toward heaven with his beautiful falsetto.
This album may have been in the can for five years, but it sounds fully realized and even timely. The ethereal “Spinning My Wheels,” an ode to stasis, belongs on any Pandemic 2020 playlist.
— STEVE KLINGE
B+David Bromberg Band
“Big Road”
Red House Records
David Bromberg wrote just two of the 12 tracks on his new album: “George, Merle, and Conway,” a rollicking honkytonk tribute to three country greats, and a new version of his previously recorded “Diamond Lil,” a somber countryfolk ballad.
But Bromberg’s enduring, five-decade career has never really hinged on his songwriting, as good as it can be, or even his singing, for that matter. Rather, as a virtuoso of stringed instruments who generously shares the spotlight with members of his band, he puts his own vibrant stamp on all manner of American roots music. And that’s what you get with “Big Road.”
Working with producer Larry Campbell, the former Dylan sideman and formidable musician, Bromberg and band begin with the title song, a vintage Tommy Johnson blues number given a rousing treatment with fiddle and horns. From there it’s on to, among other things, folk, country-blues, fiddle tunes, a cappella gospel, a bluegrass makeover of Lead Belly’s “Take This Hammer,” and a swellegant, horn-accented take on the Charlie Rich country hit “Who Will the Next Fool Be?”
The superb arrangements showcase the individual members of the band, but the solo turns work organically in the service of the song. The result is another set that shows Bromberg at the height of his interpretive powers.
— NICK CRISTIANO