Only a week removed from major releases like Tyler, The Creator’s Flower Boy and Meek Mill’s Wins & Losses, Aminé and Vic Mensa have now gifted us with their new albums.
Aminé and Vic Mensa have both spent some some time working their way up. Aminé reached mainstream radio success with “Caroline” while Vic received one of the biggest possible cosigns in Kanye West on the 2015 single “U Mad”.
To rollout The Autobiography, Vic dropped a four song EP titled The Manuscript, where three of those four song would appear again on this album. Vic Mensa’s The Autobiography is extremely personal, constantly conscious, and almost always telling some sort of story. With a majority of songs on The Autobiography attributing production credits to No I.D. and including big time features like Pharrell Williams, Weezer and Ty Dolla $ign, Vic gets the help from an array of established artists that his earlier projects mostly lacked on the surface level. Weezers inclusion on “Homewrecker” makes for one of the most boundary pushing moments on the album, where other notable moments include the beautiful singing on “Heaven On Earth” courtesy of The Dream, and the trap themed “Down For Some Ignorance” featuring Chief Keef and fellow Chicago ‘Get Money’ member Joey Purp. Limited use of features like SYD on “Gorgeous” are unfortunate, and you likely won’t come away from the album in love with Vic Mensa’s singing. The rawness alone of The Autobiography may turn some ears away, but those who listen will receive a heavily personal narrative.
Aminé, pop/r&b rapper really nailed the Summer vibe with his debut, Good For You. Like Vic, Aminé recruited Ty Dolla $ign, as well as other star-studded names like Nelly, a very out of place Offset, and a much more fitting Kehlani. Tracks like “Hero” and “Sundays” display Aminé’s complex and introspective side, while songs “Slide”, “Money”, and “Beach Boy” appear late in the album but are a few of the best examples of how fun the album can be. Good For You is bright, fresh, relaxing, and Aminé comes off as surprisingly genuine for such a pop oriented artist.
With both of these debut albums hitting 15 songs and clocking in at around an hour each, Vic Mensa and Aminé contribute an interesting couple of albums to the Summer mix. Though each artist has come up in the realm of popular hip-hop in just the recent years, their styles contrast greatly. Still, both Vic Mensa’s The Autobiography and Aminé’s Good For You are worth a listen.
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