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TEMS — Born in the Wild
TEMS continues her global dominance with the release of her debut studio album, Born in the Wild. The 18-track project features J. Cole and Asake as well as GuiltyBeatz, Spax and Sarz production. But TEMS stands at center stage with her signature evocative vocal runs.
The singer-songwriter opens the LP with a heartfelt title track that sets the tone. “I was born in the wild / I grew up in the wilderness / Didn’t know much about openness,” she sings over haunting guitar strings. “You gave me the world / The world is mine / I need time / The time is now.”
The singer-songwriter says the album is autobiographical. “Born in the Wild is actually about my journey,” she tells Apple Music. “It’s about my experience as me, the experiences I’ve had so far.
She goes on to dissect the title’s concept even further in the interview. “I was raised in Lagos and that’s a part of me, but it’s not really about the place. It’s more about the state of being,” she continues. “It was a wilderness and there were so many things that happened, so many lessons I learned. To come and be this person now is basically coming out of the wilderness.”
Latto f. Megan Thee Stallion & Flo Milli — “Sunday Service”
Latto is serving up a remix. Months after dropping the ready-for-battle banger, “Sunday Service,” the Georgia rapper teams up with Megan Thee Stallion and Flo Milli for the song’s official remix.
Thee Stallion announces herself on the track with some authority. “The most loved, the most hated / The highest anticipated / The one your n—a wish he dated,” she says before rapping at her detractors: “Trends you think you setting, I had that sh-t on in my old pictures.”
Taking on her own doubters, Flo Milli also adds her sauce to the pot. “My Haitians say I’m perfect / Try me, he gon’ curve sh-t,” she raps. “She be tough online but sweet in person / Where the other version?”
Latto, Flo and Megan connected at one of the latter’s Atlanta shows this past week. The girls hung out backstage, watched a Latto versus GloRilla dance battle and teased the remix for fans. Now, the trio’s “Sunday Service” revamp is out and available below. Pull up.
Kaytranada — Timeless
Kaytranada continues his prolific collaboration run but this time, he does it on his solo album. A year after Kaytraminé with Aminé, the critically heralded producer and DJ unveils a 21-song project, which features a star-studded roster.
Childish Gambino, Anderson .Paak, Tinashe, Don Toliver and PinkPantheress are on the who’s who list. Dawn Richard, SiR, Thundercat and Mariah the Scientist are also on this esteemed roster.
But beyond guests, the album also includes some technological advancements. For example, Kay recently beamed about his ability to sample using artificial intelligence on this project. “So many things that changed since the last album,” he told Rolling Stone.
“There’s this song called ‘Seemingly’ where I sampled this Don Blackman record and I’m just playing around the keys,” he added. “Now that I have the AI stems of it, I’m just breaking down the bass, and the keys, and the vocals to it. And the drums are crazy. If the AI couldn’t exist, I would not even think about sampling this record.”
Listen to Timeless below.
Ski Mask the Slump God — 11th Dimension
Ski Mask the Slump God is back. Six years after dropping Stokley and becoming one of the most prominent faces in “SoundCloud Rap” alongside frequent collaborators XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD, the rapid-fire rapper returns with his newest album, 11th Dimension.
The Slump God taps Future and Skillibeng for this one, but he also delivers posthumous features from XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD. Meanwhile, ATL Jacob, DJ Scheme, TisaKorean, Max Lord and many more lend production to the album.
Ski Mask has experienced quite a journey up to this point. After finding fame, the Florida rhymer lost two of his closest friends in the industry in XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD and he recently spoke about this transition period with Montreality.
“I really was just figuring out life without my boys after losing them; I was figuring out how to maneuver without X or without Juice,” he explained. “Standing proud in my independence, that’s what I wanna do and [I want to] stop being scared of putting out music. I’m in a new beginnings type of chapter.”
STREAMED: Tems Returns With “Born in the Wild,” Kaytranada Drops Star-Studded ‘Timeless’ Album & More was originally published on cassiuslife.com
