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[ALBUM] Kid Milli - Beige 0.5

5.0 out of 10

Touted as his “1.5th” full length record, Kid Milli’s rather mild ‘Beige 0.5′ shows a regression from his debut effort ‘AI The Playlist’. With that said, ‘Beige 0.5′ is not without its moments as the rapper dabs a bit into the more melodic with the effortlessly dreamy ‘Instagrammer Girl’. His A$AP Rocky influence is shown in full force on ‘Timmy Holiday’ - it teems on blatant but the execution is well crafted enough to enjoy the track as its own entity. The rest of the record presents as a rather mixed bag; ‘Boy’ is a hard hitting tune with a set of uneven features and ‘Return’ is drab and overblown despite it being one of Milli’s best performances on the record. There’s not a whole lot of connective tissue throughout ‘Beige 0.5′ - however this is a fault that is only made more glaring due to the record’s overall lack of polish in its execution and craft. Kid Milli’s proven capability of assembling highly competent albums doesn’t show through on this effort. 

Recommended Tracks: Fingernail, Instagrammer Girl, Timmy Holiday

[ALBUM] pH-1 - X 

7.5 out of 10

pH-1′s self-proclaimed ‘worst mixtape ever’ is anything but. ‘X’ is another energetic and richly produced body of work from HIGHR’s brightest star. Unlike Halo’s more subdued take on pop-rap, ‘X’ is more of a conventional take; however that’s not to say that it isn’t great. As a rapper himself, pH-1 is by no means the most technically skilled but he works with his sonic environment to pump out catchy and charisma-fueled verses and matches his plethora of guests with ease. Also working with a number of new producers, pH-1 broadens his horizons and finds new sounds to play with like the grubby ‘Packitup’ and the stringy ‘Morago’. Standout features come from technical powerhouse Justhis and BRADYSTREET’s digitized, yet ethereal vocals. Topped off with some sticky hooks on tracks like ‘Blame My Circle’ and ‘Telefono’, pH-1 continues to show his talent for songwriting and maintain his position as one of Korean Hip-Hop’s most reliable artists right now. 

2018