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A Hip-Hop ‘What If …’
James Blake and Lil Yachty’s new album is as astounding as it is annoying.
Lil Yachty has a chip on his shoulder as the latest 20-something rapper dealing with unearned, unrealistic complaints about lowbrow trap music poisoning the well for the more polished craftsmen in the genre, but the purists’ outrage hasn’t stemmed a tide of breezy hits, solid guest features, and writing and production jobs for the Migos and Drake. It also turns the page on a dicey stretch of Blake news: He struggled in March to explain how Vault, a subscription service he had pushed as a “nice solution” to streaming platforms’ meager payouts, differs from the preexisting utilities and then caught smoke in June for admitting to hating the saxophone enough to wish to delete the instrument and its entire contribution to music history. “In Grey,” a six-minute delight, drifts alluringly from synth-and-vocal reverie to a euphoric chill-out groove, like taking in a gorgeous stretch of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II and deciding the first installment’s peppier “Xtal” is what your heart calls for.
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