September 21, 2015 music essay

Originally published in November 2011 for UCLA's Cultural Affairs Commission.

A week from today, two of the most anticipated albums of the quarter are about to drop. However, if you’ve been paying attention to the music blogs or even your own Facebook news feed, you probably already know they’re both available online.

Drake’s sophomore effort “Take Care” splashed on the net with (essentially) a go ahead to check it out from Drake himself:

Drake tweet: 'Listen, enjot it, buy it if you like it...and take care until next time.'

Within hours, Childish Gambino (aka comedian Donald Glover of NBC’s Community) also saw his commercial debut appear online, with most of the attention being paid to his stream on NPR.

(Listen Here)

Love them or hate them, Childish and Drake are two of the game’s most innovative artists right now and there is sure to be some dope music between these two albums. Both take artistry and songwriting to a level rarely seen in commercial hip-hop these days, incorporating soul, live instrumentation, and raw emotion that you can simply feel.

“All The Shine” (Studio Recording) – Childish Gambino

“Paris Morton Music” (Live) – Drake

Take a chance and go listen for yourself, but come next Tuesday if you like what you hear, remember to support your favorite artists’ work and support quality hip-hop. For those of you who have heard the albums, let us know what you think!

P.S. For those willing to search for tickets (they’re sold out on Ticketmaster), there’s a Childish show in LA this weekend. By the way, be sure to stay tuned for some more dope posts, especially with Common and The Root’s new albums just around the corner. With that said, we’ll leave you with one more performance just for fun: