Album: Milky Way
Artist: Bas
Genre: #HipHop/#Rap
Sub-Genres: #RandB
Label: Dreamville/Interscope
Non-Airable Tracks: ALL except “Infinity,” “Sauna,” and Great Ones”
Description: Much like the album cover and title, Bas’s third album “Milky Way” feels like a groovy vacation through the Caribbean. Bas’s tone sounds much like A$AP Rocky or Joey Bada$$, effortlessly rapping with articulate diction and occasionally singing. What I particularly enjoy throughout this album is the production behind the rhymes, made by the variety of Sango, Childish Major, J. Cole and more, reminding me of amusing dance vibes like Kaytranada or Gold Link.
The opening track “Icarus” features dreamy vocals from both Bas himself and Ari Lennox repeating, “Trees that grew between us, tears that drip between us, years have blew between us just to throw away.” The subtle build up of vocals is a great feature from Ari and is abruptly interrupted by Bas’s verses that hold lot’s of depth to a trap rap demeanor. “Front Desk” grabs my attention through the production with super synth pop beats fluctuating throughout the entire track. “Tribe” has another fantastic feature with J. Cole and Bas rapping over a light guitar strum and subtle percussion, to then abruptly going completely in on a verse. It brings out that feeling of jaw-dropped impressed I love finding in Hip-Hop. The features on this album are some of the best tracks we see on the album, without outshining Bas in any way, but rather complementing opposite strengths. “Boca Raton” featuring A$AP Ferg is by far a banger that I can not stop playing. SERIOUSLY. A$AP Ferg’s deep tone of voice on a beat, with such an insane percussion behind it. You are transported to the lifestyle Bas and Ferg bridge through creative rhyme like “Anaconda through her body, got her screamin’, ‘Golly!’ Dale boom dale (Uh), She a work of art like a Salvador Dali (Aye, aye).”
The next tracks “Barack Obama Special” and “Purge” are songs we see the heaviest of Bas. Barack Obama Special opens with “I had to move ’cause neighbors so racist, My new crib fly though (sheesh).” This track is a complicated mesh of verses over a vibey base line that definitely needs to be looked over with all its many meanings. “Purge” is 100% my favorite track of the album, the opening interlude of washed out Bon Iver-esque vocals that fluctuates throughout the entire track, with an insane beat, it’s so pleasant after the amount of dance tracks we hear throughout the beginning. I can’t put my finger on what exactly hits so hard with this song but I can guarantee anyone that listens would fall in love. The next eight tracks of Milky Way continued the energy and absolute enjoyment I felt from the first few tracks I’ve talked about. Each individually having special moments I loved in each, with again, phenomenal production that is so harmonious throughout the entire album and co-exists along Bas’s style perfectly.
Overall, I could listen to this album over and over. It was an extremely pleasant experience to listen to and although some tracks stood out to me over others, I believe every track had a reason to be there and gave a different emotion to each track. I can’t reiterate enough the production of this album, I can’t imagine Bas’s versus being as hard as they were without some of the stunning beats behind his words. It gave vibey dance beats, hard Caribbean drums, various forms of dialect and word schemes that made me constantly paying attention. This body of work is unlike much of what I related Bas to previously, and I loved how his relatable dark, deep emotions we fell in love with initially are still covered in this album but in a completely transformative way. Definitely an album people will continually go back to again and again to gain the energy it gives.
Sounds Like: Joey Bada$$, J. Cole, J.I.D
Recommended Tracks:
Icarus (feat. Ari Lennox)
Tribe
Boca Raton
Barack Obama Special
Purge
Sanufa
Reviewer’s Name: Megan Yeates
Date of Review: 10/5/18