Smoke Out Sunday 7/20/14: Smoke DZA Feat. Ab-Soul – Hearses

Album Review: Ab-Soul – These Days

 

It Ab-Soul’s time to eat now, and Black Hippy’s abstract asshole is making the most of his opportunity with his latest offering “These Days”

Consisting of 15 tracks contains a who’s who of features including Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown, Rick Ross, Lupe Fiasco, ScHoolboy Q Joey Bada$$ and Action Bronson. Production is tight the entire way through the album as well showcasing the skills of Blended Babies, J. Cole, Terrace Martin, Mac Miller and More. There are also a few surprises along the way such as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puff Daddy claiming, “Ab-Soul eating now” on a track’s outro.

Soul touches on some deep and complex issues over the tracks, with spiritual and biblical references aplenty. This may lose some of fans looking for simpler TDE singles a la ScHoolboy Q’s Man of The Year, but the complexity and originality of the album is very admirable. Lets break everything down track-by-track.

Track 1 – God’s Reign Feat. SZA

What a great opening track, one of best on the album. TDE’s newest member the female singer SZA handles the chorus and the beat is AMAZING. Produced by purity ring it has a feel somewhat similar to their other hip-hop work like Danny Brown’s “25 Bucks” I am really hoping to hear more hip-hop production from Purity Ring.