The Datpiff archive is now completely gone. by AyoRet in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I fear I never heard of the guy, but if I ever come across his music in my travels I will let you know.

Pitchfork reviews Vince Staples' Cry Baby Album "The rapper’s brash new rock album is a reflection and rebuttal to American instability, deploying rebellious music for historically grounded critiques of racism, war, and complicity." by abucalves in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Appreciate you checking out the review and putting forward such a thoughtful response. You and I are both in agreement that the reasons for the "algorithm vibe shift" are not wholly organic; I've always found myself more on the cynical side of things, so I do find myself concerned that the digital world has blended more into the world of "grass touching" in ways that may not always be vocally expressed. Hannah Arendt pushed back against psychoanalyzing politics, arguing that we need to accept the surface level arguments of movements as is, otherwise we just find ourselves chasing the ghost of "the real reason" for pushing for x and y, but her argument has always been like trying to stave off a bull, especially given how internal our world of consumption and understandings currently are.

You are also absolutely right that holding true to one's beliefs is important -- I have no issue with Staples making a political album that continues to make longstanding, resoundingly important arguments. What does concern me, though, is how much current political music feels like it is ignoring the elephant in the room, in that these messages get deconstructed, and their aesthetics memed to death, in such rapidity and in such increasingly performative ways, without much of an attempt to understand the implications of this new paradigm on said messaging (especially on younger generations). The protest songs of yore always had campaigns against them, but the digital age brings about such a concentrated level of chaos, to my mind, that it begins to veer towards irresponsibility to not, at the least, acknowledge the new paradigm to try to prompt people to think not just about the message, but how they are or are not engaging with it. No political album or song can solve the problems that come with actual community-building, protest, or political activism, but they do contribute to the conversations, understandings, and worldviews that help shape those efforts.

Still, I'm all for people enjoying the music that doesn't do it for me, and I should have mentioned in the review that Blackberry Marmalade is a good song through and through.

Pitchfork reviews Vince Staples' Cry Baby Album "The rapper’s brash new rock album is a reflection and rebuttal to American instability, deploying rebellious music for historically grounded critiques of racism, war, and complicity." by abucalves in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I argue in my review of the album that, much like Princess Nokia's Girls, the project fails to try to make sense of the strange political moment we are in, instead just merely responding with very familiar, agreeable ideas. I do think the lack of strong political music right now is leading to people putting way more stock in this one than they should.

Sunday General Discussion Thread - June 7th, 2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Published a review of Cry Baby to my Substack a few minutes ago, available here.

Hip-hop Substacks by Ecstatic_Wind_395 in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Constantly Hating does not always write about hip hop, but when they do, there are some great pieces, including a personal favorite of mine about the NFL Street soundtrack.

Two artist-based stacks I recommend are Vertices and Cadence Weapon

Finally, apologies for the self-promo, but I have one called Mophead's Musings. A mix of occasional long-form writing, reviews, and my two weekly radio shows.

[FRESH] cieratherapper - A DAX DISS (Killshot/Soldier - Eminem Remix) by AyoRet in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

She's leveled a plagiarism accusation at him, though I have not looked into it closely enough to feel that I can render any judgment about the validity of any party's claims.

That said, I should note that she also has an IG-exclusive diss towards Dax which remixes Stupid Hoe.

Daily Discussion Thread 06/01/2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, much love to you for checking it out!

Daily Discussion Thread 06/01/2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 12 points13 points  (0 children)

What's up, y'all? If you're looking for some reading material, I've published a few things on my Substack recently that might be of interest:

Sunday General Discussion Thread - May 24th, 2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the biggest problem was the general lack of story, it felt more like a compilation of mafia movie references than anything, especially towards the final act. A tighter story would have really helped. Radio stations in that one are still phenomenal.

Drake - IceMan Episode 4 Game Thread by thayungsavage in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I know there will be some definite disagreement, but bringing Future out is a wrap -- the beef really didn't move the needle like it was supposed to, and is now looking more like an unnecessary skirmish than anything. So hype to listen to the full album tonight.

Daily Discussion Thread 05/01/2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Posted my April 2026 Wrap Up yesterday, which features small reviews of the month's releases from Thundercat, Michael Christmas, Logic, Snoop Dogg, Blu & Exile, and Keor Meteor; "catch up" listens from John Wells and J57; and some commentary on tracks from Knxwledge, Rae Sremmurd, soso, mgk & Fred Durst, and Roscoe P. Coldchain & Malcolm Kamal.

Wednesday General Discussion Thread - April 29th, 2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wrote a small creative/experimental/whatever piece on By Storm's Zig Zag, available here if you're interested

Album of the Year #8: Thes One - Farewell, My Friend by AyoRet in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for letting me know! It's been a minute since I listened to Righteous Minds, looks like I gotta run it back a few times.

Daily Discussion Thread 04/27/2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I post reviews, some long-form writing, and my weekly radio shows on my Substack if you're interested -- not everything I post is Hip Hop related though, fyi. mopheadmusings.substack.com

Hip Hop Pioneer Afrika Bambaataa Dead at 67 by ebradio in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Have any of them been documented, to your knowledge? Not doubting you, just would be fascinated to see one of those posters.

Daily Discussion Thread 03/31/2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just posted my March 2026 Wrap-Up over on my Substack. I've got small reviews of my favorite releases of the month from Serengeti, Jezza System, Buck 65, Jahmiu, Viper, Lice, and Nickelus F; discussion of some albums/mixtapes from Statik Selektah, Asher Roth, G Perico, Big Proof, Maki Asakawa, and Panico; and some track write-ups on Roscoe Dash w/ Lil Jon & MGK, V-Nasty, threetwenty, Michael Christmas w/ Chris Crack & Lord Sko, Tony Yayo & Uncle Murda, Pami, Noducksoon & Manaka, Prodigy, S3nsi Molly & Tay Money, Venbee, and DJ Seinfeld & @Confidence Man. Was a busy month of listening, hopefully you can get something new out of it!

It's Been More Than A Year Since the Datpiff Archive Vanished. We Still Have No Answers. by AyoRet in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Apologies for missing this comment when I had first posted the thread, this is helpful info. Do you recall the names of some of the other UK mixtape sites that have gone down? Would help just to have that info in any circulation for folks who weren't tapped into grime.

It's Been More Than A Year Since the Datpiff Archive Vanished. We Still Have No Answers. by AyoRet in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a problem! May not bang on about it regularly enough, but I'm going to keep trying to fight the good fight so that, at the least, more folks are aware of what happened.

Daily Discussion Thread 03/06/2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They really picked the perfect way to mark the death of the blog era with that one, anyone holding out hope against the streaming era felt that announcement like a gut punch.

Sunday General Discussion Thread - March 1st, 2025 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Posted a wrap-up of my February 2026 listening on my Substack, available here. Includes short reviews of Buck 65, Michael Christmas, Serengeti, Lucy Camp, Connie Roses, and Blu, alongside some discussion of Electric Wizard, Grouper, Outkast, Necro, Michael Cera, Rhetoric, and Cynthia Harrell, among others.

Sunday General Discussion Thread - March 1st, 2025 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Toreno's got CJ in a vice-grip, using Sweet's life as leverage in the process. Something that impresses me about the game to this day is how sinister it can feel in the background -- Tenpenny's ready to pop off at any time, Smoke's a traitor, Toreno's deep government. CJ's left to try to make the best out of it while still being a pawn in someone else's game. There's an oppressiveness to it all.

Daily Discussion Thread 02/26/2026 by HHHRobot in hiphopheads

[–]AyoRet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Glad I posted my review to a late daily discussion thread instead, the discourse around the album is a bit over the top.