Run That Back — July 2021
It’s that time of the month again. Time to recap all of the music from last month, July. At this point, I just keep getting later and later with it, but I promise I got my life in some sort of order now, so I will probably start dropping these earlier on a more consistent basis. Just bear with me.
July’s music really shocked me because, usually, it’s the EPs that take the cake overall and that have most of my favorite releases, but the albums for July really showed up and showed out. Even the albums that didn’t make the cut were still pretty good. It was hard for me to leave some out. But you can check out all the music in the playlists at the bottom of this article.
July blessed us with music from Snoh Aalegra, Mariah the Scientist, BJ the Chicago Kid, Brent Faiyaz, Kehlani, Ledisi, and plenty of other heavy hitters. Of course, if you need to get caught up on the music that I highlighted on the last Run That Back post, check that out below, but if you’re ready to get into the music from July, you can skip right over that and get into the rankings.
Albums
Ran it back all July: Snoh Aalegra — Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies
Dropped: July 9, 2021
Rating: 10/10
There are no surprises here. If you know me or if you tuned into last month's piece, you already knew I was very much looking forward to this project from Snoh Aalegra. She simply just doesn't miss. It had been two years since Snoh’s last project, Ugh, Those Feels Again, so the anticipation was certainly high, and Snoh still managed to live up to the hype. On Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies, Snoh does what she does so well in capturing the highs and lows of being caught in the feels, as a good portion of the songs has Aalegra looking back on a past lover and their early love that eventually turned into a lack of communication, deceptive mind games, and unfair treatment toward Snoh in their relationship. But, even with these shortcomings from her partner, Snoh still finds herself infatuated with their touch and trying to make things work with them.
While this is still the Snoh that we (well, at least I) know and love with the jams that are bound to have you up at night in your feelings, this album has a much different sound and feel than her previous projects. The production is much more experimental on Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies and is a step away from the more traditional cinematic soul sound that was ever-present in Snoh’s past work. Of course, it’s still there, but it is a far cry from just another rendition of Ugh, Those Feels Again, which I am really appreciative of. Snoh could’ve easily just done a copy + paste of Ugh, Those Feels Again, which saw plenty of high acclaim in 2019 and really gave rise to her notoriety, but switching it up a bit shows a willingness to grow and branch out as an artist and gives a variety to her discography. I’m not certain, yet, which I like more between Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies, Ugh, Those Feels Again, and Feels, but I am certain that THITVS is one of my favorite albums this year.
Stand-out tracks from the album are, “TANGERINE DREAM,” “IN THE MOMENT (ft. Tyler, the Creator),” “ON MY MIND (ft. James Fauntleroy),” and “WE DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT.” Both singles, “DYING 4 YOUR LOVE” and “LOST YOU” have accompanying videos. “LOST YOU” was previously talked about in the last RTB segment, so I won’t regurgitate that here, but you can check the video out here. The video for “DYING 4 YOUR LOVE,” which you can peep below, has some beautiful scenery and is placed in a futuristic setting with virtual pets. Snoh looks stunning as always, and the outfits throughout the video really go nice with the tone. The choreo is nothing too wildly complicated, but it is still nice and smooth. All in all, a nice chill video.
2. Leon Bridges — Gold Diggers Sound
Dropped: July 23, 2021
Rating: 9.5/10
3. Charlotte Day Wilson — Alpha
Dropped: July 9, 2021
Rating: 9/10
4. Leela James — See Me
Dropped: July 30, 2021
Rating: 9/10
5. Mariah the Scientist — Ry Ry World
Dropped: July 9, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
6. Femme it forward x Various Artists — Big Femme Energy Vol. 1
Dropped: July 9, 2021
Rating: 8/10
7. Isaiah Rashad — The House Is Burning
Dropped: July 30, 2021
Rating: 8/10
EPs
Ran it back all July: BJ The Chicago Kid — 4 AM
Dropped: July 23, 2021
Rating: 9/10
In BJ The Chicago Kid’s first independent release since leaving Motown Records, after giving us In My Mind and 1123 on the label, BJ delivers with a quick soulful masterpiece that shows that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. Clocking in at just over 17 minutes, with four songs, 4 AM is one of those EPs where you just throw on the repeat function and let it play over and over and over…. and over again. BJ’s singing is superb and the features from both Eric Bellinger and Lucky Daye compliment the project extremely well.
When talking about the title for the EP, BJ noted that “…for creatives that stay up like me, 4 AM in the morning is like the magic hour where all your best ideas flow.” If this is the type of music we can get from him at four in the morning, I’m a need BJ to go full vamp mode and get plenty of rest when the sun is out so these late-night bangers can keep rolling out. The Chicago Kid has already had a pretty good year thus far with tracks that he has done for the Showtime series, “The Chi,” as well as the HBO Max movie “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Hopefully, all of this traction is leading up to an album release, since the last long-form project from BJ The Chicago Kid was 2019’s 1123.
Stand-out tracks for me were “Make You Feel Good (ft. Luck Daye)” and “Love You Slow.” BJ and Lucky croon to their lovers as they acknowledge their infidelity while out on tour on “Make You Feel Good.” After their love interests find out about the cheating, they then go and get even and sleep with another man. The two singers are now pleading to their interests to put both of their mistakes behind them and move forward, as the only person that they want to be with and love is their respective lovers. On “Love You Slow” BJ sings about a woman who wants to be made love to gently and sensually, with no quick haste. The woman even talks about taking control, herself, of the loving, which BJ admits is foreign territory for him.
Both tracks have accompanying videos, with the video for “Make You Feel Good” being a lyric video going back and forth between candid shots and studio shots as BJ and Lucky sing and record their parts. You can peep that below. The video for “Love You Slow” is a live studio performance with BJ recording the vocals and the instrumentalists playing the keys and drums. You can peep that here.
2. Tkay Maidza — Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3
Dropped: July 9, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
3. Jon Batiste — Live At Electric Lady
Dropped: July 29, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
4. Ajae — Chi
Dropped: July 9, 2021
Rating: 8/10
5. Amorphous- Things Take Shape
Dropped: July 7, 2021
Rating: 8/10
6. Olivia Dean — Growth
Dropped: July 30, 2021
Rating: 7.5/10
7. Childish Major — Thank you, God. For it all
Dropped: July 23, 2021
Rating: 7/10
Singles
Ran it back all July: Ryan Trey — It’s About A Girl
Dropped: July 16, 2021
Rating: 10/10
I had this song on repeat all July and even still to this day. The chorus is catchy as hell and I find myself singing it out the blue throughout my day. Ryan Trey is one of my favorite young artists at just 22 years old. His sound is reminiscent of trap soul icon Bryson Tiller, who has hopped on a track with Ryan, called “Nowhere To Run,” back in 2019. “It’s About A Girl” just further cements Ryan as someone that I believe people should keep their eyes on, as he certainly has some big things coming. “It’s About A Girl” is the lead single off of Ryan Trey’s upcoming album, A 64 East Saga, and this has me ready for that to drop. There’s no release date set, yet, for the album but, until that drops, I would highly recommend checking out Trey’s other singles and his 2018 album, August.
2. Brent Faiyaz x Drake — Wasting Time
Dropped: July 1, 2021
Rating: 10/10
3. NAO — And Then Life Was Beautiful
Dropped: July 29, 2021
Rating: 10/10
4. DVSN x Ty Dolla $ign x Mac Miller — I Believed It
Dropped: July 1, 2021
Rating: 9.5/10
5. Normani x Cardi B — Wild Side
Dropped: July 16, 2021
Rating: 9.5/10
6. Lawrence Mace x Rayana Jay — We Should
Dropped: July 16, 2021
Rating: 9/10
7. Kiana Ledé x Kehlani — Ur Bestfriend
Dropped: July 23, 2021
Rating: 9/10
Remixes
Ran it back all July: Ledisi — Ledisi Sings Nina
Dropped: July 23, 2021
Rating: 10/10
I didn’t run across that many remixes or covers for July but, on the bright side, we were absolutely BLESSED with Ledisi covering a handful of Nina Simone tracks. Ledisi is no stranger to doing Nina Simone tributes, as she has done so plenty of times throughout her career. Just search “Ledisi Nina Simone Tribute” on YouTube and you’ll be provided with plenty of examples. Ledisi Sings Nina sees Ledisi taking on seven highly touted Nina Simone tracks, and she even puts her own spin on it. For instance, on “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” Ledisi updates the lyrics to include mentions of Beyonce, Michelle Obama, and RuPaul, keeping the song up to date.
Of course, there are very few, if any, artists matching Nina Simone’s overall presence on a song, and I never got the feeling from this EP that Ledisi was even trying to match or go beyond Nina. What I got from it was the adoration that Ledisi has for Nina and her attempt to bring that to a whole new generation of listeners. I think this was very well done.
2. Jennifer Hudson — (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman [remake]
Dropped: July 16, 2021
Rating: 9/10
3. Jennifer Hudson — Here I Am (Singing My Way Home) [remake]
Dropped: July 16, 2021
Rating: 9/10
4. Kem x Wiz Khalifa — Lie To Me [remix]
Dropped: July 23, 2021
Rating: 6/10
