Run That Back — June 2021
Back at it again with the look back at last month’s music drops. I’ve gotta say, June proved to be a great month for drops. A lot of very solid projects and singles dropped, especially in the latter half of the month. That’s partly why this review took a little more time to get out. I thoroughly enjoyed, and am still enjoying, a lot of the music that June had to offer, and I’m positive a lot of these are artists, songs, and projects you do not want to be out of the loop on, so go ahead and sift through this list and make sure you didn’t miss any good drops.
Full playlists for all the singles and albums (that I could find at least) from June are at the bottom. With the albums, it’s just two select songs from each album, ‘cause I definitely was not putting every track from every album in a playlist. As always, if you missed last month’s edition and need to catch up on that music, make sure to check that out too.
Albums
Ran it back all June: Tyler, The Creator — CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
Dropped: June 25, 2021
Rating: 10/10
WE GOT US A TEN OUTTA TEN (May be getting another 10/10 in next month’s edition with a certain “snowy” singer)! Call Me If You Get Lost (CMIYGL) is literally perfect, to me at least. The only other album I would’ve given a 10/10 if I was doing these music reviews at the time is Jazmine Sullivan’s “Heaux Tales,” so Tyler definitely finds himself in some elite company with this. I literally keep CMIYGL on repeat day in and day out. I love everything about the album; the production, the features, the cohesiveness, the bars, and the overall vibe of the project. It all comes together nicely.
One thing I really loved about this album was having it hosted by DJ Drama. That was a nice little nostalgia touch for me, as it brought back memories of the Gangsta Grillz mixtapes, such as Childish Gambino’s SMT MTN, Meek Mill’s Dream Chasers, Lil Wayne’s Dedication series, and many more. DJ Drama didn’t do too much yelling over the track or rewinding a track after getting like halfway through. It was done with great taste.
I also love the way Tyler’s music and sound have matured in recent years. Tyler was spot on in “MASSA” when he said, “I’m not that little boy y’all were introduced to at 1–9.” The difference between 2011’s Goblin and 2021’s CMIYGL is stark. This is most evident when looking at “She,” from Goblin, and “WusYaName,” from CMIYGL. Both are pretty much the same song, being about fonding over a girl that you just met, but take vastly different approaches to the topic (I love both songs by the way). I feel like a lot of artists get stuck on one sound and eventually fade away because of the inability to adapt and change their sound over time, but Tyler has been able to efficiently make necessary changes, while still keeping his own essence, and I feel like he’s at a very high peak right now.
Videos that accompany the album are visuals for “LUMBERJACK,” “WUSYANAME,” “JUGGERNAUGHT,” “CORSO,” and “LEMONHEAD.” My favorite of these is “WUSYANAME” because it’s the Tyler-and-Ty-Dolla-$ign- only version and doesn’t have the NBA Youngboy feature. I prefer that version. Not that Youngboy didn’t have a good verse on the track. I actually do like the verse for what it is. I just feel like Youngboy throws the vibe off a little bit for me. Like, Tyler throughout the song has a much more smooth, easy-going cadence, and Youngboy comes in and brings just a little bit more energy than I was looking for. But you can check out the video below and compare it to the album version for yourself.
2. Doja Cat — Planet Her
Dropped: June 18, 2021
Rating 8.5/10
3. H.E.R. — Back of My Mind
Dropped: June 25, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
4. Cautious Clay — Deadpan Love
Dropped: June 25, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
5. Symphani Soto: Under the Sun
Dropped: June 25, 2021
Rating: 8.3/10
6. Grace Weber — A Beautiful Space
Dropped: June 11, 2021
Rating: 8/10
7. Sleepy Hallow — Still Sleep?
Dropped: June 2, 2021
Rating: 7.7/10
EPs
Ran it back all June: Keep Cool x Various Artists — Songs From Scratch Vol. 1
Dropped: June 24, 2021
Rating: 9/10
I gotta start this off by giving a big shout-out and thank you to Yours Truly Creative, Keep Cool record label, and Adidas for making this compilation EP possible. I absolutely love the concept behind the creation of this selection of music. The aforementioned companies, along with the legendary Babyface, all partnered together and basically cultivated a creative space for more than 80 instrumentalists, vocalists, producers, and songwriters to come together and just let their creative juices get to flowing while having a medley of peers to bounce ideas off of and a plentiful amount of resources to help execute their visions. The result was some fantastic music that might not have been able to come to life if not for this kind of setup.
The artists included in this first volume are Bibi Bourelly, VanJess, Gwen Bunn, ICECOLDBISHOP, Mez, Tone Stith, kennedi, and Ginette Claudette. Some of these people are already some of my favorites in music, while a lot of these artists I got to hear for the first time. I’m just constantly thinking about the studio sessions they all were having in making these songs, and I just really wish I could’ve been a fly on a wall at this camp. This creative camp went on for a week at a historic mansion in Los Angeles, CA, and over 120 songs were recorded. I’m assuming there are going to be future installments of this series dropping at some point, and I can’t wait to hear all the other music that was made and to see what other artists there are.
There’s a short little inside look to the camp in a mini-documentary video that was dropped about the experience. This is the closest I can get to being that fly on the wall.
2. Butterfly Ali — Preacher’s Kid
Dropped: June 11, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
3. LOONY — Soft thing
Dropped: June 24, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
4. Foushee — time machine
Dropped: June 4, 2021
Rating: 8/10
5. Various Artists — Liberated/ Music for the movement vol. 3
Dropped: June 18, 2021
Rating: 8/10
Singles
Ran it Back All June: Snoh Aalegra — Lost You
Dropped: June 2021
Rating: 10/10
What can I say? Snoh Aalegra just has the Midas touch. Every track that she touches is golden. Snoh’s voice is just so mesmerizing and angelic, and that continued to be true on this single.
The song starts off hitting you in the feels, as Snoh does so well, with Snoh singing, “Didn’t know that love could change ya/ Then I woke up to a stranger.” It really hits on the concept of having this perception of a person when getting into a relationship with them and, then, they start to show their true colors, and they turn out not to be who you thought they were. But, as the rest of the song unfolds, you see that, clearly, it’s hard to just let them go, especially once they pull out the manipulation tactics, which is clear when Snoh says “Then you say what I wanna hear/ ’Cause you know it’s gonna get me here.” Makes one ponder on past loves and all the love lost.
All in all, this is an emotional masterpiece that was sung beautifully by my girl Snoh. The video was a great addition to the release of the song and is very artsy and abstract. Expect more Snoh content in next month’s review, as Aalegra dropped her third studio album, “Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies,” and mannnnnn… That album is *chef’s kiss* sublime.
2. Savannah Ré — 24hrs
Dropped: June 9, 2021
Rating 10/10
3. Jazmine Sullivan — Tragic
Dropped: June 24, 2021
Rating: 9.5/10
4. Nao — Messy Love
Dropped: June 21, 2021
Rating 9/10
5. Eric Bellinger — Shine on the World
Dropped: June 9, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
6. Wale x Chris Brown — Angles
Dropped: June 18, 2021
Rating: 8.3/10
7. Majid Jordan — Been through that
Dropped: June 18, 2021
Rating 8/10
Remixes and covers
Ran it Back All June: Justin Beiber x Usher x Ludacris x Snoop Dogg — Peaches (remix)
Dropped: June 7, 2021
Rating: 10/10
It was only right that Justin got his features out in Georgia (Oh, yes yes) and got a verse from California (that’s that shit). I really did like the features selected for this remix, and I think Usher was probably the standout for this track. Usher fit the song very well, and I might even say he had the best verse from anyone on the remix or the original. It was also great to hear a Ludacris verse to kick things off because I feel like I haven't heard a Luda verse in a good minute. And the legalization ambassador, Snoop Dogg, delivered a fun verse. I enjoyed this remix.
2. Guapdad x !llmind x Rick Ross — How many (remix)
Dropped: June 11, 2021
Rating: 8/10
3. Kayla Nicole x Taylor Girlz x Flo Milli — Bundles 2 (remix)
Dropped: June 24, 2021
Rating: 7.5/10
4. Queen Naija — Marvins Room (cover)
Dropped: June 18, 2021
Rating: 7.5/10
