Ari Lennox's album Shea Butter Baby: good lord

this album is SO good yall

(admittedly I could live without the chipmunked spoken interludes, but w/e they're ignorable)

Alfred to thread to wax eloquent--I'm in "this is ruling my life" phase and can't articulate why

good lord: what the hell is that sound on "Chicago Boy" that sounds like curls of smoke? a slide guitar? an electric violin?

another point in this album's favor: it's a female rnb singer with male rap features that do not make me want to die

oh shit i meant to listen to this last year but never did. think maura put me onto it (as usual)

I liked it a lot. I published a piece in December in a certain magazine you can google (I can't post now).

"Whipped Cream" rules.

is this the piece? http://www.citypages.com/music/in-2019-female-rb-artists-took-their-pleasure-seriouslyand-thrived/566119891

super otm there at any rate. God I love "New Apartment"

yeah!

Not my most conversation-sparking thread ever, but for the record, "Pressure" is fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E604eZ81_YQ

📹

oops please ignore

antwayyyy… new song “Hoodie” sounds fantastic;
:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lPrxJG3fg

anywayyyy…

v sweet. love the hand drums in the left channel

Sweet bass track.

Hoodie is v good

v sweet. love the hand drums in the left channel

Yes. Good stuff

more good to greatness, with Summer Walker this time:

“Queen Space”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDZ1EKghyw0

just noticed it’s also part of a new EP, Away Message, which for some reason doesn’t include “Hoodie”

…but aiui, this is EP is just a teaser for the actual album, age/sex/location, which will be released on Sept. 9. well, this is definitely a case of More Better Baby

Although I've played "Hoodie" to death in the last month, I only noticed yesterday that she sings, "spread it like some queso."

mixing it with shea butter no doubt

For an amuse bouche this EP is pretty rich! There's not a bad track afaict, but I was really digging how much "Gummy" bumps. She crushes the Arrows-sampling "Bitter"

Just heard “Hoodie” for the first time this morn, and it’s on repeat now.

She’s doing album release events in DC and NY this week.

album age/sex/location is out now too. 12 tracks, including “Hoodie” ánd “Queen Space”, but not the rest of that amuse bouche EP

This sounded pretty rad this morning! She's sharp as a razor as always, and the production is deeply luxurious. I probably won't listen to "Boy Bye" too many more times—though someone should think about casting her in something, she has acting talent—but that was the only track I was iffy on. I even liked that there was one, brief helium-voiced interlude

oh wow -- Organized Noize produced a track.

ah I hadn't noticed that, but now that I know it's "Outside" it makes a ton of sense

Ari Lennox is on Jimmy Fallon show tonight Tuesday

I've been listening to this every day since Sept. 9

New album Vacancy is out today and sounds great on first listen. I was more immediately impressed by some of the less vintage-sounding songs (Twin Flame, Cool Down), but it's highly consistent, warm and rich, and her voice sounds fab in every setting. Qobuz doesn't list features, so the only one being Buju Banton on Company was a surprise. As the thread indicates I haven't thought much about her lately, but this is a glass of brandy on a frigid day

Lovely album

this is a glass of brandy on a frigid day

ha I forgot I wrote this and was coming here to note that this album sounds so much more right in the summer. I'd kind of written it off, but I played the back half yesterday and it was perfect for summer

Been in rotation since January.

why did I sleep on this for so long

My jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUqnze_c1ww

the way she sing-yelps the word "rush" in that one is probably my favourite moment of this entire album

I had neglected and forgotten about “Hoodie” after a few weeks of heavy rotation!