Featured Album

When Pharrell Williams discovered the Compton rapper Buddy in 2009, he was a fresh-faced fifteen-year-old with an impressive flow. Since then, Buddy has pumped out lauded mixtapes and EPs and has hit the studio with hip-hop royalty like Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper. So, while Harlan & Alondra (Cool Lil Company) is Buddy’s official full-length debut, it feels like less of an introduction to the artist and more of a thoughtful reflection on his decade-long career. The album is named after the South LA street corner where he grew up, and, appropriately, it’s half personal history and half ode to his hometown. Buddy constructs and destructs his ego from line to line, unsure whether to cozy up to fame or flee from it. He boasts in one verse about popping champagne and counting Benjamins, then rhymes in the next about a neighbourhood shooting and struggling to ...