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Mar 17, 2016Gates stands out amongst his peers through his ability to write fully realized songs, versus the normalized attempts to ride waves the production presents.
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Feb 4, 2016On Islah, his hook-writing is sterling.
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Mar 8, 2016Check the excellent singles "Kno One," "Really Really," and "La Familia" for some easy persuasion, and then know that the album is devoid of superstar appearances because the captivating Gates doesn't need them.
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Feb 8, 2016Islah is one of the more exciting major label rap debuts in recent years, and one positive to being a Gates fan is that you’ll most certainly never get tired with him.
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Feb 3, 2016The album doesn’t shy from its broad ambitions, offering a glossy club jam (“Kno One”) and an after-hours groove (“One Thing”), tracks that require Gates to ease back his flow and craft a knockout hook to carry the song, something he also does on the anthemic “2 Phones.” But as a lyricist, Gates is closer to Ghostface Killah or Beanie Sigel.
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Feb 3, 2016The most-balanced Kevin Gates project to date, discovering an equilibrium between his pummelers and his caressers we didn’t previously know was possible.
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Feb 3, 2016It’s a showcase of versatility that plays to its creator’s strengths enough to feel like a definitive statement, no matter how many other projects he’s released before it.
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Feb 5, 2016A cohesive, satisfying, fat-free full-length.
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Feb 3, 2016The 17 tracks and 63 minutes of Islah flow surprisingly well; even though there’s room to cut the fat, it doesn’t drag on the way many albums with that many songs do.
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Mar 8, 2016Overall this album has some definite stand out tracks: "Not the Only One," "2 Phones," "La Familia" and "Time For That." The rest of the project is not bad, it's just generally underwhelming.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 46 out of 58
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Mixed: 6 out of 58
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Negative: 6 out of 58
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Feb 14, 2016
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Mar 16, 2016
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Feb 21, 2016This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.