To say Big Dese is prolific just might be an understatement. He and producer Mike Martinez have released ten projects together in just two years and No Respect 2 comes right off the heels of the first one, released this past January. This album runs in familiar circles, held down with direct Boom Bap beats, combined with a variety of jazz and R&B samples. Big Dese does make the most of it, and here he sounds like he’s having fun, utilizing that Dangerfield imagery to get his points across. You can probably hear it best on “Brush It Off,” with music side stepping like an Abbott & Costello backdrop with Dese’s loose-confused lyricism. It’s pretty clever. On “Hit The Road,” it doesn’t seem Dese is taking things too seriously, but here actually brushing off the ones who he knows can’t stand next to him. Boastful but entertaining. He’s at his best though on “Just Passin By” with its ethereal backdrop and Dese’s introspective lyricism as he sees everything around him with eyes wide open. It’s 2025 and he shares EVERYTHING; every nuance, every emotion we’re all feeling right now. The Dese & Martinez combination is magic. We have to give them both their respect.

I’ve always said the same thing time and time again and I’m not afraid to admit it. I’m not the highest grade of weed in the dispensary but I never felt competent enough to be able to dissect anything by Freestyle Fellowship alum Myka 9, but GOTDAMN(!), paired up this time around on God Takes Care Of Babies & Fools (Nature Sounds) with another L.A. emcee in Blu, no. I’m definitely NOT qualified. The duo just released the album, produced by Mono En Stereo, and the underlaid sound is huge, a match made for the verbose emcees. The enthralling “Park Bench” opens with Blu’s rhymes over this freewheeling beat, and he makes the most of it with imagery of homelessness, directly naming off political failures before Myka 9 catches the message, jumps right in and embellishes over it as well. It’s juxtaposed cleverly. The trippy “Free” floats around led by its poppy bassline with the music more like a Schoolhouse Rock Jam performed by Sly Stone. And again, Blu & Myka spit so quickly it’d difficult to try and capture everything they say. Honestly, even if they moved in slow motion I’d get an F in their class. Do they school you? Without a doubt. Yeah, they’re the real B-boys.

GLIMMER – GET WEAK

Debut albums don’t always have to be tricky; they can sometimes be straight and to the point without a moment’s hesitation. That seems to be the way for New York’s Glimmer, with its debut full-length offering, Get Weak. The band, made up of Jeff Moore (vocals, guitar), Jaye Moore (drums), Johnny Nicholls (guitar), and Kevin Dobbins (bass), stir up quite a racket here and sometimes expose the limitations of a genre, but never succumb to it.

Let’s just call it what it is though; an indie rock band that gets loud, utilizing a couple of sub-genres to get its point across. From the looks of the band itself, it’s evolved from a project by two individuals into a full-on quartet over time, and now, at this moment, a cohesive unit of musicians. The band plays within the realm of the Shoegaze genre with “To Believe,” as guitars – novel as they are – swirl around melodies, but full of crunch and heavy riffing. It’s not all about the genre though, as Glimmer pulls together those moments of sustained notes but with enough bite and melody to allow the band’s own identity to flourish. Ok, I’m in, you’re in. But it’s “Dissolve” that seals the deal, storming right out of the gate with those same loud guitars that just wash all over the track, soapy, smothering & covering everything in their way, although it’s Jeff Moore’s vocals that make me take notice. It’s more so the initial delivery, as the song begins, he hits those same notes with the rest of the band.

Now, all of this isn’t to say the band isn’t afraid of delivering a direct and to-the-point pop song. “This Good,” seems to pull from a number of different sources, but no, I’m not going to do that. Comparisons are cheap, and I at least have $5 in my pocket. Sure, this could have been a hit with the big machines behind the band; jangling guitars that shift away suddenly with a dynamic change that’s explosively charged. The band allows the song to ride it out, and I dig the juxtaposition of Moore’s lyrics, taking the bad and flipping the script. There aren’t any surprises in the structure of the song itself, but it is a head-nodder. “Slow Saturday” is where that jangly pop gazes down, and the combination is pretty alluring. Again, the band plays a bit with dynamics and sustaining those notes in washes of guitars, but the rhythm, the melody, and the song’s catchiness won’t let you down. Yeah, definitely in. Glimmer is a rock band, though, and it can ROCK. “Been Down” expressly shares that as drummer Jaye Moore leads the way, and the band follows. While the song is a wonderous rocker, it’s still pretty airy.

While Glimmer isn’t going to change the world, it won’t die a slow and lonely death. The band has a lot of good things within Get Weak, with powerful guitar interplay and melodies that are fruitful at just about every turn. With its first album, the band has found an identifiable sound all its own.