Music Radar: October 2023

While we may be in the middle of the month, October has and will continue to give us many albums from big names in the rap and hip-hop world, such as Offset, Westside Gunn, and Ken Carson, as well as an odd trend of delayed albums. 
​by Emery Brown

While we may be in the middle of the month, October has and will continue to give us many albums from big names in the rap and hip-hop world, such as Offset, Westside Gunn, and Ken Carson, as well as an odd trend of delayed albums. 

A key member of the late rap trio Migos, Offset’s second solo album Set It Off released on the thirteenth of this month. Featuring guest stars such as Travis Scott, Don Toliver, Future, and Cardi B, this album serves as a sequel to his previous work, 2019’s Father of 4.

This is the first project of Offset’s since fellow Migos member TakeOff was killed in Houston last year. In an interview with Apple Music, he spoke of how his late friend motivated him in the creation of the LP.

“Even on my own journey, I still feel his presence and his energy like, bro, ‘We got to go hard. We got to win. We got to win. This ain’t the end of it. We got to win. . . So that’s another thing that pushed me through is my boy, Take, man. He didn’t care that he didn’t care about the numbers, nothing. He like, ‘Bro, y’all’s s–t hard.’ He’s just very supportive in that. I just keep that in the back of my mind and just keep pushing.”

Westside Gunn released his final project on the thirteenth with And Then You Pray For Me. The Griselda Records co-founder enlists the talents of a wide variety of artists such as Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher, J.I.D., and Denzel Curry, as well as featuring a religious-themed album cover designed by the late designer icon Virgil Abloh, adding to the emotional value.

Opium Records’ Ken Carson released A Great Chaos on the same day as the previous two featured albums. Featuring the likes of fellow Opium signee Destroy Lonely and rockstar rapper Lil Uzi Vert, the project joins Opium’s growing list of successes in recent years.

After an unexpected delay, Drake finally released his highly anticipated project For All the Dogs on October sixth, featuring chart-topping tracks such as "First Person Shooter" with fellow rap legend J Cole or "Calling For You" with his partner in crime 21 Savage. Reviews on the album are mixed, but the consensus seems to be around a six or seven out of ten, with many regarding it as a letdown, solidifying the allegations that the Canadian rapper has fallen off since his highs in the early to mid-2010s. 

The delay of albums seems to be a bizarre trend this month, with many artists delaying projects that were planned to be released this month. Chief Keef’s long awaited release Almighty So 2 was slated to release on the thirteenth as well but the album was nowhere in sight. This isn’t uncommon however as it had already been delayed numerous times since it was announced last year. Kid Cudi’s project Insano was also delayed, its release date being pushed back to January 24, 2024. Other albums that didn’t have solidified release dates but were most likely delayed as well include Polo G’s H.O.O.D. P.O.E.T. and Lil Uzi Vert’s Barter 16.

Even if many were delayed, this October saw the release of many successful projects and will continue to do so for its remaining duration.