Don’t Sleep #8

Buddy - Harlan & Alondra (Deluxe)

Compton has to be in the Top 3 cities of talented individuals. Kendrick Lamar, N.W.A, Game, James Harden, Ava Duvernay, DeMar Derozan, Serena and Venus Williams, and Buddy. There’s some who may look at Compton as the “Most Dangerous” city in the America and it could be that but I can’t help but think of it as one of the most inspirational place in America when I look at the people coming out of that city. I look up to all those people I listed and a lot more that I didn’t. I’m two weeks older than Buddy but based off this album ‘Harlan and Alondra’ I have no problem saying he inspires me.

It’s hard not to appreciate an artist that can sing at a high level and rap at a high level. It’s not hard to tell that Buddy is cut from that Pharrell cloth being the very last signee of Star Trak, even though that chapter ended the aura is still there. I’m really upset with myself that I missed the regular album in 2018 and it took a slow week of album releases for me to notice the deluxe one but we’re here now and I love this project. It kind of have a Big Baby D.R.A.M feel for me, there‘s just so many flavors to choose from.

“It’s more than the music, I’ve been going through some real shit.” That’s all needed to hear at the top of the album to know I was gonna enjoy the journey. ‘Real Life S**t’ is everything I love in an intro, you give me some great lyrics, some drums, a female vocalist, and you can sing... you win.

I like records like ‘Find Me 2’ because I appreciate when artists are comfortable with questioning existence while also being very confident in who they are. It seems contradictory but it’s a human thing to do and I relate so much with the messaging. Buddy throughout the album proved to me that he‘s still very much human and a lot of people who reach a certain level in society, especially musicians lose that in their music. Everyone is so sure of themselves an/or is some kind of superhuman. Buddy comes off as just Buddy and I get that a lot in this track.

I wanna talk about my favorite song on the album ‘It’s Love’. I‘m not the dancing type but the vibes on this record are off the charts. Your first listen you think it‘s one type of song but by time that bridge comes in you’re like “oooohh he bodied this.” I’m not gonna spoil it for you but it’s such a groovy and fun song to thump in the car. Whenever I put my dance playlist together this is a no hesitation selection.

I can spend my whole day talking about how much I love all 16 tracks available on this album but I don’t like to spoil too much. ‘Harlan & Alondra (Deluxe)’ is phenomenal, there’s too much good shit on there. If you can’t find a pocket of 5 songs in a row that you like on the album I’m not sure if you understand what great music is. Buddy‘s got some shit on this project.

I wanna thank Buddy for inspiring me to write this article about ‘Harlan & Alondra’ by being creative and being himself throughout the process. I have so much respect for his abilities after hearing this album. Compton is a fucking Goldmine for talent.