Beautiful Disaster

A Beautiful Disaster is a title that suits this 2020 set from Jelly Roll. Once steeped in the swampy sound of hick-hop, he shifts that murky, bass-heavy aesthetic to a thick groove that feels aligned with the twin poles of SoundCloud hip-hop and Southern-fried rap. His old running partner Struggle Jennings shows up, but so does Tech N9ne, a move that covers both sides of the fence, and the album often drifts into moody, self-doubting territory, including the near-love ballad "Suicide." There are a couple of lighter moments, such as the raving "Jesus and Rock and Roll," but this is generally a heavy affair, both in sound and attitude. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine