To Live, To Love by LZA

We're in the endgame now, my friends. Christmas is on the way, the good Jordans are dropping, and everyone with a microphone and FL Studio is releasing music. This is the time of year when streaming gets the most hectic. Between all the extra Christmas ads in your algorithm and all of the artists putting together holiday albums for a quick buck and a chance to be the next Mariah Carey, It's tough to figure out what is worth your precious music library space.

While I was shifting through just about every audio platform I have downloaded on my iPhone, I received a text from my friend Hudson about To Live, To Love, a new album from LZA, just as I was about to venture into the hot winter weather. Yes, b, you read that correctly. Welcome to California, where you might get a 90-degree day in mid-November just because. I jumped in the Honda that feels like a Benz when the right music is playing and decided to give the album the "car test."

Sidenote: If you don't know what the car test is, please close this webpage and reevaluate things…Then get the definition…Then return to me.

"To Live, To Love" is a late-night ride through life, growth, ups, and downs. The first song that draws me in is the second one on the album. "Heavens Gate" flips "I'm Dreaming" by Christopher Williams into a hypnotizing beat. LZA goes into a verse filled with nuggets of motivation and ambition. Bryce adds some standout bars in the second verse as does LZA, and he shows how well they mesh trading lines. "Crazy how the Ls lead to the Ms, I ain't talkin' alphabetical." is a fucking bar.

"Active" probably contains my favorite production on the album. The instrumental placement over a simple drum pattern that I could enjoy for an hour straight. LZA displays his best pacing on this one. Though he can rap on a variety of stylistically different beats, as showcased on this album, this style might be his bread and butter. I do wish his verse was longer, and for that matter, NVRD's verse could've been longer too. The song clocks in at 3:17, but it feels short as hell for some reason.

To Live, To Love paints a vibrant picture of where LZA may find himself in life at the moment. A vulnerable take on his journey, goals, and past with little to no filler. Crysis and Free are probably the most in-depth looks inside the soul of the rising artist/poet and are blocks that I hope LZA builds upon moving forward. As someone who hadn't heard his music before, this is a good entry point that makes me want to hear future efforts.

As far as the favorite song from the album that will play over and over, "Dungeon" is absolute fire. It reminds me of the prime Dom Kennedy days, That feel-good westside shit that's got a deeper story to it. I can already picture myself executing the meanest of 2 steps at a future day party, and I swear you niggas will not be able to tell me anything when I hit that shit. Although the hook paints a picture of poverty-stricken beginnings, I can't help but want to move my shoulders to this. It's a 10.

"To Live, To Love" is available on all platforms and is worth the stream. There are a few songs that I may not go back to, but there are definitely some songs that are going in my playlist rotation immediately (again, Dungeon is the fucking one, not the two). With that being said, I am off to figure out how much adult eggnog I can legally cop before the stores shut me down. Stay wavy, my friends, and remember we are not wearing low-top Jordan's for any reason at all.