Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	70/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B-
AllHipHop	7.5/10
Exclaim!	7/10
HipHopDX
Paste	7.7/10
Pitchfork Media	7.7/10
PopMatters	5/10
Rolling Stone
XXL	(XL)

These Days... is the third studio album by American hip hop recording artist Ab-Soul. It was released on June 24, 2014, by Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). The record serves as the follow-up to his critically acclaimed Control System (2012). The album features guest appearances from Black Hippy affiliates Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and Jay Rock; as well as Rick Ross, Lupe Fiasco, Action Bronson and Mac Miller (as Delusional Thomas), whose in-house studio is where Ab-Soul recorded the majority of the record, among others.

The album's production was handled by Digi+Phonics' Dave Free, Sounwave and Tae Beast, among others such as Rahki, Curtiss King, DJ Dahi, Like of Pac Div, Terrace Martin, Corin Roddick, Mac Miller as Larry Fisherman and J. Cole.

On May 5, 2014, after clearing up these rumors that his new album was initially titled Black Lip Pastor, Ab-Soul later revealed that the true title for his new album will be called These Days…. In May 2014, in an interview with Jay Z's Life+Times, Ab-Soul spoke on several topics such as his song, called "Stigmata", while not having a super conceptual title for the album and began recording for the majority of it at the Mac Miller's house. When asked about what should listeners take away from These Days…, Ab-Soul answered: "Balance. Variation. A spice of life. I want to try and touch as many bases as possible. I want something on there for everybody. There will be a lot of references to the vibe of today, the sound of today and the subject matter of today."

...
Wikipedia