The Best New Hip-Hop This Week
The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from Rico Nasty, Samara Cyn, and Sexyy Red. With summer inching closer, rap and hip-hop are back outside — so to speak. New York standard-bearers The LOX led the charge with their Red Bull Spiral freestyle: Meanwhile, the girlies took control, with Rico Nasty […]
Lil Tecca’s ‘OWA OWA’ Video Makes Him Ultimate Ladies’ Man
Lil Tecca‘s a few years removed from his viral breakout, “Ransom,” and since then, he’s evolved both artistically and personally. That growth was recently seen most starkly on Tecca’s March single “Dark Thoughts,” but remains in his latest release, the Buggles-sampling “OWA OWA.” Crafted around an interpolation of the portentous 1979 hit, “Video Killed The […]
The Best Vinyl Releases Of May 2025
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, […]
XXXTentacion And Juice WRLD’s Posthumous ‘Whoa (Mind In Awe) (Remix)’ Advocates For The Dreamers
Two of SoundCloud rap‘s late heroes finally unite on the “Whoa (Mind In Awe)” remix. XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD only ever really crafted one song together — the original version of “Whoa” — but it’s only now that the world gets an official release. Juice had recorded the verse specifically for XXXTentacion’s song “Whoa,” but […]
Leon Thomas Releases ‘Not Fair’ From ‘Mutt’ Deluxe, ‘Heel’
Leon Thomas’ new album Mutt has been the definition of a breakout; its self-titled lead single was a viral hit, propelling him to an appearance on Tiny Desk, a Best New Artist nomination at the upcoming BET Awards, and collaborations with stars likeHalle Bailey, Freddie Gibbs, and Ty Dolla Sign. This week, he updated the […]
Solange Remixes Mariah Carey’s ‘Say Somethin”
Mariah Carey’s focus lately has been on a 20th-anniversary edition of The Emancipation Of Mimi, and the package includes some great extras. That includes fresh remixes from some familiar faces, like this Kaytranada rework that dropped in April. The full reissue is out now, so we can finally hear Solange’s remix of “Say Somethin’,” which […]
Kali Uchis Performs ‘All I Can Say’ On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
After releasing one of 2024’s best albums with Orquídeas, Kali Uchis is already back with another one: Sincerely, from earlier this month. She just got to show the project off on national TV, too: Last night (May 30), she delivered a dreamy performance of the doo-wop-inspired “All I Can Say” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In […]
Samara Cyn & Smino Team Up For ‘Brand New Teeth’ Video
Tennessee rapper Samara Cyn is on the cusp of one hell of a come-up, receiving high-profile co-signs from the likes of Lauryn Hill and St. Louis rapper Smino, who put her in his “Maybe In Nirvana” video and on his Kountry Kousins Tour, which is currently making its way across the nation. After dropping the […]
Sexyy Red Joins Pluto’s ‘Whim Whammiee (Remix)’
For the past couple of months, the incipient Song Of The Summer hopeful, “Whim Whammiee,” has steadily been rising in acclaim and recognition. The song, the creative fruit of a collab between Atlanta ratchet rap upstart Pluto and her homegirl YK Niece, is a weave-wagging, butt-bobbing sledgehammer of a street banger in the vein of […]
Gelo Announces ‘League Of My Own’ Album With ‘Booted Up’
It may seem like years have passed since LiAngelo Ball — known professionally from here on out as Gelo — first went viral with the surprise hit, “Tweaker,” but in reality, it’s been less than six months. But the song recalibrated the modern sound of rap, set up Gelo for once-in-a-generation success, and laid the […]