16 New Rap Songs Out This Week

July 19, 2019

A handful of good new hip hop albums dropped today, including Beyonce’s Lion King companion album, Maxo Kream, and Saul Williams (all three of which I wrote about for Notable Releases), and Nas’ The Lost Tapes 2 is out today too (which is embedded below). We also got new singles from City Girls/Saweetie, Lil Baby/DaBaby, YBN Nahmir/City Girls, Lil Durk/Meek Mill, Conway/Eminem, A$AP Ferg, Murs/9th Wonder/Rapsody, The Streets/Flohio, and more. Read on for all the hip hop we posted on BV this week…

NAS – THE LOST TAPES 2

Nas’ The Lost Tapes 2 is the sequel to 2002’s The Lost Tapes, and it features unreleased songs from the sessions for Hip-Hop is Dead (2006), Untitled (2008) and Life is Good (2012). Producers include Swizz Beatz, Pharrell, Kanye West, araabMUZIK, Statik Selektah, RZA, Hit-Boy, The Alchemist, Pete Rock, No I.D., and more.

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BEYONCE – “NILE” (ft. KENDRICK LAMAR)

Beyonce’s The Lion King: The Gift album is out now (read our review), and especially of note is this new team-up from Bey and Kendrick Lamar.

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BEYONCE – “MOOD 4 EVA” (ft. JAY-Z & CHILDISH GAMBINO)

One more song from The Lion King: The Gift to highlight is this Jay-Z and Childish Gambino collab, which is the album’s most upbeat song and feels destined to become a fan favorite.

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YBN NAHMIR – “FUCK IT UP” (ft. CITY GIRLS & TYGA)

Up and coming hooksmith YBN Nahmir taps the unstoppably rising City Girls for a new anthem that’s as instantly-satisfying and absurdly catchy as you’d expect. (It also features an entirely unnecessary Tyga verse.)

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LIL DURK – “BOUGIE” (ft. MEEK MILL)

The Meek Mill renaissance continues with his great new contributions to Chicago rapper Lil Durk’s latest single, “Bougie.”

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CONWAY – “BANG” (ft. EMINEM)

Conway is one third of the Griselda Records crew, who are on fire right now, and today he’s back with a new single featuring Eminem, whose Shady Records began some type of business relationship with Griselda a couple years ago. Over an ominous beat from Griselda’s in-house producer Daringer and UK producer Beat Butcha, Conway delivers threatening bars that should excite anyone who misses ’90s New York rap. Em comes in about a halfway through with a verse that references his old beefs with Ja Rule and Canibus, and tells you to compare him to Marilyn or Charles Manson, Nas, Biggie, Pac, Meek Mill, or Daz Dillinger, but not Iggy Azalea or Milli Vanilli.

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CITY GIRLS & SAWEETIE – “COME ON”

Quality Control is releasing a new compilation, Quality Control: Control The Streets Volume 2, this year, and two songs are streaming now. One is this fiery new collab from City Girls and Saweetie, which sounds like an instant party-starter.

https://youtu.be/I7XLAu9r5NI

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LIL BABY & DABABY – “BABY”

The other song released from the Quality Control comp is one by Lil Baby and DaBaby called “Baby.” (Yo dawg…) Lil Baby starts the song off with his usual auto-tuned sing-rap, but then DaBaby comes in spitting bars that remind you why he’s one of the best new rappers of the year.

https://youtu.be/urIqRasnCCc

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A$AP FERG – “FLOOR SEATS”

A$AP Ferg follows his recent singles “Wam” (ft. MadeinTYO “Wigs” (ft. City Girls & Antha), and “Pups” (ft. A$AP Rocky) with “Floor Seats” and revealed that all four songs will appear on his new EP, also titled Floor Seats. Release date is still TBA, but going by how instantly enjoyable all of these songs have been, we recommend keeping your eyes peeled for it.

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A$AP FERG – “WAM” (ft. MADEINTYO)

A$AP Ferg has been dropping new singles lately, and he’s back with yet another instantly-satisfying banger, “Wam.” He debuted it in Revolin’s new Step Out of Line campaign, and said, “I love any opportunity to celebrate women which is exactly what I get to do with Revlon’s Step Out of Line campaign. We share a vision, I’m not afraid to live boldly and Revlon encourages women to do the same.”

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MURS, 9TH WONDER & THE SOUL COUNCIL – “HIGH NOON” (ft. RAPSODY & REUBEN VINCENT)

Veteran underground rapper Murs and veteran producer 9th Wonder are teaming for a new album, The Iliad Is Dead and The Odyssey Is Over, due August 9 via EMPIRE. New single “High Noon” features one of today’s best rappers, frequent 9th Wonder collaborator Rapsody, as well as Reuben Vincent. Rapsody tells Complex, “Making ‘High Noon’ was one of the funniest times I’ve had working with another artist. It started as a Patagucci joke, and turned into a jam where Murs and I got to flex and have fun at the same time. I haven’t gone back and forth on verses in a while. It was dope to create in that way again– just spitting.” It’s as fun to listen to as it sounds like it was to make. Check it out:

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THE STREETS – “HOW LONG’S IT BEEN” (ft. FLOHIO)

Mike Skinner’s long-running UK hip hop project The Streets has tapped rising UK rapper Flohio for his new single, “How Long’s It Been.” The two sound great together, and Skinner says, “Flohio’s energy is insane. She adds colour to a quite serious trap energy and makes something just as unpredictable and homespun as anyone from Atlanta. She has the juice on stage.” The Streets are also planning to release a “collaborative mixtape” this year.

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THE COOL KIDS – LAYUPS (PROD. THE ALCHEMIST)

Long-running indie-rap duo The Cool Kids are back with a new three-song EP, and psychedelic production wizard The Alchemist produced the whole thing. It’s as daze-inducing as you’d hope.

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KATE TEMPEST – “FIRESMOKE” (LIVE ON SETH MEYERS)

Kate Tempest was in NYC this week, playing an intimate showcase at East Village club Berlin Under A but before stopping by Late Night With Seth Meyers to performing “Firesmoke” from the just-released The Book of Traps & Lessons. She’s an incredibly magnetic performer as this performances shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV7ssVhp934

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RICH BRIAN – “KIDS”

“Kids” is the latest single from Rich Brian’s upcoming sophomore LP The Sailor, which you can read more about here.

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LIL PUMP – “POSE TO DO” (ft. FRENCH MONTANA & QUAVO)

Lil Pump, French Montana, and Quavo of Migos team up for an auto-tune fest that sounds engineered to dominate rap radio this summer. Stay tuned to see if it does!