21 New Rap and R&B Songs Out This Week

This week in rap, hip hop, and R&B, we got no lack of new protest songs, and also a handful of notable new albums/EPs, including the Wiley album and Dua Saleh EP which you can read more about in Notable Releases. Scroll down for more…

POP SMOKE – “MAKE IT RAIN” (ft. ROWDY REBEL)

Pop Smoke’s posthumous album was originally set for today, but was pushed back to July 3 “out of respect for the movement,” and instead this new song is out today. It’s all the proof you need that Pop was only getting better and better when his life was tragically cut short.

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SPILLAGE VILLAGE (J.I.D, EARTHGANG, 6LACK, more) – “END OF DAZE”

Spillage Village is the Atlanta rap/R&B collective of J.I.D, EarthGang, 6LACK, Mereba, JurdanBryant, Hollywood JB, and Benji, and they’ve got a new album on the way via Dreamville/SinceThe80s/Interscope. The first single is this mournful, soulful, and totally stunning new song, which comes with a powerful video of the group gathering around a television to watch all of this year’s terrible news.

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BUDDY – “BLACK 2”

In 2018, Compton rapper Buddy released the song “Black,” in which Buddy celebrated his blackness and referenced Trayvon Martin, Huey P. Newton, “Strange Fruit,” and more, and in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, he released a sequel. “Feel like Malcolm X, peekin’ outside my window / Everybody wanna be black, but don’t nobody wanna be a n****,” he raps on the hook, and the artwork references that iconic Malcolm X window photo as well.

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RMR – “WELFARE” (ft. WESTSIDE GUNN)

RMR went viral after releasing “Rascal,” and then he released the singles “Dealer” and “I’m Not Over You” that really proved he’s a great singer and not just a gimmick, and now his debut EP Drug Dealing Is A Lost Art is out featuring those three singles and a few other songs. One of them, opening track “Welfare,” features Griselda’s Westside Gunn who’s been on fire lately.

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JUICY J – “HELLA FUCKIN’ TRAUMA”

Hella fuckin’ trauma is right. Juicy J tackles just about everything on this song: police brutality, the country’s long history of racism, coronavirus, labels owning his masters, and more.

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CHUCKY73 & FIVIO FOREIGN – “NILI”

Bronx Latin trap rapper Chucky73 and Brooklyn drill rapper Fivio Foreign join forces on “Nili,” which brings together two of the latest developments in New York rap and sounds great doing so.

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DABABY – “ROCKSTAR” (ft. RODDY RICCH, BLACK LIVES MATTER REMIX)

DaBaby has released a rework of his hit “ROCKSTAR” with new lyrics inspired by the recent nationwide protests against police brutality.

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LIL BABY – “THE BIGGER PICTURE”

Lil Baby has released a new protest song, with proceeds going to the Bail Project, the National Association of Black Journalists, and to Breonna Taylor’s legal team, his reps confirmed to Pitchfork. “I guess that mean hold him down if he say he can’t breathe,” he sings.

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TYLA YAWEH – “TOMMY LEE” (ft. POST MALONE & TOMMY LEE)

Recent tourmates Tyla Yaweh and Post Malone link up on this ode to Tommy lee, which also actually features contributions from the Motley Crue drummer that it’s named after. “Tommy Lee just doesn’t give a fuck and I love that,” Yaweh told NME.

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TEYANA TAYLOR – “WAKE UP LOVE” (ft. IMAN)

Teyana Taylor is gearing up to follow K.T.S.E. with her new album, THE ALBUM, and this great, airy new single features her husband, NBA player/rapper Iman Shumpert, and they reveal in the video that they’re expecting their second child. Congrats!!

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AZEALIA BANKS – “BLACK MADONNA” (ft. LEX LUGER)

Azealia Banks is often more in the news for controversy than for music, but every now and then she drops a song that’s undeniably good and reminds you why you fell in love with her music in the first place. This is one of those songs.

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H.E.R. – “I CAN’T BREATHE”

R&B/soul singer H.E.R did a full-band live session for iHeartRadio’s Living Room Concert Series, and she took the opportunity to debut a powerful new protest song, “I Can’t Breathe.” “All of the names you refuse to remember/Was somebody’s brother or friend, son to a mother that’s crying, saying/I can’t breathe, you’re taking my life from me,” she sings on the moving new song. It comes in at the 1:33 mark, and she also covers Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” right after that.

https://youtu.be/j78N8Z_Ao1Q

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LEON BRIDGES – “SWEETER” (ft. TERRACE MARTIN)

Last week, Terrace Martin was behind one of the most powerful new protest songs, and now he also aided Leon Bridges on this new jazz/soul/hip hop fusion song that takes a more mournful approach to protest music. Read more here.

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SELF SCIENTIFIC – “SELFISH PRIDE”

LA rap vets Self Scientific (MC Chace Infinite and DJ Khalil) are back with their first new song in 11 years, which was actually written in 2014 after the death of Eric Garner and not released until now, and it feels as urgent now as it would have felt then (sadly).

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RICO NASTY – “DIRTY”

The season four finale of Insecure airs this Sunday (6/14) on HBO, and it’ll feature this undeniably fun new song by Rico Nasty.

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SPANK NITTI JAMES & FREDDIE GIBBS – “DISAPPEAR”

Freddie Gibbs is having a huge year, with the release of his great new Alchemist-produced album Alfredo and a few memorable guest verses, and now he’s also got this new track out with the relatively new West Coast rapper Spank Nitti James.

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BLU & EXILE – “ROOTS OF BLUE” (ft. JACINTO RHINES)

Blu & Exile’s first collaborative album in eight years, Miles: From An Interlude Called Life, comes out July 17 and here’s another song from it, the nine-minute “Roots of Blue.”

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IRON WIGS – “PROBLEMATIC” (ft. CRIMEAPPLE)

Chicago rap trio Iron Wigs (Vic Spencer of the SaveMoney collective, veteran rapper Verbal Kent, and producer SonnyJim) are releasing a new album, Your Birthday’s Cancelled, on June 27 via Mello Music Group. This new single is a chill, hypnotic dose of jazz rap featuring NJ rapper Crimeapple.

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CAMBATTA – “BONES OF OSIRIS”

Cambatta has shared another single off his upcoming album LSD: Lunar Solar Duality (due 7/21 via Mello Music Group), and the song — which includes lyrics about systemic racism — comes with a video full of footage of recent protests. “when I wrote this song, the moment I heard the beat I was inspired to write something that was wickedly witty yet motivational in a revolutionary sense,” Cambatta says. “This song represents frustration and aggression but also knowledge of self and eagerness to nullify in the burning hunger in my soul.”

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GORILLAZ – “FRIDAY 13TH” (ft. OCTAVIAN)

Gorillaz have released a new song in their Song Machine series, and this one features the great UK rapper Octavian, who both raps and sings on the track, while Gorillaz supply a backdrop of big, rubbery synths.

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TSU SURF – MSYKM

Newark rapper Tsu Surf has a new project out featuring Benny the Butcher, G Herbo, Mozzy, Jim Jones, Dave East, and more, and it’s a hard-hitting collection of gritty street rap.

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For even more new songs, browse our daily ‘New Songs’ lists. For more hip hop news, browse our ‘Hip Hop News’ category.

For ways to help fight racism and police brutality, we put together a list of resources.