22 New Rap and R&B Songs Out This Week
This week we got the very good new Boldy James & Alchemist album, which I reviewed in Notable Releases, and we also got a Benny the Butcher EP (see below), a surprise Ka album (ditto), and new songs from MAVI, J Balvin, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, Flee Lord & Roc Marciano, MF DOOM (Thom Yorke remix), Coi Leray, Injury Reserve, Lizzo/Cardi B, and more. Read on for all the rap and R&B we posted this week…
BENNY THE BUTCHER – PYREX PICASSO EP
The very prolific Benny The Butcher is back with a new EP, including appearances by Conway The Machine, Elcamino, and Rick Hyde (who are all on two songs each). It’s not easy to keep up with all the music that Benny releases, but don’t miss this one. He sounds especially fired up.
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KA – “I NOTICE”
Brooklyn rapper Ka has released a new album for a $20 download on his website, and one song also has a video.
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LIZZO – “RUMORS” FEAT. CARDI B
Lizzo is back with her first new music since breakthrough smash Cuz I Love You / “Juice,” with a superstar collab with Cardi B. Lizzo’s signature mix of pop and rap is still in effect — Cardi B fits right in — and the video features them as the gods they are.
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MAVI – “MAMA SAY”
MAVI follows up his great new EP End of the Earth with another dose of meandering soulful rap.
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J BALVIN – “QUE LOCURA”
After releasing tons of singles this year, J Balvin has finally announced his new album, Jose, due September 10 via Sueños Globales/Universal. Along with the announcement comes the infectious, kinetic new single “Que Locura.”
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TIERRA WHACK – “8”
Boundary-pushing rapper Tierra Whack follows her recent fashion-themed single “Walk The Beat” with a football-themed song, “8,” which is part of the just-released Madden NFL 22 soundtrack.
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DENZEL CURRY – “THE GAME”
Denzel Curry has also released a new song for Madden NFL 22, and it comes with a video that pays homage to the original Madden NFL 95 game.
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FLEE LORD & ROC MARCIANO – “TRIM THE FAT” (ft. STOVE GOD COOKS)
Flee Lord has announced a new project, Delgado, entirely produced by Roc Marciano, and first single “Trim The Fat” features their pal Stove God Cooks. Read more about it here.
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MF DOOM – “GAZZILLION EAR” (THOM YORKE MAN ON FIRE REMIX)
Thom Yorke has released a second remix of MF DOOM’s “Gazillion Ear” (his first came out in 2009), and you can read more about it here.
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COI LERAY – “OKAY YEAH”
Rapper/singer Coi Leray has been rapidly rising lately, and this brief but catchy new song is even more proof of why the rise is deserved.
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WALE – “DOWN SOUTH” (ft. YELLA BEEZY & MAXO KREAM)
DC rapper Wale embraces the sound of Southern rap and teams up with two Texas rappers on “Down South.”
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LUDACRIS – “BUTTER.ATL”
“Butter.Atl” starts out sounding like classic Ludacris, but he pivots to modern-day, auto-tuned trap-pop in the chorus.
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G PERICO – “SPAZZ” (ft. REMBLE)
LA rapper G Perico will release a new album, Play 2 Win, on August 27 via Perico Innerprize, LLC/EMPIRE, and first single “Spazz” finds his bouncy West Coast sound in fine form.
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DDG – “LUSTED”
Fast-rising melodic Michigan rapper DDG follows his 2021 album Die 4 Respect with a new single, the somber, catchy “Lusted.”
https://youtu.be/QSq606ky4a8
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CHYNNA – “SEASONAL DEPRESSION PT.2”
A posthumous Chynna album will come out on August 20, and you can read more about lead single “seasonal depression pt.2” here.
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NAO – “WAIT”
UK R&B singer Nao has shared another song off her anticipated new album And Then Life Was Beautiful, and this one’s an atmospheric, sentimental ballad.
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A$AP TYY – “100 ROUNDS”
A$AP Mob’s A$AP TyY is back with a new single, and it finds him churning out loud, abrasive, punk-infused rap.
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INJURY RESERVE – “KNEES”
Stepa J. Groggs of Phoenix experimental rap group Injury Reserve tragically passed away at age 32 last year, but now the group have announced a new album that was largely completed before his passing and features his contributions. Read more about the album and this new song here.
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THEY HATE CHANGE – “FAUX LEATHER”
They Hate Change are a rap/production duo from Tampa with a strong DIY ethos and an experimental genre-defying approach to the genre that pulls from anything from Miami bass to footwork to house music to post-punk to krautrock and beyond. Following recent EPs on Godmode and Deathbomb Arc, They Hate Change have now signed to Jagjaguwar, and their first single for the label is “Faux Leather.” Read more about it here.
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EARTHGANG – “ERYKAH”
Atlanta rap duo EarthGang are gearing up for their new album Ghetto Gods, and they’ve released this soulful new single, which samples and pays tribute to Erykah Badu.
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AZ – “THE WHEEL” (ft. JAHIEM)
Longtime Nas collaborator (and The Firm member) AZ will release a new album, ‘Doe Or Die 2, on September 10 via Quiet Money. The album features contributions from Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Conway The Machine, The Alchemist, T-Pain, Dave East, Pete Rock, Buckwild, Heatmakerz, Czarface, Idris Elba, and more, and new single “The Wheel” (ft. Jahiem) is out now. It’s cut from the same classic ’90s New York rap cloth that AZ helped define.
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VANJESS – “SLOW DOWN” (ft. LUCKY DAYE)
VanJess’ Homegrown EP is one of 2021’s best examples of ’90s-style R&B, and now EP highlight “Slow Down” has been given an appealing rework with new vocals from Lucky Daye.
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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.
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25 Early 2000s Rap Albums That Hold Up Today
Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele (2000)
Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030 (2000)
Lil’ Kim – The Notorious K.I.M. (2000)
OutKast – Stankonia (2000)
Ludacris – Back for the First Time (2000)
Eve – Scorpion (2001)
Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein (2001)
Jay-Z – The Blueprint (2001)
Jay-Z made a name for himself rapping alongside Jaz-O and then Big Daddy Kane in the late '80s and early '90s, but took his time when it came to making his own album. And while he was watching and waiting, the young Queensbridge rapper Nas released his 1994 debut album Illmatic, an instant-classic that received a now-legendary score of five mics from The Source and changed rap forever. Jay took obvious notes from Illmatic (and sampled a line from it) when he finally released his own debut album, 1996's Reasonable Doubt. Gone was the fast-rapping Jay-Z of the Jaz-O days and in his place was an artist with a smoother, grittier style who told real-life stories of life on the streets in Brooklyn over some of the finest production of the era (courtesy of Ski, Clark Kent, Illmatic contributor DJ Premier, and others). Jay-Z intended for Reasonable Doubt to be a classic, and it was, but it wasn't the instantly-game-changing album that Illmatic was and it couldn't compete with the flashy, pop-crossover "Jiggy Era" that Puff Daddy started to lead after Biggie's tragic death. So Jay-Z went in an increasingly pop direction, and by the time of his 1998 single "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)," he wasn't just competing with the "Jiggy Era," he was starting to take over.
Going pop in the late '90s and early 2000s also meant getting dissed by other rappers, among them Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Nas, whose feud with Jay-Z was about to boil over as Jay-Z geared up for his best album since Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint. Months before its release, Jay made Hot 97 Summer Jam history by debuting "Takeover," a diss track aimed at Prodigy and Nas, during his set, alongside a childhood photo of Prodigy in dance clothes on the big screen. The finished version of "Takeover" ended up on The Blueprint, and the studio version proved it to be not just a brutal diss track but also a genuinely great song, and one of many on The Blueprint. Jay-Z didn't stop being "pop" on The Blueprint -- it still had the radio-friendly "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," the sentimental balladry of "Song Cry," and other "pop" moments -- but he figured out how to put the accessibility of the "Jiggy Era," the grit of the streets, and the album-oriented structure of Reasonable Doubt into one whole masterpiece of an album. Production came largely from Just Blaze and Kanye West (plus Bink, Timbaland, Eminem, and others), and together they established a rich, soulful production style that would dominate rap for years. There's perhaps never been a better example of the classic Kanye sound than "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)." Jay's ear for beats on The Blueprint was matched by his most consistently great rapping since Reasonable Doubt, and still some of the very best rapping of his career. Unlike his previous guest-filled albums, Jay carried the album almost entirely by himself, and he never lost steam. The only guest appearance came from Eminem on "Renegade," and look, Nas is right, Em out-rapped Jay on the track, but Jay still packed some of his finest rhyme schemes into that song.
Aesop Rock – Labor Days (2001)
Nas – Stillmatic (2001)
El-P – Fantastic Damage (2002)
Eminem – The Eminem Show (2002)
If we're picking one album per artist, a lot of people would go with 2000's near-perfect The Marshall Mathers LP for Eminem, but if pressed, I always go with The Eminem Show because it feels like the grand finale to the classic Eminem era. The Marshall Mathers LP is just as essential, but Eminem as we came to know him doesn't exist without The Eminem Show.
An artist who almost always knew how to title an album, Marshall Mathers introduced the world to his massively offensive alter-ego Slim Shady on 1999's The Slim Shady LP, he introduced us to the man behind the madness on The Marshall Mathers LP, and he took a look at the impact Eminem the artist had on the world with The Eminem Show. (He also admitted the show was over with 2004's Encore, and then made a series of failed comeback attempts with Relapse, Recovery, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, and Revival, before finally abandoning this trend on the still-just-okay-sounding Kamikaze and Music to Be Murdered By.) Eminem catapulted to the forefront of rap because of white privilege but also became a scapegoat for everything white suburban conservatives hated about rap, and there's perhaps no better response to all of it than "White America," the first proper song on The Eminem Show. And then there's "Sing for the Moment." The Marshall Mathers LP gave us "Stan," a Dido-sampling ballad about the real-life dangers of toxic fandom and the importance of mental health, and The Eminem Show gave us "Sing for the Moment," an Aerosmith-sampling ballad about the importance of rap music to young kids amidst backlash from the media, the government, and scared parents. You might argue that song ruined white rap forever (and also unfortunately convinced Eminem he needed more and more ballads on later albums), but it also spoke directly to and validated the feelings of a lot of kids who needed to hear it. The Eminem Show also attacked George W. Bush ("Square Dance"), took on personal issues like the toll fame takes on a person ("Say Goodbye Hollywood") and fatherhood ("Hailie's Song"), and also reminded the world Eminem was still better than most people at making straight-up rap songs ("Business"). One of three songs on The Eminem Show produced by the man who made Eminem a star, Dr. Dre, "Business" found Eminem packing so many career-best punchlines over a top-tier Dre beat, reminding us that -- when you put all the baggage associated with Eminem aside -- he was truly one of the greats at the pure art of rapping.