On what was meant to be the last date of his 2022 tour, The Weeknd took the stage at Inglewood, California’s SoFi Stadium, but when he opened his mouth to sing for 80,000 screaming fans, nothing came out. Over the past 14 years, Abel Tesfaye has experienced what you might call pop’s glow-up of the century: When he emerged from obscurity as the faceless voice behind 2011’s noir-ish *House of Balloons* mixtape, nobody could have guessed that he’d be headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show a decade later. But that moment onstage triggered what Tesfaye has since described as a breakdown, inspiring a period of intense reflection on his life and career—and *Hurry Up Tomorrow*, his sixth studio album. Tesfaye has called *Tomorrow* the final chapter in the trilogy he began with 2020’s *After Hours*, the album that launched him into a new stratosphere of pop success, and continued with 2022’s high-concept *Dawn FM*. Continuing the narrative of its semi-autobiographical narrator’s journey through a dark night of the soul, *Tomorrow* doubles as an allegory about fame’s power to destroy: The curtain rises, and it’s all downhill from there. He longs for a time “when my blood never tasted like wine,” he wails over the night-drive synth-pop of “Take Me Back to LA,” and diagnoses fame as a disease on the glittering “Drive.” He’s ready to leave it all behind on “Wake Me Up,” a collaboration with French duo Justice: “No afterlife, no other side,” he sings, sounding entranced by the thought. Its 22 tracks play out like the swan song to end all swan songs, joined by a murderer’s row of guests: Future lends a layer of scuzz to the deceptively sweet R&B slow-burner “Enjoy the Show,” Anitta taps in for the nocturnal baile funk of “São Paulo,” and frequent collaborator Lana Del Rey makes an appearance on “The Abyss,” where ominous lyrics like, “What’s the point of staying? It’s going up in flames” hit even harder after LA’s devastating fires in January 2025. Tesfaye has dropped repeated hints that this album won’t just close out the trilogy, but also his existence as The Weeknd. If that’s the case, “Without a Warning” encapsulates the arc of an artist who never let success get in the way of his ambition: “Take me to a time/When I was young/And my heart could take the drugs and heartache without loss/But now my bones are frail/And my voice fails/And my tears fall without a warning/Either way, the crowd will scream my name.”
When Larry June and The Alchemist get together, the results are invariably magical. Two West Coast hip-hop mainstays, their 2023 joint album *The Great Escape* and a few surrounding one-offs clarified just how marvelously the Bay’s healthiest MC could vibe with LA’s infamous beat artisan. While that project’s featured guests were overwhelmingly comprised of ALC familiars, the duo’s 2025 follow-up welcomes a relative newcomer to that particular scene as its third headliner: 2 Chainz. Having established his reputation primarily with trap producers, the Georgia native reached a certain level of ubiquity by working beyond subgenre borders, which contextualizes his presence on *Life Is Beautiful*. As his biggest fans assuredly know, he and June are in no way strangers, appearing together on the latter’s *Spaceships on the Blade* and *The Night Shift*, albeit not over Alchemist beats. Commonalities and contrasts between the two rappers make *Life Is Beautiful* a uniquely satisfying listening experience. “Colossal” recalls 2 Chainz’s *Most Expensivest* exploits, his luxe litany of decidedly un-humble brags pleasantly incongruous with June’s signature lifestyle index involving fresh-squeezed juices, vintage timepieces, and automotive excellence. At times, they suit one another like a well-balanced cocktail, trading unapologetically profane bars for more methodical and measured ones on “I Been” and “Any Day.” Elsewhere, their shared maturity differentiates them from the brand-name-dropping rap pack, their grown-folks motivations informing the flexes of “LLC” and the title track. Devoid of distractions from outside guests, both artists’ skills and quirks come to the fore over Alchemist’s breathtaking, often sublimely soulful, instrumentals.
Much like his unending devotion for wrestling and sartorial sense of streetwear, Westside Gunn perpetually seeks to put other rappers on. For this spiritual sequel to 2022’s *Peace “Fly” God* that also technically serves as the 12th installment in his *Hermes* series, the Griselda impresario once again centers Estee Nack and Stove God Cooks, who collectively and respectively appear on seven of these 11 tracks. Their joint presence on trio cuts “BOSWELL” and the Daringer-produced “VEERT” pushes the fashionably flamboyant FLYGOD back towards coke-rap braggadocio and surrounding themes of luxury amid violence. (Even as his cohorts talk street business, he still fires off a big brag about parallel parking a Bugatti.) The duo moments shine as well, with Stove reminiscing about the recipe with Gunn on “055” and Nack mixing ugly business with filthy pleasure on “BURY ME WITH A STOVE.” A standout presence on 2024’s *Still Praying*, Brother Tom Sos returns here for two songs in a move that furthers Gunn’s artistic patronage. On “HEALTH SCIENCE,” he moves the proceedings towards something resembling what used to be dubbed conscious rap, while on “GUMBO YAYA” he transforms murderous metaphors into a more principled path. Though better known for his production placements on Mach-Hommy’s *#RICHAXXHAITIAN* and Conway The Machine’s *Slant Face Killah*, Elijah Hooks makes an unexpected if rewarding appearance over Conductor Williams’ “DUMP WORLD.” The album’s sole solo joint, “OUTLANDER” allows Gunn to synthesize all of *12*’s ideas with his signature WWE nods and the mournful reflections that came to the fore on his preceding *11* EP.
By sheer force of will, MIKE has become a leading voice in New York’s underground rap renaissance. He drops one or two albums a year, each expanding his lyrical scope, laidback delivery, and excellent ear for beats. His crew runs deep, and 2024’s *Pinball* with producer Tony Seltzer featured many of his closest collaborators, like Earl Sweatshirt and Tony Shhnow. His 2025 effort, *Showbiz!*, is similar in the sense that it’s a deeply immersive effort, but the guest list is limited. MIKE’s world is nevertheless unmistakable, filled with weed smoke, knotty lyrics, and beats that continue to help forge a new golden age in New York. “Then we could be free” takes an old soul sample and highlights the bassline, giving MIKE’s unrelenting delivery a funky underbelly. “Lucky” features drums that explode like fireworks and synths that dance around MIKE’s voice, approximating his slippery flow without ever tying it down to a consistent rhythm. It’s loose but never sloppy.
One summer night in 2022, during a break from shooting *The Crow* reboot in Prague, FKA twigs found her way outside the city to a warehouse rave, where hundreds of strangers were dancing to loud, immersive techno. The experience snapped the English polymath (singer, dancer, songwriter, actor, force of nature) out of the intense brain fog she’d been stuck inside for years—so much so that she was moved to invent a word to describe the transcendent clarity, a portmanteau of “sex” and “euphoria” (which also sounds a bit like the Greek word used to celebrate a discovery: eureka!). *EUSEXUA*, twigs’ third studio album (and her first full-length release since her adventurous 2022 mixtape, *Caprisongs*), is not explicitly a dance record—more a love letter to dance music’s emancipating powers, channeled through the auteur’s heady, haunting signature style. The throbbing percussion from that fateful warehouse rave pulses through the record, warping according to the mood: slinky, subterranean trip-hop on the hedonistic “Girl Feels Good,” or big-room melodrama on the strobing “Room of Fools.” On the cyborgian “Drums of Death” (produced by Koreless, who worked closely alongside twigs and appears on every track), twigs evokes a short-circuiting sexbot at an after-hours rave in the Matrix, channeling sensations of hot flesh against cold metal as she implores you to “Crash the system...Serve cunt/Serve violence.” Intriguing strangers emerge from *EUSEXUA*’s sea of fog, all of them seeking the same thing twigs is—sticky, sweaty, ego-killing, rapturous catharsis.
JPEGMAFIA has become one of music’s most trusted collaborators, working with artists ranging from Danny Brown and Kanye West to Kimbra and indie rocker Helena Deland. Despite his sterling stature, the Air Force veteran returns to his experimental, boundary-pushing roots on his fifth solo album, *I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU*. Mixing punk, noise, industrial music, and more into a chaotic cacophony, JPEGMAFIA has proven that success certainly did not change his pursuit of musical freedom. On opener “i scream this in the mirror before i interact with anyone,” JPEG spits over free-jazz drums and metal guitars that explode into screeching solos. He lays out a manifesto of sorts for his perspective, rapping, “When they can’t read you like a book/They gon’ try to attack what you stand on/I’ma take off even if I land wrong/And take everything I can get my hands on.” On “don’t rely on other men,” JPEG leans into his experimental roots and examines his decision to occasionally make a mainstream leap, though he certainly doesn’t do that here. Over a beat from a chopped vocal and blown-out drums, the rapper asks a simple question, wondering at what cost he’s willing to suffer for his art: “Wanna cry on the bus or the Maybach?”
“I kind of prolonged my come-up,” Central Cee tells Apple Music. Off the success of record-breaking global hits “Doja” and “Sprinter,” not to mention the indisputable smash “Band4Band” with Lil Baby, nobody could have faulted the “Wild” West London native from hastily dropping an album to capitalize on any of those singles. But as he’d be happy to remind any of his fans, it was already an uphill battle just being a rapper out of Shepherd’s Bush, which makes his long-anticipated full-length debut, *CAN’T RUSH GREATNESS*, all the more momentous. “The first two projects were mixtapes,” he explains of his prior work. “The energy I put into them is what made it a mixtape, and the energy I premeditated to put into the album and the timing of everything is what the album is.” In line with that intent, Cee’s conflicted state of mind quickly comes to the fore on opener “No Introduction,” acknowledging and accepting the whirlwind of fame while concurrently craving a more tranquil life. Those changes manifest throughout the album, with him straddling diverging worlds on the drill dazzler “5 Star” and struggling with resonant pain on the plaintive “Limitless.” While the instantly gratifying “St. Patrick’s” indulges in familiar flagrant flexes, the album gets decidedly deeper than rap via tracks like “Don’t Know Anymore” and “Walk in Wardrobe,” with the latter’s late beat-switch raising the stakes. “It’s hard for me to rap in such a reflective wake,” he says. “I just want to look ahead at the light at the end of the tunnel and not really think about certain things.” While a substantial amount of the lyrical material skews intimately local, Cee’s worldwide reach reveals itself largely via collaborations with the likes of Lil Durk and Young Miko. Still, as good as it feels to hear him going bar for bar with 21 Savage on trap stunner “GBP,” his link with UK rap icon Skepta on “Ten” and reunion with *Split Decision* mate Dave on “CRG” just hit different, in the best way. “These songs aren’t really for the masses,” he says, “but just to touch the people, remind everyone that I’m human—that *they’re* human.”
Whether rocking with hip-hop heavyweights like The Alchemist over inventively sampled beats or spitting with lesser-known talents like RichGains and WhoTheHellIsCarlo, Boldy James can’t help but thrive over quality instrumentals. Coming off a string of near-monthly releases with producers ranging from Conductor Williams to Harry Fraud, the versatile Griselda affiliate delivers once more with his second project of 2025, *Permanent Ink*. Recorded with fellow Detroiter Roger Goodman of Royal House, the 13-track effort showcases a specific set of skills applied to yet another sonic side of the genre, one simultaneously more commercial and authentically regional. His street lingo backed up by street smarts, he brings intimate knowledge of the game on cuts like “All On My Side” and “It Hit Different,” mixing business with pleasure as is his wont. “Gargoyle Pelle” and “Stop Signs & Yields” blend him overtly into his city’s distinct palette of sounds, his hustler’s joy and survivor’s pain blurred throughout.
It could be difficult for the casual fan to believe that, a full three decades in the game, Brother Ali is still improving as an MC. But on *Satisfied Soul*, the follow-up to 2024’s *Love & Service*, he’s rapping like he has something to prove. “Broadcasting live from the world tour with Muhammed my man/I hope that y’all understand, conquering land ain’t part of my plan,” he starts in on “The Counts.” “Put my forehead all on your sand/I put my heart in the palm of your hand/I make art and they call it a jam/You play it loud in your car and they call you a fan/Carve it in your skin, now you’re a Stan/I arrived with a wandering band that climbed out of a van/And held the mic like a wand in my dominant hand…” The Brother is, very intentionally, still nice with his. But *Satisfied Soul* isn’t just about lyrical dexterity. The project is produced by Ant (the production half of Minneapolis underground hip-hop heroes Atmosphere), whose long-standing collaborative relationship with Ali dates at least as far back as Ali’s second album, *Shadows in the Sun*. In interviews, Ali has been consistently gracious about what Ant’s production is able to draw out of him. On *Satisfied Soul*, this is the freedom to talk about everything from complicated family relationships (“Deep Cuts,” “Mysterious Things,” “Better But Us”) to Ali’s path to greatness as an MC (“D.R.U.M.”) to the unhoused (“Under the Stars”) to the time in 2008 when he kicked Justin Timberlake offstage for attempting to surprise him with an impromptu beatboxing effort (“Two Dudes”). As the project’s title implies, Ali sounds more comfortable in his skin than he’s ever been. He seems to have a great life—now residing full-time in Istanbul, and releasing music through Arizona-based Mello Music Group—and he can’t wait for you to hear about it.
CMG’s Louisville connect EST Gee made the shift from mixtape marvel to certified hitmaker with seeming ease. Linking with the likes of 42 Dugg, Future, and Jack Harlow, he’s impacted the charts without having to compromise his core strengths and the experiences in which those were forged. That hood-borne integrity continues on *I Aint Feeling You*, its title yet another variant on his discography’s prevailing theme. Such ruthlessness dominates his verses, both when taking calculated aim on \"Slime” and in showing love for his environs on “The Streets.” Recognizing that trap-house politics and personal matters invariably intertwine in the lifestyle, he turns baby-mama drama into opportunities on “Crash” and surveys a veritable war zone from his particular point of view on the vengeful “RIP LU MIKE.” A genuine love for Southern rap helps to rightfully secure Gee’s own place within its legacy. To that end, he nods to regional hip-hop greatness on “Plug Motivation” and reconnects with Lil Baby for “Houstonatlantaville,” with no less than Travis Scott representing the first part of that tri-city trifecta. Drawing direct inspiration from a Lil Scrappy hit, “Do My Own Stunts” showcases Gee’s defiant individualistic streak via a string of flexes and threats. An auspicious reunion with his “5500 Degrees” cohort Rylo Rodriguez out of Alabama, the Veeze-infused “My Love” sets unflinchingly real-life storytelling against a snappy, soulful beat. That reflectively confessional approach carries through to the album’s “Outro,” a clear-eyed accounting of his imperfections and mistakes that makes him even more relatable.
Following Mereba’s 2019 solo debut, *The Jungle Is the Only Way Out*, and 2020’s *Spilligion* as part of the Spillage Village supergroup, her perspective was shifted by the birth of her son. *The Breeze Grew a Fire* honors her role as maternal figure while leaving room for her to examine her own place in the world. On the album, Mereba, who cut her teeth in Atlanta’s underground scene, creates uplifting anthems of triumph and perseverance. Opener “Counterfeit” has her rapping over a sugary synth melody and shuffling drums. The chorus explodes as she sings, “You’re the original/Don’t let ’em counterfeit you.” She takes this advice to heart, embracing a number of genres and unexpected detours on *The Breeze Grew a Fire*. “White Doves” hearkens back to the neo-R&B of D’Angelo and The Soulquarians, while “Meteorite” skips and shuffles alongside a lo-fi rap beat.
The first words heard on Eem Triplin’s debut album, 2025’s *Melody of a Memory*, come in the form of a message: “You are, you are a special gift/And you have taken the gift that God has given you.” Over the course of the album’s 13 tracks, the Pennsylvania-born rapper aims to spell out all the ways in which said gift has impacted his life. He’s both in awe of the blessings he’s received through rap and confident that he’s earned the life he’s built. Once most widely known as a producer for frequent collaborator $NOT, Triplin has taken his first crack at solo success on *Melody*, turning in a confident and infectious ode to the world and people who have shaped him. Despite the wins, Triplin is well aware throughout the project that there’s something left to be desired in his life. On “Feyoncé,” he sums it up when he raps, “I need a Beyoncé fiancé/To come and keep my mind straight, my vibe throwed off.”
When Casyo “Krept” Johnson and Karl “Konan” Wilson released mixtape *Young Kingz* in 2013, it set a Guinness World Record for the highest-charting album by an unsigned act. By 2015, their full debut *The Long Way Home* saw them collaborating with Ed Sheeran, Skepta, and Wiz Khalifa. Ten years later, the Croydon rap duo, who met when they were teenagers, evolve further with *Young Kingz II*, a raw and reflective album full of playful lyrics and emotional moments. “There’s so much to talk about, so the album’s developed over a few years,” Krept tells Apple Music. “Things have changed and lots has happened and we want to document it all. We just create whatever feels natural at the time and then you have the process of having to narrow it down, thinking, ‘What flows through the album? What makes the most sense?’” Krept & Konan are keen to uplift those around them, whether it’s new artists or their local community: Shortly before the release of *Young Kingz II*, they opened their own supermarket, Saveways, to create jobs in Croydon and bring a diverse range of affordable food to people. It’s an inspiring attitude and standing up for others is something the duo wanted to continue on *Young Kingz II*. “Having a voice for people, our friends that are in situations, is important,” says Konan. “We just want people to feel human after they’ve listened to the album and realize we’ve all got different emotions, which we’ve tried to tap into here. We want to take you on a journey. I think this album is like going back to the essence of Krept & Konan, how a lot of people first heard of us. So the origin of the hunger and trying to make it in the scene and breaking out of the doors, but now we’re in a new chapter.” The 18 tracks were recorded in London, Hertfordshire, and Jamaica and encompass many different styles, plus collaborations with Ghetts, Chip, and Popcaan, so it’s a journey with plenty of ups, downs, and beats that go off. Read on as the duo talks Apple Music through 10 key tracks. **“100 Mistakes” (Konan Solo)** Konan: “This song is like a psychotherapy session. I’m talking to myself about everything that’s going on, realizing who I am and being open. Hopefully, it helps other artists coming up to hear that after everything we’ve done, we still feel like this. All we do as artists, and you might get those flowers, but you can’t always rely on other people to give them to you, so you’ve just got to do it for yourself. I feel like it sets the tone for the album—people will know we’re going to be talking about some real stuff and there’s going to be a lot of reflecting.” **“Low Vibrations”** Krept: “‘Low Vibrations’ is a track that is exactly what it says on the tin. We don’t want anyone to come around here with the low vibrations. You can see that vibe in the video, where we’re with our friends celebrating. Everyone around us was having fun. In this life and in this industry, there are a lot of things that can be negative, so we just wanted to create that song that makes you feel good. It felt like that was needed. We’re coming out of our ring with no bad vibe and no bad energy.” **“How Many Times”** Krept: “It’s a song for the mandem and it’s got a laid-back, cool vibe. You’ll not really hear me on a song like that, so it was good to try it. It’s simple, there’s not too much going on with the beat in terms of the drum snares and hi-hats. It just feels so relaxing because it’s something that I don’t usually do, and I feel like I’ve done it well on that song. We’re always open to just trying things out on songs and there might be some stuff that will never see the light of day.” **“Bedroom” (feat. Sizzla)** Konan: “‘Bedroom’ was a wild card, to be fair. And then for the beat, we were just thinking about who we could collaborate with that would make it sound different. And Sizzla came to mind. It was gold from there. When we make songs, it’s not forced—we just make the music and it’s like the album creates itself.” Krept: “People are not going to be expecting that from Sizzla when they hear it, which makes the song quite special.” **“Nala’s Song” (Krept Solo)** Krept: “This song is so important for me because I’d love my daughter, Nala, to have something of me. She can always go back and listen to some words from her dad. Music is something I love and always will love, so being able to give that to my daughter in hard form forever and actually giving her life lessons and some gems is special—I wish someone had done it for me when I was younger. Now when I play it to her, she knows the ‘baby girl’ line, but as she grows older, she’ll understand how deep the song is. I’m also appreciating her mum \[health and beauty influencer Sasha Ellese\], who’s carried my child into this world on that journey that us men didn’t have to go through.” **“Delroy’s Son” (Konan Solo)** Konan: “This song’s about my dad \[late reggae star Delroy Wilson\]. It was a difficult one, so I wrote it in parts. When I listen back, I do get a bit choked up. I had a lot to get off my chest, but being transparent in the music, especially on a song like that, is important. There’s a line in there about when were playing one of our shows at Brixton Academy and, just as we were going on stage my mum said, ‘The last time I was here, your dad was on.’ It’s a sick experience to perform in the same place as my dad. With the hardships of the industry, I feel like he didn’t get his flowers. But now it feels like I’m completing my dad’s work.” **“Kilimanjaro” (feat. Oxlade)** Konan: “This was the last song we made and it feels like what was missing from the project. We needed that ‘G Love’ or ‘Freak of the Week’ kind of vibe. I shouted a couple of producers saying, ‘Just send me beats,’ then I was like, ‘This is the one.’ Once we’d got the beats, I was thinking about who could deliver what we wanted and I couldn’t come up with anything myself, so I shouted Oxlade. He was on tour at the time, so we messaged on Instagram and exchanged numbers and he filmed himself singing it and, as he was playing it in the background, he was smiling and saying, ‘This is a hit.’ And I was like, ‘Say no more.’” **“Smooth Lovin” (feat. Popcaan)** Konan: “‘Smooth Lovin’ is one of the first songs that we had for the album. We’d already done a song with Popcaan \[‘Freak of the Week (Remix)’\], which was a bit more street. As soon as we started the album I said, ‘Yo, I need another one, bro.’ We had the beats for a while, trying to figure out who we wanted to do the song with, and Popcaan helped to make it something more light-hearted and more summery with that Caribbean feel.” **“Rage” (feat. Ghetts)** Krept: “‘Rage’ was done in stages. We already had the beat and we were working on it at Geejam Studios in Jamaica. It’s one of those beats that just makes you want to go crazy. It was like, ‘Who else could we get on this that is able to come with this much venom?’ Ghetts was the perfect person for it. So we sent him the song, and straightaway he made his verse. He sent the video back to me and you know when you screw up your face like, ‘Yeah’? That’s how the song came about, and everybody just went crazy on the beat.” **“Last Cards” (feat. Michael Ward)** Konan: “‘Last Cards’ was originally meant to be the title of the album because, when we were making it, we thought it would be the last one on the label. That was the concept behind it. And then we ended up getting out of that situation into a new situation \[*Young Kingz II* is on Krept & Konan’s own label, Play Dirty\]. Then we didn’t want to confuse people and make them think, ‘Ah, it’s their last album ever.’ It just happened to be the 10-year anniversary of *Young Kingz*. It made more sense, like a full-circle moment.” Krept: “You know we’re not the youngest kings, we scratched out the young on the artwork because we’ve \[been through\] a lot of maturity and growth in the last 10 years. But I think what we’ve done in this space and time, respectfully I feel like we can call ourselves kings.”
After almost four years in prison, Flint, Michigan, rapper Rio Da Yung OG returned in early 2025 with his first project since incarceration: *RIO FREE*. Despite the prolonged absence, the MC, who has been a staple in the Wolverine State since 2019, picks up right where he left off before lockup. On the project, he’s not inclined to harp too intensely on the years lost to prison, instead reiterating that his status has remained unaffected despite his presence missing from the streets. On opener “Yung OGee,” he marvels at his status in the hood, his independent streak, and his ability to cook up a mixtape in less than an hour. He allows for some introspection, though, on “RIO FREE,” spitting over a mournful piano melody, reminiscing on the highs and lows of life in prison. He brags that the guards never found his phone (he hid it in some lotion) but also takes a moment to offer up a striking admission, a pain that clouds the celebration of his freedom: “I just did four years,” he raps. “I’m a lonely man.”
As you’re by now well aware, the host city for Super Bowl LIX is New Orleans, which gives us a chance to celebrate a region with one of the most storied legacies in the history of Black music. New Orleans hip-hop, specifically, is so rich with culture and originality, you’d be doing yourself a severe disservice by trying to get the story from just one person. Which is exactly why we’ve enlisted four(!) of our favorite NOLA-based DJs to deliver sets highlighting New Orleans the way they hear it. We’ve got masterfully seasoned mixes from the engine of Cash Money Records himself, superproducer Mannie Fresh, the man who orchestrated the sound of No Limit’s ’90s dominance, KLC The Drum Major, one of the area’s foremost remixers and bounce experts, Streetz 100.3’s DJ Poppa, and a woman who knows exactly what’s moving in the city right now, Player’s Ball founder Legatron Prime. These are people who know New Orleans hip-hop and who’ll have you wanting to visit the city long after the big game’s final whistle is blown. Make time for them all—we promise you won’t regret it.
From his Belfast bedroom—where he made breakthrough single “KEHLANI”—to recording second mixtape *A Jaguar’s Dream* in Los Angeles, Jordan Adetunji has been quickly forging a path towards international stardom. Even before “KEHLANI,” an ode to the US singer-songwriter, earned him a Grammy nomination in 2024, he’d won the admiration of Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes (who helped him secure his first record deal), while Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody regularly voiced support for Adetunji on his radio show. Securing Kehlani themselves for the remix of “KEHLANI” has led to more top-tier collaborations—Lil Baby appeared on the Chase & Status-co-produced single “Options” in October 2024—and this genre-blurring mixtape arrived primed to continue his ascent. Adetunji has honed his sound from 2023’s debut mixtape *ROCK ’N’ RAVE* to make a supremely self-assured and polished follow-up full of intimate lyrics. “I feel like my sound’s advanced a lot,” he tells Apple Music. “I’ve taken so many lessons from when I made that experimental project, but now it’s a lot better. My vocal style is very R&B, but I just blend with alternative sounds, so I’d call it alternative R&B.” He’s also made the most of that voice, playing with sound to create the right vibe for each track. “I try to manipulate my voice to match certain sound frequencies whenever I’m making a song,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll speed the track up, then slow it down just to match the right frequency until it feels right. I want it to feel sonically right to me, energy-wise.” These 10 tracks were written and produced by Adetunji, who worked with global names including Take A Daytrip, Chase & Status, and Danny Casio. Collaborators Lil Baby, Bryson Tiller, and, of course, Kehlani add guest vocals. It all makes for a mixtape that is unlikely to put an end to the exciting moments when Adetunji hears his own songs in the wild. “I think it’s funny whenever I hear ‘KEHLANI’ being played in someone’s car,” he says. “When I’m in the club, I’m just in the back, low-key, and they play this song so I’m just watching people reacting to it. And I’m like, ‘No one even knows I made this.’” Read on as he talks Apple Music through *A Jaguar’s Dream*, track by track. **“KEHLANI”** “Me and the boys, like Daytrip, sat in a session in LA and went through all the songs to work out which ones flowed well into each other, but this had to be the first track. Kehlani is such an amazing person. When I was writing this song, I didn’t really think she’d call me up one day but, at the same time, I manifested it. When she called me, I was in a club and I was a bit panicky because I was looking for the file to send the song to her. She’s given me so much advice and she’s like a big sister to me in the industry, which has helped me a lot.” **“Too Many Women” (feat. kwn)** “I’d seen kwn around a couple of times and when I checked out her music, I was like, ‘This is amazing.’ She was actually on the remix shoot of the ‘KEHLANI’ video. Then I saw her again at Kehlani’s show at the Barclays Center in New York. I was like, ‘Yo, we got to do something.’ So I hit her up on Instagram. I’d put up a snippet of a demo version of ‘Too Many Women’ when I literally just had a hook. She asked for the song, so I sent it across to her. She did a verse to it and the song became what it is now, which is really exciting.” **“Break the System”** “This song has the line ‘People change, but I don’t wanna.’ I feel like whenever I’m dropping music, everyone thinks that I should do things a certain way or change things, but I just can’t. I still try things out on TikTok, but I think if something worked, why would I change it? I do read comments, but I just ignore them. I’d rather continue to do what I do. You’re all here because of something I did, so I’m going to continue in my own way. And if you rock with it, you rock with it. If you don’t, au revoir.” **“305” (feat. Bryson Tiller)** “This is one of my favorite songs on here because it came about really organically. I was in the studio with Danny Casio and Parked Up and I started mumbling the melody, then I put words to it afterwards. But it was always a manifestation about me going to Miami, because at that time I’d never been before. I wrote this two months after ‘KEHLANI,’ then I sent it to Bryson Tiller, hoping he would do something on it. I’d already shot the video in Miami when he got back to me with a verse. I was like, ‘Oh, guess we have to scrap the video.’ I met Bryson at his house in Miami and he even pulled up to the video.” **“Bitter”** “I wrote ‘Bitter’ on my own in a studio house in LA. Everyone had left the room and I was looking at this amazing view and I just started singing it. I came up with the hook really easily. The first part I wrote was only 30 seconds long, so we had it as an interlude. Then we sampled the same song to make a second part and it became something else. I love it because I felt like it’s a beautiful piece of work and it’s very experimental. A lot of the songs on this mixtape are around two minutes long. Once I’ve said what I needed to say, I don’t add more. I’m happy I’ve captured that emotion in that timeframe, so I don’t feel the need to go on.” **“Dirty Diana”** “Michael Jackson was definitely one of my biggest inspirations so I called this song ‘Dirty Diana’ for a bit of fun. I made it in Paris and revisited it months later, so it feels like a long progression of different sounds and elements, with strings, backing vocals, and big synths. Then we made it like a crescendo at the end, which feels like a long moment. It’s very, very experimental, while it has elements of ‘KEHLANI.’ So I felt like this is great to put on the album because it’s still from that world. It’s a nice closing chapter to that bit of that sound.” **“Bedroom”** “‘Bedroom’ isn’t about one person in particular. I would say it’s about many different situations that I’ve been in and how I’ve felt at those times. We did so many stacks on this track—I had all these different melody ideas and we put it together like a puzzle. I’d love people to hear that file one day, there’s a hundred takes of me doing different melodies. It was just me and Danny Casio in the room when we made it. At the start, it was pretty difficult going from my bedroom to a studio, because I wanted the familiar setup with the mic in front of the monitor. I needed everything to look like a bedroom, with my laptop and mouse. Everyone in the studio was quite confused because I would never record in the booth!” **“Attractive”** “I know I’m putting my feelings out there on this track, but I’m excited to get more in-depth. Some of my lyrics are fantasy and others are raw thoughts. If I’m feeling in love, I’m in love. If I’m feeling like, ‘Nah, I’m hurt,’ I’m not afraid to write in that mood, whether I regret it later or not. I’ve kept the same mindset from the start. I feel like I just focus, I got my plan so I stick to it and just make it happen. The universe will decide if it works or not.” **“Options” (feat. Lil Baby)** “I’m a big fan of The Weeknd and Michael Jackson, and every time you look at these guys’ careers, you see an era. That’s what I want to do—I feel like I want my audience to come along, especially people that followed me from the beginning. And I want to show that elevation through visuals and play with their perceptions. I want people to think, ‘Oh, is this his sound? Is this what he’s going to keep making?’ Because I like playing with people. And it’s just like you have no idea what’s about to happen. It’s a fun game for me. I loved working with Lil Baby—he’s amazing, he’s funny and a very smart individual. We met in London before I recorded that song and he showed me a lot of love and told me to keep going.” **“KEHLANI (REMIX)” (feat. Kehlani)** “It made sense to open and close the album with ‘KEHLANI’ and I loved what she brought to the remix. I just let her do her thing. She actually did two verses: one was more rap and the other was more melodic. I liked both of them, so I let her decide which one to use. I’m so excited we got a Grammy nomination \[for Best Melodic Rap Performance, up against Beyoncé, Future, and others\]. Honestly, I can’t wait to go. I feel like my song impacted culture. I’ve seen people do their first dance to ‘KEHLANI’ at their wedding, so I think that’s good enough for me.”
