Hiphopheads Best of 2023

For as in-demand as drill music forefather Chief Keef has always been, getting a verse from him was never difficult. Getting him to executive-produce an entire project, however? To accurately assess the difficulty of that, you’d have to ask Trippie Redd, the only man to successfully manifest it. Keef is credited as executive producer of Redd’s *MANSION MUSIK*, a project whose 25 songs sound like they were engineered explicitly to either explode speakers or rile festival-goers into an unending mosh pit. The production here, overseen largely by longtime collaborator Igor Mamet, prioritizes delirium over any would-be hip-hop reverence. There are a bevy of reasons one might temper their raging, however, in contributions from of some contemporary hip-hop’s most beloved and buzzing MCs. Across the album are individual verses from Lil Durk, Travis Scott, G Herbo, DaBaby, Ski Mask the Slump God, Rylo Rodriguez, Rich The Kid, LUCKI, BIG30, Nardo Wick, Kodak Black, and Lil B, and then also multiple verses from Lil Baby, Juice WRLD, Future, and Chief Keef. What Redd has delivered, then, is a holistic dissolution of the “rock star rap star” line he’s walked since he first hurled his body into the music sphere. Which, if we consider *MANSION MUSIK* the apex of that mission, begs the question: Where does he possibly go from here?

Eighteen months before *a Gift & a Curse*, Gunna was in a very different position. The Georgia native ushered in 2022 with the chart-topping success of *DRIP SEASON 4EVER* and its lexicon-altering hit “pushin P” with Young Thug. In May of that year, both he and his YSL label boss found themselves under indictment in a sweeping RICO case. By December, he was free, only to be faced with wild speculation over the terms of his release. Caught up in the fallout, he clapped back over the rumors and narratives that formed about and around him with the single “bread & butter.” Scarred and singed by some of the most damaging accusations one could face in the rap game or the streets, he unloads his lyrical clip in spectacular fashion on his first album since his arrest. Throughout *a Gift & a Curse*, Gunna makes it a point to address his predicament head-on, offering a perspective as unique as the circumstances. A defiant superstar, he reintroduces himself to his fans and haters alike on the simmering “back at it,” following it swiftly with the confident and confrontational “back to the moon.” He shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders over what’s changed with “idk nomore” while returning to the lavish normalcy of his pre-arrest lifestyle via “rodeo dr” and “p angels.” For the grand finale, “alright,” he sees the path forward clearer than ever, shouting out YSL amid a hopeful chorus.

Whether you caught on during his days with Prodigy and Havoc or you caught up in just the past few years, The Alchemist’s arc towards a certain type of hip-hop stardom has as much to do with an awestruck respect for his craft as it does his rapper collaborators. With his ever inventive instrumentals, the producer draws in some of rap’s most elite and ascendent independent emcees, some of whom appear on this brief yet dope EP. *Flying High* takes off with “RIP Tracy,” reuniting the well-matched lyrical duo of Earl Sweatshirt and Armand Hammer’s billy woods. Longtime associate Boldy James follows T.F’s aggressive bars on the subdued “Trouble Man” with far eerier ones, while MIKE and Sideshow cruise above the jazzy fray of “Bless.” Alchemist jumps on the mic too as frequent fliers Larry June and Jay Worthy take the pimp game to the skies on “Midnight Oil,” a musical mille-feuille fit for first-class passengers. Aspiring spitters and ALC devotees are gifted here with a reprise of the beats for all four tracks.

In 2022, Faiyaz dropped his highly anticipated sophomore album *WASTELAND*, a 19-track LP that unfolds like an R&B Shakespearian tragedy exploring themes of relationships—love, infidelity, and betrayal. The rollercoaster ride through Faiyaz\'s emotions, portraying vulnerable thoughts that come with juggling newfound fame, is what made *WASTELAND* an instant hit. On follow-up *Larger Than Life*, Faiyaz ditches its predecessor\'s darker themes and leans back into the misadventures of the affluent ladies\' man from his earlier projects. The album\'s theme is set in the opener, \"Tim\'s Intro,\" which features legendary producer Timbaland and shows Faiyaz flirtatiously bragging about his larger-than-life lifestyle to a potential lover. Throughout the LP\'s 14 tracks, Faiyaz chronicles the ins and outs of his entanglements on his quest to find love, from developing an emotional attachment to his lover (\"Last One Left,\" \"Outside All Night\") to pledging his faithfulness (\"Forever Yours\"). However, it\'s not all love songs on *Larger Than Life*. It wouldn\'t be a Brent Faiyaz album without some toxicity. \"WY@\" showcases the unfiltered essence of love\'s complexities, namely the struggle to escape a bad relationship. \"Even I know you ain\'t no good for me/But you feel so good to me/Every time I come back, I try to leave/So how you end up back with me? Oh (I don\'t know),\" he croons. *Larger Than Life* forgoes the brooding basslines and synths from *WASTELAND* and draws inspiration from the ’90s-’00s era that has influenced Faiyaz. It\'s nostalgic without sounding outdated and pays homage to some of the biggest tracks from that period, with samples from Nicole Wray\'s 1998 hit \"Boy You Should Listen\" on the Coco Jones-assisted \"Moment of Your Life\" and Rome\'s 1997 classic \"I Belong to You (Every Time I See Your Face)\" on \"Belong to You.\"

On Kevin Abstract’s debut album, 2016’s *American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story*, the former BROCKHAMPTON leader conjured up alt-pop songs of adolescent love, heartbreak, and every emotion in between. His 2019 sophomore effort *ARIZONA BABY* was deeply inspired by Southern rap and the chopped and screwed stylings of Texas legends like DJ Screw. The Corpus Christi-born singer, rapper, and producer returned home for the project, dealing with his upbringing, sexuality, and the difficulties of managing a band of friends when money, fame, and success enter the picture. His third covers many of the same themes, though from the vantage point of someone wiser, more worn, and less susceptible to the whirlwinds of love and love lost, soundtracked by ’90s-vintage guitar rock. “I’ve been trying to make a solo album for the past two and a half years, and I finally found the confidence to make something that I would actually listen to and share with the world,” he tells Apple Music. Read on for his track-by-track guide. **“When the Rope Post 2 Break”** “This just felt like an intro to me. As soon as we made it, I knew it would be the way to get people into the album. There are some samples of kids playing, which I recorded in the neighborhood. I was interested in capturing the ambience around me. All the details on the album are to help bring the world together.” **“Blanket”** “This is a song to play when everyone’s just pissing you off or something. You could jump around in your room to it, or bump it on the bus. It’s one of those songs. You close your door and play it loud, or put it on your headphones and drown out the world.” **“Running Out”** “I like how there are whispers on this track—that feels like the way I communicate with a lot of my friends. It represents secrets, the idea of hiding something. It represents intimacy for me. That’s what I think of when I hear this song. It’s one of the sadder songs on the record, but it sounds upbeat. I had to write from that perspective.” **“The Greys”** “I wanted to make something sexy, something you could dance to, or look in the mirror and sing along with. You imagine being on stage, but you’re really somewhere, broke and probably struggling. You got that look in your eye, and you’re going to make it one day. It’s a message for the people, but I was that way, too. Once I put this out, it’s no longer mine; it’s a cliché, but it’s real. I really do mean all the stuff I say because when I was younger, any interview I saw with any artist I was looking up to meant a lot if they were encouraging younger people. That helped me get through so much and it helped me trust myself. I’m not capping when I say, ‘Lean into what you feel and follow your heart.’ That shit is real to me.” **“Voyager”** “This song is pure beauty. If you don’t like this, you probably don’t have a soul. It’s the ballad on the album.” **“Madonna”** “Madonna represents being up. Why not want to be Madonna? Madonna, Tupac, and Michael Jackson: Those are the icons that came before us. I wasn’t always allowed to see certain things, but that made me want to see it more. There was always some sort of danger around her art. I didn’t start listening to her until I got older and I started researching all the greats that came before me. I didn’t really discover her until I started actually making music.” **“Today I Gave Up”** “I was extremely sad when I made this. Need I say more? Writing and recording can be cathartic, but I only feel better when it’s a good song. So since a song is fire, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is lit. I gotta play it for friends, and it\'ll be a good confidence boost to show this track off.’ More seriously, though, the feelings don\'t really go away.” **“What Should I Do?”** “Every spring and every fall feels the same to me. If I could put those two seasons together, it would be the feeling of this song.” **“Mr. Edwards”** “This is an intermission. It’s all connected.” **“Scream”** “I’m obsessed with R&B music. I feel like the biggest BROCKHAMPTON songs had some element of R&B in them. I’m going into every album trying to make one song that reminds me of ’90s R&B. The challenge is trying to fit that within the vibe and aesthetic of the album. R&B features some of the best melodies in the world. And I love melody more than anything.” **“Real To Me”** “This is another little dance track. It’s not just a crush.” **“Heights, Spiders, and the Dark”** “I really did all I could to keep all of who this song is about, and it didn’t work. He left me.” **“My Friend”** “Someone showed me MJ Lenderman’s music and I thought it was beautiful, beautiful music. Listening to his shit made me realize that was the bar. He gave me a lot of guidance, and then I sent him this song with my chorus on it and I asked him to re-sing the chorus. I like his voice so much. Then I brought Kara Jackson in to sing some parts. I wrote this song about going to Disneyland with my friends. This one is called ‘My Friend,’ but it’s about all my friends.”

Young Thug fans know all too well why it’s been so long since the Atlanta pioneer dropped a new album. Scarcely seven months after releasing the curiously progressive *Punk*, a May 2022 arrest as part of a sweeping federal RICO case abruptly ceased the trap superstar momentum he’d generated over the preceding decade. As such, those looking for *BUSINESS IS BUSINESS* to directly address Thug\'s current woes likely won’t find closure here. The provenance of much of this material logically precedes his pre-trial detention, evident on tracks like the Future-infused “Cars Bring Me Out” with its pandemic-hustle nods. Nevertheless, the quality remains exceptionally high, the contents dutifully delivered in the same fan-service spirit as his onetime mentor Gucci Mane, who similarly kept the streets fed with new music during his own incarceration. Assuredly a testament to his studio work ethic during better times, the strength of his verses on “Mad Dog” and “Uncle M” align with so many of his career signatures. Case in point: “Gucci Grocery Bag” exemplifies the way Thug continually redefines flexing, while the quirkily organ-led “Money on the Dresser” lurches like the Addams Family. Despite the coldness of its title, *BUSINESS IS BUSINESS* is made downright convivial through the contributions of some of the artist’s dearest industry friends and YSL Records signees. With longtime studio partner and international hitmaker Metro Boomin at the helm as executive producer, the album and its guest list demonstrate the power and respect Thug continues to command in the rap game. Drake makes two appearances, most memorably on the ethereal trap standout “Oh U Went.” So, too, do heavyweights 21 Savage and Travis Scott, who combine formidable forces on “Wit Da Racks” alongside another incarcerated YSL spitter, Yak Gotti.

After delays, teases, rumors, and more, Nicki Minaj’s epic and much-anticipated follow-up to 2018’s *Queen* arrives to close out 2023 in style. At 22 tracks and over 70 minutes, the epic project features Minaj tag-teaming with fellow global stars like J. Cole, Drake, Future, Lil Wayne, and Lil Uzi Vert—that is, when she’s not aiming for the throne on solo cuts. Like 2010’s *Pink Friday* (Minaj’s debut album), *Pink Friday 2* features Minaj showcasing the various ways she can carry a track. On some songs, she brings out her best bars, unloading clever one-liners and technically flashy verses. On the album’s second track, “Barbie Dangerous,” Minaj spits over a hypnotizing piano melody and drums that hit like a punch in the gut. Switching between a smooth, controlled flow and a vicious double-time delivery, Minaj is in full control of the song’s dynamics from beginning to end. She makes her claim as one of rap’s great innovators, spitting, “Name a rapper that can channel Big Poppa and push out Papa Bear/Whole mother of the year/Every summer, I come out to walk bitches, make ’em disappear/But to me, it\'s just another year.” On “Nicki Hendrix,” she teams up with Future and taps into his toxic vulnerability, writing a song of love and love lost that would fit nicely into her collaborator’s catalog. At her best, Nicki is uninhibited by style, substance, or delivery. She raps, “Baby, did you think there were a million mes?/I guess I underestimated you too.” Whether engaging in a street cypher with J. Cole, chirping at exes with Drake, or lamenting what once was with Future, Nicki Minaj shows off every weapon in her arsenal on *Pink Friday 2*.

The Atlanta-born artist and Playboi Carti disciple (he’s signed to Carti’s Opium imprint) steps out from the limelight of his mentor, establishing his own vision that stands out in Atlanta’s always evolving scene. Distorted synths and rumbling drums provide the backdrop for Carson’s futuristic croons, which are affected by layers of Auto-Tune and digital manipulation. If Outkast were the original aliens out of the ATL, Ken Carson is a cyborg, reprogramming the city to sound like Young Thug soundtracking *Blade Runner*. Lyrically, Carson reflects on struggles, successes, anger, heartbreak, trauma, and more. From the song titles alone, it’s clear that *A Great Chaos* is a deeply personal effort. “Fighting My Demons” and “Paranoid” reflect the bad, but “Rockstar Lifestyle” provides an ample turn-up moment. The album ends with “i need you,” a metallic, bass-heavy ode to true love that finds Carson stripping the window dressing and revealing his rawest self: “Like oxygen, without you, baby girl, I can\'t breathe.”

It’s extremely fitting that the first feature on Quavo’s second solo project comes from his tragically departed Migos bandmate and nephew Takeoff. The two had an inseparable bond, from their work alongside Offset as the Atlanta trio to their debut collaborative LP, 2022’s *Only Built for Infinity Links*. That album was supposed to be the beginning of a triumphant new era, instead becoming a relic of their working relationship. Takeoff was killed less than a month after the project was released. So, after an exhilarating, epic intro titled “Fueled Up” in which Quavo declares, “I gotta go off for Take,” he brings Takeoff himself into the fold, setting the stage for the emotionally charged LP with the deliriously playful, horn-led “Patty Cake.” The album moves from mournful to celebratory, honoring Takeoff’s life while still relishing how far Quavo and everyone in his crew have come since the early days of Migos. On “Where Can I Start,” he reflects on his band’s origin story over a crisp, flute-laden beat, while still offering up the sort of triplet-flow one-liners that made him a superstar in the first place. “They call me unc’ (Why?)/They call me unc’ ’cause my money so old,” he spits. Quavo does a remarkable job of paying tribute to his departed nephew, honoring his memory in a proper way, while still celebrating the perseverance it takes to succeed in this industry—especially as your world crumbles around you. There are moments of hard-earned defiant joy on the album, which are all the more powerful when placed next to bars about Takeoff. On the penultimate track “Rocket Power,” Quavo illustrates the deftness of his pen in a single stanza, pouring some out for those no longer with us while gearing up for the next chapters. “Thinkin’ ’bout my nephew while I\'m rollin’ some trees, Mama said she cryin’ and she cryin’ in her sleep,” he raps, before concluding, “Yeah, that’s mama rocket, and she strong as can be.”

Mixtape mogul DJ Drama’s impact on the game is nothing short of staggering. His work with now-legendary artists from Jeezy and Lil Wayne to Gucci Mane and Yo Gotti helped solidify Southern rap dominance in the 2000s and 2010s, while his inescapable *Gangsta Grillz* brand became a household name in hip-hop. Unlike so many of his generational peers, he has continued to reach younger listeners thanks to his memorable hosting duties on Tyler, The Creator’s *CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST* and a string of 2020s projects opposite the likes of G Perico, Kash Doll, and numerous underground/rising stars. With *I’M REALLY LIKE THAT*, Drama seizes the opportunity to demonstrate his dominance with a cabal of collaborators positioned in unique combos. Decades of mixtape shrewdness results in such compelling team-ups as Rick Ross and Westside Gunn on “350” and Roddy Ricch with Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne on “FMFU.” His Generation Now discoveries Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow make notable appearances, as do dear old friends like Jim Jones and T.I., each bringing their admirable talents to what ultimately proves one of the finest projects of his unstoppable career.

Ice Spice’s “Munch (Feelin’ U),” the Bronx-born MC’s biggest hit to date and the song that has soundtracked an unknowable number of after-school hangs, almost wasn’t. “The song was really a throwaway for me,” Spice told Apple Music’s Ebro. “I made it, and I was like, ‘All right, let me put that away.’ And the people I was playing it for—I played it for a bunch of people, and \[they\] was just like, ‘Oh. OK, cool.’” But the song was not to be denied. By the time “Munch (Feelin’ U)” hit streaming platforms in August 2022, Ice had accumulated a legion of local fans eagerly awaiting its release, having heard a snippet she’d uploaded to socials earlier that summer. Once the phrase “You thought I was feelin’ you?” made it to TikTok, the rest was history. Or as Spice herself puts it on January’s *Like..?* EP, “In the hood, I’m like Princess Diana.” Twenty-three-year-old Ice Spice was born Isis Gaston and got an early start at rapping. “I had little raps and shit since I was a kid,” she says. “I never made full songs, though.” She began recording properly in 2021, with things really revving up after meeting producer and frequent collaborator RIOTUSA while in college at SUNY Purchase. Though her popularity rose fast, her first and likely most important fan was her father, an MC in his own right who, Spice says, used to run with DJ Doo Wop in the early 2000s. “In the crib or on the way to school and everything, he would be on some, ‘Let me hear something’ and always trying to film me, pushing me to do something,” she says. “Or if I would tell him about girls that I didn’t really fuck with in school, he would be like, ‘Write a rap about them.’” He likely couldn’t be prouder of his little star upon the release of *Like..?*, a six-track EP that was, at its arrival, already 50 percent hits. “Munch (Feelin’ U)” is, of course, here, as are the instantly viral “Bikini Bottom” and “In Ha Mood.” Add to those the NYC drill-expressive “Princess Diana,” the P. Diddy “I Need a Girl, Pt. 2”-sampling “Gangsta Boo,” and the Jersey club-indebted “Actin a Smoochie,” and you’ve got a picture of a young talent who is just getting warmed up. “Those are six songs that I already made,” Spice says of *Like..?*. “Fans going to eat that up. And then there’s always time to evolve and grow as an artist. So, I’m not rushing to jump into another sound or rushing to do some different shit. If it happens, it happens. I just want everything to be natural.”

Like…? is Bronx, New York newcomer Ice Spice’s debut EP. Following up the success of “Munch (Feelin' U)” and “Bikini Bottom,” on November 16, 2022, during an interview with RapCaviar, Ice Spice announced that she was working on an EP, stating: I’m excited for this new music. I’m about to put out an EP. It’s about to be like six songs. ‘Bikini Bottom’ is on there, and then there’s some that people haven’t heard. It’s about to be a vibe. Visuals coming with it, too. Yeah, a bunch of content around it. It’s lit. On December 25, 2022, Ice Spice released the EP’s third single, “In Ha Mood.” Although no other information about the EP was announced, the day before it’s release, Ice Spice took to social media revealing the cover art and tracklist. Lil Tjay serves as the sole feature.

Pain and tragedy have defined so much of Lil Durk’s life and, by natural extension, his music. The devastating losses he’s experienced since rising to hip-hop stardom from Chicago’s once nascent drill scene compound one another, to the point where even something as common as rap beef takes on a more ominous tone. With *Almost Healed*, he memorializes the deaths of his brother DThang and friend King Von with therapeutic catharsis on his mind. After the introductory framing device by no less than Alicia Keys, the revelations and anecdotes behind “Pelle Coat” and “Never Again” contribute to what hopefully amounts to a healthy path through grief. With high-profile guests like Kodak Black and Morgan Wallen in the mix, the universality of life’s trials and tribulations becomes clearer. When 21 Savage comes through for “War Bout It,” the lure of violence becomes more prominent. Similarly, seasoned hitmakers J. Cole and Future bring big energy to “All My Life” and “Never Imagined,” respectively, without departing too radically from the surrounding themes. Yet Durk doesn’t dwell entirely on morbid subjects, addressing the comparatively lighter cruelty of a bad romance on “Dru Hill” and “Sad Songs.”

Just months after treating fans to the sprawling surprise mixtape *MANSION MUSIK* in January 2023, Trippie Redd has revived his *A Love Letter to You* series, bringing about a fifth edition of the cult classic turned mainstream hit, which he began in 2017. Fans of Trippie’s emotionally charged ballads will have plenty to dig into here, on tracks like “Last Days,” which finds the artist worrying about the last time he’ll see his love, and “Left 4 Dead,” where he laments a betrayal he’ll never forget. Like many of Trippie’s more recent efforts, though, the MC showcases a breadth of styles to supplement the emotional rawness. On *A Love Letter to You 5*, he also spins these tales above R&B melodies and into bar-for-bar epics with rap’s elite. On the Kid LAROI-assisted “Wind,” Trippie sounds lost between missing someone and knowing he’s better off alone, but the infectious chorus masks some of this pain, despite the hurt sentiments: “Why would I take you back now? Don\'t know what I’d gain/Love or lie,” he concludes. “I’m Mad at Me” reunites Trippie Redd and Lil Wayne following 2020’s “Hell Rain,” with the two offering a rap-heavy interlude from the more melodically tinged anthems on the record. Trippie keeps up with one of the game’s best, unfurling lines as powerful as any of the hooks on the record. But, like Trippie’s best work, the song is ultimately one of regret and longing: “’Cause if we talkin’ red flags, then we done passed a few/And my worst choice is gettin’ attached to you.”

One listen to “Dirt,” the opening track from Key Glock’s *Glockoma 2*, and it’s obvious that few things have changed in the world of the rising Memphis MC since the November ’22 release of *PRE5L*. He still loves to sip drank, he’s still making money faster than he can spend it, and he still misses cousin and mentor Young Dolph so much that it hurts. What he does here, then, over consistently bass-heavy production from Tay Keith, Bandplay, and HitKidd, among others, is heed the motivation of Dolph, honoring him by continuing to release his best music until his next music. “I lost my dawg, everyday that shit hurt,” Glock raps on “Work.” “His voice in my head keep on telling me, ‘Work!’”

Since self-releasing the track “3 Nights” in the late 2010s, Dominic Fike has become a multi-platform star. Not only have his closely felt songs made him a bona fide pop phenomenon worthy of a Paul McCartney co-sign, he’s also appeared in the HBO series *Euphoria*, which allowed him to flex his skills as an actor without breaking his momentum with his music. “I have been recording songs every day, or writing them,” he told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “Every time I make a song, I feel like it\'s my best song. It\'s hard not to want to put it out as soon as you make it. I think a lot of artists will feel me when I say that.” That drive to constantly be creating is why his third album is a bit of a flashback for him. Songs like the reggae-tinged “Dancing in the Courthouse” throw to his youth in Naples, Florida, and his scrapes with the law there, while the groove-forward, surrealistic “Ant Pile” has its roots in the music he made three years ago—when he was in a very different place in his life. “I made it when I was in active addiction and I was in no place to make music,” said Fike. “I had to spend a couple years in rehabs and things like that. When I came back, I was able to finish it—and it was exhausting. I had to take a look inside myself. There were so many emotional talks with producers, with people that were mentors or people I work with. It was just a heavy load on my shoulders that I\'m grateful to be done with.”

Young Fathers occupy a unique place in British music. The Mercury Prize-winning trio are as adept at envelope-pushing sonic experimentalism and opaque lyrical impressionism as they are at soulful pop hooks and festival-primed choruses—frequently, in the space of the same song. Coming off the back of an extended hiatus following 2018’s acclaimed *Cocoa Sugar*, the Edinburgh threesome entered their basement studio with no grand plan for their fourth studio album other than to reconnect to the creative process, and each other. Little was explicitly discussed. Instead, Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole, and Graham “G” Hastings—all friends since their school days—intuitively reacted to a lyric, a piece of music, or a beat that one of them had conceived to create multifaceted pieces of work that, for all their complexities and contradictions, hit home with soul-lifting, often spiritual, directness. Through the joyous clatter of opener “Rice,” the electro-glam battle cry “I Saw,” the epic “Tell Somebody,” and the shape-shifting sonic explosion of closer “Be Your Lady,” Young Fathers express every peak and trough of the human condition within often-dense tapestries of sounds and words. “Each song serves an integral purpose to create something that feels cohesive,” says Bankole. “You can find joy in silence, you can find happiness in pain. You can find all these intricate feelings and diverse feelings that reflect reality in the best possible way within these songs.” Across 10 dazzling tracks, *Heavy Heavy* has all that and more, making it the band’s most fully realized and affecting work to date. Let Massaquoi and Bankole guide you through it, track by track. **“Rice”** Alloysious Massaquoi: “What we’re great at doing is attaching ourselves to what the feeling of the track is and then building from that, so the lyrics start to come from that point of view. \[On ‘Rice’\] that feeling of it being joyous was what we were connecting to. It was the feeling of fresh morning air. You’re on a journey, you’re moving towards something, it feels like you’re coming home to find it again. For me, it was finding that feeling of, ‘OK, I love music again,’ because during COVID it felt redundant to me. What mattered to me was looking after my family.” **“I Saw”** AM: “We’d been talking about Brexit, colonialism, about forgetting the contributions of other countries and nations so that was in the air. And when we attached ourselves to the feeling of the song, it had that call-to-arms feeling to it, it’s like a march.” Kayus Bankole: “It touches on Brexit, but it also touches on how effective turning a blind eye can be, that idea that there’s nothing really you can do. It’s a call to arms, but there’s also this massive question mark. I get super-buzzed by leaving question marks so you can engage in some form of conversation afterwards.” **“Drum”** AM: “It’s got that sort of gospel spiritual aspect to it. There’s an intensity in that. It’s almost like a sermon is happening.” KB: “The intensity of it is like a possession. A good, spiritual thing. For me, speaking in my native tongue \[Yoruba\] is like channeling a part of me that the Western world can’t express. I sometimes feel like the English language fails me, and in the Western world not a lot of people speak my language or understand what I’m saying, so it’s connecting to my true self and expressing myself in a true way.” **“Tell Somebody”** AM: “It was so big, so epic that we just needed to be direct. The lyrics had to be relatable. It’s about having that balance. You have to really boil it down and think, ‘What is it I’m trying to say here?’ You have 20 lines and you cut it down to just five and that’s what makes it powerful. I think it might mean something different to everyone in the group, but I know what it means to me, through my experiences, and that’s what I was channeling. The more you lean into yourself, the more relatable it is.” **“Geronimo”** AM: “It’s talking about relationships: ‘Being a son, brother, uncle, father figure/I gotta survive and provide/My mama said, “You’ll never ever please your woman/But you’ll have a good time trying.”’ It’s relatable again, but then you have this nihilistic cynicism from Graham: ‘Nobody goes anywhere really/Dressed up just to go in the dirt.’ It’s a bit nihilistic, but given the reality of the world and how things are, I think you need the balance of those things. Jump on, jump off. It’s like: *decide*. You’re either hot or you’re cold. Don’t be lukewarm. You either go for it or you don’t. Then encapsulating all that within Geronimo, this Native American hero.” **“Shoot Me Down”** AM: “‘Shoot Me Down’ is definitely steeped in humanity. You’ve got everything in there. You’ve got the insecurities, the cynicism, you’ve got the joy, the pain, the indifference. You’ve got all those things churning around in this cauldron. There’s a level of regret in there as well. Again, when you lean into yourself, it becomes more relatable to everybody else.” **“Ululation”** KB: “It’s the first time we’ve ever used anyone else on a track. A really close friend of mine, who I call a sister, called me while we were making ‘Uluation’: ‘I need a place to stay, I’m having a difficult time with my husband, I’m really angry at him…’ I said if you need a place to chill just come down to the studio and listen to us while we work but you mustn’t say a word because we’re working. We’re working on the track and she started humming in the background. Alloy picked up on it and was like, ‘Give her a mic!’ She’s singing about gratitude. In the midst of feeling very angry, feeling like shit and that life’s not fair, she still had that emotion that she can practice gratitude. I think that’s a beautiful contrast of emotions.” **“Sink Or Swim”** AM: “It says a similar thing to what we’re saying on ‘Geronimo’ but with more panache. The music has that feeling of a carousel, you’re jumping on and jumping off. If you watch Steve McQueen’s Small Axe \[film anthology\], in *Lovers Rock*, when they’re in the house party before the fire starts—this fits perfectly to that. It’s that intensity, the sweat and the smoke, but with these direct lines thrown in: ‘Oh baby, won’t you let me in?’ and ‘Don’t always have to be so deep.’ Sometimes you need a bit of directness, you need to call a spade a spade.” **“Holy Moly”** AM: “It’s a contrast between light and dark. You’re forcing two things that don’t make sense together. You have a pop song and some weird beat, and you’re forcing them to have this conversation, to do something, and then ‘Holy Moly’ comes out of that. It’s two different worlds coming together and what cements it is the lyrics.” **“Be Your Lady”** KB: “It’s the perfect loop back to the first track so you could stay in the loop of the album for decades, centuries, and millenniums and just bask in these intricate parts. ‘Be Your Lady’ is a nice wave goodbye, but it’s also radical as fuck. That last line ‘Can I take 10 pounds’ worth of loving out of the bank please?’ I’m repeating it and I’m switching the accents of it as well because I switch accents in conversation. I sometimes speak like someone who’s from Washington, D.C. \[where Bankole has previously lived\], or someone who’s lived in the Southside of Edinburgh, and I sometimes speak like someone who’s from Lagos in Nigeria.” AM: “I wasn’t convinced about that track initially. I was like, ‘What the fuck is this?’” KB: “That’s good, though. That’s the feeling that you want. That’s why I feel it’s radical. It’s something that only we can do, it comes together and it feels right.”

WIN ACCESS TO A SOUNDCHECK AND TICKETS TO A UK HEADLINE SHOW OF YOUR CHOOSING BY PRE-ORDERING* ANY ALBUM FORMAT OF 'HEAVY HEAVY' BY 6PM GMT ON TUESDAY 31ST JANUARY. PREVIOUS ORDERS WILL BE COUNTED AS ENTRIES. OPEN TO UK PURCHASES ONLY. FAQ young-fathers.com/comp/faq Young Fathers - Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and G. Hastings - announce details of their brand new album Heavy Heavy. Set for release on February 3rd 2023 via Ninja Tune, it’s the group’s fourth album and their first since 2018’s album Cocoa Sugar. The 10-track project signals a renewed back-to-basics approach, just the three of them in their basement studio, some equipment and microphones: everything always plugged in, everything always in reach. Alongside the announcement ‘Heavy Heavy’, Young Fathers will make their much anticipated return to stages across the UK and Europe beginning February 2023 - known for their electrifying performances, their shows are a blur of ritualistic frenzy, marking them as one of the most must-see acts operating today. The tour will include shows at the Roundhouse in London, Elysee Montmartre in Paris, Paradiso in Amsterdam, O2 Academy in Leeds and Glasgow, Olympia in Dublin, Astra in Berlin, Albert Hall in Manchester, Trix in Antwerp, Mojo Club in Hamburg and more (full dates below) To mark news of the album and the tour, Young Fathers today release a brand new single, “I Saw”. It’s the second track to be released from the album (following standalone single “Geronimo” in July) and brims with everything fans have come to love from a group known for their multi-genre versatility - kinetic rhythms, controlled chaos and unbridled soul. Accompanied by a video created by 23 year old Austrian-Nigerian artist and filmmaker David Uzochukwu, the track demonstrates the ambitious ideas that lay at the heart of this highly-anticipated record. Speaking about the title, the band write that Heavy Heavy could be a mood, or it could describe the smoothed granite of bass that supports the sound… or it could be a nod to the natural progression of boys to grown men and the inevitable toll of living, a joyous burden, relationships, family, the natural momentum of a group that has been around long enough to witness massive changes. “You let the demons out and deal with it,” reckons Kayus of the album. “Make sense of it after.” For Young Fathers, there’s no dress code required. Dancing, not moshing. Hips jerking, feet slipping, brain firing in Catherine Wheel sparks of joy and empathy. Underground but never dark. Still young, after some years, even as the heavy, heavy weight of the world seems to grow day by day.

If the now-infamous recording sessions for Dreamville’s *Revenge of the Dreamers III* album told us anything, it’s that the label’s community is bigger than we’ll likely ever know. It’s hard to say whether the sessions for *Creed III: The Soundtrack* brought out the wealth of singers and MCs that *Revenge III* did, but the final tracklist is proof that there’s room in Dreamville for anyone with talent. *Creed III: The Soundtrack* boasts contributions from the whole of the label’s principals (J. Cole, Omen, Bas, Cozz, Lute, Ari Lennox, JID, and EARTHGANG) and then also Big Sean, Morray, SiR, WESTSIDE BOOGIE, EST Gee, Blxst, Kehlani, Tierra Whack, Symba, and BJ the Chicago Kid, all of whom spin boxing-as-life metaphors with so much ease you’d think they were all contenders at some point. The sleeper selections, if there are any, are Bas collabs “Ogogoro” and “Blood, Sweat & Tears” (featuring Afrobeats stars Ayra Starr and Black Sherif, respectively), each playing out as a testament to the old boxing adage “styles make fights.”

Hit-Boy built an untouchable resume based on chameleonic production abilities to craft hits for Ye, JAY-Z, Drake, and Nipsey Hussle, finding success with varying styles. But on his 2012 solo cut “Jay-Z Interview,” he showed that he’s a capable rapper as well. Lately, he’s focused less on singles and more on zoning in with artists he respects: In the past three years alone, he’s produced entire albums for Benny the Butcher, Dreezy, Pacman da Gunman, and Musiq Soulchild and an impressive four LPs and counting with Nas. His solo album *SURF OR DROWN* continues to get the best out of his collaborators: “The Tide” and “CORSA” feature shining performances by Nas and DOM KENNEDY, with contrasting sped-up soul samples and ephemeral vibes. But he continues to impress as a rapper as well: He confidently trades bars with the elite MCs he enlists, and brings a surprising amount of lyrical balance. He challenges other producers on “Slipping Into Darkness,” laments the relentless cycle of death in hip-hop on “Just Ask,” and uses the sprawling album closer “Composure, Pt. 2” to speak about old issues with his former G.O.O.D. Music boss Ye and the impact of his father’s incarceration. Hit-Boy doesn’t only draw greatness out of others—he has something to say himself, as well.

“There was days when I wished I was Cole, wished I was Kendrick/Days when I wished I was Lupe, hella eccentric,” Logic raps on “Clone Wars III” from *College Park*. The Maryland-hailing MC has been nothing if not honest over the course of his career, but it’s refreshing to hear someone as accomplished as Logic look back on a time when he wasn’t so sure of himself. The song is actually about the rapper realizing that all he really needed to do to succeed was to be himself and let those who got it (his undying love for golden-era hip-hop, his complex backstory, his love for anime and video games) get it. And we get plenty of it across *College Park*, a project that features the RZA, Norah Jones, Redman, Bun B, Lil Keke, Andy Hull, Joey Bada\$$, and Seth MacFarlane. Topically, it’s all grown-man B-I, Logic rapping about what life could have been like had he fallen victim to the streets (“Wake Up”), his battles with anxiety and the power of therapy (“Redpill IV”), his devotion to craft (“Self Medication”), and, on “Playwright,” a revelation wholly unsurprising to longtime fans: that it’s still “family over everything.” As an MC, Logic is today who he’s been his entire career; it’s just that, as he puts it on “Paradise II,” he’s got even more to be proud of. “No longer are the days of my childhood,” he raps. “My priority nowadays is making sure my wife and my child good.”