Even after successfully transitioning to movie star stature, Ice Cube never gave up on rap. From his N.W.A days on, the Los Angeles native’s discography stayed on course well into the 2010s. In more recent years, he’s seemed to embrace his status as a hip-hop elder statesman, forming the California supergroup MOUNT WESTMORE with fellow vets Snoop Dogg, E-40, and Too $hort as a vehicle for new music. Apart from that quartet’s 2022 album, *Man Down* marks Cube’s first full-length outing in some six years. Thankfully, he has lost none of his fury or his tenacity, making his voice heard and opinions known without reservations or apology. While nothing here matches the viciousness of, say, “No Vaseline,” he’s similarly righteous and emboldened on cuts like “It’s My Ego” and “I’mma Burn Rubber.” On the blunt “Ghetto Story,” he reminds listeners that he can still weave a mean narrative like he did back in the day. His choice of beats mirrors both his catalog and, more broadly, his city’s funky legacy, the bounce on “So Sensitive” giving his wordplay additional buoyancy. Self-aware, he calls this phenomenon out directly on “Not Like Them,” its title an unsubtle nod that gives way to a series of knowledge drops. Building with legends, Cube taps Cypress Hill’s B-Real for the 420-friendly scheme session “Let’s Get Money Together” and gathers the MOUNT WESTMORE gents for the lascivious trunk-rattler “She’s Sanctified.” J-Dee of Da Lench Mob fame gets some much deserved post-incarceration props on “Facts,” while Kurupt pulls no punches on “Fighting for My Life in Paradise.” *Man Down* finishes strong with an “It’s My Ego” remix renamed “Ego Maniacs,” forming a treacherous trio of supremely confident MCs with Busta Rhymes and Killer Mike.
When Dallas native 4batz—real name Neko Bennett—walked up to the mic on the popular performance YouTube series *From the Block* in a black ski mask and a full set of gold grillz, with a double cup in hand and his crew in the background, he looked like he was about to spit raps about his trials and tribulations growing up in his neighborhood. Which is why many listeners were shocked when a gentle and pitched-up croon came out of his mouth instead. “For me to sing, it was different,” he tells Apple Music. “I didn’t think anybody was going to accept it, but at the time, I didn’t care. I took that shit the most dramatic way. I was on the block with my guys behind me, just doing my own thing, popping out, and really just having my own way. I embraced that to the core all the way.” The first time 4batz appeared on *From the Block* he performed his debut single “act i: stickerz ‘99,’” but it was when he returned to do the infectious and moody track “act ii: date @ 8” that he catapulted from underground artist to breakout star. The viral track earned him co-signs from SZA, Timbaland, and Drake, who appears on the remix. His ambitious debut mixtape *u made me a st4r* further mines his love of ’90s R&B and emotive storytelling, using pitched-up and slowed-down vocals to tell, over the course of eight “acts,” the personal story of a turbulent relationship gone wrong. On “act i: stickerz ‘99,’” 4batz uses a metaphor to illustrate unrequited yearning. “I felt delusional over a certain female, and I remember I was like, ‘Yo, I feel like this girl doesn’t want to be with me, but I still fly to see her. I’ll still be with her right now.’ And that’s how ‘Stickerz’ came about, because I was stuck to someone that wasn’t stuck to me,” he says. The project is bookended by that and “act viii: i hate to be alone,” which ruminates on finality and heartbreak. And if it all sounds a little too real, that’s because, for 4batz, it was. “All this, it’s actual things,” he says. “It’s not just something I just walked in the living room, came in the booth, and just made. This is real life.”
Few genres feel as inherently collaborative as jazz, and even fewer contemporary artists embody that spirit quite like Kamasi Washington. After bringing a whole new generation of listeners to jazz through his albums *The Epic* and *Heaven and Earth*, as well as his collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, the Los Angeles native and saxophonist amassed an impressively eclectic set of guests to join his forthcoming bandleader project *Fearless Movement*. Among the guests were Los Angeles rapper D Smoke and funk legend George Clinton, who joined him for “Get Lit.” “That was definitely a beautiful moment,” Washington tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “The sessions were magical; it was like being in a studio with just geniuses.” Originally written by Washington’s longtime drummer Ronald Bruner Jr. (also known as the brother of bass virtuoso Thundercat), “Get Lit” sat around for a bit before the divine inspiration struck to invite Clinton and D Smoke to build upon it. After Washington attended the former’s art exhibition and the latter’s Hollywood Bowl concert in Los Angeles, it couldn’t have been clearer to him who the band needed to make the song shine. Washington compares Clinton’s involvement to magic, marveling in the studio at just how the Parliament-Funkadelic icon operates. “It\'s like we\'re listening to it and he\'s living in it,” he says, conveying how natural it felt having him participate. “When he decides to add something to some music, it\'s like water.” As for D Smoke, Washington was so impressed by the two-time Grammy nominee’s sense of musicality. “He plays keys, he understands harmony, and all that other stuff. He just knew exactly what to do.” As implied by “Get Lit,” the contributors on *Fearless Movement* come from varied backgrounds and scenes, from the modern R&B styles of singer BJ the Chicago Kid to the shape-shifting sounds of Washington’s *To Pimp a Butterfly* peer Terrace Martin. Still, the name that will stand out for many listeners is André 3000, who locked in with the band on the improvisational piece “Dream State.” The Outkast rapper turned critically acclaimed flautist arrived with a veritable arsenal of flutes, inspiring all the players present. “André has one of the most powerful creative spirits that I\'ve ever experienced,” Washington says. “We just created that whole song in the moment together without knowing where we was going.” Allowing himself to give in to the uncertainty and promise of that particular moment succinctly encapsulates the wider ethos behind all of *Fearless Movement*. “A lot of times, I feel like you can get stuck holding on to what you have because you\'re unwilling to let it go,” he says. “This album is really speaking on that idea of just being comfortable in what you are and where you want to go.”
On Chaz Bear’s eighth studio album under the Toro y Moi moniker, he returns to his roots. No, not the chillwave roots he became celebrated for in the late 2000s and early 2010s with initial singles and *Causers of This*, but his actual roots as a fan of pop punk, alternative, and rap music. “Hollywood,” which begins with a melodic bassline that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Green Day record, features Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and finds Bear waxing somewhat nostalgically about his early days as Toro y Moi. “Poor navigation, who am I to blame?/No one even calls me by my real name,” he sings. “Heaven,” which features BROCKHAMPTON alumni Kevin Abstract and Lev, begins with a campfire-worthy acoustic guitar riff and layered vocals from Bear and his guests. The slow-burning alt-R&B jam finds Toro y Moi showcasing the natural beauty of his voice and imploring the song’s subject to find the joy he finds throughout the album: “Baby, let it go/Let it go.”
ATLiens EARTHGANG have always been rap futurists, but on their 2024 EP *ROBOPHOBIA*—a loose concept project centered around human relationships with one another and AI—they explore a current reality that not long ago would have seemed like science fiction. Over five tracks, the duo of Olu and WowGr8 cook up deep-fried funk grooves and R&B opuses that shoot directly for the stars. On “BLACKLIGHT,” they sing, “P-E-R-F-E-C-T, that don’t mean shit to me/I’m in love with the real thing/Let me know what it is, bae.” It’s clear that the duo look at this pending technological revolution with some skepticism. Elsewhere, on “PERFECT FANTASY,” they recruit the Doggfather himself, Snoop Dogg, for a soul-tinged hymnal. It’s a love song built around horn stabs and handclaps, buzzing basslines and weeping strings that give it a cinematic flair. “You really are the highlight of my day,” goes one line, before the duo team up for a harmony-filled chorus: “This feels like the perfect fantasy.”
As the leader of Korean superstar group BTS, rapper-producer RM (aka Kim Nam-joon) is not always free to follow his musical curiosities or to explore deeply personal experiences. When he writes, records, and performs within BTS, he is doing it as part of a larger group, and the sacrifices that come with that are made in favor of something more collective. But RM has much to say as an artist outside of his BTS persona, and in the first 11 years of the group’s career, he has found the space to say it, releasing his own solo material in the form of two mixtapes (2015’s *RM* and 2018’s *mono.*), a 2022 solo album debut (*Indigo*), and now *Right Place, Wrong Person*. While *Indigo* was a vulnerable reflection back on RM’s twenties, *Right Place, Wrong Person* is somehow even more raw in its sounds and sentiments. The 11-track album is a diary-like study of healing wounds (“I just hope you remember me/The best grave in your cemetery”) and hard-won liberations (“I like my broken self/Bitch, that\'s the shit”) delivered in eddies of spoken-word verse, husky vocals, and RM’s signature lyrical rap. Pre-release track “Come back to me” acted as a disclaimer of what was to come. A slow-burn exhale of a song, the six-minute track about RM’s desire to understand his suffering (“You are my pain, divine, divine”) is an antithesis to the two-and-a-half-minute, hook-focused tracks that dominate so much of modern music. RM is similarly experimental in the hypnotic mood-setter “Right People, Wrong Place” and “ㅠㅠ,” a 74-second musing seemingly about the fans who come to his shows: “Do you stay inside or go off to life?/I\'m so grateful for everyone\'s time/Hope you all had such wonderful night.” As with *Indigo*, RM finds room to collaborate on *Right Place, Wrong Person*. French American jazz duo DOMi & JD BECK produce the percussive-driven “?,” while American singer-songwriter Moses Sumney features heavily on the groovy “Around the world in a day.” British rapper Little Simz contributes two verses to the jazzy “Domodachi,” which bounces between English, Korean, and Japanese to ask listener-friends to let loose: “Just ignite this bonfire/Friends gather around me one by one.” The uptempo “Groin” sees the leader of BTS breaking out of some of the boxes fame has put him in, working to accept the moments he has “fucked it up”: “I only represent myself/Let’s say what we have to say before we get sick and die.” “LOST!” is similarly energetic and blithe in its celebration of life’s confusions, positioning RM’s disorientation not as something to be feared but embraced: “I\'m goddamn lost/I never been to club before/I hit the club/I never felt so free before.” Here and elsewhere on the album, the eponymous “wrong person” doesn’t seem to be another individual, but rather a description of self. But with this music-making, the hope of something “right” seems to be on the horizon—if not here yet, then coming: “Time flies, he’s 14 and he’s already 30/And I look up in the sky, I see silver cloud/Yo, hurry.”
Almost six years after releasing her breakout single, 2018’s “Mr Rebel,” Nigerian superstar Tems delivers her debut LP, *Born in the Wild*. Of course, that interim has been characterized by a trajectory that’s trended upward at almost every turn. From her acclaimed 2020 debut EP *For Broken Ears* to global megahit collaborations with Wizkid (and later Justin Bieber) on “Essence” and Drake on “Fountains” to 2021’s sophomore EP, *If Orange Was a Place*, to appearances on 2022’s *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever* soundtrack (including songwriting credits for Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up”) and Beyoncé’s *RENAISSANCE* and a Grammy win for Future and Drake’s “Wait for U” in 2023—the alté-R&B star has experienced an almost exponential rise. That kind of journey is part of what makes *Born in the Wild* all the more captivating. Over 18 tracks, Tems cracks open her journal through those career highs, and reveals how the person behind them grappled with it all. “I had to step back a bit, to check in with myself,” Tems (Temilade Openiyi) tells Apple Music, “and also just find healing from all the trauma and everything I experienced before ‘Tems.’ I think I had to unlearn a lot of things. This album is just a new way of me expressing myself, while still centering who I am in it.” Here, she works through moments of feeling like an impostor, of rebuilding her self-confidence, of learning the ins and outs of relationships, and of learning to trust herself. Don’t read that as insecure, however—this is the journal of someone who’s done the work, and who’s fully ready to embrace the next chapter. It’s all brought to life through Tems’ usual brand of honest, mature storytelling—and here, as ever, the centerpiece remains a distinctive voice that simultaneously balances multiple layers of raw, delicate emotion and a natural, unforced ease. That reflective songwriting shows a sonic maturity that’s unrestricted by genre: She traverses from R&B (“Burning”) to fusions of Afrobeats and amapiano (“Get It Right”), balanced with celebrations of culture and heritage, like her reimagined version of Seyi Sodimu’s 1997 hit, the breezy “Love Me JeJe.” Below, Tems talks through these and more key tracks from *Born in the Wild*. **“Born in the Wild”** “‘Born in the Wild’ is a story of transformation from a cocoon to a butterfly. It speaks on surviving a mental wilderness that comes with life, and coming to a place where one can thrive. It\'s about accepting oneself, and embodying the woman I was born to be. It shows the different dimensions of who Tems is, and her journey from a cub to a lioness.” **“Burning”** “‘Burning’ is about the feelings I felt when I first started getting popular as Tems. I didn\'t really understand what was happening, and everything was happening so fast. And it\'s about me looking back on that time and realizing that we are all going through something. We all have our internal battles. We all have the things that we struggle with, our triggers. And ‘Burning’ is really about understanding that I have my triggers too, and now I know that I\'m not alone. And there\'s many people that have felt the way I do about not wanting to be seen, not really being used to attention, and people trying to take advantage of you in many different ways.” **“Love Me JeJe”** “‘Love Me JeJe’ is a sweet, happy song about finding unconditional love. The joy of finding a love that doesn\'t run out and not settling for anything else. Just basking in the sun, basking in that unconditional type of love.” **“Get It Right” (feat. Asake)** “This is just about a conversation between two people and one is saying, ‘I know you\'re scared, but if you do me right, I always got your back, because that\'s who I am.’ And it\'s just about two people feeling each other and wanting to explore more.” **“Unfortunate”** “‘Unfortunate’ is about realizing that the person that you put your trust in isn\'t worth your time. And also being thankful that the person showed themselves early, and the person disappointed you. And it\'s basically finding the good in the bad. This was a disappointment, but it is actually great that it was, because it means that I\'m winning, and I\'m going to overcome this, and I don\'t need to be with you anymore. It is a blessing that I\'m not obligated by any means to stay with you, and it\'s a blessing that I\'m not with you.” **“Forever”** “Forever is about the aftermath of a breakup, when the guy comes circling back, and it\'s coming from a place of healing, it\'s coming from a place of ‘I’ve moved on already, but it\'s interesting to see you scramble because I\'m moving on. It\'s the desperation for me from you. I love that you are so desperate to get me back you\'re always checking for me, stalking me, checking for what I\'m doing, and it\'s really intriguing and fascinating to see.’” **“Free Fall” (feat. J. Cole)** “This is about, after you fell in love with someone, they fell in love too. It was great until you realize that you both were new to it, and they didn\'t really know what to do in the relationship. It\'s about knowing, ‘If I stay, I\'m going to be drained,’ and knowing your limits and setting your boundaries. It\'s basically reflecting on all of that. Reflecting on the fact that I had to go, because if I didn\'t go, it would have been detrimental.” **“Me & U”** “‘Me & U’ is about reconnecting with God. It\'s a new conversation. It\'s about reconnecting with your inner child and the truth. It\'s about now being honest with yourself about who you are, and about having faith that everything is going to be okay, as long as you believe.” **“You in My Face”** “‘You in My Face’ is a conversation with the inner me, the inner child, and it\'s about finding peace within, and also hoping that I don\'t get lost again.”
Despite the rollercoaster that is the Florida rapper’s personal life, Kodak Black’s steady stream of new music never falters. Just a month after the release of a mixtape, *Dieuson Octave*, which took its title from his birth name, arrives *Trill Bill*, his eighth studio album. For a man still in his twenties with such a world-weary rasp it’s surprising to hear just how nimble his flow can be, with a knack for unpredictable wordplay reminiscent of mixtape-era Wayne. (Kudos if you saw it coming when he rhymes “Make my gat go bang” with “Kurt Cobain” on “Maybach Van.”) Surprising too are *Trill Bill*’s many tender moments—as he croons over sweet piano chords on “One Piece Left” (“I got one more piece of my heart left/And I’ve been saving it for you”), or recounts a meet-cute on “Dirty Revolver”: “She said, ‘You Haitian and a Gemini, boy, I already know you trouble, but LOL, text me.’”
*Quantum Baby*, the seventh album from Tinashe and the second part of a trilogy following 2023’s *BB/ANG3L*, arrives with more eyes on the R&B star than ever before thanks to the viral success of “Nasty,” an intimate, intoxicating R&B-dance hybrid that quickly became one of 2024’s defining songs. “I crafted \[it\] to try to get that exact same energy when I was just driving in my car,” she tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “The performance of it really affects just how people are interpreting the song and how people are receiving it.” Though there may not prove to be another song that finds as many ears as the single, *Quantum Baby* is still the portrait of an artist at the peak of their powers. There are plenty of other sterling moments to latch on to: “Thirsty” is light as air, with Tinashe’s falsetto floating above pillowy synths and percussion that bubbles like a cauldron. “When I Get You Alone” is a sexy R&B jam laced with deep desires and plenty of quotable lines. When Tinashe sings, “Flying, top gun/Feels like heaven/Wilding, we’re young/Fuck it, have fun,” she’s also recapping the philosophy of the *Quantum Baby* era. It’s why, in part, Tinashe never let the success of “Nasty” change her approach. “I\'m just trying to live in the moment as much as possible and not focus on that, because these moments don\'t happen every day,” she says. “And I hope that my continued hard work \[can help me\] maximize on it as much as we possibly can. We stay the course.”
A lot happened in the six years between Justin Timberlake’s last studio album, 2018’s *Man of the Woods*, and *Everything I Thought It Was*. After a world-changing pandemic, the pop star appeared in films, hopped on numerous collaborations (Jung Kook, Coco Jones, and Jack Harlow among them), and reunited at long last with his fellow \*NSYNC members for the *Trolls Band Together* soundtrack. With *Everything I Thought It Was*, Timberlake is back to creating for himself. “I think there are moments that are incredibly honest,” he tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “But also, there’s a lot of fucking fun on this album.” As *Man of the Woods* was a tribute to Timberlake’s family and Tennessee roots, *Everything I Thought It Was* is a homecoming in its own way. Opening track “Memphis” is a pensive reflection on his hometown and the pressures of doing it proud: “You’re the one that’s chosen to make it out/Gotta seize the moment, don’t let us down.” He revisits his boy-band days with yet another new \*NSYNC team-up, “Paradise,” whose simple guitar melodies highlight the quintet’s harmonies in all their timeless splendor. With help from producers including Calvin Harris and longtime collaborators Timbaland and Danja, *Everything I Thought It Was* is Timberlake’s return to peak pop-R&B form and a credible sequel to his club-influenced 2006 LP *FutureSex/LoveSounds*. Beyond the breakup ballads (“Drown”) and syrupy seductions (“Play”), the album glides across the dance floor with hip-grinding electro-R&B (“What Lovers Do”), Afrobeats (“Liar” featuring Fireboy DML), and sweat-slicked disco grooves, occasionally throwing curveballs with beat switches (“My Favorite Drug”) and delivering a modern-day “Rock Your Body” in “F\*\*\*\*n’ Up the Disco.” “I think that\'s where I came up with the album title,” Timberlake says. “I was playing it for people around me. They\'re like, ‘Oh, this sounds like everything we know you for.’ And then another friend of mine was like, ‘Oh, this sounds like everything I thought I wanted from you.’ It was like that sort of phrase, in one way or another, was in the air.”
There’s a moment on Michael Kiwanuka’s *Small Changes* that sums up the languid brilliance at the heart of the London singer-songwriter’s fourth album. It comes at the beginning of “Lowdown (part i),” its easygoing guitar strums and fluid bass groove stretching into life over what sounds like a spaghetti junction of distant conversations, as if Kiwanuka and his band have set up in the corner of the room and started playing, unprompted. As his warm croon wanders in, the background noise halts and the track gently glides into its soulful sway. It’s a neat summation of *Small Changes*’ unhurried elegance; this is a record that’s not designed to grab you by the collar but stops you in your tracks nonetheless. Kiwanuka won the Mercury Prize for 2019’s self-titled third album, yet nothing about *Small Changes* suggests he felt any pressure to repeat the success. Instead, he sounds like an artist free to follow his muse wherever it takes him. Working again with long-running collaborators Inflo (Little Simz, Sault) and Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, The Black Keys) in studios in London, LA, and Connecticut, he strips away from *KIWANUKA*’s fully-formed psychedelic soul expanse and emerges with another masterpiece. Early in his career, Kiwanuka followed the traditional singer-songwriter route of writing songs at home and taking them into the studio to get down on tape. There’s something looser and more free-spirited at work here—the trio starting from nothing and letting ideas blossom in the sessions. It has resulted in a record that inhabits its own sonic world, its mix of airy ’70s soul, orchestral folk, and minimalist ballads gently luring you in to its mesmerizing flow, everything elevated by Kiwanuka’s lightness of touch and melodic ease. There’s a spellbinding restraint to the way “One and Only” guides you to its string-laden outro, or how the mournful piano patterns of “Rebel Soul” lurk on the edge of the song, never stepping into the spotlight. Then there’s the way “Follow Your Dreams” lets its jubilant chorus drift blissfully by. At times, such as the moment when “Lowdown (part ii)” takes flight and unfurls into a Pink Floyd-esque epic with shimmering guitar flourishes, it sounds utterly timeless. It’s a record that sees Kiwanuka glancing back to his youth, reflecting on doubt-filled teenage years and considering the advice he could give to his young self. But this is also an album that strides hopefully into the future, the sound of an artist in full control of who he wants to be.
“Never put a artist in a box/They only thought I could do house,” Channel Tres sings on the title track of his debut album, *Head Rush*. Since debuting in 2018 with the gliding “Controller,” the LA-based artist has become the purveyor of what he calls “Compton house,” a distinctly West Coast blend of house music, hip-hop, and funk. But his skill set extends beyond the dance floor. Early cuts such as “Black Moses” and “2000 chevy malibu” showed his hard-hitting yet atmospheric approach to rap, and collaborations with artists including Terrace Martin, Jungle, Tove Lo, and Gus Dapperton proved his versatility across genres. On *Real Cultural Shit*, Channel’s 2023 EP, he leveled up his songwriting, boosting his euphoric production with catchy hooks as heard on the defiant “6am.” Channel’s ever-growing Rolodex comes through on *Head Rush*, with Thundercat, Teezo Touchdown, Ty Dolla $ign, and more appearing throughout the album. It’s familiar in that it still pulses with Channel’s slick dance grooves, but it’s also where he expands upon his songwriting focus and sonic experiments. “Joyful Noise” is a modern take on gospel house, while “Type” brings celestial, speaker-busting rap. Even his signature suave baritone becomes another instrument to play with, getting rugged and fervent on the industrial-coated “Black & Mild.” Much of *Head Rush* finds Channel enjoying the perks of fame. “Cactus Water,” on which freak flags fly atop swirling disco, is the album’s summer joint with its inviting chorus and funky bassline. He celebrates the luxury goods he previously couldn’t afford on the chugging “Candy Paint” and the beaming “Chain Hang Low,” and “I’m Him” is well-earned braggadocio. But embedded among the joy is a sobering vulnerability as Channel peels back layers of struggles past and present. It’s how on the beat-switching “Head Rush” he can juxtapose the triumph of buying a house with the survivor’s guilt of childhood trauma. Closing track “Here” is a bittersweet tribute to his late friend and fellow artist AUGUST 08, who helped Channel break into the industry: 08 “was a tutor/I was a student/Now we are the future.”
It’s been two years since A Boogie wit da Hoodie’s *Me vs. Myself*, and his 2024 effort *Better Off Alone* charts just how much his life has changed since. Due to both his love life and his success as a rapper, the MC from the Bronx spins tales of heartbreak and deceit. On the title track, which kicks off the album, he outlines how romantic flings continue to betray him and opps remain relentless in their pursuit. Over mournful piano bars and bouncy 808s, Boogie croons: “Guess I\'m better off alone right now, I\'m ducked off in the Bahamas/Got so much shit on my shoulders, think my back broke.” Later, he adds: “Only feelin\' safe around my bros, I gotta bulletproof the bus/They won\'t catch me lackin\' on the road.” Boogie uses features from Young Thug, Future, Cash Cobain, Lil Durk, and more to infuse the album with positive vibes, like on the Thugger-assisted “Let’s Go Away,” which is a dose of pure joy after A Boogie’s laundry list of friends turned enemies and lovers turned rivals.
Throughout hip-hop history, New York has produced several of the biggest and most iconic female stars. A genuine breakout talent in her city’s abundant pool of drill artists, Bronx rap phenom Ice Spice earned the blessing of no less than Nicki Minaj after “Munch (Feelin’ U)” went from delightfully viral to utterly ubiquitous. Collabs with the Queen from Queens like “Princess Diana” put the outer-borough upstart in a rarefied space as she amassed other hits including “Gangsta Boo” and the Taylor Swift team-up “Karma.” Roughly two years after making such a strong first impression, Ice Spice looks to cement her place in the game with *Y2K!*. Named in honor of her January 1, 2000, birthdate, her debut album may not be materially that much longer than the preceding *Like..?* EP. Nonetheless, it augments her sonic world in exciting ways while maintaining the brash authenticity that got her to this point. Though perennial studio partner RIOTUSA remains at the production helm, the beat choices here skew darker and harder than one might expect. The dissonant rhythmic thump of “BB Belt” and menacing synth stabs of “Plenty Sun” soundtrack pointed and pithy verses intended to cut down the competition. Even though a handful of the titles may verge on the scatological, punchlines like “Spent 150 on some carats/That shit cray like them n\*\*\*\*s in Paris” keep songs like “Think U the Shit (Fart)” feeling sharp rather than sophomoric. The exclusive guest list here reflects her elite status, wrangling Travis Scott for the victorious “Oh Shhh…” and then Gunna for the badass team-up “Bitch I’m Packin’.”
