It was a big deal when #KushandOrangeJuice became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter upon the release of the eighth Wiz Khalifa mixtape in April 2010, back when “hashtags” and “trending topics” were cutting-edge promotional tools. Back then, it was practically unheard of for a rapper with no major-label deal to be making such big waves (he’d left his former label, Warner Bros., in 2009). But there was something comforting about the red-eyed Pittsburgh rapper’s laidback mode of rapping about the staples of college dorm-room chatter: weed, women, cars, parties… Did we mention weed? Today, *Kush & Orange Juice* is considered a “blog era” classic—a throwback to a chiller, simpler time. Almost exactly 15 years later, its sequel arrives like a visit from a friend from long ago who’s grown up and gotten richer, but otherwise mostly stayed the same. The 23 terminally chill tracks of *Kush + Orange Juice 2* feature more of the Taylor Gang touchstones you know and love: jet-ski races, beach picnics, fat joints, drop-tops, crab rolls, hot-boxing Ferrari F8s. He’s joined by a loaded roster of guests who haven’t changed much in the past decade and change, either: Curren$y, Smoke DZA, Chevy Woods, Terrace Martin. “I been doing the same thing since I was 19,” Khalifa crows on “I Might Be,” which might be tragic were those things not so timelessly appealing. Throughout the tape, a radio DJ (broadcasting on a station known as W-E-E-D) offers salient advice: “Don’t stay in the house, man. Jump in the car. Ride around with the homies and the homegirls, and put on some of that Wiz Khalifa, y’all.”
Louie Pastel and Felix actually hail from Los Angeles, borrowing their name from the title of Wim Wenders’ 1984 road movie. But beyond showing their movie-geek bona fides, the choice also speaks to their fondness for juxtaposing elements that might not typically go together—let’s say, West Coast G-funk and sneering punk rock, which they meld seamlessly on “Dogma 25,” where they deliver the odd cinephiliac bar (“Stanley Kubrick, how I’m making a scene”) in matching growls that do Tumblr-era Tyler, the Creator justice. Since their 2018 debut EP, *I’ll Get My Revenge in Hell*, the duo have earned comparisons to alternative rap groups like Death Grips and clipping. But *They Left Me With the Sword*, their third official EP, suggests that they’re equally inspired by blog-era cult faves The Cool Kids, whose retro-futuristic minimalism they channel on “Holy Spinal Fluid” and “El Camino.” (The latter, with its vocoder balladry and tight lyricism, showcases the pair at their best.)
On 2024’s *Samurai*, Lupe Fiasco gave his fans exactly what they wanted. Reuniting with longtime producer Soundtrakk (of “Kick, Push” and “Superstar” fame) for their second consecutive full-length collaboration, following *DRILL MUSIC IN ZION*, he kept his high-level rap songcraft at the fore on the acclaimed album. This EP-length companion expands upon that project somewhat, with some additional material including a few choice remixes featuring his Samurai Tour opening act, singer Troy Tyler. At first, the reworked version of the title track seems a rather nuanced revisiting, yet its final minute and a half gives the groove a more pronounced R&B feel with Tyler’s take on the hook. A similar thing happens with “Bigfoot,” where their vocal interplay elevates an already surging chorus. As for the newer songs, “SOS” delivers the masterly lyricism that people expect from Lupe, his running commentary and intricate metaphors buoying the divinely jazzy, ATCQ-esque beat.
Like its 2024 predecessor *Pinball*, part of the appeal of *Pinball II* is hearing MIKE step out of the fog of his own introspection and do something a little more sociable. Make no mistake: This is not straightforward rap music. But where *tears of joy*-era MIKE (age 20) sounded hell-bent on unburdening his soul, here he seems not only content with rapping for rap’s sake but resplendent in it. He pulls together West Coast breeziness (“Splat!”), Detroit bounce (“#74,” “WYC4”), weird Cubist R&B (“Dolemite”), and DMV dreamscapes (the Niontay feature “Shaq & Kobe”) with a free-associative joy that manages to be both fun and totally nonlinear. As for his collaborator, you guess he picked the name because of how hard he bubbles.
Is there anything Jane Remover *can’t* do? The 21-year-old rapper, singer, and producer’s surprise-released third album, *Revengeseekerz*, arrives just a few months after their striking and contemplative album *Ghostholding* under their Venturing alias. If that album dove deep into the tangled guitars and complex emotions of Midwestern emo, then *Revengeseekerz* finds Jane Remover fully leaving behind the gauzy anti-rock of 2023’s *Census Designated* and blasting off into the realm of rage music. It’s impossible to hear the bitcrushed synths of “Dreamflasher” and the lurching trap beats of “Experimental Skin” without conjuring images of current rage titans like Yeat and Playboi Carti. But nothing is ever that simple in Jane Remover’s world, as their dizzying and flashy approach to production means that even the catchiest *Revengeseekerz* material is densely packed with sonic bells and whistles. Amid a plethora of sonic gestures tilted towards the neon crags of modern rap, Jane Remover still finds the space to execute a few shocking left turns across these 12 tracks. Danny Brown lends his always elastic voice to the endless-ladder electroclash of “Psychoboost,” while “Professional Vengeance” bounces like a pop-punk Super Mario across a landscape of video-game lasers and pummeling bass. *Revengeseekerz* is the strongest statement yet from a true prodigy at the height of their powers.
The fact that Dijon Duenas had a hand in producing one of 2025’s most anticipated indie-rock releases (Justin Vernon’s two-part Bon Iver opus *SABLE, fABLE*) and most surprising pop-star comeback (Justin Bieber’s *SWAG*) speaks to his singular standing in the contemporary musical landscape. Arriving mere weeks after he became every Belieber’s most popular search term, Dijon’s second full-length, *Baby*, is an open invitation for his recent converts to follow him deeper into his lo-fi underworld—and a reassurance to his longtime fans that he isn’t farming out all his best production ideas to famous guys named Justin. On the conjoined opening tracks “Baby!” and “Another Baby!,” Dijon comes off as part Prince, part Salvador Dali, rendering his sensuous serenades in pitch-shifting surrealist style, like tapes from a late-night “Paisley Park” session left out to melt in the morning sun. And whether he’s indulging in the sound-collage gospel of “HIGHER!,” the distorted dub-soul of “FIRE!,” or the barking dog-assisted folk ballad “loyal & marie,” Dijon’s real superpower is crafting straight-from-the-heart songs and then throwing them delightfully off-balance, perpetually dropping elements in and out of the mix with a “what does this button do?” sense of mischief.
The past few years have been trying for the former member of Migos, which officially disbanded in 2023 after the tragic death of Takeoff in 2022. But hardship has shaped Offset’s path from the beginning, going back to his incarceration during Migos’ big break in 2013. “With me personally, adversity made me focus,” the 33-year-old rapper tells Apple Music’s Ebro Darden. “I’ve learned to just brush it off.” His debut solo album, *FATHER OF 4*, arrived in 2019, but 2023’s *SET IT OFF* marked Offset’s first venture with Migos in the rearview. On his third solo album, the rapper born Kiari Cephus sets aside his alias to dig a little deeper. “I named my album *KIARI* because it’s like me looking at myself in the mirror—my real life, how far I’ve come and what I’ve done, the good and the bad, the mistakes,” he tells Ebro. After seven years of marriage, Offset’s ex-wife, Cardi B, filed for divorce in August 2024. Through the drama, he sought solace in the booth. “I just wanted to focus on the music,” he tells Ebro. “And as soon as I did it, I seen the results.” The 18 tracks of *KIARI* show Offset at his most soul-searching, without sacrificing the technical precision he’s been known for since his scene-stealing turn on 2016’s “Bad and Boujee.” Moody samples add to the gravity, from the flip of Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” on “Pills” to “Bodies” with JID, which throws a curveball by interpolating Drowning Pool’s “Bodies.” (“I like the element of surprise on the records,” Offset told Ebro of the collaboration.) On “Move On,” Offset officially closes the book on his relationship with Cardi: “I’m trying to move on in peace,” he sings on the hook. As for a future reconciliation with Quavo for a Takeoff tribute album, Offset tells Ebro, “It’s possible. We just building us first.” Still, he scatters tributes to Takeoff throughout *KIARI*, recollecting the trio’s early days on “Prada Myself” and recruiting John Legend for the poignant hook of “Never Let Go”: “I lost my brother, but I gained an angel.”
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.”
The New Orleans-born cousins (Ruby da Cherry and Scrim) have little in the way of crossover hits or mainstream press. But since emerging on SoundCloud in 2014 with their depressive, Memphis-inspired blend of horrorcore, witch house, and emo rap, the duo’s nihilism has proved surprisingly potent—their Grey Day Tour was the third-highest-grossing rap tour of 2024. On their fifth album, *THY KINGDOM COME* (a modest catalog, until you count the additional nine mixtapes and 30-plus EPs they’ve released in just over a decade), $uicideboy$ mostly stick to their bread and butter: themes of addiction and abjection, morose yet baroque titles, and the rap game’s bleakest flexes. (“Smokin’ on shit that smell like body rot,” they chant on BONES collab “Now and at the Hour of Our Death.”) But occasionally, a bit of levity creeps in, be it a jubilant sample of a NOLA bounce classic (Big Freedia’s “Gin in My System”) on “Napoleon” or the ’80s-R&B gloss on the otherwise grim “Full of Grace (I Refuse to Tend My Own Grave).”
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.
Since he signed to Def Jam at the end of 2021, Benny’s projects have been a mix of underground grit and mainstream appeal—a tough line to walk, but one he walks in style. At seven tracks in 20 minutes, *Excelsior* captures the gruff thrills of the equally brief *The Plugs I Met* series, pairing him with a marquee’s worth of midtempo, heritage-coded, narco-rap heroes including *Plugs* producer Harry Fraud (“Sign Language”), Styles P (“Toxic”), and Boldy James (the exceptionally titled “Duffel Bag Hottie’s Revenge”). You know what they say: You can take the boy out of the street, but…
A broken clock is right twice a day, and a new Boldy James album comes twice a month. Well, not quite, but few rappers have ever been on a run as prolific as the Detroit MC has been in 2025. What makes the barrage of releases so special, however, is the high-quality raps he serves up again and again. On his May 2025 release with LA producer Real Bad Man, *Conversational Pieces*, he keeps the good times rolling like the luxury whips he loves to rap about. Much like the duo’s 2020 collaboration, *Real Bad Boldy*, James and Real Bad Man have an almost telepathic chemistry on *Conversational Pieces*. Whether spitting about cruising the streets late at night on “Tap the Brakes Twice” or luxury vacations on “Aspen,” Boldy floats atop stripped-down beats. It’s a fine line the artists effortlessly walk, balancing minimalism and charisma with an intoxicating nonchalance. It’s a personality Boldy has embodied on this generational run, and lord knows he’s had the practice.
Between Comedy Central’s *The New Negroes*, his Stony Island Audio podcast fiefdom, and countless hours of livestreaming, Open Mike Eagle has got plenty of media experience. For *Neighborhood Gods Unlimited*, he proffers a conceptually inventive take on imagined cable network Dark Comedy Television, with barely enough budget for an hour’s worth of programming. That translates to one of the indie-rap mainstay’s more diverse offerings thematically and, with help from underground producers like Child Actor and Ialive, sonically. On the sitcom-esque “me and aquil stealing stuff from work,” he and his buddy AQ both toil and loaf around like quintessential mall rats. His unabashedly nerdy tastes come through as he nods to *Adventure Time*’s wintry wizard on “contraband (the plug has bags of me)” and non-canonically mixes heterogenous comic book and cartoon lore on “michigan j. wonder.” Longtime cohorts R.A.P. Ferreira and Previous Industries’ Video Dave appear as fourth-wall-winking guest stars in sweeps-week fashion, but nobody upstages Mr. Number 1 on the Call Sheet.
For Benny the Butcher, feeding the streets is more than just a business strategy. As the Buffalo rapper builds his Black Soprano Family brand, he concurrently makes clear his determined aspirations towards earning a spot in the top-five-dead-or-alive vanguard of elite MCs. With the release of *Summertime Butch 2*, a sequel to his well-received 2024 project, he adds another audio document to the growing dossier comprising his craft. After letting Griselda comrade Westside Gunn get a few Flygod bars off on “Jasmine’s,” he proceeds to lay into the current state of rap music, lambasting the lyrical laziness and pop aspirations of a mercifully unnamed cluster of subpar artists. On “Told You So,” he deflects criticism from those who overvalue mainstream chart placements while cruising down his personalized path to hip-hop greatness. Later, he reaffirms both his dope-boy bona fides and his underground classics on “77 Club,” demonstrating a linkage with the past criminality that now thematically fuels his creativity. Guests like Bruiser Wolf and OT The Real operate at a high level alongside a never-complacent Benny on the Daringer-produced “Hood on Fire” and Nickel Plated’s “Gold Plated Leica,” respectively. Other collabs like the booming “In the Wall” with Bun B and “Why Would I” with G Herbo take him out of his well-established trap-house comfort zone, yet he adapts his knowledgeably streetwise flows with sweat-free dexterity over those beats. Naturally, he shows love for his BSF insiders, making space for Elcamino and Duckman on the cinematic “Pandoras.”
The Chicago drill superstar’s eighth studio album, 2023’s *Almost Healed*, was devoted to the concept of recovering from trauma—a theme that’s haunted Lil Durk’s music, either implicitly or explicitly, since his emergence in the early 2010s as the most melodically gifted of the genre’s rising stars. Its March 2025 follow-up, *Deep Thoughts*, was slated for release in October 2024. But that same month, Durk was arrested (along with several affiliates of his record label and collective, Only the Family) in connection to a murder-for-hire case against a rival rapper. The rapper born Durk Banks has maintained his innocence, but was denied bail on the grounds of being a flight risk. If convicted of the charges, the 32-year-old faces life in prison. This changes the gravity of his long-awaited ninth album, which was delayed four times since the 2024 arrest. But the tracklist of *Deep Thoughts* seems to reflect a different lifetime, with pre-arrest singles like “Turn Up a Notch” and a suite of lusty ballads like the benny blanco-produced Jhene Aiko duet, “Can’t Hide It.” The resounding pathos of Durk’s work remains—most potently on “Keep on Sippin’,” whose candid bars detail the vicious cycle of addiction. But the stakes have changed, and it’s hard not to wonder what the Lil Durk of the past year might have to get off his chest instead. Still, an offhand line from “They Want to Be You,” a melancholy Future collab about the expectations of fame, hits even harder now: “All the kids rap, they wanna be just like you.”
An undeniable East Atlanta fave, Young Nudy amassed a memorable assortment of charting hits in the first half of the 2020s, including a noteworthy few alongside his cousin 21 Savage. After reuniting with Pi’erre Bourne for 2024’s victory lap *Sli’merre 2*, he’s back with his longtime producer Coupe (known for “Peaches & Eggplants”) and beatmaking familiar Kid Hazel for the vibrant, ecstatic *PARADISE*. His mellifluous drawl and explicit lyrics coupled with surreally melodic instrumentals yield some of the most crowd-pleasing tracks of his career to date. From the irreverent strip club bounce of “BTA” to the smooth talk of “CHAINS ON” and “SUPER SLIME,” he’s in rare form as a trap libertine. Elsewhere, he shouts out Zone 6 on the more ominous “MOP STICK,” embraces baller status on “SNAKE,” and vibes with Latto on “WHAT’S HAPPENIN’.” Naturally, 21 Savage makes an appearance alongside Coupe on “ICED TEA,” but it’s the fresh Project Pat hook that takes the already elevated single to even higher heights.
“I’ve been realizing that I really made the album that I needed to heal myself,” Kali Uchis tells Apple Music about *Sincerely,* perhaps her most liberating work yet. The Colombian American singer-songwriter’s catalog has never felt slight or frivolous, whether in English or in Spanish. Yet this full-length follow-up to her 2024 *ORQUÍDEAS* dyad presents as something truly unique, arriving roughly a decade after her promising EP debut *Por Vida*. The majority of the songs here began simply as voice notes, fortuitously captured in inspired moments outside of the confines or pressures of a studio setting. “Messages would just feel like they were directly coming through me, and I just had to get them out,” she says. Given such natural creative origins, it should come as little surprise that the actual process behind the album eschewed industry norms altogether, favoring home recording and unconventional settings. And despite the demonstrated level of guest vocal talent at her fingertips, she opted out of features, too. “When you’re making emotional music, you have to actually dig into difficult subjects,” she says, marking a clear distinction between this piece and its star-powered predecessor. As a result, *Sincerely,* feels disarmingly intimate for what is ostensibly a pop album, even one from as consistently adventurous an artist as Uchis. The evocative moments of opener “Heaven Is a Home…” and closer “ILYSMIH” speak on love in grand and sweeping gestures, the passing of her mother and the birth of her son making understandably profound impacts on the work. Influences like Cocteau Twins and Fiona Apple can be felt in all that comes between those bookends. “There’s a lot of grief, but there’s a lot of joy,” she says, describing what seeps through the veil of “Silk Lingerie,” or the vamps of “Territorial.” Excess punctuation on titles like “Lose My Cool,” and “For: You” hint at the flowing prose of her lyrics as it contributes to an even greater whole. “I think it is a celebration of life in its own way,” she says, “in the sense of finding beauty in the pain and taking the good.”
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.
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.
If anyone knows something about *FESTIVAL SEASON*, it’s SAINt JHN, the Brooklyn-hailing singer and MC whose “Roses (Imanbek Remix)” has been tearing down electro festivals since its release back in 2018. JHN, though, is an artist whose creative practice extends way beyond single genre. He shows off his range on *FESTIVAL SEASON*, singing and rapping over rage-rap production (“Body on Me,” “4 the Gangsters”), ATL-centric trap music (“Stones!!!,” “Poppin,” “Real Hustler”), pop punk (“Who’s Ex Wife Is This”), pool-party techno (“Glitching”), soca-influenced house (“Loneliness”)—and, because even the greatest parties need a breather, a power ballad (“Never Met Superman”). It’s almost as if it doesn’t matter which festival you choose to attend: SAINt JHN is going to be there.
Last year, the Baton Rouge rapper’s relative silence spoke volumes. After a staggeringly prolific run in the previous years (one album and six mixtapes in 2022, two albums and two mixtapes in 2023), YoungBoy released just one record in 2024. Days before the intended release of his seventh album, *I Just Got a Lot on My Shoulders*, he was arrested on a number of charges, and he spent much of that year in a Utah county jail before receiving a 27-month prison sentence after accepting a plea deal in a federal gun case that had been ongoing for years. It was the latest in a seemingly endless series of setbacks for the rapper, whose “Legal issues” section on Wikipedia is nearly as long as the one for “Career.” YoungBoy’s 2025 has so far been much brighter, beginning with his release on probation in April after years of house arrest. Then, on May 28, he was granted a presidential pardon, ending the lengthy legal battle that had hampered his career for half a decade. This explains the newfound swell of patriotism at play in the title of his eighth studio album, *MASA* (short for *Make America Slime Again*), as well as in the triumphant “XXX,” which opens with “The Star-Spangled Banner” wailed on electric guitar before YB crows: “The police watching, but they ain’t gonna stop me!” The album’s 30 tracks are brighter than its world-weary predecessor, veering between bouncy Louisiana street rap (“Diesel”) and power ballads (“Cold World”). But he finds room here and there for a bit of introspection regarding his recent years: “Never knew how hard it’d get/Never knew it’d come to this,” he singsongs on “Where I Been” before concluding: “After all, I’m amazed that I conquered it.”
Throughout his career, the rapid-spitting rapper BabyTron has married his love of hip-hop with his devotion to the NBA. There was *Sleeve Nash* in 2020, the original *Luka Troncic* in 2021, and on 2023’s *MegaTron 2* he had a song called “90’s Bulls.” The second edition of the *Luka Troncic* series kicks off with “Luka Magic,” a cut that nods to the Los Angeles Laker and his point-guard predecessor, Magic Johnson. Tron isn’t focused only on superstars, though: On that song in particular, he mentions veteran role player Kyle Kuzma. “77” pays tribute to Luka Doncic’s number and features a joyous throwback beat that plays with Detroit’s early techno roots. Focus too much on hooping, though, and you’ll miss the real star of *Luka Troncic 2*: BabyTron himself.
For his fifth solo album, *Unlearning Vol. 2*, Evidence enlists a handful of underground-friendly West Coast MCs, including Larry June (“Future Memories”), Odd Future alum Domo Genesis (“Favorite Injury”), and late-aughts blog-rap darling Blu (“Stay Alive”). Famed producer and sometime Step Brothers counterpart The Alchemist is here on “Rain Every Season.” The guests share a kinship with Ev in creative theory, if not in actual practice. “I’m just a minimalist who’s still massive,” he raps on “Top Seeded,” casually distilling their respective impacts. Evidence may have the resume of a hip-hop legend, but he wouldn’t likely have you call him one. After his work with acts like Dilated Peoples and The Alchemist, production for Beastie Boys, LINKIN PARK, and Kanye West (to name but a few), and four well-received solo albums, he continues to create and release music on his own terms. *Unlearning Vol. 2*, then, manages to boost both his pedigree and mystique. “Graffiti writer, never dreamed of being famous,” he reflects on “Different Phases.” “The goal was that they never knew the face, not being nameless.”
