Hiphopheads

Though Westside Gunn considered turning off his microphone for good in 2023, it was only a year later that he returned to form with *11*, a five-track effort that served as a prelude to his long-teased full-length album *Still Praying*. Though only five tracks long, *11* is a tribute to the Griselda leader’s roots, honoring two of his friends: Sly Green, who is serving a 100-year prison sentence, and Big Dump, who died in 2018. Because of this, Westside has referred to the project as his most personal to date, a statement that’s reflected in the heartfelt rhymes and diaristic storytelling. Take the soul-sample-infused “BIG DUMP BALLAD,” which finds Gunn reflecting on his brother, Conway the Machine, and his dearly departed cousin, MachineGun Black, who was also the brother of Griselda partner Benny the Butcher. He raps: “My heart got scars, my brother face crooked/Allah took us from \'ChineGun, I was devastated.” Later, he adds: “If I had three wishes, I\'d want to get Sly out of prison/Make sure my babies live life with no ceilin\'.” Westside Gunn may not be able to free his incarcerated friends or bring back those who have lost their lives, but thanks to his ability as a rapper, his kids will certainly live life knowing that the sky’s the limit.

“Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they?” Linda Martell cackles at the beginning of “SPAGHETTII.” Perhaps the name Linda Martell isn’t a household one, which only proves her point. She was the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, but her attempt to move from soul and R&B into the realm of country in the 1960s was met with racist resistance—everything from heckling to outright blackballing. Beyoncé knows the feeling, as she explained in an uncharacteristically vulnerable Instagram post revealing that her eighth studio album was inspired by a deep dive into the history of Black country music following an experience where she felt similarly unwelcome. *COWBOY CARTER* is a sprawling 80-minute tribute not only to those pioneering artists and their outlaw spirit, but to the very futility of reducing music to a single identifying word. Another key quote from that post: “This ain’t a country album. This is a Beyoncé album.” It’s more than a catchy slogan; anyone looking for mere honky-tonk cosplay is missing a much richer and more complex point. Listening in full to Act II of the presumed trilogy Bey began with 2022’s *RENAISSANCE*, it’s clear that the perennial overachiever hasn’t merely “gone country,” she’s interrogating what the word even means—and who merits the designation. On “AMERIICAN REQUIEM,” in a voice deep and earthy as Texas red dirt, the Houston native sings, “Used to say I spoke too country/And then the rejection came, said I wasn’t country enough.” She nods again, as she’s done before on songs like “Formation,” to her family ties to Alabama moonshiners and Louisiana Creoles. “If that ain’t country,” she wonders, “tell me what is.” With subtlety and swagger, she contextualizes country as an offshoot of the Black American musical canon, a storytelling mode springing from and evolving alongside gospel and blues. Over the wistful pedal steel and gospel organ of “16 CARRIAGES,” she tells you what it’s like to be a teenage workhorse who grows into an adult perfectionist obsessed with ideas of legacy, with a bit of family trauma buried among the riffs. On “YA YA,” Beyoncé expands the scope to rock ’n’ roll at its most red-blooded and fundamental, playing the parts of both Ike and Tina as she interpolates The Beach Boys and slips in a slick Playboi Carti reference, yowling: “My family lived and died in America/Good ol’ USA/Whole lotta red in that white and blue/History can’t be erased.” A Patsy Cline standard goes Jersey club mode on “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’,” with a verse from the similarly genre-flouting Shaboozey and a quick note regarding *RENAISSANCE*‘s Grammy fortunes: “AOTY I ain’t win/I ain’t stuntin’ ’bout them/Take that shit on the chin/Come back and fuck up the pen.” Who but Beyoncé could make a crash course in American music history feel like the party of the year? There’s the one-two punch of sorely needed summer slow-dance numbers: the Miley Cyrus duet “II MOST WANTED,” with its whispers of Fleetwood Mac, followed by “LEVII’S JEANS” with Post Malone, the “in those jeans” anthem filling the radio’s Ginuwine-shaped hole. *RENAISSANCE*’s euphorically nasty house bounce returns, albeit with more banjo, on “RIIVERDANCE,” where “II HANDS II HEAVEN” floats on clouds of ’90s electronica for an ode to alternately riding wild horses and 24-inch spinners on candy paint. (Houston, Texas, baby!) There are do-si-do ditties, murder ballads, daddy issues, whiskey kisses, hungover happy hours, cornbread and grits, Beatles covers, smoke breaks, and, on “DAUGHTER,” what may or may not be a wink in the direction of the artist who won AOTY instead. There’s also a Dolly-approved Beyoncification of “Jolene,” to whom the protagonist is neither saying please nor begging on the matter of taking her man. (“Your peace depends on how you move, Jolene,” Bey purrs, ice in her veins.) Is this a genre-bucking hoedown? A chess move? A reckoning? A requiem? If anyone can pull it off, it’s *COWBOY CARTER*, as country as it gets.

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*.

A yellow curtain ripples and parts to reveal a strange world inhabited by strange people in retro attire. No, it’s not the latest David Lynch joint, but the extended cinematic universe of *All Is Yellow*: the first compilation album curated by Cole Bennett, the 27-year-old director and founder of Lyrical Lemonade, the company behind a decent chunk of the last decade’s viral rap videos. (Naturally, a music video accompanies each of the 14 tracks; not the easiest feat for a project with 34 featured guests.) The album functions as a handy primer for anyone who’s slept through the last 10 years of hip-hop zeitgeist, from angsty drill to “mumble rap” to the gloriously incoherent fractal that is rap in 2024. Here, absurdist Detroit scam-rappers trade bars with solemn Chicago drill vets (BabyTron and G Herbo on “Equilibrium”) and two generations of melancholy balladeers find common ground (Kid Cudi and Lil Durk on “Guitar in My Room”). True to Lyrical Lemonade form, Easter eggs abound: After the late Juice WRLD and Cordae join forces on “Doomsday” for a shockingly great impression of Eminem circa ’99, the real Slim Shady shows up for round two. And on “First Night,” verses from Juicy J and Teezo Touchdown are capped off by a blissed-out “birds and bees” monologue from Lil B the Based God.

Having previously partnered with some of hip-hop’s most iconic producers, not the least of whom being J Dilla, Common built a career on securing superb beats to suit his agile rhymes. While many rappers of his generation hopped from trend to trend, repeat and reliable collaboration proved core to his discography, with several of the same studio figures from his early albums now fixtures in his circle decades later. It’s the native Chicagoan’s characteristic consistency, perhaps, that makes *The Auditorium, Vol. 1* such a momentous album event. A hip-hop artist indisputably worthy of the word “legend,” Pete Rock comes to this joint effort with the rare distinction of both defining and embodying Golden Era greatness. Though relatively selective about who he deems dope enough to form a duo with since the C.L. Smooth days, the Bronx-born producer generated goodwill and critical respect for his 2010s efforts opposite his city’s Skyzoo and Smoke DZA. As such, he makes a formidable complement for Common, evident from the jump on the exquisite intro “Dreamin’.” His timeless instrumentals conjure certain nostalgic tendencies from the MC, his verses on “We’re on Our Way” and “This Man” laden with old-school references and lyrical memorabilia. From the jazzy swing of “Everything’s So Grand” to the enlightened gospel groove of “A GOD (There Is),” the pair deliver on the promise of their premise, delivering theatrical thrills befitting their skills. And not that an album of this caliber requires special rapper guests, but Posdnuos of De La Soul is a naturally welcome addition to “When the Sun Shines Again.” Furthermore, Rock lays down some refreshing bars of his own on “All Kind of Ideas,” thus providing Common with a worthy foil on the mic as well as off and increasing anticipation for a presumed second volume.

Historically, the Drops series of EPs has served as a platform for Little Simz to express her more immediate creative thoughts and inner feelings, parallel to—and sometimes in concert with—her fully realized, full-length projects. *Drop 7* presents a curious window into the rapper’s current moment in time, spread across seven snapshots seemingly snatched in the well-timed flash of strobe lights. When she last checked in on a Drops release (battling through lockdown isolation and a bout of self-doubt to create *Drop 6* in 2020) Simz was still a year away from *Sometimes I Might Be Introvert*, the game-changing album that garnered the long-overdue recognition meritorious of such a singular talent. Undeniably at the top of her game right now, Simz channels that potent self-confidence through the fervent, primal Jakwob production—the powerfully still eye in a storm of commanding drums and reverberating echoes. Opening track “Mood Swings” foreshadows the pendulum sweep that occurs between “SOS” and “I Ain’t Feelin It,” separating the EP into two neatly opposing halves. The first is front-loaded with heart-pounding, club-ready beats and an untouchable, unrelenting Simz: “Torch” borrows the signature Jersey-bounce squeak, “Fever” marks a return to São Paulo (the setting for 2021’s collaboration between Jakwob and Simz, “Rollin Stone”) for a bilingual, baile-funk-infused flirtation. The back end sees Simz floating her meditations on the less palatable side of success over intricate, yet reserved instrumentation, closing out with “Far Away,” a lovelorn lament that drenches the racing percussion in melancholic piano chords. Whether or not *Drop 7* is a one-off experiment or an intriguing hint at a new direction, it’s electrifying to experience new facets of Simz’s consummate artistry. She proves herself as compelling as ever.

Larry June is one of rap’s most sought-after collaborators, but on 2024’s *Doing It for Me*, he eschews features entirely to reestablish his POV as one of hip-hop’s smoothest voices. In 2023, Larry dropped *The Great Escape*, which was produced entirely by The Alchemist and featured Action Bronson, Big Sean, Slum Village, and more. That same year, he linked up with another heavy-hitting producer in Cardo for *The Night Shift*, which featured guest bars from 2 Chainz, ScHoolboy Q, Too $hort, and plenty of others. The glitz and glamour from guest stars are nowhere to be found on *Doing It for Me*, which finds the Bay Area spitter delivering lovesick bars over classic West Coast funk beats. Take “Stinson Beach,” which sounds like Parliament remixing a Dr. Dre production and features June showcasing his best singing voice. “But when I’m not with you, baby girl, I don’t feel the same,” he croons, the desire in his voice practically palpable. Larry keeps the missed connections front of mind on “Meet Me in Napa,” a raunchy ode to the weekend getaway that finds the spitter going wine tasting with a lady who remains just out of reach: “Would have been my main girl,” he sings, before adding, “In another lifetime.”

Since Maxo Kream first broke through with 2015’s *#Maxo187*, he’s established himself as one of the most creative songwriters and storytellers in rap. On his 2024 album *Personification*, he ups the ante, imbuing the project with a heady concept organized around the various ways he has presented himself on record. There’s Trigga Maxo, hardened by the streets and inspired by the swampy Southern goodness of Houston’s rap tradition. Then there’s Punken, the character named after his childhood nickname, fond of nostalgia and simpler times. Kream also introduces Emekwanem, after his given name, representative of his responsibilities as a man and father. *Personification* finds Maxo diving into all of the themes presented by these different characters, a style exemplified on “Bibles and Rifles.” On the skittering, dance-inspired track, Maxo asks: “Is it heaven for a gangsta/Is it heaven for a G/The ones who rob, shoot, or shank you but still take care of families?” It’s a question Maxo Kream ponders again and again on *Personification*: Is it too late to be good? Can hustlers find redemption too?

Though SahBabii has been a staple of the rap scene for over a decade, his 2024 album *Saaheem* is only his second full-length LP. SahBabii sounds so confident, though, that it’s clear he spent his off-seasons practicing. The Chicago-born rapper moved to Atlanta as a young teen, and the blend of trap and drill that he brings to his albums is an effortless combination of the two subgenres. On *Saaheem*, which is also his birth name, SahBabii doesn’t force-feed these different aspects of his musical style. Rather, they subtly shape his sonic worldview, creating an album that’s fascinating in its understated variety. Take “Viking,” a booming, rumbling track that features the canonlike bass of Windy City street rap with the triplet hi-hat rhythms and syrupy flow of ATL mainstays like Young Thug and Migos. On “Kodak,” he plays with the plugg style prevalent on the East Coast, crooning over pillowy synths so warm they practically wrap him in a hug. No matter what city he touches down in, SahBabii sounds at home.

SiR hasn’t released a new album since his 2019 hit *Chasing Summer*. Although fans have been eagerly waiting, the holdup between projects has been personal due to his struggles with depression, substance abuse, love, and stints in and out of rehab—all of which became the foundation for his introspective fourth LP *HEAVY*. “It’s me being vulnerable in different ways, it’s me diving deeper,” he tells Apple Music. “I thought *Chasing Summer* was personal, but this record really showed me a lot about myself as a creator, as a man, and it’s all on there, and I think those moments are necessary. I had to have those moments. Looking back at what I’m providing, the project that you’re getting, I wouldn’t change a thing.” Serving as a therapeutic letter to himself as he tackles his issues, *HEAVY* is a road map of SiR’s journey from addiction to sobriety across 16 tracks. The title track, “HEAVY,” is a cry for help as the Inglewood, California, native grapples with the pressures of fame and the expectations that come from it. “Oh, I been killing myself softly/Lost my mind completely/I really hope I can find my way back to you,” he croons. SiR wrestles with his shortcomings and the impact they have on his relationships (“Satisfaction,” “ONLY HUMAN”) and the ups and downs of trying to stay sober (“TRYIN’ MY HARDEST”). Despite that, the tone of *HEAVY* shifts towards the middle of the album, tackling the process of healing (“BRIGHTER”) and forgiveness (“I’M NOT PERFECT,” “Nothing Even Matters”)—whether it’s from others or himself. “It’s like you’re starting in this really dark place, and you’re going from heavy to light,” he says. “That’s how I kind of wanted it to feel because that was how it was for me. I was in the darkest place of my life, and I was transitioning out as I was getting healthy. And the music I was creating was kind of shaping itself that way. It was a natural thing to put it in that order. It’s like you started. In a dark tunnel, you’re heading towards the light. And I know it’s going to feel like that for a lot of people.”

The scrappy Memphis rapper has been on a two-year victory lap since her 2022 breakthrough hit “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” established her as one of rap’s most promising new voices. Since then, GloRilla’s dropped an EP (2022’s *Anyways, Life’s Great...*) and her first studio mixtape (2024’s *Ehhthang Ehhthang*), scored a Grammy nomination, and sold out arenas alongside Megan Thee Stallion for the Hot Girl Summer Tour. The glow-up is real on *GLORIOUS*, her official debut album, but let it be known that the reigning queen of crunk is still hanging out the window with her ratchet-ass friends when the opportunity arises. “It’s 7 pm Friday/It’s 95 degrees/I ain’t got no n\*\*\*a and no n\*\*\*a ain’t got me,” she declares in the opening bars of “TGIF,” a worthy “F.N.F.” follow-up made for blasting at max volume. There’s plenty of the rowdy girl-power anthems fans have come to expect from Big Glo, among them the bad-bitch motivational “PROCEDURE” with Latto and “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME,” a Sexyy Red collab that riffs on the Trill Entertainment classic “Wipe Me Down.” Less expected is “RAIN DOWN ON ME,” a gospel number with a blessing from Kirk Franklin, though it’s really only fitting for a rapper born Gloria Hallelujah Woods.

Whether as Marshall Mathers or Slim Shady, Eminem never fails to make a strong impression. His discography regularly documents a struggle between the Detroit-bred rap superstar’s two outspoken personas, an artistic battle followed closely by his most ardent and attentive fans, while pitchfork-wielding outsiders and his more casual listeners never bothered to discern the difference. The willfully profane Slim and the comparatively less sacrilegious Marshall compose a dramaturgical dyad that makes each of his album releases feel like blockbusters. That said, the stakes feel dramatically high on *The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)*, its title the most thematically loaded of his two-and-a-half-decade career. If this does end up the genuine final curtain call for Eminem’s most notorious alter ego, he makes it a point to execute it on his own controversy-baiting terms, whether people like it or not. Addressing his detractors head-on, “Habits” defensively dismantles criticisms both internal and external, taking personal inventory while decrying political correctness. Cancel culture and wokeness as existential threats stay front of mind throughout, looming particularly large over the combative “Antichrist” and the Dr. Dre co-produced “Lucifer.” Repeated references to Caitlyn Jenner won’t quell the perpetual transphobia accusations Eminem has long faced, but on songs like “Evil” and “Road Rage” he at least aims to clarify his positions amid his characteristically clever wordplay. Naturally, Slim isn’t about to go out quietly. Ever the eager pugilist, he exploits his upper hand with Fight Club panache on “Brand New Dance” and “Trouble.” The character’s antagonism vacillates between self-destructive outbursts and strategic gaslighting, gleefully poking at touchy topics on “Houdini” and assigning we’re-in-this-together complicity to Marshall on the surprise sequel “Guilty Conscience 2.” Yet even as the tragicomically intertwined foes grapple with one another, the album still makes room for something as personal as “Temporary,” a heartfelt message to his daughter for after he’s gone. With the added benefit of a few unexpected cameos, including Michigan-repping cut “Tobey” with Big Sean and BabyTron, the over-the-top theatricality driving *The Death of…* feels like fan service, giving his longtime patrons the Eminem show they’ve come to expect from him.

The award for “most meteoric come-up of 2024” goes to Tommy Richman, the 24-year-old singer who blew up seemingly overnight with “MILLION DOLLAR BABY,” the groovy TikTok sensation that went on to take over the charts. Though he seemed to come from nowhere, the Woodbridge, Virginia, native and trained opera singer released his first EP, *Paycheck*, in 2022, then signed to kindred spirit Brent Faiyaz’s label in 2023. Still, to launch a song-of-the-summer contender amidst the great Kendrick Lamar/Drake beef of 2024 isn’t just beginner’s luck. Most newcomers would milk that kind of success for all it’s worth, but you won’t find “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” on Richman’s debut album, *COYOTE*. Bold play. Richman’s an old soul, drawn to ’80s funk and the kind of R&B that had men doing choreography and wearing their hearts on their silky sleeves. That’s *COYOTE*’s mood from top to bottom, with each of its 11 tracks flowing seamlessly into the next, giving the feeling of a party with an excellent DJ. There’s pathos in his echoing falsetto, which hits a little harder when he doesn’t quite hit the note, as on “WHITNEY,” a Frank Ocean song run through a shiny ’80s funk filter. “TENNESSEE” channels SoundCloud rap boosted with vintage Bay Area bounce, while “LETTERMAN” has the young nostalgist draping his letterman’s jacket on his girl’s shoulders before taking her out to the speakeasy. It’s a fresh, cohesive introduction to an artist poised to transcend “one-hit wonder” status.

Looking at the stats, you’d think Megan Thee Stallion was on top of the world: “HISS,” the second single from her third studio album, was her first solo chart-topper. But as the silver-tongued Houston native has risen from cult-favorite Instagram freestyler to full-fledged cultural force after breaking through with 2019’s “Hot Girl Summer,” the rapper’s been weighed down by grief and betrayal, all highly public and intensely scrutinized. On 2022’s *Traumazine*, Megan began to let down her guard and open up about her pain. She teased its follow-up in late 2023 with a statement: “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past, over and over again.” On *MEGAN*, she’s still going through it, but she’s not going down without a fight. The motif of the snake, coiled and waiting to strike, winds its way through *MEGAN*’s 18 tracks with cool, collected menace. “Still going hard with the odds against me,” she spits on “HISS” over an eerie beat from go-to producer LilJuMadeDaBeat. She’s got devastating burns for everybody within earshot on “Rattle,” snapping at an unnamed peer, “Your life must be boring as fuck if you still reminiscing ’bout shit that we did.” (Her claim to be “a motherfuckin’ brat, not a Barbie” on “Figueroa” might clarify its intended target.) There are moments of levity: “Otaku Hot Girl” flexes her arcane anime knowledge, while “Accent” recruits Hot Girl Summer tourmate GloRilla for a country-girl ode to being “thicker than a Popeye’s biscuit.” But you get the sense that for Megan, it’s awfully lonely at the top: On “Moody Girl,” she switches her trademark tagline to “real motherfuckin’ sad girl shit.” And over the metalcore guitar chug driving “COBRA,” she tells you how it feels to break down while the world is watching.

The hip-hop polymath built a reputation on witty freestyles that befitted her Philadelphia roots, then broke through in 2017 with “MUMBO JUMBO,” a purposefully unintelligible trap ditty that brought new resonance to the term “mumble rap” with a Grammy-nominated video that should come with a warning for those with dentophobia. Her debut album, 2018’s *Whack World*, crammed an LP’s worth of ideas into the time it takes to brew a pot of coffee: 15 sharp, surrealist minute-long tracks that veered from slapstick vocal hijinks to straight-ahead spitting, each accompanied by its own micro music video. The world Whack built was carnival-esque, all funhouse mirrors and sensory overload, with a darkness lingering at the edges. Aside from a trio of three-song EPs (the tentatively titled *Rap?*, *Pop?*, and *R&B?*) released in 2021, Whack kept a puzzlingly low profile in the years that followed. The colorful critical darling who’d had so much to say in so little time had more or less gone quiet. Then, six years after *Whack World*, she announced *WORLD WIDE WHACK*, billed as the rapper’s real full-length debut. Early videos continued the high-concept ideas and cartoonish costumes, but listen awhile and you heard something new: naked vulnerability, almost shocking in its rawness. “I can show you how it feels when you lose what you love,” Whack sing-songs on the twinkling “27 CLUB,” looking like a cross between Pierrot the clown and Bootsy Collins. The hook was one word, drawn out into a wistful melody: “Suiciiiiide…” In other words, there’s more to Whack’s world than you might expect. (“Might look familiar, but I promise you don’t know me,” she reminds you on the minute-and-change “MOOD SWING.”) Over the 15 songs of *WORLD WIDE WHACK*, the rapper grapples with real life, where echoes of abandonment and instances of suicidal ideation coexist with bursts of cockiness, uncertainty, lust, loneliness. The constant is her voice, thoughtful and brimming with ideas as ever. “BURNING BRAINS” is an expression of depressive thinking filtered through Whack’s imagistic lens: “Soup too hot, ice too cold, grass too green, sky too blue.” And there’s a great deal of whimsy, too, as on “SHOWER SONG,” a space-funk bop on the joys of singing in the bathroom.

Whether singing in Spanish or in English, Kali Uchis continually proves herself to be a versatile performer. Following 2020’s *Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios)* and its hit single “telepatía,” the Colombian American singer eventually boasted that she had two more albums, one in each language, more or less at the ready, the first being 2023’s soulful *Red Moon in Venus* and the next being *ORQUÍDEAS*. With lyrics primarily (though not exclusively) in Spanish, she delivers an exquisite pop-wise R&B set here, one replete with clubby highs and balladic depth. The dance floor is well served with cuts like “Me Pongo Loca” and “Pensamientos Intrusivos,” her ethereal vocals elevating them further. The collaborations reflect her journey as well as her status, as she links with superstar KAROL G on the polished perreo throwback “Labios Mordidos” and música mexicana sensation Peso Pluma for the romantic duet “Igual Que Un Ángel.” On “Muñekita,” she bridges her two worlds with the aid of Dominican dynamo El Alfa and City Girls rapper JT, who combine to produce an irresistible dembow moment.

It feels fairly remarkable that Lil Tecca is now five full-length projects deep into his rap career. After all, it seems like only yesterday that the Queens, New York, phenom broke out in a big way with the 2019 smash “Ransom” and the corresponding *We Love You Tecca* mixtape. Over the next half-decade, he regularly logged chart hits, including the 2023 standout “500lbs.” For his fourth album in as many years, he continues to mine a sound built on swirling synths, post-trap percussion, and melodic vocals. Preceded by booming singles like “BAD TIME” and “NEVER LAST,” *PLAN A* shows an artist living in—and sounding like—this specific moment in time. Having come into stardom as a teen, Tecca’s youthful energy ensures his delivery neither slackens nor wanes across these 18 tracks. He documents his endurance on the shimmering “24HRS” and brags about the type of baddies he pulls on “HOMEBODY.” Even when the tempo noticeably drops, as on the drill-adjacent “SELF2SELF” or the steal-your-girl warning “NUMBER 2,” he stays engaging and engaged. There appears to be no limits to his sex life, a topic he expounds upon at length throughout the album’s runtime. Whether calculatingly limiting his communications with an eager lover on “4U” or pondering whether a taken woman is worth the pursuit (“COLD GIRLS”), he seems exceedingly comfortable in his young-lothario niche. A rare exception to these predominantly solo cuts, the bass-heavy “I CAN’T LET GO” brings Don Toliver into the studio to extoll the virtues of their hip-hop celebrity vices.

There’s a reason why USHER’s legions of fans call him the King of R&B: He’s been making hits for 30 years, since his self-titled debut album arrived in 1994; achieved diamond certification for his fourth album, *Confessions*; hosted a long-running Vegas residency; and landed the 2024 Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show. USHER’s accomplishments, creative and otherwise, should be enough to allow him to rest on his laurels, but instead, in the lead-up to that halftime show performance, he enters his next era with *COMING HOME*. USHER’s ninth album is a return to his roots and a celebration of his legacy. It’s also his first project as an independent artist, and it reunites him with longtime collaborator L.A. Reid, who signed him at 14. (*COMING HOME* also features frequent collaborators Johnta Austin, Jermaine Dupri, and Bryan-Michael Cox.) “I’ve been coming home in a lot of different ways,” USHER tells Apple Music. “The choice of music and reconnection to some of the people I’ve worked with from my past and always wanted to work with; writers I’ve actually made hit No. 1 records with. In a sense, I’m coming home because I’m in that comfortable space.” The album, he says, “is a love letter to the experience that I have as a man. It’s filled with romance.” Across 20 tracks, USHER narrates vignettes of love, lust, love lost, and everything in between. On the opening title track—which also features Nigerian singer-songwriter Burna Boy—he longs to return home to his lover after being on tour. He teams up with Summer Walker and 21 Savage on “Good Good,” in which the trio deals with an amicable breakup. “‘Good Good’ is not necessarily the most positive, but it is not bad,” USHER explains. “It’s not toxic. It\'s still a romantic song in the sense that we ain’t got to be enemies. That’s still a romantic way to have a conversation.” But on the tender ballad “Risk It All,” H.E.R. details a romantic journey between two lovers putting it on the line in the name of love. USHER then gets vulnerable on “Room in a Room” as he reflects on the hardships of growing apart within a relationship. It\'s all delivered with dreamy, intoxicating vocals set against bedroom pop, with beats ranging from bouncy (“Kissing Strangers,” “Keep on Dancin’”) to trap (“Cold Blooded”) to Afrobeats (“Ruin”) to new jack swing (“I Love U,” “Please U”). “Love is so central. It’s the source of it all, man,” USHER says. “Love is the thing that makes your heart beat, the thing that moves your spirit. Love is at the center of all things. The love of money, the love of life, and the love of partnership, love of even just a moment, love of connection.”

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.”