Top Dawg Entertainment is a label chock-full of elusive figures, but Ab-Soul is probably the most elusive of all. Despite coming to prominence alongside Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, and Schoolboy Q as the quartet Black Hippy and drawing every bit as much interest as his peers, he’s had the spottiest output among them, going nearly six years without a release after dropping his fourth album, Do What Thou Wilt., in December 2016.
Today, though, Soul-o returns with his second new solo song of 2022, “Moonshooter.” Following up April’s “Hollandaise,” “Moonshooter” is accompanied by the announcement that Ab-Soul’s next album has been completed. “Album done,” read the caption on Top Dawg’s Instagram post. “Warmup tonight.” On the song, Soul maintains his well-established form, spitting out intricate, sinuous rhymes over a mournful string sample. “I question everything,” he sings on the chorus. It’s familiar territory for fans of the philosophy-spewing Soul, which likely bodes well for the next project.
Before this year, the last we heard from Ab-Soul on the solo tip was 2020’s “Dangerookipawa Freestyle.” In the meantime, he contributed guest verses to songs like Russ’ “Rap City” and made an animated cameo in SiR’s “John Redcorn” video. Now that Kendrick Lamar’s final TDE album is out of the way, though, it looks like Ab-Soul is up next in the lineup, one of the last OGs on TDE as the label shifts its focus to the next generation.