The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from GloRilla, Flo Milli, and Megan Thee Stallion.
The above-mentioned trio linked up to show solidarity with sisterhood of rhyme on the remix of “Wanna Be.”
Denzel Curry, TiaCorine, and ASAP Ferg teamed up to drop the throwback Memphis trap track “Hot One.”
And BIA took a break from her beef with Cardi B to drop off the uplifting Bad Boys soundtrack cut “Lights Out” with JID.
Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending June 7, 2024.
Albums/EPs/Mixtapes
The Game — Time
Say what you want about the Compton stalwart, he’s been as productive as ever, even after multiple retirements. Here, he teams up with a nascent street label, Secure The Bag Entertainment, to lend his still somewhat-weighty co-sign to its signees C Stunna, CHLLER, and Woodboy Gee. The last one is the star here, and I could see him picking up steam sometime in the near future.
Saint Levant — Deira
Following Belly’s 96 Miles From Bethlehem last week (on which he had a guest verse), Palestinian rapper Saint Levant takes his own swing at dropping a project dedicated to bringing awareness to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as well as empathy for embattled Palestinian civilians who have borne the brunt of Israel’s attacks on “terrorists.” Levant impressed at Coachella earlier this year; he continues to do so here.
Ski Mask The Slump God — 11th Dimension
Ski Mask fans have waited three years for a new full-length release from the Florida native, who delivers 21 new tracks of his signature machine-gun thrash rap alongside features like ATL Jacob, Future, and Skillibeng. But a pair of appearances from some of Slump’s closest friends from the SoundCloud rap explosion, Juice WRLD and XXXTentacion, turn out to be the most poignant parts of the album, for obvious reasons.
Yelawolf — War Story
You know who is an absolutely underrated pioneer? Yelawolf. The Tennessee rapper was one of the first of his class to make the change over to country and took a bit of a walloping over it, but now, it’s fairly commonplace. In fact, his fellow Antioch native Jelly Roll — who makes an appearance here — has blown as a result of his own country crossover. That being said, on this double album (25 tracks in all), Yela mostly maintains the same tightly wound rap attack we’ve known him for, with a few gritty pop plays sprinkled in.
Singles/Videos
Cash Cobain — “Rump Punch”
With a title that looks like a typo (but isn’t), and a lyric video made up of female fans’ lip sync posts, Cash Cobain’s latest bid to push his “slizzy” agenda is a mellow, hypnotic take on his “sexy drill” concept. It’s also a proof of concept that shows just how appealing the idea of drill music geared toward making love instead of war really is.
JasonMartin & DJ Quik — “Since I Was Lil” Feat. Curren$y, Bun B & Jay Worthy
Put the seat all the way back for Problem and Quik’s latest Chupacabra single, which wisely makes use of some of the most laid-back rappers in the business over its slinky bassline.
Larry June — “Dreams”
Larry June and a synthy, ’80s Quiet Storm-inspired beat go together like 100-spoke rims and whitewall tires. Good Job Larry continues his run of slick singles, which started about a month ago with “Imported Couches” and continued with “Meet Me In Napa.” It certainly looks like he’s building up to a summertime release — the perfect window to maximize his groovy sound.
Lupe Fiasco — “Cake”/h2>
Lupe’s second single from the upcoming Samurai is yet another display of lyrical gymnastics, in which he boasts, “This chemistry can it be, they Googling endlessly / Even computers losing memory, bending mentally / When they interface with the lyrical ability.” Rap nerds, rejoice.
MGK — “BMXXXing”
With so many of his fellow white rappers making bids for country radio approval, Colson swerves extremely hard right, right back into the boom-bap, mixtape-ready aesthetics that first put him on. His latest channels the “kick back” mentality of blog era faves like Mac Miller’s “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza.” Even the topic — which might be a little early for the 20-year nostalgia swing — does the job of reminding rap fans why MGK earned his spot, even if his antics overshadowed his talent at times.
Smino — “Polynesian”
Blessings on blessings on blessings. The St. Louis slick talker returns with a fittingly soulful new single, his first in six months. Whether this means a new album is on the way remains to be seen, but if it does, said compilation of new tunes can’t come soon enough.
Wynne — “Rug Burn”
The Portland native is back with another self-released single, an empowerment anthem in the vein of her latest handful of relationship-minded releases. Warning her girls to stay away from bugaboos and scrubs, Wynne admonishes them, “We’re not crying anymore / Girl, get up.”