Year: 2024

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Since the last update of this weekly R&B column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists.

Here are some new releases from the past week that you’ll enjoy:

Kehlani — “Next 2 U”

With just a couple of weeks left to go until her Crash album arrives, Kehlani returns with the album’s second single “Next 2 U.” It captures the infatuation present in a love so good that Kehlani is willing to die for it. The song also arrived with a music video that Kehlani used to voice her support for Palestine as well as showcase some impressive dance skills thanks to choreography from Amari “Monster” Marshall.

Normani — “Candy Paint”

Next week, after a wait that’s lasted years, Normani will finally drop her debut album Dopamine. Following “1:59” with Gunna, she’s back with “Candy Paint.” The highly-anticipated single, which was made into a TikTok challenge weeks before its release, is another great preview of what’s to come on Dopamine.

Lucky Daye — “Soft”

At long last, there is finally a release date for Lucky Daye’s third album Algorithm. On June 28, the album will be available for all to listen to, but for now, we have his new single “Soft” to rock out to. “‘Soft’ is about how love can come over a person and make them feel vulnerable, and whilst it’s unexpected, it’s also okay to embrace it,” Lucky said about the song in a press release. “To be comfortable doing the things society labels “soft” like cuddling, PDA, hugging and kissing – shamelessly. It’s about a lover putting a spell on you but that spell is in fact love itself.”

Jessie Reyez — “Shut Up” Feat. Big Sean

Here’s a name we haven’t read in some time: Jessie Reyez! It’s been nearly a year since the singer teamed up with 6lack for “Homicide,” but now she’s back with Big Sean for their new track “Shut Up.” The record marks the beginning of Reyez’s boss era where she is unapologetically fierce. Her bold approach to the song is perfect the song’s explosive beat which also pairs well with Big Sean’s laid-back verse.

Muni Long — “Make Me Forget”

If there’s someone in R&B who will champion pure love, it’s Muni Long. Her new single “Make Me Forget” begs for a new lover to sweep her off her feet as they begin a new journey into a new relationship. “It’s a love letter,” Long said about the song in a press release. “It says, ‘You’re not perfect. We’ve got a lot of things to work on, but can we focus on the amazing feeling we have when we’re together?’”

Tink & Summer Walker — “Songs About U”

The next offering from Tink’s upcoming album Winter’s Diary 5 is the slow-burning “Songs About U” with Summer Walker. Both singers dive into a world of toxic love and reflect on the challenges of a deeply passionate and intimate relationships. As for Winter’s Diary 5, that’s set to arrive on July 12.

Josh Levi – “Something More”

A new era is on the horizon for Josh Levi. The Houston singer, who is our most recent Uproxx Music 20 artist, delivers “Something More,” a passionate single that promotes love as the best feeling life can offer. All Levi wants is the girl in question to join him and experience the feeling too.

Maeta & Kaytranada — “DJ Got Me”

Maeta and Kaytranada have been teasing a collaborative EP for months now and we’ve finally received the first taste of it with their new single “DJ Got Me.” The new single is everything you’d expect from the two artists. Maeta’s pristine vocals fit like a glove on Kaytranada’s production that’s a funky and riveting explosion on wax, especially at its climax. The duo’s EP Endless Night is set to arrive in just a couple of weeks on June 21.

Amber Mark — “Space & Time”

More than two years removed from her incredible Three Dimensions Deep, New York singer Amber Mark seems to be readying the release of her sophomore album. Her second single of the year, “Space & Time,” begins as a soft and tender tune before erupting into a funky tune that showcases the duality that makes Mark’s music stand out. Throughout the song, she sings about another “space and time” where a perfect connection in love runs wild and free.

Dee Gatti — “Get Away”

This year has been a very productive year for Fort Worth singer Dee Gatti. With four singles to her name already this year, Gatti makes it five with “Get Away.” The somber record sees Gatti face the fact that she’s hurting her current partner by stepping out on their relationship. Gatti knows her partner can tell that she’s being unfaithful, which pushes Gatti to want to exit the relationship and “get away.”

Kallitechnis — Mood Ring

After months of promotion and a slew of singles, Montreal singer Kallitechnis unveils her new EP Mood Ring. “I’ve built a multi-coloured, multi-dimensional universe for people to step into and allow themselves to experience a range of emotion as vast as the spectrum of colour,” Kallitechnis says about the project which arrives with 11 songs. “Accept yourself in all of your moods. Smell, touch and taste what it feels like to be in love and to fall out of it.”

Brother Marquis, one of the founding members of the pioneering Miami rap group, 2 Live Crew, has died at the age of 58. According to the band’s social media, “Mark Ross AKA Brother Marquis of the 2 Live crew has passed away.” No further details were given by the page, but tributes from his bandmate Luke and many other contemporaries quickly poured in.

“My Condolence goes out to the Family of Brother Marquis and so many of his Fans from around the World after learning his passing,” Luke wrote on X. “We took on so many fights for the culture made Great music together something I would never forget. We had recently got back together to take on another fight to get back our catalog that was stolen from us. We will continue that fight in his name for his Family. The Brother Marquis, that I know would want us to celebrate his life that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. R.I.P My Brother”

The fights he refers to include a legal battle over their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be, which was declared legally obscene by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit later overturned that decision, opening the doors to a debate over freedom of speech in rap music that persists to this day as legislators work to defend artists from being prosecuted over lyrical content.

Joe Rogan nearly died in a freak accident when he was a teenager, he shared on a recent episode of his The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

“When I was like 14, me and a few friends were playing around in this place where they stored these like enormous concrete sewer pipes, like these big f*cking pipes,” he told comedian and Impractical Jokers star Sal Vulcano, according to Newsweek. “And there was this giant metal thing that I guess was a part of what they attached to cranes so they could move these things. It slipped and hit me in the head. I didn’t go unconscious, but I grayed out — like grayed out — and my head was pouring blood.”

Rogan explained that he still has a “big ding” on his head from the incident.

He continued, “I went to the hospital, and I thought I was going to die. I did think I was going to die at that point. But I was also 14, so I was probably just freaked out by the fact that I got hit. This thing hit my head, and it only fell a certain amount because there were other concrete things in the way. So it banged me in the head, and it didn’t fall on me luckily.”

You can listen to the (very popular) podcast below.

(Via Newsweek)

It’s June, but there is no deadline for “summer banger” submissions. This week, Charli XCX recruited Robyn and Yung Lean to boost the previously certifiable smash “360,” while Shaboozey extended his hot streak, and Sam Tompkins supplied a taste of what’s to come from his forthcoming debut album.

Check out all of that and more in Uproxx’s Best New Pop Music roundup below.

Shaboozey Feat. Noah Cyrus — “My Fault”

Anything Shaboozey tries works, but Shaboozey harmonizing with Noah Cyrus really works. Their combined vocal tones are such a pleasant listen, but their delivery doesn’t sugarcoat the song’s heartbreaking sentiment. Rather, playing off of each other so delicately makes it all the more searing: “Tell me how you’re gettin’ home, you took the car? / You call me ‘fore you passed out in the yard / Feelin’ low, gettin’ high, where did everything go wrong? / You say that it’s the universe and blame it on the stars.”

Sam Tompkins — “Dead To Me”

“So take it all up with Jesus, baby / He’s more forgiving than me / I hope you rest in peace / Because you’re dead to me,” Sam Tompkins sings. And retribution never sounded so good. The UK-bred singer-songwriter has slowly been building toward his debut full-length album, Hi, My Name Is Insecure, with “Dead To Me” emphasizing how readymade Tompkins’ cleverly vulnerable lyricism and eye-popping voice are for global resonance.

Maya Hawke — “Chaos Angel”

“Chaos Angel,” the title track from Maya Hawke’s third album, ironically feels like a calming refuge from internal warfare. In the piano-based ballad, Hawke melodically, softly begs for forgiveness (“I want you, I love you / I promise, I’m sorry”) and attempts to make sense of contradictory behaviors and thoughts. Plus, the second verse is punctuated by a line that belongs in every writer’s diary: “Just makе it out and live to write it down / Then has anything bad еver really happened to you?”

Charli XCX Feat. Robyn & Yung Lean — “360 (Remix)”

Charli XCX’s “360” previously made this column upon its initial release; obviously, it deserves re-entry with the additions of Robyn and Yung Lean — with a David Beckham name-check and “Dancing On My Own” reference to boot. “360” was already a must-play at clubs worldwide, but not playing the “360” remix is the ultimate party foul.

Normani — “Candy Paint”

Prepare your dopamine receptors. Normani will finally release Dopamine, her excruciatingly long-awaited debut full-length studio album, on June 14. “Candy Paint” serves as the upbeat complement to “1:59” featuring Gunna, an the slow-burning R&B lead single. Both singles present Normani with utmost confidence. Co-written and co-produced by Normani, Starrah, and Tommy Brown, “Candy Paint” is particularly playful, as Normani expresses fleeting interest (“When I’m finished, baby, you can have him back”) in someone whom she knows she can have whenever she pleases.

Kanii — “MIA”

Kanii just finished opening on PinkPantheress’ The Capable Of Love Tour and continues to prove he’s capable of anything. With “MIA,” the 18-year-old Washington, DC native showcases his untainted energy and refreshed perspective — making him such an enticing emerging artist. Kanii’s introspective lyrics, speaking to anyone struggling to stave off an impulse for instant gratification even when you know it’s from a toxic source, are grounded in a synth beat produced by Frankie Scoca (NewJeans).

Rita Ora — “Ask & You Shall Receive”

Rita Ora shamelessly shimmies against a washing machine in her Dano Cerny-directed “Ask & You Shall Receive” video, and anyone would do the same if this frisky, shimmering song came on at the laundromat, grocery store, or anywhere in between.

Kygo With HAYLA — “Without You”

The building, repetitive nature of “Without You” quickly becomes a visceral experience, which is true of any Kygo song. It wouldn’t be surprising if a cardiologist confirmed someone’s heartbeat mirroring the beat of HAYLA half-chanting, half-singing, “I can’t live without you / No, I can’t live without you / In my life.”

The Marías — “Echo”

“The lyrics in ‘Echo’ are painfully honest, so it was one of the hardest ones to get through,” The Marías vocalist María Zardoya told Variety. Luckily, Zardoya and Josh Conway pushed through because “Echo” manages to capture the unique brand of post-breakup isolation in cutting yet hypnotizing, tranquil fashion.

Disclosure — “She’s Gone, Dance On”

Dance-pop inherently functions as sweet relief, but that is a literal truth for Disclosure’s “She’s Gone, Dance On.” Disclosure’s Howard Lawrence and Guy Lawrence explained on Instagram, “We actually started working on this back in 2017, so if you think it’s been a while for you, imagine our pain!! Since we debuted it late last year in clubs, the response from DJs and you lot has been insane.” The track is an iridescent fresh coat of paint, sampling Ennio Morricone and Michael Brandon Fraser’s “Dance On.”

On Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced the findings of its gambling investigation into San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano, in which the former Pirate placed 231 bets on MLB games and wagered more than $87,000. Included in those bets were 25 bets involving the Pirates, although all of those bets came while he was rehabbing a knee injury.

As expected, MLB announced a lifetime ban for Marcano, along with one-year suspensions for four other players who violated the league’s gambling policy for lesser violations. What makes Marcano’s ban even more incredible is that he was a terrible baseball bettor. According to MLB’s investigation, Marcano lost all 25 bets he placed involving the Pirates (the team he played for), and overall he won just 4.3 percent of his 231 bets on Major League Baseball.

Marcano was never great at hitting for average, boasting a career .217 mark over his three seasons in Pittsburgh, and unfortunately that translated to the sporstbooks as well. Parlay hit rate is always low (and the sportsbooks clean up on them because of it), but 4.3 percent is a truly astounding figure across a pretty large sample size. Losing every bet you placed on the team you play for and ostensibly know better than most is also extremely funny. Even Ippei Mizuhara thinks Marcano should’ve just called it quits from gambling long before baseball ever got involved.

Major League Baseball will hope the message is sent by this lifetime ban, but the allure of the same game parlay is likely too strong and someone else will eventually think they’re smart enough to get away with it.

People seem to be having fun with all the beef that’s been hanging over our heads lately, but isn’t all this hate exhausting? It would do us good to focus on positivity, so let’s embrace the occasion that is the midpoint of 2024 and do just that, by reflecting on some of the year’s best albums so far.

Icons like Ariana Grande and Beyoncé put out fresh work that stands among their finest. Newcomers like Tyla and MK.Gee successfully started carving out their own lanes with debut releases. Folks between those two extremes also came through with projects that will ultimately end up defining a packed year of music.

Do you feel like you’ve missed a lot this year? Or like you just want to see what your friends at Uproxx have liked most over the past few months? Either way, check out our alphabetized list of 2024’s best albums to date below.

21 Savage — American Dream

21 Savage’s first solo album in over three years arrived at the top of the year to end a brief run of collaborative albums that included Savage Mode II with Metro Boomin and Her Loss with Drake. American Dream, his third solo album, presents all the sides of 21 Savage that we’ve come to love over the years. His menacing demeanor lives on tracks like “Redrum” and “Dangerous” and his charm is captured on “Prove It” and “Should’ve Wore A Bonnet” while honesty prevails with “Just Like Me” and “Dark Days.” 21 Savage’s long-awaited solo return checks all the expected boxes and elevates the rapper to a higher status, making an American Dream turn global and reach his birthplace of London where he performed for the first time at the end of 2023. — Wongo Okon

Adrianne Lenker — Bright Future

In 20 years we’re all going to look back at Adrianne Lenker’s songwriting run in the late 2010s and early 2020s as one of the great creative outbursts of this era. Lenker writes so many songs — and so many great songs — that she’s had to work outside of her otherwise prolific band Big Thief to accommodate them all. Bright Future is an undeniably impressive achievement by an artist who is increasingly willing to work without a net (or much refinement, for better or worse). There are some fantastic tunes here (“No Machine,” “Already Lost”) as well as plenty of fascinating experiments. — Steven Hyden

Ariana Grande — Eternal Sunshine

Ariana Grande internalized Glinda The Good Witch to concoct Eternal Sunshine, which could accurately be called Eternal Dopamine. Grande cleverly captured a complicated relationship arc (or two) — alluding to her recent divorce and new love without exploiting either. Eternal is bookended by Grande’s uncertainty (“How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?”) and Grande’s beloved Nonna’s wisdom (“Never go to bed without kissing goodnight”). The Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” and its video recreating Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind solidify that Grande (and Max Martin) executed a magical concept album. — Megan Armstrong

Ayra Starr — The Year I Turned 21

On her second album The Year I Turned 21, Nigerian singer Ayra Starr is as much of the same singer as she is a different one compared to debut 19 & Dangerous. Her youth and free-spirit are still ever-present on the songs that make up The Year I Turned 21, which also introduces a new level of self-awareness. Her sophomore album is a coming of age story that captures the young singer embracing adulthood as much as she welcomes stardom. True to her name, Ayra Starr was made for this moment and she takes it on fully while letting go of the things holding her back. She discards an inadequate relationship on “Goodbye (Warm Up)” with Asake and expels bad energy from nearby on “Commas” and “Bad Vibes” with Seyi Vibes. “Woman Commando” with Coco Jones and Anitta puts women in the lead position while “Last Heartbreak Song” with Giveon puts an end to the tears brought forth by a one-sided relationship. With The Year I Turned 21, Ayra begins a new era that will surely be one to remember. — W.O.

Benny The Butcher — Everybody Can’t Go

Benny The Butcher’s Def Jam debut didn’t usher a change in style or approach for the Buffalo rapper. If anything, his new home allowed him to more comfortably do what we’ve seen him excel at for much of the last decade. On Everybody Can’t Go, Benny puts up a fine display of rapper alongside Lil Wayne on the haunting “Big Dog” all to deliver a riveting and championing tale of a double life on “One Foot In” with Stove God Cooks. “Pillow Talk & Slander” with Jadakiss and Babyface Ray unites different generations of rap for a moment of introspection and celebration. Everybody Can’t Go opens a new era for Benny and promises many more bright moments to accompany the ones he put forth years prior. — W.O.

Beyoncé — Cowboy Carter

Cowboy Carter became Beyoncé’s eighth No. 1 album and produced 23 Billboard Hot 100 charters — including “Texas Hold ‘Em,” “II Most Wanted” with Miley Cyrus, and “Jolene” in the top 10. More significantly, Cowboy Carter serves as Beyoncé’s magnificent declaration that she should never have been the first-ever Black woman to lead Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart. The 27-track masterpiece is an ode to Black artists excluded from a genre built on their backs, like Linda Martell, and an invitation for young Black country artists (Brittney Spencer, Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy) to join her in standing boldly — unshakably — in their artistry. — M.A.

Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard And Soft

Hit Me Hard And Soft feels like Billie Eilish’s awakening from a five-year-long slog since debuting with When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. With mature clarity, she needed just 10 songs. And maybe the highest compliment to Eilish and Finneas’ artistic genius? Depth wasn’t sacrificed for brevity. Yeah, all 10 charted on the Billboard Hot 100, led by the control-hungry, lustful “Lunch” at No. 5. But the album’s brilliance is best illustrated by “Blue,” a career-long-gestating song that cleverly references every Hit Me track to close out a cohesive statement of an album in a time defined by excessive hodgepodge. — M.A.

Bryson Tiller — Bryson Tiller

Bryson Tiller told Complex that his self-titled album would “probably be my last one for a minute.” Enduring another Tiller hiatus? Bummer. But Bryson Tiller‘s entrancing 19 songs eased the melancholy — reinforcing Tiller as a reliable rap/R&B reservoir. “Whatever She Wants” led the charge — peaking at No. 5 and No. 19 on Billboard‘s Hot Rap Songs and Hot 100, respectively. Save for excellent Clara La San (“Random Access Memory [RAM]”) and Victoria Monét (“Persuasion”) features, Tiller allows fans precious alone time with his perspective. “Hope you don’t get bored with me over time,” he sings on the ballad “Undertow.” We won’t. — M.A.

Buddy — Don’t Forget To Breathe

In an era of so many rappers employing therapy and its associated lingo as a stylistic shortcut to being truly vulnerable, honest, and confessional on records, Buddy’s Don’t Forget To Breathe is, fittingly, a breath of fresh air. The Compton rapper not only takes the time to get to know himself after his decade or so in the game — letting listeners in on the process — but displays his expansive taste with a lush musical palette incorporating groovy R&B instrumentation over head-nodding hip-hop rhythms. “Buddy A Fool” is a self-aware self send-up, “Got Me Started” is a confident slick talk session, and “You 2 Thank” bridges the gap between post-G-funk and diasporic excellence. — Aaron Williams

Chief Keef — Almighty So 2

There’s no denying Chief Keef’s impact on modern-day hip-hop. All of what exists today, for better or for worse, would be different or absent without Chief Keef. At 28 years old, he’s a rap veteran when many at that age are just a few years into their careers, and many who checked into the game at 17 years old, like Keef did, fizzled out shortly after they could legally drink. So Keef’s continued relevance for more than a decade is impressive, as is his fifth album, Almighty So 2. Originally announced back in 2019, the album’s arrival five years later is a great gift to fans. What makes it better are splashy features from Tierra Whack, Sexyy Red, Quavo, and others, as well as sharp bass-rattling production supplied by Keef himself. — W.O.

Conan Gray — Found Heaven

Pulling inspiration from the ’80s isn’t novel, but what’s less common is for a mainstream pop artist to lean into it as heavily as Conan Gray does on Found Heaven. What’s even rarer in that subset is for it to actually be done well. Gray expertly captures the synth-forward sounds of the era but the songwriting is there, too; “Never Ending Song” would be expertly crafted and catchy even without its throwback aesthetic. Found Heaven could have easily been a shallow and gimmicky release in lesser hands, but Gray has tapped into something compelling here. — Derrick Rossignol

DIIV — Frog In Boiling Water

DIIV’s excellent fourth LP melds the band’s cavernous, widescreen guitar atmospherics with lyrics that ponder a world in a permanent state of decline. But while the words are frequently downbeat, they are paired with the most flat-out beautiful music of DIIV’s career. (The band is also funnier than they get credit for, as evidenced by the Fred Durst-starring SNL parody in the “Brown Paper Bag” music video.) After the more muscular and aggressive Deceiver, Frog In Boiling Water marks a return to the gauzy tranquility of their droned-out 2012 debut Oshin, which established DIIV as one of the finest bands to be associated with shoegaze in the 2010s. — S.H.

Dua Lipa — Radical Optimism

Radical Optimism debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting album of Dua Lipa’s career. Ironically, outside of “Houdini,” the album lacks hit singles, which sounds like an insult, but it’s a compliment because Lipa accomplished what she set out to do. Radical Optimism‘s cohesive, shimmering, psychedelic-pop palette is meant to be danced to — not dissected. “This could be the end of an era / Who knows, baby? / This could be forever,” Lipa sings on “End Of An Era.” This album could age as a timeless staple in Lipa’s minted discography, or it could be a blip in time. Who cares? Enjoy. — M.A.

Empress Of — For Your Consideration

After a four-year hibernation between full-length projects, Empress Of has returned as a creatively crystallized version of herself. The alt-pop music darling, heard on 2020’s I’m Your Empress Of and 2022’s Save Me EP, has returned with vengeance. Rather than abandoning her signature bilingual dance floor bangers, Empress Of’s latest album, For Your Consideration, is filled with meaningful bops. Similar to tucking medicine into a sweet treat, throughout the project, Empress Of ensures that her deep dives into gender performance and romance’s roots penetrate in both English and Spanish. Outsiders see pop music as a way to dull the senses: For Your Consideration does the exact opposite. — Flisadam Pointer

Faye Webster — Underdressed At The Symphony

Faye Webster has long been a master of doing her own thing. Just look at her new album, Underdressed At The Symphony: It opens with the near-7-minute “Thinking About You,” not long after that goes into a Lil Yachty collaboration, and has a song titled “eBay Purchase History.” Whatever playbook she’s following is a good one, as Webster has carved out an idiosyncratic but accessible lane over the past handful of years that now sounds anything but underdressed. — D.R.

Future and Metro Boomin — We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You

In 2017, Future did something no other artist had ever done before: He released Future (a trap-heavy, bass-knocking rap album) and Hndrxx (a softer, more confessional, and R&B-inspired effort) in consecutive weeks, becoming the first artist to release a pair of Billboard 200 chart-topping albums in the same week. Fast-forward seven years, and Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You are modeled the same way, respectively. Future’s ability to channel both sides of his artistry and deliver the very best of them multiple times in his career is a feat accomplished by few and dreamed of by many. But for now, we can remember these albums as two of music’s best releases in 2024 and one being the catalyst for hip-hop’s biggest war in decades. — W.O.

Gunna — One Of Wun

The current era of Gunna’s career is one nobody could have predicted five years ago. Once-guaranteed collaborations with Young Thug, Future, Lil Baby, and others are now a thing of yesterday. Today, as Gunna’s fifth album One Of Wun displays, the Atlanta rapper makes the most of his inner circle as the variety and availability of past resources have run dry. One Of Wun is as flashy, slick, and smooth as we’ve known Gunna to be. It’s confirmation that he can present that persona when he pleases. “On One Tonight” is one of Gunna’s best outputs in years while “Hakuna Matata” glides with ease and hits corners with impressive finesse. “Today I Did Good” is a surprisingly bright track that showcases the change in Gunna’s life. One Of Wun escapes the dark of yesterday and runs toward the light at the end of the tunnel, which remains bright for Gunna. — W.O.

Hovvdy — Hovvdy

Austin duo Hovvdy have never followed the rules. On their self-titled fifth album, Charlie Martin and Will Taylor deliver on the classic Hovvdy sounds — glimmering percussion loops and breezy synths — but songs like “Bubba” and “Make Ya Proud” feature the guys tapping into heavier emotions. Though 19 tracks may be a lot for an indie-pop record in 2024, the stories of Hovvdy are ones worth hearing, with the friendship between Martin and Taylor being the through line connecting them all. — Alex Gonzalez

Jessica Pratt — Here In The Pitch

“Timeless” is the adjective most often applied to Jessica Pratt’s music, but it’s not really accurate. Like all of Pratt’s records, Here In The Pitch is very much rooted in a specific era, which is the opposite of “timeless.” A better descriptor of her sound is “dated but in a good way.” On Pitch, understated orchestrations commingle with featherlight bossa-nova rhythms and Pratt’s own expressive croon, which hints at a well of emotion held in check by a stoic, enigmatic chilliness. It is the best album of 1966 released in 2024. — S.H.

Justice — Hyperdrama

Through light and darkness, Justice has created heaven for dance fans. Hyperdrama — the French dance duo’s first album in seven years — signals a gorgeous return to form by way of pulsating beats and hypnotic grooves. Guests appearances from Tame Impala, Thundercat, and Miguel may pull new listeners in, but equally exciting are the instrumental tracks, like “Generator” and “Muscle Memory,” which sonically make for a euphoric catharsis. With Hyperdrama, Justice invites us to the dance floor, on which we’re encouraged to simply feel. — A.G.

Kali Uchis — Orquideas

Equal parts sexy, magical, and mysterious, Kali Uchis‘ fourth studio album Orquídeas celebrates her Colombian roots as she takes her artistry to the next level. Uchis gets more raw than ever before, sharing Spanish-language anecdotes on sex, heartache, and love. She has found solace in her muse, Don Toliver, and arrives to a point where she’s no longer avoiding falling in love — like on her 2017 breakthrough single “Tyrant” — but rather, inviting all of those feelings in. Delivering these poetic ruminations in her native language makes it all the more personal. — A.G.

Khruangbin — A LA SALA

Khruangbin doesn’t make ambient music, but their output does often fit Brian Eno’s oft-cited description of the genre: “It must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” To be clear, that’s a compliment: A LA SALA does an exemplary job of setting a warm and comfortable vibe that could score any cozy environment, but if you pay attention and peel back the layers, there’s fascinating depth, too. — D.R.

Knocked Loose — You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Want to run the fastest mile of your life? Want to feel like you can crack a brick with your teeth? Want to listen to an album that even on the lowest volume will give you a jump scare when the first scream on opener “Thrist” hits? Listen to Knocked Loose’s You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. The brilliantly brutal fourth album from the metalcore favorites will take your breath away — because it sounds just like a punch in the stomach feels. — Josh Kurp

Kyle — Smyle Again

The recent resurgence of jungle and drum & bass is making me feel young again, and a large part of the reason for that renaissance is Southern California native Kyle. Last year, his album It’s Not So Bad evoked the sounds of the Y2K British rave scene with a palette of 2-step and garage, and Smyle Again (named after his breakout 2015 mixtape Smyle) continued to mine that fertile era from a more hardcore angle. Like its predecessor, it borrows the skittering forceful riddims of 2000s UK EDM and pairs them with the sunny, beach-bred cheeriness Kyle is known for. The result is one of the year’s more innovative projects. — A.W.

LaRussell & Hit-Boy — Rent Due

How exactly does one settle on just one LaRussell project when he’s so prone to releasing multiple in a year’s span? It certainly helps when he brings one of the West Coast’s premiere beatmakers, Hit-Boy, along for the ride. Although Rent Due is only seven songs and 18 minutes long, both collaborators bring their A-games, going in like… well… the rent’s due. What truly impresses is the versatility of the album, from the airy uplift of “Lead Me To The Water” to the boisterous street stomp on “Another One.” The two California natives have unsurprisingly great chemistry and if HB wants to drop another four projects with LaRussell, I don’t think anyone will complain. — A.W.

Maggie Rogers — Don’t Forget Me

A private person, Maggie Rogers isn’t one to seek the spotlight, nor does she put her personal business on display for the world to see. Outside of the music, we know very little about Rogers, but her music tells all too familiar stories. Her latest effort, Don’t Forget Me, faces us with truths we must reckon with. We’re all getting older. And maybe we’re not cut out for that traditional, picket-fence fantasy. But we can all certainly have fun and hold onto those joyous moments while we figure it all out. — A.G.

Mannequin Pussy — I Got Heaven

Mannequin Pussy lead singer Marisa Dabice described I Got Heaven as being about “the longing for something new and exciting.” The fourth album from the Philly-based punk group is new and exciting — and one of the best albums of the year. I Got Heaven catches a fired-up Mannequin Pussy taking the same confident leap as Hole did with Pretty On The Inside to Live Through This, or Turnstile from Time & Space to Glow On: it’s a softer sound than the 80-second rippers on their earlier albums, though no less furious. There’s catharsis in singing instead of screaming, too. — J.K.

Matt Champion — Mika’s Laundry

Brockhampton went out with a bang, dropping two final albums in 2022. But now it’s time to move on and Matt Champion has done just that with his first solo album, Mika’s Laundry. The project shows off Champion’s range and dynamism as a creator. Look at “Slow Motion,” a collaboration with Blackpink’s Jennie: The song starts off as a tender piano ballad before shifting into a rapid, PinkPantheress-like beat. That’s not as jarring as it may sound and it’s an example of Champion’s confidence and ability to execute on creative ideas. — D.R.

MK.Gee — Two Star & The Dream Police

MK.gee has spent the past handful of years building a name for himself in the industry: He has collaborations with The Kid Laroi and Omar Apollo under his belt, and he even landed a credit on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (via a sample). After all of this, he finally has a debut album out in the world, Two Star & The Dream Police, an intriguing effort that offers tight production, thought-providing lyrics, and clear evidence of MK.gee’s growth as an artist. — D.R.

PartyNextDoor — PartyNextDoor 4

The PartyNextDoor of old — that is, the one from the mid-2010s — re-emerged thanks to his fourth album, PartyNextDoor 4. The signs for a return to classic days were there thanks to singles like the scornful “Her Old Friends” and the praising “Real Woman.” With PartyNextDoor 4, though the feel is reminiscent of the past, we’re presented with a story of the singer who wants to grow from the man behind the mic on past projects. Genuine strides for authentic love are made on PND’s fourth album, more so than we heard on past bodies of work. Though he slips into a shell of his past on a couple of occasions, the desire and effort to be better makes PartyNextDoor 4 an excellent listen, especially when it houses one of PND’s best-composed songs to date with “No Chill.” — W.O.

Rapsody — Please Don’t Cry

In my interview with Rapsody about her new album, Please Don’t Cry, I called it her best and THEE best hip-hop album of the year so far. I may end up revising that opinion by December, but the bar is going to be really hard to clear. Combining lessons she’s learned from therapy, endless reiteration of ideas, and some of her production teams’ finest work to date, Rapsody has crafted a masterclass in vulnerability, honesty, and lyrical dexterity. “Stand Tall,” “Diary Of A Mad B*tch,” “A Ballad For Homegirls,” and “Forget Me Not” are the sorts of honest, “real” rap writing that fans have been begging for for years. — A.W.

Schoolboy Q — Blue Lips

At this point, few of us, if any, should be complaining about the long wait between Top Dawg Entertainment projects. The last few years have brought projects such as Ab-Soul’s Herbert, Isaiah Rashad’s The House Is Burning, and of course, SZA’s SOS after five-year gaps — an approach that seems to be the recipe for producing some of those artists’ most heartfelt, innovative works to date. Schoolboy Q turns out to be no exception. His latest also arrives five years after its predecessor, Crash Talk, bringing with it the very soul of Los Angeles’ experimental jazz history. An eccentric compilation that never stays in one vibe too long, Blue Lips presents a portrait of a matured, sophisticated gangster. — A.W.

Shaboozey — Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going

There’s a moment where staying true to yourself finally pays off. That moment arrived this year for Virginia country singer Shaboozey. Whether the spotlight was his own or one to share with an undeniable superstar, Shaboozey made it so that you remembered his name by the time the curtain closed. He shined on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter through a pair of features on “Spaghettii” and “Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin” and earned his first top-3 entry on the Billboard Hot 100 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” The full Shaboozey experience lives on his third album Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going where he’s equal parts gunslinging, party rocker, and heartbroken romantic. In all scenarios, Shaboozey is at full speed, saddled up on his horse moving as fast as he can away from the pains of yesterday and toward the hoepful joys of tomorrow. Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going is a magnificent tale spotlighted by “Horses & Hellcats,” “Anabelle,” “Highway,” and Shaboozey who’s doing everything right. — W.O.

Tierra Whack — World Wide Whack

World Wide Whack is perhaps one of the most anticipated hip-hop debuts of the last five years, and it doesn’t disappoint. Tierra Whack had the world in the palm of her hand after her EP Whack World introduced the public to the colorful inner universe of the Philadelphia creative, but then reality stepped in. Tierra’s experiences since then inspired World Wide Whack, which despite its whimsical stylings contains some of her most heartrending music yet. “Two Night” and “27 Club” deliver a one-two punch of empathetic pleas for a more measured reception for the sort of creative personalities that have suddenly become a quite endangered species. — A.W.

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Boys Noize — Challengers [MIXED] By Boys Noize

The duality of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross: They’re Nine Inch Nails, but more often lately, they’re award-winning film score composers. There’s not necessarily a ton of functional overlap between those two types of output either: Scores aren’t created with the album format in mind, so they don’t usually work well that way. Reznor and Ross had a great idea with their Challengers score, though: Hand it off to Boys Noize to remix it into something that feels more like a traditional album. The result is the best bridge we’ve had yet between both of Reznor and Ross’ worlds: an album that’s as cinematic as it is cohesive. — D.R.

Tyla — Tyla

Tyla’s self-titled debut album validated every award and accolade and every chart position she sat in before its release. Hindsight is truly 20/20, but the South Africa singer exhibited all the signs of a star in the making thanks to her breakout hit “Water.” The infectious record took over the world with a pulsating amapiano beat that turned all settings into a dance floor, and impressive songwriting upheld by lyrics with an NSFW double-meaning that only drew people closer to the song. With Tyla, this fun continues. “No. 1” removes men from the dance floor for a woman-empowering anthem with Tems while their invitation to return allows Gunna and Skillibeng to contribute to the album’s best moment with “Jump.” In Tyla’s world, your most free self exists on the dance floor, and in her case, so does a masterpiece of an album. — W.O.

Vampire Weekend — Only God Was Above Us

The application of distortion immediately sets Only God Was Above Us apart from the other VW albums. In 10 years, there will be no question from which record “Hope” or “Capricorn” or “Mary Boone” derives. (Whereas the tracks from Vampire Weekend and Contra, in Strokes-like fashion, kind of blend together.) OGWAU is definitely different. At the same time, the lyrics immediately ground the LP in an East Coast milieu that was seemingly abandoned after the beloved third-album masterpiece. It sounds like the disaffected narrator of Modern Vampires Of The City with 11 more years of wisdom. OGWAU is definitely similar to other Vampire Weekend albums. HIPPIE/GOTH-ness has been achieved. The album-catalog-as-book, once again, evolves. — S.H.

Virginia — Black Yacht Rock, Vol. 1: City Of Limitless Access

There’s so much to unpack when it comes to Pharrell’s new album. There’s the audacity of calling it Black Yacht Rock, a winking nod to that genre’s genealogy. There’s the way it was released, on Pharrell’s own website, an unspoken commentary on the brokenness of the modern music distribution apparatus. There’s the way the album was overlooked in the midst of the chaos between Drake and Kendrick Lamar (and between Pharrell and his former production partner). But, of course, the most compelling thing about this album is watching a master at work, with a focused goal, crafting some of the best music of a long and storied career in service of shedding light on an oft-maligned musical mode. Put it in the Louvre. — A.W.

Waxahatchee — Tigers Blood

Katie Crutchfield reckons her fanbase doubled following the acclaimed success of 2020’s Saint Cloud. What would she do for a follow-up? Make the breeziest record of her career. Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood tackles thorny issues (“I make a living crying, it ain’t fair” is the third line on the album), but it’s delivered in a rootsy, country-tinged way that calls to mind Lucinda Williams or Wildflowers-era Tom Petty. Crutchfield belonged among the wildflowers all this time. — J.K.

Willow — Empathogen

When it comes to Willow, the public is having the wrong “nepo baby” conversation. Instead of wondering how she was ushered into the industry, we should be asking from which of her parents (Will Smith or Jada Pinkett Smith) did she inherit her musical sensibility? In a landscape filled with reboots, adaptations, and sampling fatigue, Willow’s latest album Empathogen is a fresh breath of original and boundless exploration. No genre goes left unexplored. No topic is too delicate to pen into a record. Willow is in pure artistic bliss, and her audience is on the receiving of this freedom. — F.P.

Young Jonn — Jiggy Forever

The first six months of 2024 have been rather quiet on the afrobeats front. Heavyweights like Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid, Rema, and Asake have yet to begin putting their 2024 campaigns in full swing, leaving room for rising artists to jump into the spotlight. Still, even in a more active year, Young Jonn’s debut album Jiggy Forever would surely stand out amongst the crowd. According to Jonn, “jiggy” is a “lifestyle” that means “staying fly and trying to stay above the waters.” Through the 15 songs on Jiggy Forever, Jonn excels greatly at that whether it be through preparing to overcome potential heartbreak on “Aquafina,” or the ambitious “Big Big Things” with Seyi Vibez and Kizz Daniels, or the romantic “Sharpally.” Simply put, with Jiggy Forever, Young Jonn proves that he’s here to stay. — W.O.

May was a month jam-packed with new hip-hop releases, so let’s jump past the preamble and get into it. Not only did we get a pack of early “best hip-hop album of the year” contenders, but we also saw some of our favorite artists release some of their best work so far. From OGs to contemporary hitmakers, there was something for just about everyone; here are the best hip-hop albums of May 2024.

Chief Keef — Almighty So 2

Delayed for nearly five years, Chief Keef’s fifth studio album finally arrived with all the fanfare it deserved, released via Keef’s own 43B imprint. Featuring appearances from G Herbo, Lil Gnar, Tierra Whack, Sexyy Red and Quavo, and with production handled largely by Keef himself, Almighty So 2 delivers a portrait of an artist who’s completely mastered his unique approach to his craft. Here, Keef demonstrates a hard-won sense of maturity and self-assurance that might surprise a rap fan waking up from a ten-year coma to find that the anarchist little kid from Chicago is now a grown man with a clear-eyed understanding of his platform and its impact.

Ghostface Killah — Set The Tone (Guns & Roses)

30-plus years into his career, Ghostface’s pen remains as razor-sharp as ever. That, combined with a willingness to play with his formula that many of his peers either lost or refused to develop, results in a contemporary release that evolves with the times but never loses the feel of a classic Ghostface production. Plenty of newer artists spend a lot of time trying to ape the sound of the boom-bap golden era, but here, Ghost and his contemporaries, ranging from AZ and Nas to fellow Wu members Method Man and Raekwon, continue to set the standard and show why what they did just can’t be duplicated.

Gunna — One Of Wun

There was a point a few years ago when hip-hop heads actually debated which rapper between Lil Baby and his Drip Harder collaborator Gunna was the better wordsmith. I try not to participate in debates like this because they’re so reductive and borderline disrespectful to the artists themselves, but at this point, I think it’s safe to say that while Baby had the higher heights, Gunna’s longevity puts a lot of points on the board in his favor. In the case of his latest, it also makes the case for his eventual re-acceptance into the fold with regard to rap fans who decided he’d violated some irrefutable law of rap.

Rapsody — Please Don’t Cry

As I wrote in my interview with Rapsody about her fourth studio album, Please Don’t Cry constitutes not only Rapsody’s best career album, but also one of the best rap albums of the year to date. It offers all of the things hip-hop fans say they want from a modern rap release: emotive storytelling, fearless vulnerability, earnest treatment of mature topics, and ironclad wordplay. If/when they complain about a dearth of these things in modern rap, the only response should be a link to this project.

Slum Village — F.U.N.

Slum Village hasn’t released a full-blown body of work as a group in nearly a decade. F.U.N. is one hell of a comeback. Throughout all of the band’s various lineups, the one consistent presence has been T3, who doubles as producer alongside Young RJ, whose lyrics often provide the counterweight to T3’s blunt rhymes. Employing a fleet of guest stars who keep the formula fresh, and trying on new stylistic cloaks throughout, they turn in one of their best projects since their 2005 self-titled album, when the duo consisted of T3 and Elzhi. If nothing else, the RJ and T3 share a similar yin-yang chemistry that anchors a project that lives up to its name.

Vince Staples — Dark Times

If Rapsody’s Please Don’t Cry was my early pick for rap album of the year, the only thing that gave me pause to reconsider was Vince’s out-of-nowhere announcement of his final project for Def Jam, which he delivered only days before the album itself. As the Long Beach native has grown as an artist, so has his worldview, and so has his ability to relay that worldview with concision, wit, and astonishing incisiveness. He’s not a “conscious” rapper in the respect that the term is often used as a pejorative against MCs who detail social and political issues in their raps, but neither is he the gangsta rapper he’s so often reduced to by chuckling nitwits who want to garner hood cred on social media by imitating the lingo of cities they’d never visit. Dark Times might be Vince’s magnum opus, but the most promising aspect of it is: he’s only getting better.

For practically every meme that trolls Drake for an unusual behavior or a strange facial expression, he’s usually been able to judo flip his detractors’ criticisms into an advantage for himself. However, his recent battle with Kendrick Lamar found him unable to do so, resulting in his waving the white flag and going on vacation.

His first song back, though, was an unusual one. Riffing on the Plain White Ts’ “Hey There Delilah,” Drake and fellow Torontonian Snowd4y dropped “Wah Gwan Delilah,” leaving fans confused whether Drake was in on the joke or if the relatively unknown collaborator was pulling a fast one with AI.

Part of the problem is that Snowd4y isn’t really a well-known name outside his hometown, and if Drake really is pulling his usual trick of twisting the joke by playing up his status as a punchline (Kendrick’s attack focused on his Canadian-ness), he’s badly misread the room this time around. So…

Who Is Snowd4y?

According to fans on the r/Drizzy subreddit, Snowd4y is a comic performer whose premises often revolve around a satirical parody of the typical Torontonian rudeboy. His social accounts are mostly collections of skits involving his “Toronto man” character, playing up stereotypes unique to this Canadian trope.

Because of Toronto’s melting pot culture, which finds several different parts of the African diaspora coming together, the city’s inner-city culture is a blend of attributes from its composite parts, with elements of Jamaican and East African slang, language, music, and fashion.

For Americans, this often results in a bit of cognitive dissonance because of the way our cities are more segregated and cultural exchange is usually one way (Black folks make stuff up, white folks steal, etc.). Snowd4y’s comedy plays on the tropes of Toronto culture in a way that’d be familiar to a native, but that would probably throw off a resident of the US.

Hence, the Jamaican patois-accented “Wah Gwan Delilah,” which takes from Toronto’s large Caribbean population, and Americans’ confused reactions to it as a parody. You can listen to it and form your own reactions below:

In a Violent Nature has Stephen King‘s seal of approval.

The author reviewed the “ambient slasher” from director Chris Nash, which is told nearly entirely from the perspective of the killer. “IN A VIOLENT NATURE: If you need a slasher movie, this one will do the job,” King wrote on X. “It’s leisurely, almost languorous, but when the blood flows, it flows in buckets. The killer in his mask looks like the world’s most terrifying Minion.”

OK, but which Minion? Not all Minions look the same, Stephen.

See? Kevin is built very differently than Bob.

But I’m getting big Stuart energy from the In a Violent Nature killer.

“I think it falls right into the path that every other slasher has already burned through the cinematic landscape,” Nash told Time about his film. “We’re not doing anything new. We just moved the camera to a different spot. We didn’t want to make this a mockery or a satire of what a slasher traditionally is. We wanted to pay homage to those films.”

In a Violent Nature — which reportedly made people shriek and puke during a screening — is out in theaters now and will be released on Shudder later this year. Make it a double feature with Despicable Me 4.

With a lawsuit alleging mistreatment at Donda Academy already in motion, Kanye West just received another lawsuit, making it his second in three months. The musician and fashion designer was sued for sexual harassment by his former assistant according to TMZ. Lauren Pisciotta also accuses West of breach of contract, wrongful termination, and hostile work environment.

Pisciotta, a former OnlyFans model, was hired by West in July 2021 after they met when West was putting together a fashion line. She also says she collaborated with him and worked on three songs on West’s Donda album.

Pisciotta says that West approached her after these collaborations and asked her to delete her OnlyFans account, citing his desire for her to be “God like.” West promised to pay her a $1 million per year if she did, so Pisciotta agreed. However, according to Pisciotta, things went left shortly after. She claims that she received a series of vulgar texts from West, like this one:

“See my problem is I be wanting to f*ck but then after I f*ck I want a girl to tell me how hard they been f*cked while I’m f*cking them. Then I want her to cheat on me …”

And this one:

“Is my d*** racist? It is. This f*cking racist d*** of mine. I going to beat this f*cking racist d*** for being f*cking racist. I’m going to stare at pictures of white woman with black asses and beat the sh*t out of my racist d*** … Beating the sh*t out of his big black c***.”

Pisciotta also accusses West of masturbating while on the phone with her and asking her if she could guess what he was doing. She claims West was also fixated on the size of her boyfriend’s penis. The lawsuit states that Pisciotta received a slew of text messages, sexual videos, and sexual photos from West, including two videos of him having sex with a model. After all of this, Pisciotta was promoted to Chief Staff for West’s companies with a salary of $4 million. It was short-lived, however, as Pisciotta was fired in October 2022. She claims she was offered a $3 million severance that she accepted by never received.

TMZ reached out to West’s representatives for comments, but as of press time, they have yet to receive a response.