The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from Larry June, Latto, and Megan Thee Stallion.
One of the biggest stories of the week was Drake dropping “100 GB” of material, including new songs with 21 Savage and Latto.
Meanwhile, LL Cool J continued his… well, I can’t say “comeback” here, for obvious reasons… Renaissance(?) with Saweetie on “Proclivities.”
Quavo and Lenny Kravitz rocked out with “FLY.”
Megan Thee Stallion took a trip to Japan in her “Mamushi” video (which, for some reason, references a movie set in Hong Kong).
Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending Friday, August 9.
Albums/EPs/Mixtapes
Benny The Butcher & Black Soprano Family — Summertime Butch
Benny The Butcher and Black Soprano Family have historically been associated with eerie, horror-movie samples more appropriate for Halloween than a beach day. Aside from this short offering’s intro, Summertime Butch tries something different, trading in Buffalo winters for Miami summers. Thanks to the content — which remains as drug-washed as ever — the juxtaposition works, for the most part.
BigBabyGucci — Baby 5
Charlotte rapper BigBabyGucci drops his first album of 2024, and according to its press release, it’s his most eclectic-sounding project yet. It certainly rambles through sounds ranging from SoundCloud video game beats to laid-back post funk, while Gucci himself tries out a variety of different flows, anchored by tongue-in-cheek wordplay and energetic delivery.
Larry June — Doing It For Me
NUMBERS! Don’t let anyone tell you different: Larry’s flows are perfect for the polished production employed on his latest project. It’s all feel-good, motivational, simple, straightforward exhortations, but the kind that make you feel like you could do it too, rather than dissing you for not doing it already. If that ain’t your bag, keep it moving, baby.
Latto — Sugar Honey Iced Tea
Latto’s love for that red clay of her home soil has been evident throughout her career, but on her third studio album, the Southern Belle really reaches in up to her elbows to unearth native sounds that have for too long gone overlooked. Just check out “Good 2 You” featuring Ciara, which sees Latto taking her first swing at ATL Bass. She also gets more vulnerable than ever on tracks like “S/O To Me,” which employs her most limber flows to date.
Logic — Ultra 85
I’ve long said that Logic is at his best when he foregoes the high-art concepts in favor of simply enjoying the process of rapping — or, at least, sublimates them in service of putting the music first. That’s more or less what he does here, trying on a diverse array of different deliveries over mostly live instrumentation that swings from mellow jazz to upbeat DC club fare. He doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel here, but then again, he never really needed to.
Mavi — Shadowbox
It’s a big week for Charlotte rappers, apparently, but anyone who sees the connection between Mavi and BigBabyGucci and goes into Shadowbox expecting similar sounds will certainly be shocked at just how different Mavi’s approach to hip-hop is. More abstract, soulful, and introspective (without taking himself too seriously), Mavi embraces a conception of hip-hop that is every bit as expressive but perhaps a bit more heady.
Polo G — HOOD POET
After a year of delays, Polo’s long-awaited fourth album arrives. “He Overcame Obstacles During Pain or Emotional Trauma” is an apt acronym for HOOD POET which sees Polo thumbing through a photo album of harrowing memories, and aspirations that seem borderline delusional in comparison.
Singles/Videos
Grouptherapy — “Forever Freestyle Pt. 3”
The former quartet slimmed down to a duo last year but keeps rolling in their mission to process their past stardom through vivid, propulsive rhymes.
Heems — “Rakhi”
With his album
VEENA LP
coming on August 23, Queens vet Heems drops “Rakhi,” a blend of traditional Panjabi sounds and New York drill that sounds like it belongs in an action movie. Someone put the fight scene from Monkey Man or Kill on this, immediately.
Lexa Gates — “Provider”
Fans of abstract underground wordplay specialists like Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, Navy Blue, and Wiki who have been looking for a feminine perspective to balance out all that testosterone, low-energy though it may be, can look to Queens native Lexa Gates, who offers the same bleary-eyed observational wit.
Monaleo — “Don Who Leo (Añejo Remix)” Feat. Rob49
Monaleo’s “Don Who Leo” was, for my money, one of those songs that should have been a dark horse contender for a song of the summer, but for some reason, it just flew under the radar. In a wise move, she re-ups with breakout New Orleans star Rob49, whose presence may help renew attention in this hard-hitting heater.
Neek Bucks — “Entitled” Feat. Lihtz
A moody anthem about the price of fast life, “Entitled” appears on the Harlem star’s newly released album, Unique.
Ray Vaughn — “Ray Wop”
Top Dawg Entertainment’s Long Beach-bred rising star takes a takes a bit of a cue from the label’s former golden boy, embracing a more traditional West Coast ratchet approach to his latest, taking a step away from the murky biographical cuts he’s been using to build his name for a function turn-up.
Samara Cyn — “Chrome”
An atmospheric, ethereal, but somehow boastful cut from the Tennessee native, “Chrome” made its debut via COLORS, which is just about the best way to premiere a new song for an under-the-radar rapper with the potential to blow up among the alt-hip-hop crowd.