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It has been a long time since a game like Elden Ring came out that captured people’s hearts and minds in a way where even now 10 months after its release it is still resonating with people. It is really difficult to understate just how much this game meant to people, and how it clearly stood above all games in 2023 when it comes to impact.

Elden Ring for many is not the best game that came out this year, including this lone writer’s opinion, but it’s impossible to dispute that for months on end it was the only game that anyone could talk about. From memes to speedruns, to debating its approachability there was no game that sparked more conversation than From Software’s successor to the Souls franchise. How did it do it though? How did a game developed by a team notorious for making extremely challenging and niche games break into the mainstream and become easily the most impactful game of 2022?

Without a doubt, the biggest appeal has to be the world that Elden Ring created, the desire everyone had to explore it, and the freedom we had in that exploration. A lot of times when a game comes out there is a silence across the usual discussion forums like Discord or Twitter because there is a respect everyone has for each other to let those experiences be raw and unspoiled. Elden Ring meanwhile was a game where people flooded message boards so they could share what they saw, tell their own personal adventures, and share information with each other. It created this sudden community discussing how if you go to this one location and open up this chest you’ll find an awesome sword, or if you go an entirely different direction you’ll find a miniboss to take on. Along the path to those locations though, everyone has a different experience based on how they approached battles, the enemies they may have faced, or the invasions they suffered at the hands of bloodthirsty players. Soon, sharing your adventure with friends was just as fun as overcoming challenges.

The challenges we had to overcome in Elden Ring though were of course a part of the game. The creator of these games, Hidetaka Miyazaki, once apologized for always making games so difficult, but for him, these challenges weren’t there to crush the player and make them feel lesser, but so they can eventually feel the exuberance of finally overcoming a boss or clearing an area. When Elden Ring first came out, there was a slight concern among fans of the series that its popularity would draw people in only for them to bounce off crushed by its difficulty. Instead, the opposite happened, and new fans were born as they pushed forward until they eventually achieved the thrill of overcoming a great challenge. While not an exact science, one of the first major challenges of the game is Margit, the Fell Omen a boss that you must defeat to move the plot of the game along. According to PSNprofiles.com, 84.30% of players passed Margit and another 79% would go on to defeat Godrick. Elden Ring was not only popular, but everyone playing it was pushing through. They embraced the challenge and found enjoyment in that.

We already mentioned the exploration aspects from earlier, where players are able to go off and explore to their hearts’ content until their numbers are big enough to overcome even some of the game’s most challenging enemies, but this is just one example of the many ways Elden Ring guided the player more than the previous Souls games possibly didn’t. For starters, summons are available to the player very early and they can completely break certain boss fights. So much so that for a while it became a fun meme to post a video clip of you beating a boss without even trying cause the summon did all the work for you.

If spirits aren’t your jam then you can always just call in a friend! Elden Ring can be almost entirely a co-op experience by summoning your friends into boss fights and taking them down together. It’s another layer of fun on the game and does take away a little bit of the challenge. Of course, if you don’t want to do this then you do not have to, but the option is there for those of us who might not be as good at the game but want to see what the next explorative area has to offer.

With all of this behind it, you can see how Elden Ring has spent the entirety of 2022 at the forefront of people’s minds. However, there is one thing that helped it be the most impactful game of the year and it has nothing to do with communities, gameplay mechanics, or difficulty in games. It’s that it is a fun game. At the end of the day if you make a fun video game people are going to play it and nothing will ever change that. Elden Ring is fun and if you haven’t yet you should see if you can give it a try. Just be ready to die. A lot.

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert barely won her reelection bid, but she must be feeling secure enough these days in the GOP because she tossed a barb in the direction of (former?) congressional ally Marjorie Taylor Greene. You may have already caught wind of the pre-Christmas scuffle, in which the pair — who seemed to be pretty tight at one time, even coming together to heckle President Biden during a SOTU address — appeared to be at odds over House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

More specifically, Greene seemed really steamed about Boebert’s behavior, in which she “childishly threw me under the bus for a cheap sound bite.” What was the sound bite? While standing alongside Matt Gaetz, Boebert revealed her displeasure at Greene stumping for McCarthy as House Speaker. When prompted by Charlie Kirk on the subject, Boebert took a swing where it hurts most: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 2018 conspiracy theory about Jewish space lasers. Greene tends to grow angry and upset when the subject arises, and Boebert went there in this video clip regarding McCarthy: “I don’t believe in this just like I don’t believe in Jewish space lasers.”

Boebert prefaced her remarks with this: “I’ve been aligned with Marjorie and accused of believing a lot of the things that she believes in.” The space laser thing, though, is a blow to Greene, who responded with a dig at how Boebert nearly lost her seat during the midterm elections.

Yet perhaps Boebert wants to put some real distance between herself and far-right politicians including Greene. Whatever the case, Boebert’s going in hard with public appearances. Here she is discussing how “I’ve grown, I’ve been refined, and I’m ready to lead with strength and grace.”

Nothing gets past Pusha T. With over two decades in the rap game, the rapper can catch a sub from a mile away. Such is the case with rapper Drake, who is thought to have fired some cryptic shots at Pusha T over the past four years after Push dissed him on the scathing track, “The Story Of Adidon.”

Thankfully, Push isn’t too bothered by Drake’s alleged disses, as he revealed in a recent interview with XXL. Rather, he believes Drizzy is still hurt by their much-publicized musical row.

“Every time I hear a subliminal in one of his songs, it just lets me know how deep it hurt him,” he said. “Because it’s been four years now. And we still talking about it. He is. I don’t. I’m cool. But every time it’s a subliminal, I’m like, yes. It burns. It still burns. It lets me know. I love it.”

Drake has never mentioned Push by name, however, Push revealed that he’s not sure what he would do if this were the case, nor does he ever expect it to happen. Either way, he doesn’t intend to invest any more energy into the feud.

“We should see,” said Push. “I don’t know what he’ll do. At this point, that’s contradictory. Would he jump out the window? And he wanna say I took it too far? Then he gon’ tell people. Tell the label. Tell J. Prince. My God. It’s a lot. With all of that being said, it’s like I’m not interested anymore. I’m just really not.”

A weird thing happens to many women in their 40s, something I had heard rumblings of before I arrived at them but didn’t fully understand until I was in them. Somehow, somewhat suddenly, you just get better.

I mean, there are definitely some complaints about aching bones and perimenopause to be lodged at this age, but there’s an internal shift that happens where you sort of come into your own self. You know who you are and you feel comfortable in your skin.

Kate Winslet described it perfectly in a recent interview with BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour.’

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“I’m 47, there are bits that don’t do what you want them to do anymore. There’s something kind of fab about going: ‘Oh well, that’s just the way it is, isn’t it?’”

Yes. It is totally fab. My body has changed in ways that feel far too “old” for the age I feel inside, and there are some days when I look at my suddenly crepey arm skin and go “Whoa!” But generally, there’s a kind of acquiescence to change that goes along with this age. Even if we take good care of ourselves and even if we use all the creams and serums in the world, our bodies are still going to change in ways we can’t control. Fighting change is fruitless.

Winslet continued:

“But I think women come into their 40s, certainly mid-40s, thinking: ‘Oh well, this is the beginning of the decline and things start to change and fade and slide in directions that I don’t want them to go in anymore.’ And I’ve just decided no.

“We become more woman, more powerful, more sexy. We grow into ourselves more, we have the opportunity to speak and speak our mind and not be afraid of what people think of us, not care what we look like quite so much. I think it’s amazing. Let’s go girls, let’s just be in our power. Why not? Life’s too flipping short.”

So much yes to all of that. I remember being younger and sort of fearing my 40s, feeling like it all must be downhill from there. But it’s not. Not even close.

I’m exactly the same age as Winslet, and I’ve felt that power she describes.

One thing that happens is you start to simply and calmly not care what people think. It’s not the purposeful, semi-rebellious version of not-caring-what-people-think that some are able to achieve when they’re younger; it’s a genuinely effortless confidence that just sort of arrives one day unannounced. There’s a freedom in the effortlessness of it that is impossible to know until you experience it, but it’s utterly delicious.

“Life’s too flipping short” sort of sums it up. It’s a saying we pay lip service to when we’re younger, or which we use to justify all manner of YOLO risk-taking, but at this age it’s more about not wasting our precious time or energy or life force on things that really don’t matter.

This is not to say that women in our 40s have figured out the keys to everything or never experience self-doubt. Definitely not. But this decade is definitively powerful. It feels nothing like it looked like it would feel from the outside. I’ve never felt more comfortable in my own skin. I’ve never felt less pulled by trends. I’ve never felt better in my body (and yes, never sexier). I’ve had friends who are a little older than I am tell me about this phenomenon, and now that I’ve experienced it myself, I want to share it with women who might be fearing their 40s.

Never fear—the 40s are fabulous. Kate Winslet is right. We do become more ourselves, and it is amazing. And from what I’ve heard from women in their 50s, it keeps getting better, at least for a good while longer.

“Let’s just be in our power,” she says. Yes, let’s. It’s the absolute best place to be.

The 4th of July may be more than half a year away, but it bears repeating that the holiday is a very stressful time for dogs, cats and animals with hypersensitive hearing. According to Psychology Today, a dog’s sense of hearing is four times as powerful as a human’s. So, what we can hear 20 feet away, they can hear from 80.

Dogs can also hear far more than we do because they’re attuned to a higher frequency of sounds. That’s why the loud bangs, pops and booms of the 4th of July are so terrifying to a dog. According to NPR, pet shelters experience a huge influx of dogs around the fourth because many get scared and run away from their homes.

We’re sharing a story from WXYZ Detroit because it’s a reminder of how sensitive dogs are to fireworks, but it also has a happy ending.

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Last summer, Andrea and Pablo Campos dropped their dog Tawny off at a daycare in Ingham County, Michigan, en route to a vacation in Traverse City about three hours away. While they were on vacation they got a call that Tawny had escaped the facility by scaling an 8-foot-high fence. The people at the facility believe she may have been spooked by the fireworks.

The family quickly canceled their vacation and returned home to find their missing dog. “We went door to door to people’s houses and just looking for weeks and weeks and weeks and she was nowhere to be found,” Pablo told WXYZ.

Unbeknown to the Campos family, Tawny traveled 60 miles away from their home and was living in the woods, behind a post office in Livonia. The postal workers would feed Tawny from time to time but as it got colder, they decided she needed to be somewhere warm.

Postal workers Steven Persyn, Dave Brisco, Adam Kaminski and Jason Sobieski worked with the South Lyon Murphy Lost Animal Recovery to rescue the dog. “I can say there’s not a postal person I’ve met that doesn’t love animals,” a representative for the animal rescue wrote on Facebook. “Thank the lord for our post office!”

At the animal rescue, they found that Tawny had a microchip and they were able to locate her family. The animal shelter says that Tawny was recovered six years to the date that she was adopted by the Campos family.

The Campos family said that it’s a “Christmas miracle” that Tawny was able to make her way home. “We considered her a princess that needed lots of pampering. And somehow she’s managed to live on her own and make it,” Pablo said.

“I know there’s so many cliches talking about Christmas miracles, but we really, actually got one,” Andrea added.

Tawny’s story is a touching Christmas story and also a poignant reminder about the dangers of dogs and fireworks. But there’s another lesson that the South Lyon Murphy Lost Animal Recovery would like everyone to remember as well. “THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE SHE WAS MICROCHIPPED!” they emphatically wrote on Facebook. “Get a microchip, and then follow through and register it!”

As the trial against Tory Lanez for allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot continues, the Canadian rapper scored a victory in court on Monday (December 19), avoiding additional charges for witness tampering. According to Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta attempted to enter the new charges citing Tory’s alleged offer of $1 million to witness Kelsey Harris, but the charges were rejected by Judge David Herriford on the grounds that the prosecution took too long to request them. “I think it’s unfair at this juncture,” he said, “so I would deny that motion.”

Meanwhile, Harris was characterized last week as a reluctant witness, prompting the judge to allow prosecutors to play her full witness statement tape in court after she claimed she didn’t remember any of the statements and changed some of her answers — particularly, ones regarding Tory’s alleged bribery attempt and threats against her. However, during her testimony, she did give two solid answers — that Megan was indeed shot and that she did not fire the weapon herself.

Lanez remains on the hook for charges of assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury; concealing a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. The latter was added as the trial began. All three are felonies and could result in his deportation from the United States; a conviction could also see him land in prison for almost 23 years. Meanwhile, another witness, which Rolling Stone posits is Megan’s former bodyguard Justin Edison, went “missing” ahead of his expected testimony yesterday. The prosecution says that he heard Lanez confess to the shooting the day after at his home; prosecutors were given an additional day to locate him.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Selena Gomez has turned her beauty line, Rare Beauty, into a globally-loved makeup company.

“What I’m most proud of is the conversation that we’ve created in the beauty space,” Gomez told People magazine during her company’s product launch event. “I feel like we were challenging the norms and I really wanted to create a brand that was for everyone.”

While Gomez has made an extremely popular makeup brand that is disability-friendly and affordable under $30, she revealed that she first thought it wouldn’t be successful. “I thought that wasn’t going to sell,” she admits.

Gomez also spoke more in-depth about her Rare Beauty intentions during a recent interview with Glamour. “My hope with Rare Beauty is that we have open conversations around beauty and mental health and can change the industry by breaking down unrealistic standards of beauty together,” she said. “This is really what we had in mind when creating the Kind Words Lip products – something that lasts all day and doesn’t move around. The lipstick is so comfortable, and the liner lasts all day without feeling sticky.”

For fans looking to shop the pop star’s favorite products, Gomez gives recommendations of the Soft Pinch Liquid Blush, Stay Vulnerable Glossy Lip Balm, Positive Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara, and the Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer.

After Grammy-award-winning singer and songwriter HER’s (real name Gabriella Wilson) performance as Belle in Beauty And The Beast: A 30th Celebration television event, Disney lovers are counting down the days until the live adaption of The Little Mermaid hits theaters. The film starring Halle Bailey in the title role of Ariel is slated to be released in the spring of next year.

Over the years, Disney and its child company, Pixar, have made strides to center more diverse stories and actors throughout its films. Unfortunately, not everyone was pleased with this decision. Seeing a regal underwater mermaid with dreadlocks pushed some over the edge.

Although the “Do It” singer has avoided the negative comments, only addressing the pressures of stepping into the role, many other industry professionals have come out to publicly support her, including Encanto director Lin-Manuel Miranda and now, The Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall.

In an interview with EW, Marshall clapped back at naysayers claiming Bailey was only cast to appease the “woke community” or to meet a diversity quota. When asked about Bailey’s casting, Marshall replied, “We just were looking for the best actor for the role, period. The end. We saw everybody and every ethnicity. The goal was to find someone who can be incredibly strong, passionate, beautiful, smart, clever, and with a great deal of fire and joy.”

Marshall stressed there was “no agenda” behind Bailey’s casting.

For upset about Halle Bailey’s upcoming appearance in The Little Mermaid, you may want to brace yourself as her big sister Chloe Bailey has verbalized her desire to play Storm from X-Men.

In 2023, everyone is going to be talking about The Last Of Us.

Whether you’ve immersed yourself in the action-adventure game set in a not-too-distant apocalypse via console or not, its memorable characters and thrilling storyline are primed to take over our small screens in 2023 thanks to HBO’s buzzed-about adaption. The new series boasts a couple of Game of Thrones veterans and is helmed by the showrunner who made Chernobyl an Emmy-winning hit and the game’s creator Neil Druckmann. But even those stats don’t diminish the feat this series is trying to accomplish. Video games are notoriously tricky to translate on-screen, even with plots as absorbing as Naughty Dog’s survival epic. Fan expectations are high, as are HBO’s hopes that The Last of Us might just become their next Game of Thrones-esque streaming centerpiece.

So, exactly what is this show about and why should you tune in? Here’s everything we know about the series so far.

The Plot

The series is primed to follow the storyline from the first game released all the way back in 2013. Spanning a succinct 10 episodes, fans will follow two survivors of a pandemic that decimated the United States 20 years earlier. This “virus” was actually a species of fungi that infected anyone who breathed its spores, turning humans into feral zombie-like creatures known collectively as the Infected. With humankind nearly extinct, martial law has been put into effect with heavy military surveillance and suppression tactics put in place in quarantine zones that home non-infected citizens. Joel is a hardened smuggler living in one such zone in Boston who agrees to the dangerous job of transporting a young teen named Ellie across the country for a rebel group known as The Fireflies. Ellie is immune to the fungi and may be humanity’s best chance at finding a cure, but the pair face enemies — living and dead — that make finding the rebel’s home base near-impossible.

The Cast

Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones) is set to play Joel, the reluctant surrogate father to Bella Ramsey’s (Game of Thrones) Ellie. While Joel is stoic and seemingly uncaring of anyone but himself, Ellie is a fearless and wide-eyed teenager burdened with an unimaginable savior complex. The two often butt heads in the game, but their contentious relationship soon evolves into a visceral bond that should make for good drama on the HBO series. They’re joined by a cast of recognizable names like Nick Offerman (Parks & Rec) and Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) who play an eccentric survivalist couple Joel turns to for help in transporting Ellie to the rebel group. Euphoria’s Storm Reid plays Ellie’s best friend-turned-love-interest Riley while Anna Torv (Mindhunter) plays Tess, Joel’s smuggling partner and sometimes girlfriend. Rounding out the cast are Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets) and Merle Dandridge, who reprises her role from the games as Marlene, the leader of The Fireflies.

When Will It Air?

The first of the show’s ten episodes is set to drop January 15th on HBO with weekly installments airing on Sundays. You can watch the full trailer for the series below:

Since Uproxx has already shared the Best Songs of 2022, for the Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2022 list, I once again teamed up with Yoh Phillips to see if we couldn’t excavate some gems from an absolutely stacked year of rap releases. While the glut of new songs meant that it’d be physically impossible for anyone to listen to literally everything – or even a fraction of it, really – what we landed on was more of a list of our favorite songs.

These are the ones we couldn’t stop running back, that we had a gut reaction to, that changed our worldviews at least a little bit. That’s what a great song does, after all. It becomes part of you, whether it’s a hook you can’t stop singing, a beat you hear in your head all day long, or just a line that made you think about things a different way. Here are the songs that made us do that, the Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2022.

Ab-Soul – “Do Better” Feat. Zacari

An emotional gut check of a song, “Do Better” hails from Ab-Soul’s upcoming album Herbert. In it, he details the past five years of his life, from getting lost in conspiracy theories to almost taking his own life. He vows to do as the title suggests, something we can all relate to and an example we all should follow. – Aaron Williams

BIA – “London” Feat. J. Cole

“Yummy!” Yeah, J. Cole is still hijacking people’s records right out from under them – something he did a few times this year. “London” constitutes the strongest example, though, with Jermaine flexing his best English accent (he’s no Top Boy), dropping Beatles references, and leaving fans with one of his most amusing verses ever. We don’t believe him about being nervous about the collaboration, though. – AW

Cordae – “C Carter”

Cordae really elevated on his sophomore album From a Bird’s Eye View, but this song was ultimately the standout. While “Chronicles” was the big hit, this song forms the emotional center of the album, recalling how big dreams, when pursued, can take you places you never imagined. Even if those dreams are as humble as copping a $30,000 mid-size sedan. – AW

Denzel Curry – “Walkin”

I tried to get clever with this one, but let’s face it: “Walkin” is probably going to be one of Denzel’s career bests when all is said and done. That beat worms its way into your head thanks to its loopy, soulful sample. But that’s just a delivery system for a motivational message that comes along at just the right time after the last couple of years. – AW

DJ Khaled – “God Did” Feat. Jay-Z, Lil Wayne & Rick Ross

Say what you want about DJ Khaled. I get it. I really do. But. Who else pulls this kind of performance out of Jay-Z? You know the ones. They keep Twitter buzzing for a full 24 hours. They inspire the sort of “away message quotes” that the best Drake songs have been doing for the past decade or so. They make you think. They make you reach for the rewind button. That was Khaled. Give the man a break. – AW

Drake – “Jimmy Cooks” Feat. 21 Savage

A resolve as foreshadowing: Aubrey’s inclusion of Savage at the end of his polarizing house exercise served as crowd-pleasing on the surface, but prevailed as another irresistible mark of unexpected chemistry. Drake thrives on juxtaposition, opting for cruise control on another exercise in Memphis homage; Playa Fly this time. Aubrey’s comfortable, almost unbothered. Once the beat switches and tension increases, Savage takes full command, his voice piercing as he lands every punchline body. You know it’s Tay Keith, even without the tag. It’s menacing, celebratory, and yet another Degrassi reference. His fellow Canadians Struck Back; somehow, The Boy struck again. – Yoh Phillips

Earl Sweatshirt – “Tabula Rasa” Feat. Armand Hammer

Billy Woods’ use of “Zimbabwe!” as an adlib justifies inclusion alone. That said, this Alchemist-helmed joint crawls along as we watch three iron blades sharpen themselves and each other. The pianos glimmer onward as the vocal chops quickly kick the door back in, and not a single word’s wasted as Earl, Woods, and E L U C I D dance at their own paces, in sync with the mission. We’re in the kitchen, the club, the hellfire, the darkness. There are warnings to heed, decisions to fix, and we’re only in control of what we do with our days. – YP

Freddie Gibbs – “Grandma’s Stove”

The most vulnerable song on Freddie Gibbs’ most vulnerable album, “Grandma’s Stove” puts all of Fred’s formidable storytelling skills on display. It’s the kind of song that he’s always had the capacity to make but wisely withheld for his “official” debut album. It’s a testament to how patience, resilience, and a true survivor’s mentality can elevate rap’s most basic mechanics to high art status. – AW

Future – “Puffin On Zootiez”

For the past decade, Nayvadius Wilburn’s been operating at a three-hit minimum per album (his latest is I Never Liked You), and that only counts what gets picked as singles. You’ll find at least two more hits in the album cuts; this TM88/Nils/Too Dope joint hits like comfort food you’d find on Pluto. Instantly identifiable by sonics as plush as content, the track is underscored by the haunting allure carrying all of Future’s oeuvre. He’s tread this territory many times over, but he ceaselessly finds new angles; earworms, syncopation, playing with pitch, and non-sequiturs galore. From the opening bells, we’re transported to places we can never access, craving premium desires and excess. – YP

GloRilla – “Tomorrow 2” Feat. Cardi B

The Breakout-Hit-to-Superstar-Remix Pipeline found Big Glo, mid-ascension with added firepower via signing to CMG, merging lanes with a recently-reinvigorated Cardi B who was primed to continue her summertime momentum. Thanks to the glistening production chaos provided by Macaroni Toni, GloRilla’s original balance between grounded optimism and unflinching confidence grants Cardi permission to kick it into overdrive. Lavish living, public drama, and the price of fame be damned. Quotables and captions abound, making for one of this year’s most aggressively-sellable hit records. The ladies mirror one another in energy and ethos: the homegirls from your hood who came up but will forever run down. – YP

Hitkidd & GloRilla – “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)”

Mantra, manifestation, Memphis. Hitkidd conducted the sound of the city; it’s all in the drum, the snare, the bounce. And by summer’s end, GloRilla lived up to her name: a day-long adventure with an overnight turnaround became one of the most immediately-impactful breakout singles of recent memory. That reach is best measured in the response to this boisterous track at any function since spring — and check the parking lot, too. Her commanding allure combines with a relatability you simply can’t program. The voice cuts through, the quotables abound, and the hook? A centerpiece to galvanize fed-up folks worldwide, at the expense of whoever dares try the team. – YP

IDK – “Taco”

For my money, IDK and Kaytranada’s Simple is one of the most criminally overlooked and underrated projects of the year. Shame on all of you for missing out on some of the most innovative production (of which “Taco” is a prime example; “Dog Food” is another) and blunt-but-incisive lyrics hip-hop had to offer in 2022. Dance and hip-hop have always born a kinship but this is the height of that combination thus far. – AW

Ice Spice – “Munch (Feelin’ U)”

NY Drill by way of the Bronx, inverted by gentler textures and shipped directly to the zeitgeist. In under two minutes, Ice Spice finessed her hometown framework with a playfulness unseen, her overnight rise gracing the cultural lexicon with a new term for pass-around, down-bad dudes still chasing. RIOTUSA supercharges the drill standard with an ominous warmth, leaving room for Spice’s nimble quips. She indulges her whimsical instincts, radiating confidence to spin new gold from the familiar, and neither overstates nor overstays. And if the dive through her old tweets granted her more converts? Y’all know she’ll be here a while. – YP

JID – “Kody Blu 31”

When JID sings in the opening verse of “Kody Blu 31,” a standout from The Forever Story, he echoes Sunday school services and bible study sessions with vocals rarely found in such a craftsman of intricate rhyme schemes. It’s a humble hymn, soulful in sound, both melancholy and motivational with sincerity. Although recorded in dedication to a friend, “Kody Blu 31” feels like a universal mantra that will be meaningful for years to come. – YP

JID – “Stick” Feat. J.Cole, Kenny Mason & Sheck Wes

Guns, violence, and mayhem were all themes mostly untouched by Dreamville Records until JID came in with his shouting evil twin Kenny Mason for a caliber of crunk turnt to the max. Their tag team on Dreamville’s Gangsta Grillz mixtape standout “Stick” is a Rambo rampage. The high energy feels intended for mosh-pits in festival settings where you can unloose and be free to yell, without a worry, “Stick! Stick! Stick!” – YP

Latto – “It’s Givin’”

From game show taboo to crossover arc, Latto delivers a record that feels furious and luxurious. This one’s an outline for a boss, guidelines if you will for the streets, the bed, and the bank. Latto’s charisma reaches a fever pitch, trading her usual power-punch cadence for a chilled, easy demeanor that lends power and presence to the accent. Pooh Beatz, FNZ, and Jetsonmade scored a feeling that sounds gives Fashion Week, and cashing in chips, and cashing out and about (the overall vibe of 777). Latto rises to the glamor at her most irresistible; it’s impossible not to feel like one of them ones. – YP

Lil Durk – “AHHH HA”

Black bloodshed: the quickest way to sell a record. The trenches: a site of life, as celebrity ensues. What is Durk Banks to do with his brothers gone, as some in the world gloat? This record’s one of the best of its class for every right and wrong reason. It’s menacing, urgent, and driving as Durk drops a dispatch from the wake of war. He acknowledges his grief, briefly. He checks the scoreboard, addressing the opposition. He even speaks to the feds and the fans (one and the same?) who make a spectacle of his reckoning. Durk dances under the same conditions. – YP

Lil Yachty – “Poland”

Lil Yachty’s one for happy accidents and was long overdue for another undeniable smash. Intentional or not, a leak granted him both: an absurdist earworm, its namesake coinciding with a nation ensnared in ongoing European catastrophes. But the song’s about lean and love and came from a joke about a water bottle. F1LTHY provided the rage for Boat to approach the operatic with deadpan conviction, and the world instantly embraced a left turn artist’s sharpest left turn yet. It’s the most Yachty context ever, and if Poland truly wants him over there, I’d hesitate to accept said invitation at this time. – YP

Mavi – “Last Laugh”

Mavi’s Laughing So Hard, It Hurts is charismatic, poetic, and tender – all reasons to delve into the album as a whole – but there is a singular quality to “Last Laugh,” the closing track. With brisk and concise reflection, it retraces the Charlotte-born rapper’s steps through crisis and come-of-age in a series of autobiographical verses that end with the assertion, “This tape is my only taped confession.” Confessional writing, stripped of everything except the will to be true, is layered with a conviction to honor the bruises earned to make this music as honest as it could be. – YP

Megan Thee Stallion – “Plan B”

Meg got back in her freestyle bag with this ruthless repartee to the thousands of keyboard critics who spent the past two years poking her over the worst time of her life. While it was probably directed at one or two in particular, its dismissive messaging and incredulous tone can apply to any number of situations for just about anybody who has had to deal with pocket watchers, haters, and trolls. – AW

Nas – “Michael & Quincy”

Normally, it’d take a lot of gall to compare oneself to the late, great Michael Jackson – and even more to make the Michael/Quincy Jones comparison, since that combination yielded Thriller, one of the most successful albums of all time. And yet, you can’t help but wonder, after the Nas-Hit-Boy partnership produced four high-quality, career-reviving projects, if, at another time, we might have all agreed. – AW

Pusha T – “Just So You Remember”

Pusha T is a man who knows his role: to revel in wrongdoing and recount the remorse. Here and on his new album It’s Almost Dry, Push excels in reciting the vicious cycle on a technical and visual level, outlining the spoils of war, complete with the sharp corners and gunshots required to attain them. Grandiose yet subdued, the music rolls on like a soundtrack to a montage where our protagonist’s scarred but smiling after coming out on top. He cackles at the competition, he resents silly questions, and he flashes back to every vein in vain and raid gone awry. Still, King Push lives his own myths. – YP

Quavo & Takeoff – “Hotel Lobby”

Migos members Quavo and the late Takeoff downsizing to duo Unc & Phew found the Norf Atlanta legends still in pursuit of highly contagious, rhythmically loose rap anthems for the young, rich, and handsome. “Hotel Lobby” delivers. Not quite a hit, but there is something so satisfying about hearing them excited and enthused, witty and assured, exuding never going to fail, never going to fall bravado. So lively, so sturdy, so simple, but it’s fun, magnetic music that ends too soon. – YP

Rexx Life Raj – “Sunset Over College Park”

When I finished Rexx Life Raj’s new album The Blue Hour, I was in tears. It wasn’t a terribly convenient time for them either, which just goes to show the sort of emotional impact the deeply confessional love letter to his late mom was. “Sunset Over College Park,” the album’s closer, was the song that did me in. Call your mom. – AW

Sampa The Great – “Let Me Be Great” Feat. Angélique Kidjo

Titular irony aside, “Let Me Be Great” is one of the shining moments from Sampa’s comeback album, As Above So Below, that made me call it one of the top five hip-hop albums of the year. Ending the album with such a powerful closing statement, Sampa earned that distinction both with the quality of the songs on the project and a razor-sharp sequencing sensibility. – AW

Smino – “No Ls”

Smino’s return album, Luv 4 Rent, offered all of the psychedelic soul anyone could want. “No L’s” offers a prime example of Smino’s gift for wordplay, referencing both his inability to lose and his ineligibility to operate a motor vehicle. There’s a gift and a curse in everything, it seems to say, and Smi is willing to accept it all, knowing he’s going to keep going ‘til the wheels fall off. – AW

Vince Staples – “Aye (Free The Homies)”

Look, “When Sparks Fly” is undoubtedly the best song from Vince’s magnum opus, Ramona Park Broke My Heart. But even I’ll admit it’s a bit of a downer – and my half of this list is pretty much full of them. Fortunately, I covered that one on our big list for the year, clearing the way for the hood favorite. Turn up! – AW

Westside Boogie – “Nonchalant” Feat. Mamii

Boogie is still in his feelings. More Black Superheroes, one of the best-titled projects of the year, finds the Compton rapper oscillating between late-night introspection and offering more topical reflections, but he’s still at his absolute best when he’s admitting his faults – even if it seems like he’s relishing in them more than he’s trying to change. – AW

Yeat – “Talk”

How it feels atop the throne of a Tonka. As Yeat etches his legacy in a slurry of new formations — be they in the words he invents, or the layering of his voice — this BNYX-helmed record rings bigger and more menacing than anything else on its level. Yeat’s on cruise control for the coronation because there’s no turning away from what he’s becoming. Trimmed with subtle gratitude and a mutating attitude, as the opening clip implies, this is a winner’s theme, bred for live calamity and every subwoofer in sight. – YP

YG – “Toxic”

For my money, Compton’s motley collection of rappers had the best releases of the year (yes, I am BIASED. This has been well-established. Let’s move on, shall we?). YG’s new album I Got Issues falls into that category too. How could it not, when he steps out of his comfort zone while still sticking to the formula that made him? For example, crooning like Mary J. Blige – AW

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.