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Best new tracks of the week: HOLY SHIT the ‘Black Panther’ soundtrack is wild
Happy Friday y’all.
We got some fire releases this week, headlined by the Black Panther soundtrack, which turned out basically just to be a Kendrick Lamar album. Kendrick curated and executive produced the entire album and it is… perfect.
Usually I try to pick one standout track from an album or a song that sort of exemplifies the entire project, but as you will see, I was not able to do that here.
There were also a couple cool EPs dropping from the likes of 2 Chainz and young songstress Ravyn Lenae. Blood Orange and Topaz Jones released two new tracks each. And a feature from Drake might just change BlocBoy JB’s entire life.
Let’s jump into it.
Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q – “X” (with 2 Chainz & Saudi)
https://open.spotify.com/track/4LmAnpjlhWTahvRkYR8xJa?si=c8fr3W9NQhyoPkc3dSWa5A
Schoolboy, 2 Chainz, and Saudi trade verses over this twinkling beat produced by in-house TDE producer Sounwave (who produced most of the album). It’s lit.
Khalid – “The Ways” (with Swae Lee)
https://open.spotify.com/track/5jyyPsIGM2yqkZN9R3TmvN?si=RWBVsAk7RQWcN-3lsqub_w
One of the best parts of this soundtrack is the weird, unexpected pairings. Like, Khalid and Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd is not an obvious duo, but “The Ways” is a jam. Khalid’s voice is wild.
SOB X RBE – “Paramedic!”
https://open.spotify.com/track/2tPcTFiQF9MbVUyjZ3zDhA?si=tWLVHFX7QKmO1-VqP3Wx7Q
The four-piece rap group SOB X RBE from Vallejo, California has been creating a pretty hot buzz of late. This song goes pretty damn hard. These kids are putting Vallejo (home of West Coast legend Mac Dre) back on the map.
I can’t fucking wait to see this movie.
2 Chainz – LAMBORGHINI TRUCK (ATLANTA SHIT)
https://open.spotify.com/track/39jtb1uX8usSYguCibEnkh?si=D7bOA-FDSu6ByGgC9WDctw
Yesterday, 2 Chainz stopped by with a surprise 4-track EP The Play Don’t Care Who Makes It (great name) out of nowhere.
It’s all very fire in typical Chainz fashion and the stand out “LAMBORGHINI TRUCK” is a long ode to Atlanta hip-hop. 2 Chainz is a treasure.
Blood Orange – “Christopher & 6th”
Dev Hynes, aka Blood Orange, dropped two tracks in honor of Black History Month earlier this week.
The floating, dreamy “Christopher & 6th” is great. Need more Blood Orange in my life.
Ravyn Lenae – Closer (Ode 2 U)
https://open.spotify.com/track/39xVzbZDVYROIkoI0wJU7k?si=A9xkZI6bRxOIkpRzAKcKKA
19-year-old Chicago songstress Ravyn Lenae released her debut Crush EP today, produced by Steve Lacy and it’s groovy as hell.
The project is pretty raw but Ravyn’s potential is wild, one to keep an eye on for sure.
BlocBoy JB – “Look Alive” (ft. Drake)
https://open.spotify.com/track/4qKcDkK6siZ7Jp1Jb4m0aL?si=gy76O8PhQFyCTvND9f2zpA
Rising Memphis rapper BlocBoy JB, originator of the Shoot Dance, got Drake to jump on “Look Alive” and shit is hot.
The video is amazing, Drake tries to Shoot and looks unsurprisingly goofy.
Topaz Jones – “Toothache”
https://open.spotify.com/track/0VTfnZjTjFdnqYnLDLnIxy?si=YF758GDITNufPTxDNGGe9Q
New Jersey funk artist Topaz Jones dropped a couple new tracks with “Toothache” and “Zoom” and you can’t not groove to these. I dare you.
Topaz is doing some interesting stuff, hopefully more to come from him this year.
A-Trak – “Ride For Me” (with Falcons & Young Thug, ft. 24hrs)
https://open.spotify.com/album/3e4CcUaYUlyCp51QAYVFjV?si=_9RGCCEfQ1yeAovLOctuUg
On “Ride For Me” with A-Trak, Fool’s Gold signee Falcons, and 24hrs, Young Thug goes absolutely wild.
A-Trak and Thugga have apparently been working together since 2013 and have a grip of more music to release.
If it’s anything like the massive sound on “Ride For Me”, we might have some project on our hands.
MGMT – “Me and Michael”
https://open.spotify.com/track/0t4z0WaQomQqPONghWn8c2?si=3qEdWEAbS4qrwRo3oS95xQ
MGMT, the Wesleyan-graduate duo that an entire generation of mid-20-year-olds first started experimenting with psychedelic drugs to, released their fourth studio album and first in five years today.
While their last couple efforts went for an excessive, experimental trip-pop thing (it didn’t work), Little Dark Age trims the excess way down for some simple, fun synth-pop. It’s pretty good.
Brent Faiyaz – “Make Luv”
https://open.spotify.com/track/2CInzVilMduj9L8dDXwyUA?si=FUmczWUyTXSmwN9ejj9t9Q
Brent Faiyaz’s Sonder Son album was one of the best R&B albums of last year and with “Make Luv”, Brent doesn’t look like he’s slowing down.
Brent Faiyaz is going to be a star, man.
Young Scooter – “Trippple Cross” (ft. Future & Young Thug)
https://open.spotify.com/album/2PU2Drmrh4hll9hfXg3d9L?si=rBJB_RHxQwS4OaF51_rLhg
ATL trap rap legend Young Scooter enlisted other ATL legends Future and Young Thug for “Trippple Cross”, the title track off Scooter’s upcoming album (due Feb. 24th).
It’s pretty much exactly what you would expect, which means it’s awesome.