Weekly Hiphop Roundup: April 3rd – April 9th

Hey hey!

Each week I’m going to write a weekly post summarising the notable projects and singles that released during the week. I’m planning on doing this on the same day each week, probably on the Friday before the wave of Friday albums drop, so each post will cover the previous Friday-Thursday.

I’m doing this mainly so I can come back to them in the future and see when certain things dropped, but also hope to help others catch some fresh music that you may have missed. I’ll include some links to any reviews I’ve done on the projects, streaming services to listen to them, and anything else that may be relevant. Enjoy!

Projects

Aesop Rock – Freedom Finger (Music From The Game) – My Review – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Audio Push – No Rest… For The Blessed – My Review – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

A$AP Twelvvy – Before Noon – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Thundercat – It Is What It Is – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Rod Wave – Pray 4 Love – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Sterling Hayes – Flirting With Death – Spotify – Apple Music

AK The Savior & Leon Fanourakis – Flatbush Yen – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Tracks

Drake – Toosie Slide – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Tory Lanez – Who Needs Love – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Frank Ocean – Dear April – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Frank Ocean – Cayendo – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

The Lox – Loyalty and Love – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Machine Gun Kelly – Smoke And Drive – Music Video

Tech N9ne – Just Die? – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Rico Nasty – Popstar – Spotify – Apple Music –Music Video

Youngboy NBA – AI Nash – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Youngboy NBA – Step On Shit – Music Video

BlocBoy JB – Out West Freestyle – Music Video

Kevin Gates – Wetty Freestyle – Music Video

Coi Leray – Messy – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Tobi Lou – Skin Care Tutorial 2020 – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Guapdad 4000 – Peanut Butter Pootie Tang – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Jon Connor – The Pain – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Bobby Raps – Believe The Lie – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

L8LOOMER – Zen Mode (Morning Estrada) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Knucks – Jubilee – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Slimelife Shawty – Right Now – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Kami & Joey Purp – Sayless – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Turbo, Gunna & Young Thug – Quarantine Clean – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

TM88 & Madeintyo – Tokyo Nights – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Berner & B-Real – Candy (Ft. Rick Ross) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Famous Dex – What I Like (ft. Rich The Kid & Tyga) – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Mozzy – Pricetag (ft. Polo G & Lil Poppa) – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Young Money – Super Bowl (ft. Gudda Gudda, Hoodybaby & Jay Jones) – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Gorillaz – Aries (ft. Peter Hook & Georgia) – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

AmbJayy – Blow The Pickle (ft. Wiz Khalifa) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Silque- Riot (ft. Dizzee Rascal) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Seddy Hendrinx – We Got Em In (ft. OMB Peezy) – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Abby Jasmine – Groovy (ft. Guapdad 4000) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

WHIPPED CREAM – I Do The Most (ft. Lil Keed) – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Steve Aoki – GIRL (ft. AGNEZ MO & Desiigner) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

JOYRYDE – DAMN (ft. Freddie Gibbs) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

JOYRYDE – YUCK (ft. GOLD) – Spotify – Apple Music –Music Video

JOYRYDE – ARTERIES (ft. Youngs Teflon) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Sauce Twinz – Kachow (ft. Trippie Redd) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Sauce Twinz – Big Drip Squad (ft. Sauce Gohan & Sada Baby) – Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube

Che Lingo – Black Ones (ft. Ghetts) – Spotify – Apple Music – Music Video

Drake – Rollin (leak) – Youtube – Soundcloud

My Thoughts On The Week

I’m starting to sound like a broken record at this point, but this week did a great job at containing 2020’s hot streak, with a good deal of both albums and singles dropping and lots of quality within.

I thought the new Audio Push EP was a fun little listen; better than some of their projects but nowhere near the level of their best work. I also thought the Aesop Rock album ‘Freedom Finger (Music From The Game) was super enjoyable despite being just a bunch of tracks from a video game. I may end up listening to both the A$AP Twelvvy album and the AK The Savior x Leon Fanourakis collaboration, as Twelvvy has always shown a lot of potential and ‘Flatbush Yen’ had a couple of great singles. I’ve never really liked Rod Wave so will give his album a miss but I’ve seen it receiving possible reviews around the web. Finally, we got albums from bassist/rapper Thundercat and ex Save Money member Sterling Hayes, both of which I’m only semi interested in so won’t listen to until the year slows down.

There were a few songs that disappointed me this week, but there were more than enough enjoyable songs to make up for it. I thought both Gunna and Young Thug brought their A game on their collaboration with Turbo ‘Quarantine Clean’, producer TM88 enlisted Madeintyo for the fun bop ‘Tokyo Nights’, and Berner & B-Real snagged Rick Ross for a feature verse on their extremely catchy and mellow ‘Candy’. Former Save Money members Joey Purp & Kami cane together for an enjoyable vibe in ‘Sayless’, Mozzy brought together Lil Poppa & Polo G for the catchy yet introspective ‘Pricetag’, and Famous Dex dropped one of my favourite songs of the week in ‘What I Like’ which has incredible features from Rich The Kid & Tyga.

We saw some big names and some of my favourite rappers drop bops this week too; Drake gave us the annoyingly catchy ‘Toosie Slide’, Tory Lanez dropped another banger in ‘Who Needs Love’ to continue building hype for New Toronto 3, and Tobi Lou made a fun and catchy quarantine song with ‘Skin Care Tutorial 2020’. There were also some great features from notable rappers on songs from lesser known artists; Wiz Khalifa helped out Up and comer AmbJayy with a great verse on the fun track ‘Blow The Pickle’, OMB Peezy delivered an amazing feature verse on the catchy song ‘We Got Em’ by Seddy Hendrinx, and rap duo Sauce Twinz dropped an album with enlisted Trippie Redd for one of the catchiest hooks of the year on ‘Kachow’, and Sada Baby for a fun little feature verse on the posse cut ‘Big Drip Squad’.

There were a surprising number of enjoyable songs this week that blended hip hop with edm or other genres. Producer JOYRYDE dropped an album with some amazing EDM production and rap features, with my favourites being Freddie Gibbs on ‘Damn’, Gold on ‘Yuck’, and Youngs Teflon on ‘Arteries’. Steve Aoki also dropped an album, which contained a banger in ‘GIRL’ which features a guest verse from Dessigner. Guapdad 4000 provided a laidback feature on the poppy sounding ‘Groovy’ by Abby Jasmine, and Dizzee Rascal continued to impress me with a high energy feature on the dance track ‘Riot’ by Slique.

The last group of tracks I want to highlight is the great tracks that I found by artists I was unfamiliar with prior to this week. There were a couple to thoroughly enjoyable songs by UK rappers; ‘Jubilee’ by Knucks and ‘Black Ones’ by Che Lingo featuring Ghetts. A rapper named L8LOOMER dropped a song called ‘Zen Mode’ which has an insanely catchy hook and an intriguing delivery throughout, and a producer named WHIPPED CREAM picked up Lil Keed to handle the vocals on the captivating track ‘I Do The Most’. I’ve wanted to keep this short so won’t detail much more, but I also enjoyed ‘Messy’ by Coi Leray, ‘Peanut Butter Pootie Tang’ by Guapdad 4000 (especially the hook), Machine Gun Kelly’s quarantine song ‘Smoke and Drive’, Slimelife Shawty’s ‘Right Now’, & Jon Connor’s ‘The Pain’. I also felt Bobby Raps’ ‘Believe The Lie’ has some of the most amazing production this year and some beautiful vocals to match.

I’ll keep it short, but I just wanted to touch on my ‘let downs’ of the week. I thought both of the Frank Ocean songs were quite boring, and similarly thought that both the new NBA Youngboy Songs were average. I didn’t like the new Tech N9ne song ‘Just Die?’ at all, and found Rico Nasty’s ‘Popstar’ far too repetitive to be enjoyable. One of the biggest disappointments of the week was the Young Money Track ‘Super Bowl’ which had a lot of potential but fell short. Following shortly after that is the new Gorillaz track ‘Aries’ which just wasn’t down my alley at all. I thought both Kevin Gates ‘Wetty Freestyle’ and BlocBoy JB’s ‘Out West Freestyle’ were okay but had no replay value. Other than that, the few songs I haven’t mentioned are just average or I’m on the fence about them. Overall though, an extremely chaotic and enjoyable week!

What were your favourite songs?

Is there anything good that I seem to have missed?

Thanks For Reading!

– Shan –