Rap Song of the Week

Each Friday, Rap Song of the Week rounds up the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, City Girls return with “Good Love” featuring Usher. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Usher’s breakout album My Way, but the R&B legend is still capable of blowing minds, as demonstrated during his stunning 25-minute Tiny Desk concert to close out Black Music Month. In addition to maintaining his silky smooth voice through the years, Usher hasn’t lost his inner freak, either. His hook on City Girls’ new single “Good Love” confirms as much. “All the freaky things that I can do,” the 43-year-old boasts. “I can freak you ’til the mornin’/ Get on top and ride on it/ Eighty ways, I’ll keep you comin’.” After all, age ain’t nothing but a number and there’s...

Every Friday, Rap Song of the Week runs down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Flo Milli drops “Conceited” ahead of her debut album, You Still Here, Ho ? At this point, Flo Milli is well on her way to being an established artist. After going TikTok viral with “Beef FloMix” back in 2019, the Alabama rapper proved she wasn’t a one-hit wonder with the follow-up “In the Party.” Her 2020 debut, Ho, why is you here ?, saw Flo Milli sharpening her measured, yet conversational flow and she stepped outside of the box with the SWV flip “Weak.” 20 years old at the time, it felt like Flo Milli was both confident in herself as an artist and had plenty of room to grow. Of course, the project was positioned as a mixtape, so now Flo Milli is readying h...

Rap Song of the Week is a Friday round-up of the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, we highlight Pakastani rapper Eva B’s “Rozi,” which was featured in the premiere episode of Ms. Marvel. In music you can fake almost anything except urgency. Anger comes naturally, longing is as easy as yawning, but real urgency — a desperate need to get these thoughts out now — is so special it transcends language. “Rozi” may be rapped in Urdu, but its message resonates equally in English; a banger without borders. Eva B — not her real name — has been called Pakistan’s first female rapper, and the decision to keep her face and identity hidden has as much to do with safety as religious practice. “Lonely difficult times to cut alone,” she spits in a translation provided...

Every Friday, Rap Song of the Week rounds up the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Denzel Curry recruits Key Glock for the remix to “Walkin.” On the surface, Key Glock wouldn’t be an obvious choice to appear on the remix to the world-weary “Walkin,” but Denzel Curry reached out to the Memphis rapper after being impressed by Glock’s perseverance following the loss of his best friend and mentor Young Dolph. Having dealt with the brutal death of his own brother, Curry is well-acquainted with the pain of processing tragedy. “I reached out to Glock because I felt like he’s the perfect example of ‘Walkin,’” Curry explained in a statement. “Based on everything he been through and also being independent, it hasn’t stopped his grind. I’ve ...

Rap Song of the Week is a round-up of the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Kendrick Lamar returns with “Savior” off his new album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. In the second half of Kendrick Lamar’s double album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, he focuses on breaking free of other people’s expectations. Due to the Compton rapper’s position as a public figure, fans look to him to lead the conversation about racial and social issues, but just like Charles Barkley, Kendrick doesn’t want to be their role model — nor should he be. On “Savior,” Kendrick makes his case while pointing to other Black celebrities like J. Cole, Future, and LeBron James, who are also expected to shoulder the burdens of the Black community. Although each person...

Rap Song of the Week rounds up the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Doja Cat drops her new single, “Vegas.”  Recently, Remy Ma stirred the pot when she said Doja Cat isn’t a rapper during an episode of Drink Champs. The veteran Bronx MC added that although Doja makes “dope records,” she doesn’t belong in the rap category at the Grammys, either. It’s been a constant debate over the past several years as Doja has earned mainstream success, as detractors have labeled her a pop singer despite her background in the LA hip-hop underground scene. After a pair of sets at Coachella proving she’s more than capable of being a headliner, Doja Cat dropped her new single “Vegas” today. First previewed at the festival, it’s the lea...

Every Friday, Rap Song of the Week rounds up all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Future and Drake reunite on “WAIT FOR U.” After one of the longer breaks of his career, Future returned today with the declarative I Never Liked You, which naturally features a pair of appearances from his good friend Drake. “I’M ON ONE” — the second song Drake’s guested on with that exact title — is one of their more typical collaborations about the trappings of success, making the vulnerable “WAIT FOR U” the more compelling of the two tracks. It’s produced by Future’s frequent collaborator ATL Jacob, who sets the mood with a sample of “Higher” by rising Nigerian singer Tems. Stepping into his introspective Hendrix persona, Future raps about a woman ...

Rap Song of the Week handpicks all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. Today, A$AP Rocky’s Swedish House Mafia collab “Frankenstein” has finally been officially released. At this point, it’s possible even A$AP Rocky doesn’t know if he’ll ever drop a follow-up to 2018’s Testing. Between older material like “Lost and Found Freestyle 2019” with Tyler, the Creator and features on songs by $not, Nigo, and Fivio Foreign, however, he’s kept fans fed this year. This week brings another new release with his long-awaited Swedish House Mafia collaboration “Frankenstein,” which appears on the dance supergroup’s new album Paradise Again. As A$AP Mob diehards might remember, “Frankenstein” has actually been floating around since the late Virg...

Every Friday, our new music column Rap Song of the Week breaks down all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, ScHoolboy Q made his grand return with “Soccer Dad.” Since dropping his first two albums in back-to-back years, ScHoolboy Q has slowed down his release pace. The TDE rapper’s last LP, 2019’s CrasH Talk, dropped after a three-year hiatus, and prior to Tuesday night, he hadn’t released any solo material since then. With the arrival of the triumphant “Soccer Dad,” however, it looks like a new project could be on the way. Fans of ScHoolboy Q are well-acquainted with his life as a soccer dad, having seen videos on the LA rapper’s Instagram Stories of him cheering from the sidelines while also bragging about his daughter’s accomplishments. ...

Every Friday, our new music column Rap Song of the Week breaks down all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, J.I.D and J. Cole open D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape with “Stick.” Earlier this week, J. Cole surprised Dreamville fans with the news that he teamed up with DJ Drama for a new Gangsta Grillz mixtape. The project doesn’t come entirely out of left field, since the mixtape king is performing a special set at Dreamville Festival this weekend (April 2nd-3rd) featuring Lil Wayne, T.I., and Jeezy, but it was still exciting to see two blog era veterans come together. Once Cole dropped the artwork, it was also apparent how seriously they took the project. With the entire Dreamville roster draped in dark clothing and Photoshopped in front of a wa...

Rap Song of the Week breaks down the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Nigo reunites Tyler, the Creator and A$AP Rocky on “Lost & Found Freestyle 2019.” Back in July 2018, longtime friends Tyler, the Creator and A$AP Rocky teased an impending project called WANG$AP in the video for their freestyle “Potato Salad.” Since the duo had name-dropped the collaboration twice before, fans were understandably excited to hear a full album from the sartorial rappers. However, Tyler immediately splashed cold water on the idea, tweeting he was going to “kill Rocky” for getting people’s hopes up. According to the LA native, all he wanted to do was rap over Monica’s 2003 classic, “Knock Knock.” Since then, Tyler and Rocky have linked up...