Rap Song of the Week

Every Friday, our new music column Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Fivio Foreign teams up with Quavo for his new single “Magic City.” Based on association alone, Fivio Foreign was tapped to be the next big star to emerge from the Brooklyn drill scene after Pop Smoke’s murder in February 2020. Those expectations were raised when Drake recruited Fivio for “Demons,” the Toronto rapper’s nod to the hip-hop subgenre, but it’s taken Fivio a few years to increase his profile further and ready his debut album. Along the way, the East Flatbush native found a new mentor in Kanye West, impressing a whole new fanbase with a show-stopping appearance on the Donda cut “Off the Grid.” Last month, Fivio reunited with Ka...

Rap Song of the Week is a new music column breaking down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Latto previews her upcoming album with the 21 Savage collaboration “Wheelie.” After winning Lifetime’s reality series The Rap Game back in 2016, the former Miss Mulatto bet on herself, turning down a recording contract on Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Records in favor of going independent. Six years later, our 2022 Rising Artist to Watch is on the verge of her mainstream breakout. After earning her first Top 40 hit last year with the pop-leaning “Big Energy,” it’s time for Latto to aim even bigger with her upcoming album 777, which drops on March 25th. As Latto’s new single “Wheelie” proves, however, she’s hardly left hip-hop behind. A ...

Rap Song of the Week is a new music feature breaking down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Baby Tate shares her ode to sexual freedom, “Sl*t Him Out Again.” Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion are three of the biggest names in music, but being a woman in hip-hop hasn’t gotten much easier. Just ask the ass-kicking Rico Nasty, who was treated disrespectfully by fans while opening for Playboi Carti without any support from the headliner. Unfortunately, chances are fellow rising star Baby Tate will have to deal with a similar disappointment at some point, but on paper at least, the Georgia native is well acquainted with self-affirmation, as heard on her late 2020 breakout “I Am.” Advertisement And with songs like “Sl*t Him Ou...

Our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Conway the Machine links up with Lil Wayne and Rick Ross on “Tear Gas” from his long-awaited Shady debut, God Don’t Make Mistakes. Conway the Machine’s tenure on Shady Records has been the latest case study for exactly what a major label can provide for a rapper who was already well-respected and making good money from merch and touring. Back in 2017, our former Artist of the Month signed on to make Eminem his ostensible boss as part of a package deal for Griselda, the label and collective founded by his brother Westside Gunn. In the five years since then, both rappers (along with Benny the Butcher) have continued to operate outside of the lines...

Our new music feature Rap Song of the Week runs down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Pusha T shares “Diet Coke,” the lead single from his upcoming fourth album. In recent interviews, Pusha T has been talking up his fourth studio LP, reportedly titled It’s Not Dry Yet, as “the album of the motherfucking year.” It’s a pretty standard boast for any upper echelon MC, but he’s added fuel to the fire by describing it as “one thousand percent rap superhero shit.” Whatever that actually means, the drug rap king is back with a vengeance after taking roughly two years off to spend time with his son. Despite running in circles with the likes of Pharrell and Kanye West while having been long considered one of the best rappers alive, King P...

Our recurring feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop songs you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Megan Thee Stallion secures the bag with “Flamin’ Hottie.” Considering Megan Thee Stallion’s complicated record label situation, the H-Town Hottie is hardly bringing in the money that she should be for an artist of her stature. So no one begrudged her for teaming up with Popeyes last year, and now she’s partnered with Frito-Lay to promote Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (leaving Lil Xan in shambles) and Doritos. Later this month, Meg will be starring in a Super Bowl commercial alongside Charlie Puth, but today she’s given fans an idea of what to expect with “Flamin’ Hottie.” Meg at least put in more than a minimal effort into making the branded track...

Our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Benny the Butcher recruits J. Cole for his new single, “Johnny P’s Caddy.” Hip-hop fans who haven’t been paying attention might be surprised to hear Benny the Butcher landed a J. Cole feature on his latest single, “Johnny P’s Caddy,” but they’ve actually known each other for nearly three years. The Buffalo rhymer was one of the artists hand-picked by Cole for the mythical Revenge of the Dreamers III sessions, and he clearly made a strong impression despite not making the final cut. It was part of the formerly insular North Carolina MC stepping outside his inner circle by handing out rare features to trap rappers like 21 Savage, Offset, a...

Every Friday, our new music feature Rap Song of the Week rounds up the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Key Glock remembers the late Young Dolph on “Proud.” After Memphis icon Young Dolph was shot and killed last November, thoughts turned to his cousin and protégé Key Glock, who stayed silent for a week before revealing on Instagram that he was struggling with the death of his mentor and frequent collaborator, who he called the Phil Jackson to his Michael Jordan. A few months later, the 24-year-old rapper appears to have picked up the pieces. Today (January 21st), Dolph’s label, Paper Route Empire, has released a tribute album titled Long Live Dolph, which features “Proud,” Key Glock’s tribute to Dolph. Over menacing trap production fr...

Every Friday, our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, J.I.D recruits 21 Savage and Baby Tate for “Surround Sound.” For the past several years, it’s felt like Dreamville’s J.I.D has been on the precipice of stardom. His last album, 2018’s DiCaprio 2, spawned a pair of Gold singles, and his performances on “Down Bad” and “Costa Rica” (from the compilation Revenge of the Dreamers III) exhibited his knack for crafting a catchy hook while still being an explosive, technically gifted rapper. Among a stacked roster of MCs, J.I.D stands tall. 2022 is shaping up to be the kind of year that will bring the Atlanta spitter to the next level. J.I.D’s on the easily visible third line of the po...

Our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Gunna teams up with Future and Young Thug on his DS4EVER standout “pushin P.” Before Gunna was considered a contemporary of Young Thug and Future, he gave his career a soft reset by dropping the Yung from his name and launching his signature Drip Season mixtape series. Five years later, he’s become a bonafide superstar who literally taught Lil Baby how to rap, so closing out the franchise with DS4EVER has particular significance. As one would expect, Thugger and Future each make multiple appearances on the project, but “pushing P” is a reminder of why we’re still hoping the sequel to Super Slimey is still happening. A...

Our recurring new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Boldy James and The Alchemist close out the year strong with the ICECOLDBISHOP-assisted “Hot Water Tank.” Boldy James is known for his prodigious output: Last year alone, he dropped four projects. In 2021, he slowed down the pace a bit, solely releasing his Alchemist team-up Bo Jackson, one of the best albums of the year. Today, the Detroit rapper upped his volume by releasing Super Tecmo Bo, a nine-track project combining a handful of new songs with bonus tracks previously only available on the Bo Jackson vinyl deluxe edition. One of the standouts is “Hot Water Tank” featuring underground LA rapper ICECOLDBISHOP, who brin...