Top Song of the Week
Rap Song of the Week: Lil Nas X and Megan Thee Stallion Brush Off the Haters on “Dolla Sign Slime”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down the rap and hip-hop tracks you need to hear every week. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Lil Nas X teams up with Megan Thee Stallion on his Montero track “Dolla Sign Slime.” After a rollout that left conservative pundits clutching their pearls, Lil Nas X finally dropped his debut album, Montero, today and revealed a complete artist comfortable in his true identity. “Dolla Sign Slime” is not one of the many soul-baring songs on the project, but a Megan Thee Stallion-assisted banger squarely aimed at everyone who predicted the 22-year-old rapper’s downfall. Here to dispel all the rumors and naysayers, Lil Nas X uses the anthemic, horn-driven production of “Dolla Sign Slime” to talk his shit. While bragging about buying all the luxury items that co...
Song of the Week: MUNA and Phoebe Bridgers Keep it Easy and Breezy with “Silk Chiffon”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, MUNA and Phoebe Bridgers paint a pop portrait of September bliss. After over a year, MUNA has returned with a bright, addictive pop anthem. “Silk Chiffon” employs the help of beloved and perpetually-in-her-feelings Phoebe Bridgers, for whom the band will opening on tour this fall. Bridgers, for her part, arrives with perhaps the most Phoebe Bridgers line imaginable: “I’m high and I’m feeling anxious inside of a CVS.” (It’s called having a brand — look it up!) The members of MUNA have always embraced their identity as a “quee...
Rap Song of the Week: AZ Performs a Rhyming “Ritual” with Lil Wayne and Conway the Machine
Rap Song of the Week breaks down the essential rap and hip-hop tracks released each week. Check out the full playlist here. This week, AZ teams up with Lil Wayne and Conway the Machine on a cut from his highly-anticipated album, Doe or Die II. After more than a decade in the making, New York hip-hop royalty AZ has finally dropped Doe or Die II, the sequel to his mafioso rap classic debut. Lyrical exercises like “Ritual” ensure the album was well worth the wait, as The Firm member tag-teams with Lil Wayne and Conway the Machine over a grimy beat by The Alchemist to remind fans and fellow MCs alike that he’s been a force to be reckoned with since the mid ’90s. Using an effortless multi-syllabic flow, AZ raps about not needing the spotlight to prove he’s been one of the best rappers over...
Rap Song of the Week: Kanye West Goes “Off the Grid” with Fivio Foreign and Playboi Carti
Rap Song of the Week breaks down the rap and hip-hop song releases you need to hear each week. Check out the full playlist here. For our latest installment, Kanye West teams up with Fivio Foreign and Playboi Carti for “Off the Grid.” Following three public listening events and several missed release dates, Kanye West’s much-fabled Donda finally dropped on Sunday morning. With 27 tracks to choose from, picking a standout song was no easy task, but “Off the Grid” fits the bill because it sees the G.O.O.D. Music founder at his best. Sprinkling his own touch on Brooklyn drill, Kanye brings out a lyrical side of Fivio Foreign rarely seen before, while also sounding right at home over the wobbling bass and gothic synths. The track was reportedly first made as a solo track for Playboi Carti, who ...
Song of the Week: Drake, Future and Young Thug’s “Way 2 Sexy” Is Here to Soundtrack Labor Day Weekend
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy brings a wildcard banger. In a welcome reunion with Future and Young Thug, Drake gets weird with “Way 2 Sexy,” a playful romp sampling Right Said Fred’s 1991 classic, “I’m Too Sexy.” Egged on by Hendrix and Thugger, our Certified Lover Boy makes a slight departure from his sad boi vibes for a collaboration sure to ring out at Labor Day weekend cookouts. Future sets the tone with the chorus, which will probably go viral on TikTok. Stating the obvious, Hendrix tells listeners that not only is too sexy for...
Rap Song of the Week: Kendrick Lamar Issues a Warning Shot on Baby Keem’s “Family Ties”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down the rap and hip-hop tracks you need to hear each week. Check out the full playlist here. For our latest installment, Kendrick Lamar makes a roaring comeback on Baby Keem’s “Family Ties.” It’s no surprise that Kendrick Lamar’s first guest appearance since announcing his final album on TDE is on Baby Keem’s new single. Not only are the two rappers cousins, but Keem is the flagship artist on Kendrick’s company, pgLang, which will logically be the Compton rapper’s focus after leaving his label of 17 years. Besides that, 2021 is shaping up to be Keem’s mainstream breakout year. After teaming up with Travis Scott on “durag activity,” the 20-year-old rapper was featured on a track played at one of Kanye West’s early DONDA listening parties. Advertisement Rela...
Song of the Week: Halsey Delivers an Explosive Pop-Punk Jam in “Easier than Lying”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Halsey refuses to hold back with pop-punk jam “Easier than Lying.” Halsey lets loose in a multitude of ways on their new album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, but nowhere more so than on “Easier than Lying.” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross co-wrote every song on the album, and “Easier than Lying” offers the perfect spot for their industrial sensibilities to reach full throttle. It’s wildly energetic and cathartic — and Halsey, who has proven to be adept at bouncing from genre to genre, truly shines in the pop-punk chaos of it al...
Song of the Week: Eddie Vedder Delivers a Faithful Cover of R.E.M.’s “Drive”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder takes on R.E.M. for the new drama Flag Day. A flag is more than cloth and dye. A flag is a symbol — a vessel of fear or hope — weighed down and lifted up by the actions of everything done in its name. Some of that fickle glory has rubbed off on Sean Penn’s character in his new film Flag Day, a solemn drama getting mixed reviews. But in judging the cultural impact, we won’t just look at the script, or the acting, or the sometimes bizarre statements the leading man has made when he’s os...
Rap Song of the Week: Big Boi and Sleepy Brown Declare “The Big Sleep Is Over”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the rap and hip-hop tracks we just can’t get out of our head each week. Check out the full playlist here. For our latest installment, Big Boi and Sleepy Brown share the latest single from their upcoming collaborative album. Ahead of Big Boi and his longtime collaborator Sleepy Brown’s upcoming joint album, The Big Sleepover, the duo have recently teamed with affiliates like Killer Mike and Cee Lo Green on singles like the swaggering “lowercase (no cap)” and silky smooth “Intentions.” This time around, Big Boi and Brown link up with Jamaican singer Kay-I on “The Big Sleep Is Over” for a Caribbean-influenced jam combining laidback production with booming 808s. Nearly 30 years after joining forces with André 3000 as OutKast, Big Boi h...
Song of the Week: Lizzo and Cardi B Confidently Confirm All of the “Rumors”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Lizzo and Cardi B team up to set the record straight with “Rumors.” Stop the presses: Lizzo has finally returned with new music for the first time since 2019. “Rumors” is a bop featuring Cardi B, who sails in with one of her best verses in recent memory. Neither of these women can be bothered with people trying to tear them down, silence them, or make them smaller in any sense, and the song fits neatly into Lizzo’s discography as an unapologetic anthem. The accompanying music video could serve as Lizzo’s audition for one of the ic...
Rap Song of the Week: Denzel Curry Plays “The Game” on Expert Mode
Our newest feature, Rap Song of the Week, breaks down and talks about the rap and hip-hop tracks we just can’t get out of our head each week. Check out the full playlist here. For our first installment, Denzel Curry returns with his first solo release in over a year. With one of the most versatile and technical flows out there, Denzel Curry has a multitude of ways to approach production like G.O.O.D. Music affiliate Charlie Heat’s lowrider beat on “The Game.” Choosing a carefully measured flow so listeners can hear every word, the Carol City rapper assesses the current state of hip-hop culture and tips off his contemporaries to lessons he’s mastered over time. Zel comes in hot from the start, setting the record straight to people who call him a sellout (“I told the hood that I’ma come back...
Song of the Week: The Weeknd Returns With the Heart-Pounding “Take My Breath”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, The Weeknd successfully leaves us breathless. “Take My Breath,” the latest from The Weeknd, confirms it: the disco resurgence that’s been permeating the airwaves since early 2020 isn’t going away any time soon. Over the past year, smashes like Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and beloved collections like Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? have leaned into the sounds and aesthetics of a sparkling dance floor. Even as recently as last week, Silk Sonic shared yet another track that doesn’t shy away from the ’70s energy — and why should t...
