Every week, seemingly a gazillion songs release on streaming services. From Soundcloud and Bandcamp exclusives to the endless array of songs on Spotify and Apple Music, it’s a lot to take in. Additionally, some of the tracks aren’t nearly as good as it should be. Who wants to waste their time sifting through records in fear that some aren’t very good. How can one possibly have the time to even do it?
This is where Noisey has you covered. We’re saving you time in the playlist department to narrow it down to the three most essential songs in hip-hop and R&B you should hear. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite artist or album in the process.
3 of The Best New HIP-Hop Songs and R&B REcords of the Week
Leon Thomas- “Just How You Are”
Leon Thomas’ pen game is undeniable at this point. Helping to Write “Snooze” while also knocking Ariana Grande and Bryson Tiller cuts out of the park really puts his catalog into perspective. Moreover, his own work holds just as much work. “MUTT” is one of the premier R&B records of the last decade in a time where the genre doesn’t hold the same distinct identity it used to back in the day. In a just world, records like “Miami” and “NOT FAIR” hold similar weight to how “MUTT” dominated socials and charts alike.
The thing is, these records all hold a familiar hue, the kinds of records that can fit formal R&B standards. Now, he’s proving he can hold different tempos and colors in his repertoire. Take “Just How You Are,” a much funkier take on the Leon Thomas experience. Toxicity via an era of strong colored carpets, Marlboro reds, and corduroy pants. It’s an interesting turn of the dial because it never feels like a vampiric rip of aesthetic. There’s enough reverence for craft in songwriting and musicality alike that certifies Leon Thomas as one of the premier R&B artists of our time.
Sullivan- “SPACESHIP”
At what point do we need space in romance? We don’t exactly want to lose our agencies as people, our roles in this life much larger than ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ or ‘partner.’ But we also don’t want to be too distant, inevitably cratering into a glorified friends with benefits situation. It’s a shaky position, one that frequently falls apart at the seams before it really takes shape.
Sullivan floats this anxiety of love and yearning through an intergalactic sheen on “SPACESHIP.” Lack of control posited through zero gravity is a compelling one, that space could make or break the connection. Too much, it’s gone and there’s no direction back. Too close and it’s suffocating, the brain second guesses, and everything implodes.
It’s always refreshing to hear a jazzier R&B outing and not shrug at an artist’s attempt at Robert Glasper. Instead, Sullivan leans closer in classic Phonte/Foreign Exchange territory, cool, breezy chords with splashes of cosmic color in synth and robust bass. His vocal register is less dynamic and powerful more than it’s tender and intimate. Every line hits like a whisper during a slow dance, fingers slowly tracing the small of someone’s back. On “SPACESHIP,” Sullivan sketches a universe in which R&B can exist, a world where love is as powerful as our closest star.
ABGR Lil Cory- “Stop It”
Do you yearn for the days of Snowman shirts and Shawty Redd beats? Do you remember when a lot of southern rappers would rap like they were sponsored by Arm & Hammer? Nowadays, Atlanta trap feels like the glory days for some, especially in a climate where the city’s biggest stars can feel at least a little bit stale. Thankfully, we’re experiencing something of a resurgence of this 2000s southern maximalist aesthetic. However, the artist leading the pack isn’t quite from Atlanta: he’s actually from Mississippi.
Insert ABGR Lil Cory, the kind of rapper who could make anyone old enough to have lived through the baggy t-shirt era feel a little nostalgic. Act Broke Get Rich earlier this year is rich with records born out of Impalas and a case filled with burned CDs. The hustle is contagious and really fits the moment of teetering around a recession and needing to get money anyway.
“Stop It,” from his newest project Everything Must Go, continues this legacy. Triumphant horns that recall Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson highlights, Cory spits one-liners worth face scrunches and hearty laughs alike. “All that d*ckriding that you’re doing’ll get ya pregnant,” he rattles off while rubbing his belly in the video. Still, his energy and delivery sparks a desire to get on your grind, whether that’s working more hours at the warehouse or by any means necessary.
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