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
Rsieh Raxan & fss- “bad news”
Artists are gradually shifting away from 80s retread and more towards 2000s and early 2010s aesthetics. There’s a surplus of Jeezy era southern maximalism, other artists are devouring the blog era to further dig into DIY creation. However, we’re missing a piece of the puzzle: where is the glitzy, stylish youth pop music? Think Corbin Bleu when he was promoting Jump In! or anything Radio Disney related. What if Colby O’Donis had a more lucrative career? What if popular music sounded like old Sprite commercials?
Rsieh Raxan channels this spiritual energy on “bad news.” Synths are squeaky and colorful around these robust drums. It’s reminiscent of this gray area before the New Boyz created the Jerk and Cali Swag District was teaching people how to Dougie. Rsieh injects the record with a surreal sweetness courtesy of his soft, pretty boy voice. If he came out 20 years ago, he would be at a party cooing to a girl in Baby Phat jeans. He would almost certainly be a superstar. But the songs are catchy enough where he could still be one.
Mexikodro- Remy
Mexikodro makes modern day hustler music. Usually, artists take their hustling to the street corner and they’ll flaunt their wealth after the fact. But he flips the trap hustle on its head with an everyman demeanor. Take “Remy,” a prototype U.S.D.A. type beat that forgoes all the pageantry and excess in favor of celebrating the grind. “Everything I want, hustle hard and I get it,” Dro mutters in a gruff, grizzly voice. Still, amidst the tireless work ethic, he maintains a strict 9pm curfew and doesn’t really like going outside. “Why you always in the crib? Cuz it’s mine,” he puffs his chest. Mexikodro isn’t quite the ‘work hard, play hard’ type. Instead, all the hustle allows him to finally kick his feet up.
PinkPantheress & Ravyn Lenae- “Romeo”
In 2024, PinkPantheress told ABC News in 2024 that songs shouldn’t be any longer than 3 minutes. “I was able to experiment and making short songs was just a result of me experimenting,” she said at the time. “A song doesn’t need to be longer than two minutes [and] thirty [seconds], in my opinion. We don’t need to repeat a verse, we don’t need to have a bridge, we don’t need it. We don’t need a long outro.”
Initially, fans were pissed. It felt disrespectful to decades of amazing music, with a lot of intentionality behind intricate structure and musical choices. Frankly, they’re right to feel that way, especially for an artist who made their grounds from the TikTok algorithm. The app incentivized bite-sized records and PinkPantheress was happy to oblige.
However, there is something particularly masterful about distilling the ecstasy of a great song within tight confines too. Instead of opting for the lavish arrangements you’ll get from jazz artists and soul singers alike, PinkPantheress captures the dizzying effects of love and lust.
Take her recent remix of “Romeo” with Ravyn Lenae, a love-drunk spell light and silly enough to rhyme Juliet’s lover with portfolio. The synths are fizzy and bubbly, encased in luscious strings and a disorienting set of drums. It’s like bumping into people at a party, desperately searching for the person you hit it off with earlier.
The song doesn’t make as much sense contextually if there’s no slowness to be had in the song in general. Its brevity goes hand in hand with her songwriting. So it’s unlikely we’ll ever get that big PinkPantheress epic. But if the feelings are operating at light speed, why shouldn’t the music?
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