Every week, seemingly a gazillion songs are released 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 tracks aren’t nearly as good as they should be. Who wants to waste their time sifting through records in fear that some aren’t very listenable? 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
‘Hang Wit A Bad B***h’ by Sexyy Red & Key Glock
Mainstream music tends to gloss up the idea of sex. Even when it leans a little deeper into the R-rated raunchiness, the music can still seem a bit clean. Sexyy Red embraces debauchery completely, acknowledging that sex is supposed to be nasty and freaky. A record like “Hang Wit A Bad B***h” is hypnotic in its lustiness, where Sexyy repeats the refrain like swinging a watch in someone’s face. Why settle down when you can have fun and indulge in sin in your prime? Sexyy Red’s best advice is to leave that settling-down nonsense for when you’re 45.
‘Miss You’ by Ms Ray & Nourished By Time
The 80s have been tapped for all of the decade’s aesthetics at this point. There’s only so many ways you can throw it back to the days of hairspray, leg warmers, and neon glow. Ms Ray and Nourished By Time forgo hackneyed cliché for one of the more tender duets in recent memory. There’s a fuzziness to how they mix the pinkish glow of the synths, Ray’s pristine voice, and Nourished By Time’s ragged, soulful delivery.
It’s this interplay that amplifies the long-distance yearning on “Miss You”. “Don’t think that no reaction means it wasn’t heard/It can’t be all on me, why can’t you call me?” NBT howls. Through tender expression and intimate illumination, “Miss You” exceeds typical 80s callbacks.
‘Loser’ by MexikoDro
MexikoDro represents the American Dream for the chill and lethargic. Over the kind of production that would revive Jeezy and Gucci Mane’s prime, he basks in his introverted nature. “Everybody mad at me ’cause I ain’t tryin’ to do no show / Tryin’ to book me out the state and I ain’t tryin’ to go,” Dro shrugs. His goals are simple and extremely relatable. Make some good money and find your inner peace. Where old Atlanta rappers on this kind of production used to thrive on trapping, MexikoDro finds more honor in your ordinary work.
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