That New New (3.5.18)

We’ve been slack with the writeups lately but we’ve been updating the playlist nonstop and we’re back with some words for those of you who like to read while you listen to music for some reason.

King Princess – 1950

1950 is timeless R&B, somewhere between Alessia Cara and Lana Del Rey. King Princess is new to us, but she’s on Mark Ronson’s new label, Zelig, she’s self-produced, and she’s young and gay and has an incredible voice!

Swae Lee – Hurt To Look (ft. Rae Sremmurd)

Find me someone who doesn’t like Rae Sremmurd, go on, I’ll wait! Swae Lee in particular is responsible for a huge number of hits on the radio in the last few years, and a solo album from him is a really exciting prospect. (A Slim Jxmmi solo record is a little harder to imagine). Swaecation is supposed to be mostly R&B, and “Hurt To Look” is more of a groover than it is a “Black Beatles” type anthem, which means it might take a few listens to grow on you but you’re also less likely to get sick of it. This is like perfect heavy warmup material, so look forward to hearing it in the 10-11 slot at The Rub for the next few years.

Adrian Daniel – Flawd

With a falsetto reminiscent of The-Dream, Adrian Daniel’s album is extremely fucking sexy. Our pick is “Face of Eve,” which could just as easily fit in the House of Balloons as in Flawd.

A$AP Ferg, Denzel Curry & IDK “Kristi YamaGucci”

At this point Ferg has been dominating for so long, you’d be forgiven for yawning at the thought of another song in the “Plain Jane” mold, but Denzel & IDK shine here, and the weird pimp interludes push it over the top for us.

Listen to all these plus new smangers from FLACO, Jesse & The Wolf, Ghostface and Juelz Santana in one convenient place!

Calvin Harris – Nuh Ready Nuh Ready (ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR)

Last week we talked about “IUD” and this week we get it from the dude’s perspective, with PARTYNEXTDOOR singing about how isn’t ready to be a daddy. This is the perfect recipe for a meetcute with Okay Kaya!

Black Panther Soundtrack

The rollout for both the movie and the soundtrack has been crazy, and not surprisingly the TDE-helmed album lives up to the hype! They’ve got such a talented team, it’s hard to pick a favorite, but right out the gate, “Bloody Waters” with Ab-Soul, Anderson .Paak and James Blake is really doing it for us.

A-Trak & Falcons – Ride For Me (feat. Young Thug & 24hrs)

Young Thug has so many vocal styles, it’s sometimes hard to ID him on a track if you don’t know it’s him. We’re going to call this one “Mystikal’s James Brown impression.” 24hrs comes in with the Swae Lee-style sweetness to balance Thugger’s guttural shouting.

All this plus new ones from Craze, Ravyn Lenae, Detboi, BlocBoy & Drake in our TNN Q1 2018 playlist:

Busta Rhymes ft. Missy Elliot & Kelly Price – Get It

We’re old, so we still have Busta & Missy in our top ten (do millennials even have top tens anymore?). This is produced by Bangladesh and it’s really crazy. Who doesn’t want to live in a world where this goes to the top of the charts and has a bonkers futuristic video with all three dressed in cyborg costumes made out of garbage bags, doing weird spastic dances?

Odie – Little Lies / Leven Kali – Do U Wrong (ft. Syd)

Every now and then a new song hits you in just the right place emotionally, nurturing you like comfort food. “Little Lies” should do you right, especially if you are a Frank Ocean fan. And the Leven Kali record randomly autoplayed in Soundcloud after “Little Lies” and carried the vibe, so we’re throwing it in too!

Dabrye & Ghostface – Emancipated

You’d be forgiven if you’re not familiar with Dabrye, who is more of an electronic music producer – in the best sense, like Warp Records / Ninja Tune etc, not like EDM – from Michigan. His album comes out February 15 on Ghostly International, a very reliable label for cool, weird music. Ghostface has been releasing more or less same-y records, so getting to hear him over a Dilla-esque beat is a rare treat. There’s an equally great Dabrye record with MF Doom called Lil Mufuckaz.

Listen to these plus new Keys N Krates (album out now!), Rich Brian and Offset below:

That New New 1.22.18

Timbaland & 6lack – Grab The Wheel

6LACK was one of our favorites last year and that doesn’t look to change anytime soon now that he’s working with Timbaland. And not “Sexyback roid Hulk” Timbaland either, more like “if Aaliyah was here in 2018” Timbaland.

Eli Escobar – City Song Part 2 (Peace, Love and Harmony)

Somehow, in addition to DJing 8 nights a week, Eli Escobar is releasing albums at a remarkable pace. Happy Again was less than a year ago, and he’s back with a full length, called Shout, which ranges from really pretty deep house (lush pads and R&B vocals) to jazzy, Moodyman style tracks to hard-edged, minimal acid workouts.

SiR – Summer in November

SiR is a singer and occasional rapper from Inglewood, California on TDE (Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Isaiah Rashad, etc), and November is his second full length. It’s a super chill record with a lot of personality – introspective, personal, sexy and funny. Honestly there’s not a bad song on the album, it’s really high quality songwriting and production all the way through.

Listen to all 3 songs plus new ones from Craig David, Goldlink & Kaytranda and Bishop Nehru below:

A ton of new music is out so we’re just going to run through some of our favorite loosies:

Keys N Krates – Do What U Do

Keys N Krates are back with a fresh sound for 2018 on their new single. This one is way more in the mid-tempo Kaytranada world than their usual trapper fare – and listen, we’re here for both styles! But it’s a really fun release to set off their big US tour. Go see them, you will be blown away, we promise!

Gent & Jawns – Champion Sound

New Gent & Jawns is in entirely the opposite direction – “Champion Sound” is a full on dubstep laser fest, sure to start a mosh pit.

Jay Rock – King’s Dead ft. Kendrick Lamar, Future & James Blake

Rob Pursey said it best – “Yo Kendrick – so you think you’re the only one who can do stupid voices? Hold my beer” – Future. This is another single from the Black Panther and it’s a little extra, IDK maybe it will grow on us?

Kami – Payload

Really really infectious! This one feels like a hit.

Ryan Hemsworth & NewAgeMuzik – Four Seasons

This is airport reggae of the very highest caliber.

Lil Uzi Vert – Mood

Out of everyone in the mumble generation, Lil Uzi Vert delivers with the most consistency and most charisma.

Kali Uchis – After The Storm (ft. Tyler the Creator and Bootsy Collins)

Brent Tactic always sends us cool stoney R&B, and this one is especially dope.

Lil Wayne and Drake over this monster beat from Jay-Z’s 4:44 album, what more could you want? Are you not entertained? OK fine, here are three more great songs for the new year, plus a try-hard Justin Timberlake single.

A few months back we did a mix of all Mike Will productions, and he’s been cooking up beats and releasing music at such a furious pace, we could probably do another one now and it would be just as good. “Bring It Back” is by Trouble, featuring Drake, but the star of the show is Mike’s super weird blown-out synth loop, which sounds like a whale song put through a distortion pedal.

Big shout to Bastard Jazz; we sometimes take them for granted because they live in our neighborhood and, like us, do a show on Brooklyn Radio, but they consistently put out great, groovy music. Chico Mann and Captain Planet “Ariwoko” is a real crispy afro-latin jam, just what you need to get your mind right. Get it here: https://djcaptainplanet.bandcamp.com/album/night-visions-remixed

You probably already know about “All The Stars,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s song from the forthcoming Black Panther soundtrack. No longer industry underdogs, these are two superstars, not necessarily reinventing the wheel at this point but still so much better than anything else on the radio right now.

Listen to these records plus new Bruno Mars with Cardi B and the aforementioned Justin Timberlake single in our freshly minted for 2018 playlist: