New music to start 2021 off right, from R&B to instrumental hip-hop to Afrobeats to throwback house and more! Mixed as always by Brooklyn’s premier party-rocking crew, The Rub.
Eli Escobar – zombieland
Madlib – Hopprock
Jazmine Sullivan – Girl Like Me (ft. H.E.R.)
Melii – You Ain’t Worth It (ft. 6LACK)
dvsn – So What (ft. Popcaan)
Wizkid – No Stress
Wale – Good Vibes (Za)
THEY. – Play Fight (ft. Tinashe)
Preditah – Distant Memory (ft. WSTRN)
Disclosure – Birthday (ft. Kehlani & SYD) MJ Cole Remix
Riton x Nightcrawlers – Friday (ft. Mufasa & Hypeman) Dopamine Re-Edit
Melanie C – Who I Am (Joe Goddard Remix)
Zhané – Hey Mr. DJ (Keys N Krates Flip)
New music hand picked by The Rub! #TheRubSelects
2018 was a great year for music when you line em up:
Listen to all our favorite new music from Winter 2018!
New music this week from Apex Twin, Ryan Hemsworth, Naeem (!!!), Ciara and more! WARNING: CONTAINS STROBING
We’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off this summer so it’s been a little hard to find the time to write about all the new music coming out, but here is a big old bouillabaisse for you!
Jubilee Presents: Magic City Vol 4
Jubilee’s Magic City series is all about Miami, a city of intersectionality, where dancehall meets freestyle, electro bass meets grime, and the lineups just get better and better. There is a song on here that sounds like The Prodigy and another that sounds like Drexciya, it’s really all over the place in the best way.
DL for free here: https://soundcloud.com/jubileedj/sets/jubilee-presents-magic-city
Black Thought – Streams of Thought Vol 1.
Just to get our bias out of the way: Black Thought has alway been the most skilled boring rapper, a very good performer who resonates with music fans who think rap flows peaked with the Juice Crew, and/or people who discovered hip-hop when they saw The Roots on tour supporting Dave Matthews. Imagine a version of The Roots that never collaborated with Rahzel, Scott Storch, Erykah Badu, Peedi Crakk, Jill Scott, Beenie Sigel… so yeah that’s kind of why we don’t normally check for Black Thought solo work, aside from that mind bending 11 minute freestyle he dropped on Funkmaster Flex last December. BUT you know what, this EP is pretty good and you’re not us so you might really love it! WTF do we know?
God, imagine being as effortlessly good at music as The Internet! We honestly love everything they do.
Oneohtrix Point Never – Age Of
Super minimal, experimental electronic music, like if Aphex Twin was drugs, this would be the come down. Super chill and interesting.
All this plus Tierra Whack, J Hus and new Drake on our TNN Q2 playlist:
Postscript:
If you’re wondering why Kanye West and Pusha T’s albums didn’t make it into TNN, there are a few reasons, primarily that the music would have to be banging as fuck to make up for all the nonsense Kanye’s been spouting for the last 6 weeks. There’s so much great music coming out right now, so there’s really no reason to feed into that TMZ Hollywood reality shitshow. Meaghan Garvey’s review on Pitchfork says it so much better than we can:
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/kanye-west-ye/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Childish Gambino – This is America
Donald Glover is a magnetic actor and the best way to experience this song is to watch the video, which elevates the concept to a powerful, unflinching work of political art. The internet is awash with thinkpieces but if you need this explained to you, it’s likely you’re not really trying to see the message anyway. On a scale of one to It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back, “This is America” is an 11.
Rae Sremmurd – SR3MM / Swaecation / Jxmtro
This new triple album is being called Rae Sremmurd’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, and we can see that, because each brother ostensibly has his own disc, in addition to the group disc. SR3MM is the group record and has the most features and the biggest radio singles, EG Powerglide. Swaecation, naturally, features more R&B songs because Swae Lee is the singer and hook svengali, while Jxmtro showcases Slim Jxmmi’s raps (and Mike Will’s more adventurous rap beats). But despite the different styles on display between the solo records, the Outkast comparison feels more like a PR box than an honest impression. As a group, Rae Sremmurd still compliment one another perfectly, and they’re still all over each other’s records, whereas “The Love Below” especially felt like Andre 3000 evolving beyond Outkast as a rap group into a weird pop singer, no longer the quirky rap hitmaker of So Fresh, So Clean. But Rae Sremmurd are just a few years into their domination, still at the height of their powers, and show no sign of drifting apart. Honestly this week’s That New New could be us talking about Rae Sremmurd BUT there is so much great new music out right now, we’re going to keep it moving.
Speaking of variety! Even though the texture on this EP is very consistent – latin percussion, lush keyboards and Mark’s confident, charismatic vocals – the breadth of songs is such that each one stands out in its own way. “All The Work” especially resonates with us because it is dancey, but all four songs, including her cover of Sade’s “Love is Stronger Than Pride” are truly great.
Labrinth, Sia, Diplo present LSD – Genius
“Genius” is the debut of a new supergroup comprised of Labrinth, Sia and Diplo, and it’s an epic, arch song. If anyone has the power to elevate Sia beyond Rihanna soundalike radio songs (to be fair she wrote “Diamonds”), it’s Diplo, and Labrinth is no newcomer, having scored a huge hit with Tinie Tempah all the way back in 2010.
Listen to all these plus new music from Tove Styrke and Jessie Reyez on our TNN Spring 2018 playlist:
Young Thug – Anybody (ft. Nicki Minaj)
Thugger’s new EP is called Hear No Evil, and we’re really feeling this earworm (produced by Charlie Handsome and Rex Kudo), along with the hypnotic “Now” featuring 21 Savage. And the video is weirdly captivating, with American Sign Language taking on the beauty of dance.
Rusko Has Made 5 More Songs
Rusko was sidelined with cancer for a bit, but he beat it and musically he has not lost a step. There’s a little of the old rough bizness (Walalalangleng, Hot) but the vibe we’re feeling the most is the girl songs,where he goes into deeper R&B territory. The shuffly “Emotional” featuring Anjulie is especially gorgeous.
Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine
This is a serious, funny, honest, cynical, woke, dystopian, post-hip-hop, jazz rap therapy session. Really really smart shit!
Dr. Octagon – Moosebumps
Kool Keith, Dan the Automator and Q-Bert have reunited for a Dr. Octagon sequel, and we really tried, but this album is just exhausting. It’s like listening to a comedian with advanced alzheimers. We can’t even bring ourselves to link the album; just listen to Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996) and pretend this new shit doesn’t exist.
Listen to all this plus new Rae Sremmurd, Nicki Minaj, Janelle Monae, Tinashe and more on our Spring 2018 TNN playlist:
There’s so much new music out right now that it’s hard to keep up, but here are some standouts from our That New New Spring 2018 playlist.
Even as Bodak Yellow went from rap radio ubiquity to Billboard hit to your mom’s Facebook in the span of two years, it’s always been clear that Cardi B has a little extra something which distinguishes her from a string of one-hit rappers (Young M.A, Bobby Shmurda, OT Genasis). Her debut album blows all expectations completely out of the water. There are so many great songs on this record that to pick one to talk about is to do a disservice to the others, though “Best Life” featuring Chance the Rapper is definitely resonating with folks. And we have to give a shout out to Benny Blanco, who got his start producing for Spankrock before becoming a megaproducer on the pop charts; his beat for Cardi (Thru Your Phone) gives us goosebumps.
A really strange thing happens when you watch the video for A$AP Forever for the first time – as you’re sitting through a generic A$AP song (gang gang blah blah) and waiting for the (admittedly pretty compelling) beat to drop for the first two verses, your attention drifts away and you look up the string sample, which sounds very familiar, and as you click away, instead of the beat dropping, it just goes into the entire original song and it’s Moby and just as you are ready to throw your laptop out the window the video ends with a car crash. A lot of people love A$AP mob and we play the fuck out of Ferg’s Plain Jane, so maybe this will grow on us, but Rocky is so unlikeable.
Murda Beats and BlaqNmilD execute a perfect alley oop slam dunk with this NOLA bounce beat, looping up Lauryn Hill and chopping Drake’s vocals, plus the video manages to celebrate women in a way that we really need right now. This doesn’t feel like it’s going to be “Hotline Bling” big but it is definitely going to run the clubs for a while, and it’s way more fun!
Aminé – Campfire (ft. Injury Reserve)
This shit slaps! Plus the video is hilarious.
All this plus new Diplo, Jpegmafia, Tunji Ige, MF Doom x Czarface and and and more in our playlist.
We skipped That New New last Monday because we dropped a new Rub Radio, so we’ve got an extra spicy delivery this week. Let’s get right into it!
Holy shit this is good! Honestly if you close your eyes, it’s like peak Timbaland & Aaliyah. We always checked for Redinho but this is just next level, and we can’t wait to hear what he does next.
I don’t even know how to characterize Young Fathers – they rap but aren’t really rappers, they sing but they’re definitely not indy rockers either, and their beats aren’t hip-hop or electronic per se. They exist somewhere outside those lines, but channel the emotions and power of the best of all of those art forms. If you need a referent at all, King Krule may be the best comparison.
Trouble isn’t reinventing the wheel, but his record is produced entirely by Mike Will Made It so it’s definitely worth a listen. Features from Drake, The Weeknd, Quavo, Fetty Wap and Boosie Badazz bolster the project.
Vybz is still the king of dancehall as far as we’re concerned, and we’re still running “Fever” in the club almost two years after it came out. “Real Bad Gal” might not replace “Fever” in our sets but Dre Skull’s subtle pads plus Kartel’s sweet vocal makes for a great tune in the tradition of “Yuh Love.”
All these plus new Kacey Musgraves, L8BLOOMER and Let’s Eat Grandma in our newly minted Spring 2018 playlist!