The Digable Planets track “Pacifics” is one of the coolest hip hop songs ever made. It’s my favorite Sunday morning track when I need to just chill out a bit. It usually leads to me listening to Digable Planets for a nice stretch and ain’t nothing wrong with that. I really hope you have Digable Planets in your rotation every once in awhile as well. If not, let’s chat….
Read moreRBL Posse "Don't Give Me No Bammer Weed"
Is there a more blunt song title than “Don’t Give Me No Bammer Weed?” Down in Los Angeles in ‘92 you had Dr. Dre dropping The Chronic in late ‘92 while a few months earlier, RBL Posse dropped their debut album, A Lesson To Be Learned through In-A-Minute Records. But prior to the album, an earlier version of “Don’t Give Me No Bammer Weed” was already circling in the 90s Bay Area streets through their independent hustle pushing homemade cassette tapes hand-in-hand and out the trunk.
Read moreThe New Denzel Curry x Kenny Beats Album Deserves Your Attention
Unfortunately, most of our music decisions are influenced by algorithms unless you stay analog AF or are truly putting in work to stay in the scene or even just in the know. It’s a lot of work to keep up with what is really good music and when it actually drops… at this point we just need to find our way to the right music and when that marriage happens, it can shift moods. To me, Denzel Curry is one of the very few emcees that can help you shift the state of mind you’re in through his delivery and passion in his pen, delivery, and energy… Match him up over the right production and it has the chance to be special… I think this new Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats aka Kenneth Blume album deserves your attention…
Read moreMaster P "Ice Cream Man"
I first heard Master P in 1996… Yup… 30 years ago… I was 16 years old as a sophomore in high school and drove a ‘91 Volkswagen Fox to school. On weekdays during the schoolyear, that school bell would ring at 2:10pm and I would book it to my car to beat traffic out of the school so I could get home as quickly as possible. I would run in the house, heat up that oven to 350 degrees, turn on that big box 36” TV right there in the living room, and turn it right to channel 41, BET aka Black Entertainment Television. Back in the Mid90s, you could catch the show, Rap City from 2ish - 3ish in the afternoon where you had the chance to see your favorite music videos or maybe an interview and a freestyle from an artist you were into… or maybe an artist you didn’t know much about… and with these interviews and performances, you would get a glimpse of the artist and what they were like in real life.
Read moreMarlon Craft is one of the Nicest Out Right Now.
Marlon Craft is a really good artist. I’ll just start this out like that. A few years ago I would have said he is a dope rapper whose skills remind me of some of the underground emcees back in the 2000s. Marlon Craft always had throwback type skills in a modern era and I was all about it. To me he was kind of like a Joey Bada$$ but a little bit more on the low. You can tell which emcees grew up on the boom bap and which ones couldn’t give a f*ck. To each their own but me? Give me the emcee who has respect for the golden era. Marlon Craft always reminded me of the golden era.
Read moreThe Cool Kids x Don Cannon "Tune Up"
I don’t even know if this is a new song added to their old album or a new remix from their old album but all I gotta say is this. The Cool Kids and Don Cannon track “Tune Up” is really dope. If it’s an older track, I definitely slept. And if it’s a new song? Straight fire from Sir Michael Rocks and Chuck Inglish who always to me find a lane that maybe only Earl or Domo could catch but when The Cool Kids roll through, it’s just a unique vibe.
Read moreEdan "Emcees Smoke Crack"
i am highly confident that you haven’t heard the track “emcees smoke crack” from edan. and that’s alright… while you were all studying at night and partying on the weekends, i was solo dolo at local record stores in tempe, az and nearby towns like mesa, phoenix, scottsdale, etc. i was at the wherehouse… i was at tower records… i was at this record store… that record store… diggin… talking to the business owners…
Read moreLord Sko and Statik Selektah are on a Nice Run...
It’s not hard to see that Lord Sko is on a nice run. And it’s not just these Statik Selektah production he has because Sko has been bubbling for a hot minute. To me, his voice always stood out and his overall vibe shined through his art. You don’t see this often with artists but when you do, you have to listen… pay attention… you have to watch. For me, the first track I heard from Lord Sko that caught me was probably “Carry the Torch” as I thought he had a style nobody had….
Read moreJ. Cole - The Fall-Off
I know J. Cole has his final album dropping in a week or two and I’ve seen the wave of content hyping things up and I’m just trying to play it cool… Take it a day at a time… Listen to a track or two while I wait to listen to the new album from front to back without any distractions on my side. This is the way you listen to good music. You have to chill out… You have to follow the instrumentation/beat and then see how an emcee falls in the pocket and has substance in his/her rhymes. I think it was probably this track right here when I first stopped and said, yup… Cole World is here. “Too Deep for the Intro” was that track for me. And yes I did like earlier songs but I felt Jermaine hit his lane on this track.
Read moreKingpin Skinny Pimp "Midnight Hoes"
I’ve found that Sunday mornings are a great time to listen to Kingpin Skinny Pimp while you do the dishes, take the trash out, or just vibe while sippin that coffee… Kingpin Skinny Pimp tho… Memphis, TN…
Read moreNugLife Got “THAT PETRO”
I first heard a beat from NugLife back in 2019. This was going back to my playlisting days where I curated hundreds of playlists and was constantly chasing new dope music. While I always love my 90s ish, I also remain a big fan of new hip hop and for me, it always starts with the beats. And then a big factor is how the music actually sounds in your headphones… in your car… in those wired earbuds… sure the emceeing counts but it is the beat that is going to keep me on track.
Read moreThe Top 100 Rap and Hip Hop Songs from 2025
These are my top 100 rap and hip-hop songs from 2025. These are tracks that have stuck with me most and that I keep on repeat whether on Spotify, Apple Music, or spinning on vinyl or playing on cassettes or CD’s.
Did I miss some good ones? Without a doubt… Tell me about it though… drop a comment… shoot me a message… this list can change over time… i need to best curate a time capsule of 2025 rap and hip hop because it’s one of the best from memory…
Read moreBig L, Mac Miller, Pale Jay "Forever"
Big L and Mac Miller on a track is all my ears needed to hear in 2025 so thank you rap gods… Thank you Mass Appeal… Thank you Nas… Thank you the Big L and Mac Miller Estates… Thanks to the producers… Thanks to Pale Jay on the feature… Have you heard “Forever” yet?? If not, go listen… it’s on Big L’s new album that dropped on Halloween. Yup, I did say new Big L album… Crazy that L was taken from us 25+ years ago. Shot 9 times in the face and chest and still an unsolved case… damn…
Read moreBoldy James and Nicholas Craven - Criminally Attached
I always love rap runs… You know, when emcees are hungry and are putting out tracks and albums non-stop. Think Lil Wayne on that mixtape Weezy run or think of E-40 always popping up and killing it… Pac fresh out of jail… Curren$y’s run is crazy… The Alchemist’s run is crazy… Nas run with Hit-Boy and this Mass Appeal run are crazy… DMX that year he dropped 2 albums… but how about Boldy James and Nicholas Craven? This new album of theirs just dropped and it could be their best?
How often do you go to new rap or hip hop albums that drop and press play and keep going, whoaaaa? Not often right? Well… we got something for you… this new Boldy James and Nicholas Craven is a classic. No other way to describe it… It’s The Black Album to me… This production is so amazing… I could play some of these beats for my dad and he would nod his head. Just go listen fam…
Boldy almost died in that car crash a few years ago and was still out touring when you could see he still wasn’t in the best of conditions… but that voice? That was scratched one bit. Boldy got knocked down in that bad crash but he came back an absolute monster… real talk… you hearing this?
This beat right here??? Nicholas Craven and Boldy have 4 projects with each other… All crazy… This crazier tho…. I really think so. I feel this album should be up for best new rap album of 2025.
i hear this track below and i’m on a massive yacht just not really doing much other than coasting and bumpin dope hip hop. Eating lobsters and chuckin deuces to the homies over on the other side lookin cool and shit.
The album is called Criminally Attached. Don’t be a lame… Trust me on this. This is some no shuffle keep in the rotation and go buy a physical copy type music… Enjoy… Shout out Boldy and Nicholas Craven… yall murked it.
Here’s the Nicholas Craven and Boldy James playlist you needed in your life. Let this ride… And just realize that they dropped 2 crazy albums this year… That’s on some DXM type shit tho…
Navy Blue "Orchards"
Navy Blue has long been an artist that when I hear a track of his, I stop for a brief moment and just recognize how dope he is. His music is a wave that I stay on all the way until it crashes into the shore. I usually am able to label somebody who is “hip hop” and somebody who is “rap” but with Navy Blue, I don’t even try to label him. He’s almost like a Jay Electronica to me… Somebody who moved me the first time I heard them and then will always have that special place in my Walkman anytime I see his name.
Read moreHollow Tip - No More Brains
Let me just tell you this… When you see a sealed 90s rap cassette of Hollow Tip’s debut album, Takin No Shortz, you gotta cop. You have to… Maybe not right away but you should at least be mulling it over in your head. You better be seeing if there’s something you can flip to get the cash… or do you just go hard and just lock it in quickly. I saw it on ebay… I watched it on eBay. I thought it about it at work… I thought about it in the morning… I thought about it when I woke up. I made that offer for $150 and I locked down one of my favorite 90s gangsta rap albums. Hollow Tip’s Takin No Shortz cassette had found its way to a new home fam.
Read moreNew Rap Songs 4 Ya Walkmans
Shout out to 2025 for giving us one of the best years in hip hop I can remember. There are some years where you’re like, “man… what is good that’s new?” But this year? Whoa… The summer alone was crazy… but it’s not stopping either… i’m hype so i want yall hype! Here are some new hip hop tracks I’ve been listening to and adding to my Spotify Playlists recently.
Read moreRIP D'Angelo
I don’t remember where I first heard D’Angelo but I do remember my earliest memories with D’Angelo. So his passing makes me look back… it makes me dig deep in my memory catalog to match up the sounds and the vibe with where I was at the time and what I was feeling. But then it also fast forwards to where I am now which makes me trip out to see how young D’Angelo is… how old D’Angelo was. Man… We just lost a first ballot hall of fame talent from the 90s fam…. this is devastating.
Read moreSlept On Rap Bangers from 1995.
Let’s go back 30 years to 1995. Or just go back to the Mid90s as a whole. Rap was major. It was all over your TV, magazines, radio, etc…. it was everywhere… Bone Thugs were out here reppin Cleveland and Do or Die were Po Pimpin all over Chicago…
Read moreThe B.U.M.S. - Elevation (Free My Mind)
There is no better feeling than hearing a new song from 30 years ago you had never heard before. This happened to me recently when I let the Spotify algo do its thing and bring me tracks that fit my sound profile. And here came a track I had never heard…. Within 30 seconds I looked down at my phone, took a screenshot, liked the track, and then pressed rewind. I had to run the track back because HOW DID I NEVER HEAR THIS SONG BEFORE???? Damn…. Here is The B.U.M.S. with “Elevation (Free My Mind)” off of their 1995 album, Lyfe ‘N’ Tyme.
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