A political statement that's been a long time coming for Vince...

To this point, Staples' music has largely been either introspective and personal, or focused on his community and hometown in Long Beach. However, if RAMONA PARK and SUMMERTIME '06 were Vince's GKMC, and the self-titled was his MR. MORALE, this is his TPAB—his thesis on the Black experience in the United States.

Like Kendrick, Vince is interested in the paradox of Blackness, where white America prizes ... read more

A slightly disappointing follow-up to THE SWORD & THE SOARING

TS&TS was my hip-hop album of the year in 2025, and that was in large part because it felt like the most lush and beautiful production Navy Blue had employed to date—mellow piano loops, tasteful strings, heavy jazz and soul influence, etc. It was some of the best drumless hip-hop had to offer.

While Sage's pen doesn't let up on SIR RENDER, the instrumentals here are unfortunately just plain boring and, at ... read more

Freddie rapping over a reggae sample flip? Sure, why the hell not.

Not just another 2020s hyperpop album...

Like Slayyyter's WGIA, Petras separates herself from the electropop crowd by venturing into 2000s electroclash, French house, industrial sounds, and Y2K aesthetics—plus the one random country pop song in the middle. Unfortunately, she doesn't quite lean into the noisy and alternative elements like Slayyyter. Paired with some pretty weak songwriting which I'd describe as "bad camp," and hooks which are more annoying than ... read more

JPEG proves that narcissism produces great art, but with diminishing returns.

Like his idol Ye, Peggy's production chops have always outpaced his abilities on the mic, and that's especially true here. Really creative sampling and layering, with instrumentals that foray into metal, EDM, gospel, digicore, glitch hop, industrial, and more. Fears that this would just be another rap rock album vis-à-vis ILDMLFY were ill-founded. However, as most have pointed out, his triplet flows ... read more

PluggnB's future looks bleak, but if the subgenre lasts, I think it has better to offer than Shine's most recent.

Surprising lack of emotional and lyrical depth for a "last day out" album, as the subject matter of every song is just lean, sex, repeat with no real deviations from the formula. Vocals also come across as incredibly grating, strained, and over-processed, even for genre standards. Production is solid—especially liked the "Forever" sample flip, ... read more

Dance along while Genesis puts racists, fascists, imperialists, and median American voters on blast—it's what he'd want.

Owusu's third album sees him trade his usual abstract messaging and conceptual focus for a direct, wide-ranging social critique. And that may just be more appropriate for our current moment. A fitting and funky hommage to our present.

Didn't dislike the teaser EP as much as some, but my god, there is just too much LUCKI in his full-length albums for them to be anything but totally boring and unengaging. He's desperately in need of either a new production team, more diverse delivery, or both.

What a waste of the renewed attention he's been getting this Earl album cycle.

These 3 albums, in a vacuum, would quite handily be one of the worst 3-album runs for any blockbuster musical act ever. But for Drake, it's just the icing on a shitscography cake he's been baking for the last decade.

History will probably view some of these post-Views albums a lot more favorably now in comparison to this trifecta of slop.

Jane Dilla pulls samples from just about every genre and every corner of the Internet to produce one of the craziest sound collages to date. Like Danny Brown and Britney Spears looping over Skrillex dubstep, Call of Duty soundbites, and "Milkshake" interpolations kind of crazy. Or 6 songs with "baby" in the title all sampled and mashed into the same track.

Can't tell if it's better suited for the club or the arcade, but further proof Jane is one of the most ... read more

Action Bronson just might not be for me, and I accepted that a long time ago.

Nevertheless, it feels hard to ignore that, even in one of his better releases in recent memory, the Queens rapper is still thoroughly overshadowed by his features.

Sprawling concept album which tries to tackle many expansive themes—patriarchy, fascism, capitalism, personal growth—but never really gives any of them due attention, quickly devolving into an Irish folkloric version of Wizard of Oz.

Also, though Tori has never been known for her brevity, ITOD's bloat is made painfully obvious by the fact it's opening and closing tracks are far and away its best, leaving listeners to slog through the remaining hour in between while trying ... read more

Ambitious concept album exploring the everyday depravity inspired by late-stage techno-capitalism, paired with an equally ambitious soundscape blending digicore, EBM, industrial, hip-hop and more.

Album is certainly at its best at its loudest & most chaotic, which it loses a little in the middle of the tracklist, but still a great LP.

In a time when even the most "conscious" rappers are complaining about income tax rates, projecting deep-seated homophobia, and remaining silent amidst genocide, KNEECAP continue to inject a radicalism back into the genre in a way that feels both fresh and true to hip-hop's historic roots.

Dropping your solo debut as a pre-teen is no easy feat—just ask Björk and Michael Jackson. And as far as quality goes, North's new EP isn't too far from the aforementioned musical greats.

Hopefully her impressive chops as a producer eventually extend to her talents as a rapper and vocalist.

Rashad returns and tackles his usual themes—substance abuse, relationships, fatherhood, fame—over his most lush and ambient production to date. In a year laden with underwhelming hip-hop returns and releases, Zay doesn't leave his fans much to complain about.

A "love letter" to R&B that was unfortunately returned to sender.

Though a commendable effort to pay homage to 2000s greats and R&B's classic sound, too often Kehlani is caught reproducing some of the most stale, boring trends from the genre's checkered past. Just nothing interesting here, either instrumentally or vocally.

Probably Blu & Exile at their weakest conceptually ("time" is quite overdone in the genre at this point), but more or less another solid release from one of hip-hop's most prolific and consistent rapper-producer tandems.

Jessie Ware stays firmly within, and masters the lane she carved for herself at the start of the decade. If Dua Lipa is the commercial face of the modern disco-pop revival, Ware is its proverbial backbone.

Laufey continues her quest to contort a once-radical Black genre into soulless Cheesecake Factory music—this time with 5 new songs. (Yes, I am the friend that's too woke.)