Every year, we’re told that hip-hop is in crisis. But if you ask us, it feels like there’s too much heat to keep up with. What’s lost on the chart-watchers lamenting rap’s mainstream lull is that the coolest part about being a hip-hop fan has always been crate-digging. Now more than ever, with how splintered the genre has become, you gotta take the time and scavenge for what aligns with your taste.
Every internet in-group and regional hub has its own X-factor: you have DMV acts like Dragnutz (yes, Dragnutz) meshing deadpan stoicism with chest-caving EDM; Philly oddballs like tovi turning drill nightmares inside-out; mavericks across the Atlantic like Klein and Rooster tugging heartstrings with coarse textures; and of course the new-gen hitmakers like YoungBoy and Monaleo kicking in the doors. Here are Pitchfork’s 40 best rap songs of 2025.
Check out all of Pitchfork’s 2025 wrap-up coverage here.
Lil Baby / Young Thug: “Superman”
When Wham (Lil Baby’s government-mandated nickname) isn’t too busy playing dice games with Veeze and James Harden, he can still make shit pop, you just have to dig deep into his leaked archives. Here, for the first time in a few years, Wham recaptures the balance of goofy punchlines and scarred melodies that gave the deluxe edition of My Turn its juice by feeding off the energy of an absolutely batshit Young Thug (I refuse to call him Spider) verse. Thug, in the same cry-for-help mode he was in during his Big Bank interview, wallows about Gunna breaking his heart and being separated from YSL Duke, all while sounding like he’s auditioning to do voice work for an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It’s incredibly silly and deeply hurt at the same time. If Uy Scuti struck this chord, it would have been a classic. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Lil Baby / Young Thug, “Superman”
Bktherula: “party on u”
For the past two years or so, I’ve been talking my homies’ ears off about the majesty of Devstacks beats. “party on u,” a Dev-produced Charli xcx rework for Bktherula, makes me feel vindicated. Here, Bk’s gossamer cadence is the best complement to Dev’s production. Her vocals drift on the fluttery synth that swells as the bass whirs. “I walk in, they notice me/See it, you can’t unsee,” boasts Bk, still one of the coolest rap girls in Atlanta. “I put engines in these bitches back like Odunsi.” It’s the type of opening that makes you hit rewind before you even get to the next bar. Someone lock this duo in the studio ’til an album gets turned in. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: Bktherula, “party on u”
TeeboFG: “PAIN IS A VIRTUE FREESTYLE”
Rewinding the clock to the days of grainy SBTV freestyles and beat-swiping mixtapes, TeeboFG honors road rap tradition with outlandish block stories. He’s out here cutting deals with a “Turk yute,” ordering neighborhood beatdowns with the flick of a finger, and punking dudes with soccer analogies: “In this ting, I’m Man U, you niggas Fenerbahçe,” he banters, over an old Sid Roams instrumental, immortalized in the UK by a Giggs rip. It’s homage that not only goes crazy, but also makes the hyper-specific roots of this UK rap wave undeniable. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: TeeboFG, “PAIN IS A VIRTUE FREESTYLE”
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tovi: “how (interlude)”
Nah, you don’t have pool water in your ears. Nah, you don’t need to order a new pair of headphones. tovi, for whatever reason, just likes to fade out his vocals so heavily that it sounds like he’s rapping from inside that uncharted cave full of mutant humans in The Descent. The guy is the ultimate weirdo of the Philly rap scene, which is saying a lot because you also have Mr. 67 and dudes running around with googly-eyed dog masks down there. You would think he would rap like Frankenstein playing off a phone you dropped in the ocean to get on his ominous horrorcore shit, but nope, buried past the fuzz is the classic nobody-believed-in-me rap that has been hot in Philly since Meek had fuzzy braids. Insane choices all around. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: tovi, “how (interlude)”
nasir: “show and tell”
The woozy plugg melancholia of nasir’s “show and tell” depicts a relationship on the brink of collapse: drunken tug-of-wars and desperate “I love you”s; flashes of hubris and indictments of character. This is the hedgehog’s dilemma via chinapoet and 444jet’s delicate, brooding synthplay. “I don’t cry enough/She gon’ call my bluff,” nasir murmurs, endearingly raw and painfully honest. This bite-sized ballad cuts so deep that I DMed nasir after he archived it asking him to re-upload it. Closed mouths don’t get fed! –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: nasir, “show and tell”
Mike Mike: “Shake It” [ft. Yonaa]
The conversational soap operas of Mike Mike and Yonaa have been holding down the Milwaukee lowend scene. In comparison to “I Got Something for You,” where they play a beefing couple threatening to lace the other’s hookah with fentanyl and frame the other for murder, “Shake It” is a lot more fun and chill. Still, as the signature 414 area handclaps go off, they go in and out of confrontation, as Mike Mike double checks his tricking budget and Yonaa clowns on his pockets and dick size. They need a Tubi sitcom. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Mike Mike / Yonaa, “Shake It”
Bassvictim: “Dog Tag freestyle”
What’s rainbow-tinted, rambling, and real as hell? The answer: “Dog Tag freestyle,” but I’ll also accept Instagram Create mode, because that’s probably where Maria Manow wrote it. The Bassvictim track, like the first couple of IG story slides during a bar crawl, is sober at first: glitchy E-drums crunch like leaves; a frail synth emanates from the distance, like hearing the nightclub from a block away. (The weather: frigid. The Uber home: expensive.) But when those synths get more fried, the glitchiness melts away, and that slurry singsong becomes a drunken, glorious shout. –Samuel Hyland
Listen: Bassvictim, “Dog Tag freestyle”
dolo2000: “storybook”
In less than two minutes, Inglewood crooner dolo2000 proves how much beauty can be found in the ordinary. The lyrics to “storybook” read like epistolary free-writing, a cluster of half-asleep Notes app gems. As quickly as his drowsy lilt lends itself to gloom, dolo pivots to light anecdotes that make you smile: hoop runs at LA Fitness, cross-country plane rides, visits from friends. Thanks in part to a dreamy plugg arrangement from magi, moments that typically get lost in the periphery become heartfelt. “Seen you in a nice nightgown and you snoring/Wash my hair again, but it’s dry from the chlorine,” dolo sings, tying up a track that isn’t precious despite its mundanity, but because of it. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: dolo2000, “storybook”
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JT: “Ran Out” (DJ Frisco954 Fast Mix)
What an experience it is to hear South Florida’s all-pervading DJ Frisco run JT’s squeaky shit-talking through his high-speed machine. Ben10k’s beat for the original “Ran Out” already could soundtrack a night of debauchery—the jumpy 808s, the sinister arpeggiated melody lead—so when Frisco juices it up, I almost want to put my hand in a cash register at the nearest convenience store. This is anti-Klarna, pro-money spread music of the highest caliber. –Rae-Aila Crumble
Listen: JT, “Ran Out” (DJ Frisco954 Fast Mix)
Nef the Pharaoh: “D.O.A.” [ft. Magic4zz & ISAAC5]
Ten years since Nef the Pharaoh slid his way into Bay Area hip-hop lore with “Big Tymin,” he’s passing down the Mac Dre vibes to the young boys coming out of Vallejo. Cliqued up with ST4’s Magic4zz and ISAAC5, Nef has a ball getting off puns about his baldy and getting the guys to soften their Northern California-style drill into a laid back slap. The guru-mentor combination is too smooth, like when Chris Paul was on the Spurs teaching Stephon Castle how to throw it into the post. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Nef the Pharoah, “D.O.A.” [ft. Magic4zz & ISAAC5]
Kurious: “BX G Funk”
Sometimes all it takes is an unexpected call from a distant family member or opening up a yellowing photo album to send me on a trip down memory lane. What gets Kurious going on “BX G Funk” is a cruise along Soundview Avenue in the Bronx, which spurs a meeting of memories (bumping The Fearless Four and the Cold Crush Brothers in the ’80s) and present day realities. Backed by Mono En Stereo’s gentle, synthy West Coast groove, Kurious doesn’t see the old days with rose-tinted glasses, nor is he overly cranky about remote Zoom classes and keyless doors. Time is passing, it’s just the way it is. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Kurious, “BX G Funk”
Aspen Kartier: “Free Clout” [ft. Lady Binladen]
Aspen Kartier and Lady Binladen’s “Free Clout” sounds like it should only be played off an iPhone speaker on the back of a CTA bus burning a path through the West Side. With a hilarious callout intro lambasting the vultures around their city’s culture that echoes the grizzled lead in on G Herbo and Lil Bibby’s “Kill Shit,” the new age Chicago drill stars recapture the feeling of the OG generation. As the 808s move at the pace of an evil footwork jam, Binladen and Kartier race through visceral threats about tapping jaws and uncomfortably personal disses like they’re trying to rack up five stars on GTA. By the time it ends, with the duo’s dismissive bars rattling around in your ears, you find yourself grateful to not be on the receiving end of their vitriol. —Matthew Ritchie
Listen: Aspen Kartier, “Free Clout” [ft. Lady Binladen]
penelope*: “coochie dance”
Somewhere in between T-Pain’s googly-eyed effervescence and Vampire Weekend’s wistful charm is one of the strangest, funniest, most essential songs of the year. “coochie dance,” by penelope*, is five minutes of horny Atlanta bass through the jovial lens of Obama-era art pop. The NYC-via-ATL rapper makes a night at the strip club seem like a cotton-candied escapade at the carnival. “I ain’t just lookin’/I’m throoowin’ my baaands,” penelope* sings, and I can practically see the hearts busting out of his pupils. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: penelope*, “coochie dance”
Cuzzos: “MOESHA”
Three boos, two boyfriends, and one baby daddy would be a disaster for anyone but the Cuzzos. The Los Angeles rap quintet turn their dilemma into a banger that sounds made for yiking in somebody’s dark living room kickback. It’s a roster of men that only compares to the deep bench of the sitcom princess in the title, Moesha—really solidifying the collective as their self-given moniker, Ms. Niggas. –Nia Coats
Listen: Cuzzos, “MOESHA”
Monaleo: “Putting Ya Dine”
Monaleo’s “Putting Ya Dine,” the standout single from Who Did the Body?, is full of life, delivering brainiac wordplay through a Johnny Dang smile. Authenticity is her sport, so she annihilates the second verse by volleying five ways of rhyming “for real.” She’s a frontrunner among her peers, young women whose rhymes reigned supreme this summer. But she gives respect as much as she demands it, showing love to newcomer BunnaB and Screwston royalty Bun B. The irresistible chorus summons you to join the Southern gothic belle’s procession. Real fans know the dress code is pink. –Tatiana Lee Rodriguez
Listen: Monaleo, “Putting Ya Dine”
Dragnutz: “Believe it or not”
Send your most idiosyncratic beats to Dragnutz’s inbox—Charli xcx flips, StepTeam hijinks—and they’ll be spun into free car madness. Dragnutz is part of a recent wave of DMV rappers who draw as much inspiration from Goonew as the recurring characters in the Hyperpop Daily universe. “Believe it or not,” produced by SJR, the hottest producer in the area, pits Frou Frou’s ethereal textures against Dragnutz’s menace, while spammed SFX and frequency modulations throw everything off its axis. Harmony is overrated. –Serge Selenou
Listen: Dragnutz, “Believe it or not”
BunnaB: “It’s Me”
Taking from every corner of 2000s Atlanta, BunnaB sounds like the girl sticking her tongue out at the mean girls at recess. On “It’s Me,” this incredibly catchy jingle that would have been everyone’s ringtone in ’08, she doesn’t just diss these girls but sounds disappointed in their life choices. Thankfully, that doesn’t turn into respectability politics—just a stomp-out of bullies and fake friends the Atlanta way. –Jayson Buford
Listen: BunnaB, “It’s Me”
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Rooster: “Best Friend?”
“I got a best friend,” Rooster deadpans, over and over again, as if trying to conjure one in the mirror. As a musician, Rooster (aka Gud, the Stockholm producer of Sad Boys fame), specializes in a sort of psychic worldbuilding, constructing dusty rooms then stumbling through the scaffolding. Every time the question mark in “Best Friend?” is invoked it sounds increasingly urgent, like when meaning dissolves from repetition: I got a best friend. I got a best friend. He got a best friend. The twitching synth pads congeal like thick haze, and when he falls silent, the solitude is suffocating. –Samuel Hyland
Listen: Rooster, “Best Friend?”
AKAI SOLO: “Peace to the Heavens!”
The marriage between AKAI SOLO’s nimble soliloquies and the jazzy flute rhythm (Bobbi Humphrey would be proud) of “Peace to the Heavens!” was the perfect backdrop to my bike rides across Brooklyn as the trees changed from green to warm oranges and amber. AKAI’s rapping—purposeful and delightfully staccato, as he drops philosophical nuggets about mental fortitude in the face of disillusionment—acts like a pace car to help you reach the finish line. Keep pedaling. —Matthew Ritchie
Listen: AKAI SOLO, “Peace to the Heavens!”
Sturdyyoungin: “RESPECTFULLY”
Conspiracy: Sturdyyoungin is an agent of Big Bottle Service, because I swear that whenever I hear one of his Philly club joints it’s about upping your tab at the bar. On “Respectfully,” he even twists the chanted hook of New Orleans bounce staple “Choppa Style” from “Choppa style, chop-chop choppa style” into “Shot o’clock shot shot shot o’clock,” which if played on the right night would definitely get me to order a round for the table that I would regret the next day. But I probably wouldn’t even be all that mad because the way Sturdyyoungin has perfected his madcap union of club-rap silliness and bounce tempos is irresistible. What the hell, bring out the shots. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Sturdyyoungin, “RESPECTFULLY”
demahjiae: “all I could ask for…”
demahjiae is tired of being the underdog. He’s been grinding in the Bay Area rap scene, feeling like he’s on the brink of wider recognition for years, and the hip-hop world is still sleeping on him. “all i could ask for…” is a relatable vent session; with a little more bounce than usual, the hunger bursts out of him with every demand for his props, because in case you didn’t know already, they’re due. –Nia Coats
Listen: demahjiae, “all I could ask for…”
Zel: “store run”
In our self-imposed surveillance state, most people can’t attract attention without poppin’ shit on social media. Maryland recluse Zel, who barely has a digital footprint past SoundCloud, is not most people. “store run,” produced by aghast and myrlu, makes this immediately clear. If the doleful mist that clung to prime Slowdive derived from paranoia instead of heartbreak, it would feel like this beat. Zel wields free car music like the prodigal son who was once raised a purist—the punch-ins are beyond sharp. Rhyme schemes become secondary to dog-eat-dog dogma. Prayer mats lie next to heavy artillery; smoke billows from parked whips; backstabbers get cut first. Some moments are too raw for an IG story post. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: Zel, “store run”
MexikoDro: “No Date”
At one point, MexikoDro was the future of Atlanta rap, but now, he’s content to just kick it. Nearing 30 and with his plugg innovator days largely behind him, so much of “No Date” is an ode to being stable, having a bed to lay your head and a kitchen to stack mils and make meals. “I be on my own grass, I ain’t got no rivalry,” he says in his gravelly deadpan, sounding more relieved than bothered. –Dylan Green
Listen: MexikoDro, “No Date”
Klein: “rich dad poor dad”
There’s only a few lines on “rich dad poor dad,” but they sting like your neck after the barber splashes you with alcohol. In unhurried rap-speak, Klein punctures the noise-driven mystique of her last few albums with a peek under the hood. “What do you see when you look at me?” asks the South Londoner, the distorted fuzz making it sound like she’s on a phone call by the ocean. Personal and universal at the same time, it’s the kind of question you don’t always want the answer to. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Klein, “rich dad poor dad”
Niontay: “Top da top”
The way Niontay uses deft, sneakily hilarious punchlines to glide through “Top da top” is something like a campaigning politician. “Yakman overseas, still in the trenches like a gentrifier,” he says of the housing crisis. He addresses our lopsided school system, too: “Lil dawgy can’t read, but come artillery, he educated.” In all seriousness, there aren’t many rappers who can make gemstones out of clichés like Niontay. Add that to his deployment of his native Florida lingo and the way his muddy flow locks into WTFOMARI!’s string stabs, and now we got a real hit on our hands. “I’ma make a pussy nigga hate me like I’m Randy Orton,” Tay quips halfway through. Good thing I ran with The Viper on Smackdown vs. Raw. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: Niontay, “Top da top”
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YoungBoy Never Broke Again: “BossManeDlow (TOP MIX)”
YoungBoy’s imperial march through the doors of mainstream hip-hop is cemented with “BossManeDlow (Top Mix).” The jolting track bridges the gap between his Louisiana gumbo—Mystikal’s surging legato, Cash Money’s bounce, Kevin Gates’s agony—and early Atlanta trap, strapping a rocket to T.I.’s “24’s.” Under control and unbothered, YoungBoy swats away cornball NLE The Great disses with subliminals that remind me of the way Jay-Z used to quiet down the chirping of the peanut gallery by acting like it was below him to even engage with fools. Five years ago I would have never imagined such a cool and calm YoungBoy; it must be the freedom of life as a superstar. –Jayson Buford
Listen: YoungBoy Never Broke Again, “BossManeDlow (TOP MIX)”
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OnlyHeaven: “My Heart”
Splitting the difference between sweet and toxic, OnlyHeaven brings the relationship anxieties of Summer Walker and Mariah The Scientist records to New Orleans bounce. “My Heart,” the smoothest track off her KISS EP, gets at the compromised emotional position you put yourself in when falling hard. Some might deal with the possibility of unreciprocated feelings with therapy and communication, but Heaven goes about it by dragging her man around by his ear and shielding him from other women like he’s ’01 Morris Chestnut or some shit. “My nigga ride for me/My nigga slide for me/And if it come down he even much die for me,” she claims, though I’m unsure if those would be his exact words. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: OnlyHeaven, “My Heart”
YMC Ant: “Block Flow” [ft. DanLeveledUp & YMC Backz]
In a fairly quiet year for the Baltimore rap scene, the YMC collective administered a jolt of energy into the city every time they dropped. That was mainly due to the group’s electrifying posse cuts that chronicle the process of working hard for a buck, celebrating your wins in dramatic fashion, and inspiring the neighborhood. “Block Flow” fine-tunes the formula, with YMC Ant, Backz, and DanLeveledUp finding their lane somewhere in between the space of blue collar Baton Rouge melodies and Philly flexing. It’s the perfect motivation for going on an intense money run. –Lawrence Burney
Listen: YMC Ant, “Block Flow” [ft. DanLeveledUp & YMC Backz]
Tezzus: “Cardinal”
Atlanta hip-hop arsonist Tezzus usually comes in a package deal with his homie diamond*, but the best work from his solo tape TEZZUS KHRIST gives him a case for rookie of the year. The pyrotechnics of “Cardinal” showcase his elastic, freewheeling theatricality. Backed by a rage beat from 1dnnny and Beanieboyy, Tezzus’ cadence is strained and urgent; he oscillates between toothy glee and fang-bearing aggression in the blink of an eye. It’s like he has to draw blood on some Eren Yeager shit to get in that mode. No matter how goofy a bar comes across (“I just went poured up some lean with my white friends!”), I’m always left on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the next one. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: Tezzus, “Cardinal”
fakemink: “Music and Me”
“Music And Me” reminds me of the relaxed verses Nines laid down in his effortless “Fire In The Booth” freestyle. This is the fakemink blueprint. Not vague Tumblr moodboards, not “UK jerk,” but the elegance and precision of road rap’s sharpest pens. This influence gives fakemink’s music a comforting clarity amidst the blurry bomb site of his generation of internet rap. Even when he’s rapping on a colossal ok beat, he uses the near ambience—something Kid Cudi might’ve crooned over in the “blog era”—to grapple with temptations blocking his path: “Would you ever trade your life for desire?” It’s probably changing some kid’s life as I write this. –Mano Sundaresan
Listen: fakemink, “Music and Me”
Miimii KDS: “Sé Miimii” [ft. DJ Skycee]
For all its lavish attention to human anatomy, Miimii KDS’s hyperspeed, hyper-sexed bouyon anthem “Sé Miimii” sounds like an alien dispatch from hyperspace. DJ Skycee’s dizzying production hits like a bolt of retro-future-shock, stacking whirling-dervish beats before summoning a keyboard solo that never fails to knock me out, a laser beam to the dopamine center. Fluent in the Dominican power bouyon offshoot known as nasty business, Miimii commands the enterprise with sing-speak vocals that operate on a strictly single-entendre basis, dispensing with innuendo to directly address the question on her suitor’s hips. In the year since 1T1’s “Bouwey” drew the world’s gaze to a rich, algorithm-invading seam of Afro Creole carnival music, “Sé Miimii” stands as an open invitation to the rest of the universe to join the dancefloor. –Jazz Monroe
Listen: Miimii KDS, “Sé Miimii” [ft. DJ Skycee]
xaviersobased: “uncomfy” [ft. OsamaSon]
xaviersobased pulls OsamaSon away from his chaotic Auto-Tune cries to swag out. For students of internet rap, it’s a World’s Finest-level crossover, where Lil O puts on his best poker face for his haters, while xavier skates at high speed toward professional rapper benchmarks–a major label debut, a national tour, meeting Eastern European MILFs–and the frustrations of that life. Backdropped by xav and nurse’s fuzz pedals, blown-out 808s, and jerk clicks, it’s a celebration of how far their anarchist energy has come. It ain’t easy being young and turnt. –Oba Awolowo
Listen: xaviersobased, “uncomfy” [ft. OsamaSon]
ivvys: “madoka”
All year, my SoundCloud feed has been full of StepTeam type beats, but none of them capture the surreal, wobbly bounce of the real thing. Drawing a little inspiration from the ballistic footwork grooves of DJ L and the dreaminess of Pi’erre Bourne, the production clique—composed of Maajins, sxprano, and ivvys—has pioneered a glitchy, intricate beatmaking style that takes a hacksaw to the standard patterns of rap percussion. ivvys’ self-produced “Madoka” (with co-production from jxyrust) is the best example of that; while he plays around with Lunchbox-ish vocal bursts, the crashing drums jolt and jerk like ivvys was using the stick shift in an arcade racing game. It’s the exact kind of offbalanced, brain-altering track that makes you wonder about all of the rap beat possibilities we have yet to think of. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: ivvys, “madoka”
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Babyfxce E: “PTP (Remix)” [ft. Monaleo]
When it comes to the club rap of Flint and Houston, foul-mouthed punchlines are tradition. Carrying that torch for their respective cities are Babyfxce E and Monaleo, two of the hardest rappers of the year, who, on the remix of “PTP,” are throwing filthy fastballs. With E, the hilarity comes from how casual he is about everything, shrugging off losing his girl and weaving in slickly comic dance steps. Meanwhile, Leo’s intensity bleeds comedy out of getting head and goofy wordplay: “Bitches wanna scissor with the top dog, TDE.” Wrapped inside of a clap-heavy twerk anthem, their situational punchline cracks would have been shutting down clubs across the country if we lived in a better world. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Babyfxce E, “PTP (Remix)” [ft. Monaleo]
Playboi Carti: “OPM BABI”
You can plunge your head in ice water or you can listen to “OPM BABI.” This is the logical conclusion of bowling ball 808s and the baby voice, of bass-boosting and bag-chasing, of goth chaos agents shaping modern rap and soundtracking our rotten feeds, spamming gunshot sounds like they figured out the unlimited ammo glitch. This is the high-water mark of Atlanta retrofuturism, of creeping into the red and finding sacred scrolls on DatPiff. He really is the music. –Mano Sundaresan
Listen: Playboi Carti, “OPM BABI”
Dav1d: “MAT1NGCALL”
What’s ironic about all this hype surrounding UK rap in London and Liverpool is that Britain’s coolest new rapper is actually tucked in Wakefield. But instead of pleading my case about Dav1d being overlooked, I’m just gonna leave you with “MAT1NGCALL,” a corrosive, subterranean banger I still can’t wrap my head around. The crash landing of Chase Alex’s beat summons one face-scrunching moment after another: bungee cord synths, lush hand drums, Dav1d’s quivering melodies. As the production mutates, Dav1d channels lust, trauma, and existentialism into sizzling streaks of Auto-Tune. There isn’t another rap song this year that sounds more like the future. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: Dav1d, “MAT1NGCALL”
509 BMG: “Special Request to All Nice and Decent Real Niggaz (Stop Hatin)”
The internet’s ephemeral phrase of the moment seems to be “flow state,” so lemme show you what that really looks like: Eleven-and-a-half minutes of Orlando trash-talker 509 BMG sliding through shape-shifting dancehall beats. Atop flowery marimbas and mesmeric rhythms, BMG lets plosives and punchlines detonate like molotovs. Yeah, maybe the breezy, carefree production invokes pool parties at golden hour and daiquiris on the beach, but BMG tackles each arrangement like he woke up pissed off: “These crackas act like I’m a dumbass, I’m a easy target,” he spits with vitriol. “Always tryna talk between the lines, hiding behind the jargon.” Last time a zoe ran it up like this, he almost won the Heisman. –Olivier Lafontant
Listen: 509 BMG, “Special Request to All Nice and Decent Real Niggaz (Stop Hatin)”
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Fly Anakin: “My N*gga” [ft. Quelle Chris, $ilkMoney, and Big Kahuna OG]
Sorry to the boys of Michigan, but Fly Anakin and crew have the posse cut belt. The whole team shows out on “My N*gga,” like they’re in the last few minutes of the NBA All-Star Game. First up is human tornado $ilkMoney, laying down a pointillistic stream of words that are like if De La had the bad attitude of a ’80s wrestling manager. Next up to the plate is Big Kahuna OG, juggling affirmations and the absurd: “I’m at a casting call for Belly 3.” (He’d definitely do better than The Game in Belly 2.) Then, Anakin comes through with a fly verse of his own, as heavy on jokes as chest-beating. Bridging it all together is a Quelle Chris hook that oozes style, touching up his “My nigga”s with so much sentimentality that the whole track turns into a warm ode to Black kinship. –Alphonse Pierre
Listen: Fly Anakin, “My N*gga” [ft. Quelle Chris, $ilkMoney, and Big Kahuna OG]
Pluto / YKNiece: “Whim Whamiee”
My favorite comment buried in the recesses of the official video for Pluto and YKNiece’s smash hit reads as follows: “I play this when the homies ain’t around,” punctuated with various laughing and shrugging emojis, and driven home with four flames to boot. Winning over insecure men is just a sliver of the addictive power “Whim Whamiee” holds. The duo bounds alongside an inspired OJ Da Juiceman flip, spitting with delirium about putting their men in Lululemon, letting the Draco sing with reckless abandon, and throwing it in dudes’ faces without a second thought. The bars are magnetic quotables on their own, but it’s Pluto and YKNiece’s chemistry swirling in the background that cemented the Atlanta anthem as song of the summer: the endless stream of ad-libs leaves phrases that stick in your hippocampus like you’re the Manchurian Candidate. Fellas, play this when the homies are around—it’s OK, we’re all doing it. –Matthew Ritchie
Listen: Pluto / YKNiece, “Whim Whamiee”
Nino Paid: “Tomorrow Will Be Better”
Some of the best songwriting you’ll hear feels like peering into rooms not meant for you, indulging in chats between people who don’t know you’re listening. When you’re venting to someone you trust, or someone you’ve got a bone to pick with, all that filtering you do without realizing goes out the window. Nino Paid’s “Tomorrow Will be Better” threads together vestiges of these private convos like he spent a day with a wire on his chest.
Over KJMadeIt’s sturdy kicks, acoustic plucks, and that distinctive DMV bell, the MVP of PG County locks eyes with his loved ones and enemies: “You gotta change yo’ life/And if you ain’t gon’ do it for you, nigga, do it for me,” he spits, like he’s tryna get his cousin off the streets. Elsewhere, Nino dubs his old girl and imparts wisdom on a kid from around the way; he confides in a friend about his relationship with his pops; he tells another one how proud he is of them. At certain points I picture him addressing himself in the mirror. In a time marred by digital fabrication and distorted personas, “Tomorrow Will be Better” makes honesty seem as cool as it is necessary. It’s no coincidence that Nino Paid also hails from arguably the most exciting hotbed for rap in the country right now. This is the free-flowing, free associative spirit of modern hip-hop in its purest form. –Olivier Lafontant