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New music hand picked by The Rub, updated weekly! #TheRubSelects
New music hand picked by The Rub! #TheRubSelects
2018 was a great year for music when you line em up:
While everyone else is listening to shitty Christmas music or shittier Eminem music, we got you covered with That New New!
N.E.R.D. – NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES
When N.E.R.D. first released “In Search Of…” fifteen years ago, the Neptunes’ productions were all over hip-hop radio (Jay-Z, Nore, Kelis, Usher, etc etc etc), but Pharell wasn’t a star yet. Post-“Happy” and The Voice, his profile is a million times bigger, but that hasn’t had much of an effect on N.E.R.D.’s sound, which is as soulful and weird as ever. “No One Ever Really Dies” is definitely not for everyone, but even die hard rap heads will want to give it a listen for the features (Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, Gucci Mane, Future) you might be surprised! https://open.spotify.com/album/54OXaFd0PtGtAgauTmARkD
BROCKHAMPTON – SATURATION III
On the subject of weird rap shit, BROCKHAMPTON definitely fits that bill as well, and his new record is all over the place in the best way. https://open.spotify.com/album/5c2AzoNyr46fCQM5d8mxE0
Jeezy “American Dream” feat. Kendrick Lamar & J Cole
Less-Young Jeezy may not be at the peak of his powers, but he still has some heat on his album, and “American Dream” immediately jumped out at us. Listen to the whole record at https://open.spotify.com/album/4IJsz38bUJjUXkFBhU8icl
J HUS – Bouff Daddy (Dre Skull Remix feat. Popcaan)
“Bouff Daddy” sounds like some jail shit but thankfully it means something else in patois. Dre Skull brings his magic to this remix, with an infectious verse by Popcaan. https://open.spotify.com/album/4qNrQbpmzmWJxWyhF9m0B1
Listen to all of these and more from DJ Equal & Gyptian, Angelica Bess & Machinedrum on our TNN playlist:
We had some tracks lined up for today and then Brent Tactic sent four absolute heatrocks for consideration so we’re highlighting those instead! As always, you can stream these in our That New New Playlist at the bottom of this post, or click the links below for each individual track.
Statik’s the rare producer who has his roots in the MPC era of 90s rap but also has impeccable taste in new hip-hop, and his new album reflects that balance. The list of features is crazy, like a true school version of a DJ Khaled album: Run The Jewels, Raekwon, Action Bronson, 2 Chainz, G-Eazy, The Lox, really too many to list… Sean Price and Prodigy make appearances from beyond the grave, and Malice of The Clipse even comes out of retirement for a verse.
My god, this one is just gorgeous. Stwo is a French producer who found a home at OVO after coming to Noah “40” Shebib’s attention. We highly recommend digging into his catalog, especially “Neither Do I” ft. Jeremih, “Haunted,” and Drake’s “Western Road Flows,” which he coproduced. But back to “Over U,” the bassline reminds us of The Streets “Blinded By The Light” progression, but played on a layered sub / pretty synth combo, while UKG percussion shuffles along and R&B vocal samples bring on the feelings – but words can only do it so much justice, so the thing to do is listen right now.
Bekon sort of reminds us of Tuxedo, with classic 60s-style R&B harmonies, over a more contemporary, yet dreamy, sound pallet. A quick google reveals Bekon to be Dan Tannenbaum, who contributed to several tracks on Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. Maybe it’s because we’re listening on a freezing Monday morning, but “Cold As Ice” is more or less a perfect song.
What if there was a TLC tribute group that changed all the lyrics to be about marijuana, and they were called THC? Ravyn Lenae’s influences are probably more like Erykah Badu and Georgia Anne Muldrow with a little Santogold, that quirky weirdo R&B lane, but her love song to the sticky icky is just what the dispensary doctor ordered. The off-kilter beat is provided by Steve Lacy, another Kendrick Lamar colloborator (http://www.thefader.com/2017/04/14/steve-lacy-kendrick-lamars-damn-pride), and the youngest member of The Internet.
All these and more from OBillz, Sharon Jones, Big Sean & Metro Boomin:
Here’s a fairly odd pick for us, a bootleg of Darude’s Sandstorm, with a dark Jersey Club feel. It’s part of a free 23 track compilation from We Buy Gold – Trancework 2.0. We’ve never been big fans of trance, but some of these are really infectious, pairing up the candy rave arps with more aggressive basslines and drums, especially the footwork stuff. Other remixes to check out from the comp are Da Hool “Meet Her At The Love Parade” (Slick Shoota Remix) and ATB “9 PM (Till I Come)” (DJ Paypal Remix).
We’ve been beating the drum for Miguel’s album since he started dropping singles a few weeks back, and he’s just released the highly anticipated War & Leisure.
Z-Ro has a new album which sounds like his old albums, so if you’re into those, you’ll likely bump this.
Every week we scour the record bins for new music to share with you – it’s That New New! This morning we suffered through the entire Bjork album because we love you, and unless you’re into aimless singing about who knows what over a backdrop of seagulls and someone grunting, you’ll probably do best to skip it and and go straight to these gems:
We still love rappin’ ass rappers, and Fabolous & Jadakiss are two of the best ever. Friday On Elm Street (because Jada’s real name is Jason and Fabo starts with an F, I guess?) has a few clunkers, but also plenty of servicable bars over traditional NY beats. The song with Future feels forced, but overall we give it two claws up.
Frank Ocean has a gorgeous new single called “Provider,” and it has drums! Watch the lyric video above, or stream it here.
At this point either you love Burial or you don’t; his new one is a bit more housey than you’d expect. It’s called “Rodent” and you can listen to it here.
All this plus new music from Cassady Locke, Tory Lanez, and more:
Cam’ron’s legacy in rap is such that if he never released another song he would still be considered one of the greatest rap iconoclasts of all time. And while he will likely never top his epic run with Dipset from 2002-2006, he still drops good records (unlike, say, Eminem). Listening to him talk about selling drugs on Lenox Ave in the 90s is crack rap for dads. But he has bars, which may not be important to millenial rap fans but we can’t help smiling when he spits lines like
Baby turn around, yeah, you the one I called
Her friend said what you want?
I looked and said none of yall
Gold bottling
Hoes hollering
Funky fresh in the flesh
Dave Koresh
Cult following
A King Solomon, look at him
Not a thing bothers him
On the corner, chicken wing Gobbling
Cam always has one or two absurd samples on his shit, and on The Program it’s “Lean” (which uses a choral version of Bill Withers “Lean On Me”) and “Dime After Dime” (Cyndi Lauper “Time After Time”). On “Coleslaw” he dunks on Kanye, and… you know what, we usually don’t go long on these reviews, and we have other releases to talk about, so just listen to the tape!
Chromeo has a huge billboard in Times Square right now, so god knows they don’t need our help promoting their new single, but it’s undeniably great and jumped into the TNN playlist immediately upon release.
Jidenna, who had a massive hit with “Classic Man” last year, is back with a new EP called Boomerang. It’s real smooth, and it’s kind of hard to pick a favorite, though the title track is excellent.
Petit Biscuit is a Frenchman who makes very inoffensive house. His new record is Presence, and “Problems” featuring Lido has definitely earned a spot in The Rub warmup playlist.
Okay, look out for our new mix series launching tomorrow, and watch this space for more new music next week!
xo The Rub