This year has been a ripper. Lots of new artist and plenty of releases from artist I already loved. In no particular order here just ten of my favorites. Bonus: scroll to the bottom for the Rap Shit 2025 playlist, it’s a good batch this year.
Ovrkast. – Small Talk
Young Nudy – Iced Tea
Freddie Gibbs – Nobody Like You
Westside Gunn, Doechii – EGYPT (Remix)
LaRussell – AM I MUSTY?
Larry June, 2 Chainz & The Alchemist – Bad Choices
A second Aesop album in 2025, sure I’m game. From what I can tell it might be solo produced by him with no features, which was not the case for the album that came out in May. I spun this thing all last weekend. Cruising in the car, windows down, with autumn weather in the air. It matched the vibe, easy listening, but complex beats and vocals. Worthy of adding a song or two to the annual playlist.
I heard about Speed and Turnstile in the same conversation on the side of a soccer field with two Dads. I started listening to both with regularity, but as mentioned saw them both live back in September. Speed was great. Gallons of energy. But they were a bit hamstrung by the venue. Barriers to segment the crowd, a little too much sky and space. If they returned to Richmond in a smaller venue, I’d bet they’d tear the place apart. Plus they have a flute!
We got to see Turnstile live with our youngest back in late September. Killer show. They were great, but so were Blood Orange and Speed. In the aftermath of new music and genres that the 13 year old wanted to explore we kept running into Locked Shut. Enough so that this 2024 album now rotates regularly through the speakers.
Young Nudy has been a name circling the music I listen to for a few years now. The features hit, but there weren’t many solo songs that popped for me. His feature of Little Foot Big Foot is a perfect example from last year. Well, 2025 might be the year for some more solo appreciation, his new record is solid.
I grew up in a house where my Mom listened to whatever was popular on the radio and my Dad was playing a mix of classical Arabic and Motown. My memories of specific artist and songs on the Arabic side is hazy. Umm Kulthum is an artist that stands out, but most all of it is characterized by a specific sound^ that is imprinted on my mind.
In the late 90’s when rap started sampling the genre, it was a very specific cheat code that get me onboard early. Jay Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’ epitomizes that era, but it and a lot of other songs rode that wave for a few years.
Big Pimpin’ heavily sampled Abdel Halim Hafez’s ‘Khosara’. Well it was actually not sampled, but re-recorded. Water and a $100K lawsuit under the bridge later and the original is still the better song.
This topic all came rushing back to me with the Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out earlier this year. Specifically the track ‘So Be It’ where Pharrell sampled Talal Maddah’s ‘Maza Akoulou’.
^ That sound comes from the oud (pair shaped lute), ney (end blown flute), and darbuka (goblet drum) to name just a few.
The past 3-4 months has been a crazy run for new music: Freddie, Tyler, Wet Leg, Turnstile, Clipse, Amine, Ovrkast, & Aesop Rock. The album release cup runneth over. I won’t say that JID’s latest book ends that, because honestly let’s keep it going. But if it did, what a high note to go out on. Like Freddie Gibbs, JID is just going to bring the bars every time. All you need is killer production to match him. A tall order, but God Does Like Ugly manages to pull it off.
I didn’t see a new Tyler album dropping less than a year after 2024’s excellent Chromakopia. Yet another curveball along his musical evolution. A dance music inspired rap record is right up my alley. See everything Amine has been doing since 2020. Lastly, the Clipse and Lebron in the same music video, while Tyler does his best Jamiroquai, is really playing to my old head tendencies.
Wet Leg was a Mike pick on the podcast way back in 2021. It resonated with me and got caught in my ear for the rest of the year and beyond. Their sophomore album just dropped they’ve caught the same and some new lightning in the bottle all over again. As a bonus they showed up on Tiny Desk the and killed it.
Early in 2024 I got the bug to return to the punk and hardcore genre’s of my youth. While on that journey I got recommendations from a like minded crowd that never left. Turnstile came from a soccer parent and shot to the top of my non-rap listening list. Then in June they dropped NEVER ENOUGH and in September I am seeing them live. Can’t wait!
180 Lunches 