🎵 Music & Hip-Hop
- Zange by Bongeziwe Mabandla
- All Night (garage session) by Men I Trust
- Be My Summer by Snoh Aalegra
- I’ll Fly U Out by Leon Thomas, Lucky Daye
- You Left The Water Running by Maurice & Mac
- Good Ol' Days by Hayley Williams
- Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams
- ENGLISH PARTY by Nirosta Steel
- Vice City ft. Black Hippy by Jay Rock
- Actin' Up by CASISDEAD
- Sickle Walk by YHWH Nailgun
- Right Down the Line by Gerry Rafferty
- Whole House by PFG ft. J Cole
- Jasmine by Jai Paul
- Secrets by Micah Emrich
- Light My Candle from RENT
- Are You Looking Up —> Are You Looking Up Cover
- Dream Police —> Dream Police Cover
- Candy —> Candy Cover
- Little Bit More —> Little Bit More Cover
- Rylee and I —> Rylee and I Cover
- How Many Miles —> How Many Miles Cover
- I Want You by Marvin Gaye
- Thirst Trap by Audrey Hobert
- Doing Great by Jasimi
- Dopamine by Robyn
- Cry by Ashnikko ft. Grimes (Explicit)
- I’ll Try Anything Once by The Strokes
- I Eat by Tobe Nwigwe & Fat Nwigwe
- Wax Paper by Tierra Whack
- Valerie by Amy Winehouse
- Dangerous Game by Blue DeTiger
- Mk.gee - cz
- Samara Cyn - BUSHWICK ft. Ovrkast.
- Reneé Rapp - Good days (SZA Cover)
- Self Love - Metro Boomin x Coi Leray
- Give It To Me Baby - Rick James
- Don’t Look Any Further by Dennis Edwards
- Give Me The Night by George Benson
- Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover by Sophie B Hawkins
- Tom’s Diner by Susanna Vega
- Outstanding (Original 12" Remaster) by The Gap Band
- Unlearn
- Shoulda Never ft. Usher
- No Such Thing ft. Clipse (heck yeah)
- Still
- Sweet Nuthings ft. Leon Thomas
- On The Radar Freestyle by Remy Ma
- Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes by Pusha T
- Brooklyn Go Hard by Jay-Z ft. Santagold
- Two Words by Mos Def ft. Kanye West and Boys Choir of Harlem
- Crowns for Kings by Benny the Butcher ft. Black Thought
- The City by The Game ft. Kendrick Lamar
- Dopa(mine) by Joony
- Nesety Nafset by Nour
- I Believe In You by Kacy Hill ft. Francis and the Lights
- Waiting Room by Jenevieve ft. Jordan Ward
- OFG! by Mike Will Made-It ft. J Cole
- Meet Me At Our Spot (Live) by Willow
- The Light by Common
- Summer in the Ends by Juls
- oohshxt! by Samara Cyn
- Sinner by Samara Cyn
- Athlete by Spill Tab
- Don’t Huzzle For Love by Apostles
- I’m From The Bay by LaRussel ft Lil Jon (oh yeah)
- Set Adrift by PM Dawn
- KID AGAIN by Jon Bellion
- If You’re Free by 070 Shake
- B.R.A. Lost Control (J Cole Diss) by CyHi
🎵 Five beautiful (non-hiphop) song recs for everyone that I think are absolute gems (don’t sleep on these!):
🎵 Song’s I’ve been listening to:
Found the last song through this essay, which reminded me a little of my Jay-Z post.
🎵 Been listening to:
All 2026 recs here.
🎵 Stumbled across Jahson Paynter’s music for the first time this weekend and I am absolutely hooked. He reminds me so much of Frank Ocean and Dijon. If you’re a fan of them, you won’t regret giving these a listen:
Astonished that he hasn’t blown up yet.
🎵 A strange quirk of my personality is that I really like to listen to covers of songs that I already love. There is a sweetness in listening to people also enjoy the song and interact with it in a fresh or unique way. The early days of Youtube were full of singers and acoustic guitars players just jamming for the joy of the music. Therefore, I’ve decided to link live versions of my most listened to artist since last year along with some covers that I personally found delightful. Good intro to the amazing artist that is Mk.gee:
The entire Two Star and the Dream Police album is a masterpiece. Like if Prince, The Police, and Phil Collins/Peter Gabriel had a baby in the internet era. I hope New Jersey is so proud of him.
🎵 More music for ya headtops:
A strange mix, for sure…
🎵 Been listenin' to:
Full 2026 playlist here.
🎵 Last post for the week.
Seems like the recently leaked Kendrick Lamar track is legitimate. Not a fan of all of it, but crazy his cuts are still better than 90% of other rapper’s official releases. Not to mention I love that Dot is always experimenting.
I heard you got a big name, so what?
Turn a big mouth to a pop-tart
It’s either rock bottom or a rock-star
The hate and the love go side to side
The hate and the love go, side to side
♊️
🎵 Been listenin' to:
Very miscellaneous mix. Hearing Give It To Me reminds me of the Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince sample. Full 2026 playlist here.
🎉 I turned 30 today. Lots of thoughts about the topic forthcoming; but for today, all I want to do is remind the public of this banger from Jay-Z regarding the same topic.
I guess you can say that my legend just begun
I’m young enough to know the right car to buy
Yet grown enough not to put rims on it…
Thirty’s the new twenty, homie, I’m on fire still
(P.S. — production is fire because it’s by Dre. California’s finest.)
🎵 Drake dropped 3 new albums last night. I’m pretty biased, but I don’t think these projects will be enough to get him back on top. First songs on Iceman were promising but then got repetitive quick. He just isn’t having fun anymore—and it shows. Will comment more when I listen to everything though.
🎵 Some classic recs:
Is Outstanding one of the best songs ever? Essay on Tom’s Diner soon.
🎵 New Kehlani album is really good. A few skips, but still an instant purchase for me. Some favorite tracks for those wanting to listen:
RnB is on the up and up, y’all, and just in time.
✍️ Decoding Jay-Z’s Quadruple Entendre // bradley-andrews.com
There are very few pursuits that are more creative than hip-hop music, but it’s endlessly overlooked as an art form because of it’s urban roots. I just did a brief breakdown of one of my favorite rap verses (not even a full verse, actually, just four lines) to help prove my point. Let me know if you agree.
I father, I Brooklyn Dodger them.
I jack. I rob. I sin.
Aww man — I’m Jackie Robinson.
‘cept when I run base, I dodge the pen.
— Jay-Z, Brooklyn Go Hard
🎵 Hip-hop recs for the week, but only hard songs:
Not ready to forgive Kanye, but seeing him rap this version of the song always inspires me. You can see the hunger in him.
🎵 I can’t explain precisely why, but I firmly believe that Chicago by Sufjan Stevens is an Easter Song:
You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mind set
All things know, all things know
You had to find it
All things go, all things go
🎵 Listening To:
Notes—The Egyptian language in #2 is so beautiful & where was this energy from Cole during the beef?
🎵 Been listening to this week:
Just discovered Samara Cyn, but she is easily one of the most promising MC’s I’ve seen in a while. Her new project drops soon.
🎵 3 songs recommended/shown to me by friends this week:
Just a reminder that both my 2025 and my 2026 listens are public. They are disparate playlists, but you are guaranteed a few gems.
🎵 Been listening to this week:
There was a bonus track on the Baby Keem CD called “Tubi” that I wanted to share, but it doesn’t exist online. I had a link, then it got taken down… Sorry 🤷♂️ That’s the benefit of physical media though. Buy your music! Don’t rent!