Source: Adrienne Raquel / Courtesy 10 Summers / Interscope Records
1. Boldy James & Rich Gains ft. Jai Imani – Another Bando
Source:richgains
In early January of this year, Boldy James was involved in a serious two-car accident in the Detroit metropolitan area, which resulted in Boldy arriving at the hospital in critical condition, suffering from broken vertebrae in his neck and orthopedic injuries. Thankfully, Boldy has now been moved to a rehabilitation center where he is slowly recovering from the injuries he sustained. Boldy would like to thank his family, friends, and fans for the outpouring of support he has received over the last month and wants everyone to know he is making progress every day in his recovery.
Nearly two weeks after his traumatic accident, Boldy James released a new collaborative project with Rich Gains entitled Indiana Jones. Now, Boldy & Rich have released the first visual from the project “Another Bando,” which features Jai Imani.
2. Albee Al – Drumline
Source:albeeal201
To celebrate amassing 100k subscribers on YouTube, Albee Al treated his fans to a previously unreleased song “DRUMLINE”. The visual features Albee’s previous appearance on The Dr. Greenthumb Show where he discussed making music and his release from prison.
While the visual shows Albee having the time of his life in the interview and in the INSANE Dispensary weed lab, “DRUMLINE” focused on how Al’s at war with his cousin’s death. He raps about how passionate he is for his family and that he’ll do whatever it takes to “turn [his] opps into entrees”.
He also raps “Killed my cousin, wanted to break out… It’s crazy how shit played out. People say they love you and then it fade(s) out. Fresh home, I’m trying to stay out, but it’s a couple things I don’t play about…”
“DRUMLINE” has Al reflecting on the beauty of life and the pain that comes with it such as the death of a close one. Simultaneously, the pain in the beauty of life creates vulnerability for Al as he climbs to the mountaintop in the rap game.
3. Tyler Loyal – Back In Dat Mode
Source:tylerloyal
Explaining the song’s central message in a statement to the press, the Beantown native explains:
“I’ve been at my lowest, living off Cup Noodles and cold cut sandwiches. I’ve also been in the presence of financial freedom. Both experiences brought me to the same conclusion, I need to get rich. I made a promise to myself at 8 years old that I would be the one in my family to break the barrier and every day I live on this earth I’m trying to get myself closer to that end goal. This song is for the hustlers. It’s what it feels like to be fed up with your current state, get up and get to the bag.”
4. 2RARE – Rare’s Room
Source:2raree
Meeting overwhelming demand from fans worldwide, fast-rising Philadelphia rapper 2Rare officially reveals his new single “Rare’s Room” today via Second Estate / Warner Records.
He initially teased the track on TikTok, and the sound reacted in a big way. Inciting viral buzz, “Rare’s Room” has already soundtracked over 118K plus creates and 52M views in advance of its formal arrival.
Now, the full version lives up to the hype. The uptempo production integrates a rush of energy that accompanies Rare’s melodic delivery and immediately captivates.
It also notably lands in the wake of “Lil Mama.” In barely two months, the latter has already generated 490K Spotify streams and 2.2 million YouTube views on its music video. Right out of the gate, LA Weekly assured, “it’s just as sweet as it sounds,” and XXL named it one of “The 13 Best New Hip-Hop Songs This Week.”
Despite his brief time in the spotlight, 2Rare has shown himself as one of the best practitioners of urgent club rap. It’s so potent that other rappers are tapping into his energy, most recently Lil Uzi Vert in his “I Just Wanna Rock Video,” which Rare is prominently featured in, and previously Drake featured him in his “Sticky” video. “Q-Pid,” his smash collab with Lil Durk, reveals just how adept 2Rare is at merging street rap with more playful sounds. It’s no question that 2Rare ispoised to make his potent, pliable club songs the soundtrack for 2023 and beyond.
5. Jay-Way – Love Me, Love Me Not
Source:jaywaythealien
“Love Me, Love Me Not” is Jay-Way’s first single in 2023 after releasing multiple “loosies” in 2022. A mix of rap, R&B, and melodic pop textures, “Love Me, Love Me Not” is a celebration of Jay-Way’s achievements as an internationally acclaimed hip-hop star and the years of hard work that went into that success. Produced by D-Hood, the single boasts “melodic vocals” celebrated by VIBE. Jay-Way’s forthcoming album Island, Forgotten is due out later this year.
6. SAINt JHN – You Laughed At Me & Overstimulated
Source:saintjhn
SAINt JHN is all gas and no breaks this year! Following his recent collaborative single “Stadiums” with London On Da Track (which is also going to be a part of the official Super Bowl Gatorade commercial next Sunday), he dropped not one, but 2 singles called “Overstimulated” and “You Laughed at Me”.
7. Ella Mai – Heart On My Sleeve (Deluxe)
Source:ellamai
The deluxe version of Ella Mai’s Heart On My Sleeve (10 Summers/Interscope Records) is now available on all streaming platforms. The expanded album includes three new tracks: “2 O’Clock,” “This Is,” and “Our Song.” Keeping it in the family, “This Is” is produced by Mustard, while “2 O’Clock” is produced by Kaytranda and “Our Song” is produced by Khristopher Riddick-Tynes of The Rascals.
Fans can watch an intimate musical performance featuring two of the new tracks and an exclusive interview from Ella via GREY GOOSE x GRAMMYs: Sound Sessions on YouTube. Ella is up for her 4th GRAMMY nomination at this year’s awards for Traditional R&B Performance for her collaboration on Babyface’s “Keeps On Fallin.” Last week, the official North America Heart On My Sleeve Tour tickets went on sale via Ella’s website here.
“I’ve held on to these songs for so long so it feels really good to finally put them out into the world,” says Mai. “This was my first time working with Khris outside of The Rascals but I think people will be surprised when they hear the song provided by Kaytranada. It’s not his typical sound and it was fun to watch him tap into a different element. And with Mustard, this is what we do best!”
In 2018 Ella Mai’s first single “Boo’d Up” broke the record for the most weeks at No. 1 of any song by a woman on the R&B/Hip-Hop Billboard Airplay chart and is now RIAA-Certified 7x Platinum. Her follow-up single, the 5x-Platinum “Trip,” peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and her debut album, Ella Mai, has almost 6 billion streams and is 2x Platinum. In addition to her chart-topping domination and success, Ella Mai has won a number of awards, including her first GRAMMY for Best R&B Song, 3 Billboard Music Awards including the coveted Top R&B Artist, 3 iHeartRadio awards including R&B Artist of the Year, 3 Soul Train Awards, an NAACP Image Award, and a BET Viewers Choice Award.
