okay, yeah—it’s been a “slow” year for rap, particularly for the mainstream, but just as with any other so-called muted year post-internet, there’s so much more going on than meets the eye. you know how there’s always been at least one 11 year old in every friend group that wants to make a rap song? now there’s one in every crew that can actually make that song, make the visuals, upload it to all dsps and social media, and soft-launch a career as a content creator—all from their phone. so no, there is no such thing as “slow” anymore. it just comes down to how much time you have to shift through the ether, and how much effort the sweet nectar of discovery worth to you in 2025. but i get it. soon enough, you might just able to ask Alexa to invent you a rapper. it won’t matter how many instruments André picks up, you’ll be able to get a rap album out of him. soon enough.
im one to talk—I’ve historically been terrible at discovering new music. for mad long, id just take whatever others said was the good shit and then repurpose their efforts. at a certain point, i think i was consciously refusing to take the extra step of forming my own thoughts, afraid, i guess, of what I may enjoy in a vacuum. even these days, where I actively try to be more conscientious in my approach to finding & living with new music, I can very easily default into letting so-called “consensus” drive me. as if that’s even a thing these days!
there’s no such thing as the zeitgeist anymore, it’s all self-contained. which is probably why the drama of last year resonated so heavily with fans of all genres, even crossing over to those who only listen to podcasts or watch streamers or whatever. in the pursuit of consequentiality, it’s understandable that the now older guard of Kendrick, Cole, Drake etc. don’t really know how to move. be a technician, stir up drama, play the role of hitmaker, endear yourself to an audience—what does it matter? what does it get you? might as well pad the portfolio in the meantime. We all got publishing to sell, right?
I think a large part of this mainstream year’s vacuousness is definitely Playboi Carti’s fault. He dropped another masterpiece, and just like his only other peer, Youngboy Never Broke Again, he made it seem like both an anti-industry and a pop effort. The way they both seem to be at odds with the mainstream, and with older generations, yet so wildly, undeniably, popular, speaks to the current moment: it’s all inconsequential. we traded in the music video for the visualizer, the mixtape for the mixtape aesthetic. curiosity and investment in the youth, for myopic yesterlore.
anyways, some cool stuff came out of the Ab and Joey and Daylyt circlejerk. but it all felt played out before it started. it seems like all established acts are waiting for someone else to dictate the trend. UY SCUTI so so soon.
so, yeah, this year may feel slow in comparison to ‘24, as we all drift back to our corners of the algorithm, but I must push back against the narrative that there’s been nothing of note to drop this year. therefore, in protest, I’ve decided to share some of my favorite albums, songs, and new rappers I’ve discovered this year.
Albums:
Playboi Carti - MUSIC + SORRY 4 DA WAIT + the version I made without all the pop features
Niontay - Fada<3of$
skaiwater - #mia & pinkPrint & pinkPrint2
MIKE! - Showbiz! + JBL Music + Pinball 2
Pink Siifu - Black’!Antique
Rio Da Yung Og - RIO FREE + Something Happen
Vayda - VAYTRIX RELOADED & Put Your Clothes On EP
Bloody! - So Wavy Luciano
thirteendegrees °- Clique City Vol. 2
03 Greedo - 2025: THE STREETZ IS OVER WIIT & Album Inna Day
Lucy Bedroque - Unmusique
Youngboy Never Broke Again - More Leaks
lil2posh - Fiesta Boy + Hate Bein Sober (Deluxe)
Papo2oo4 x subjxct5 - WINNERTIME 2.0 & PAPOHOLIC VOL 1
Duwap Kaine - TRAPAHOLIC & One To Remember
Bruiser Wolf - POTLUCK
Percaso - FAST CAR MUSIC
B6 - Run Still Legendary
Key! - Eye Feel Free
1100 Himself - Janky K
Mac Miller - Ballonerism
Zaytoven - Trapper’s Paradise
Funny $money - SORRY I WAS TRAPPING
Lonnie Monae - 414Princess
Boofinese - Patriotic & Salute the Flag EP
OMB Peezy - Drifting Away
FearDorian - Leaving Home
Nino Paid - Love Me As I Am
Whyceg - Cegregation
Xavier Anthony - The XA Tape, Vøl 1
tdf - CULTURE
Zukenee - SLAYTANIC
9000 Rondae - Get Rich or Die Slidin
Sherriflazone - DMVP
Chicken P - LIT 4 EVER & Lights, Camera, Action
Lil Lik - 3702 Sherry Dr
Sk8star - REBELUTION EP
Diorvsyou - Untitled ep. 9
Baby Osamaa - SOME SONGS I OWE MY PEOPLE & Enjoy the Ride
Yung Bans - Before RR & REAL ROCKSTAR (B4RR)
Mog - FLASH MUSIC EP
YNW Bslime - Unforgettable
Vson - 202V
SlimeGetEm - GetEm
12Gauge - Live From Jason
Fly Anakin - (The) Forever Dream
Rico Nasty - LETHAL
Key Glock - Glockaveli
YhapoJJ - A New Genre 2
Glo - Perfect Pain
1300Saint - SAINT SEASON EP
2sdxrt3all - Ceg3all + deluxe + YN ANTHEM
Woodah - The Weight of Nothing
EA TJ - Discrete
Pig the Gemini - Lover Girl
Lil Double 0 - IOU1
Blue Bills & BNYX - Out the Blue
Lunchbox - L.B. Cooper
Songs:
(no order, and tried to keep it to only one song per artist - I’ll prolly have separate year end lists ranking songs for many of these kids, like I did for Baby Osamaa and LAZER DIM 700 last year)
untiljapan - “pyramidz (leak)”
Diorvsyou - “MØSHPIT (feat. Tezzus)”
New artists (and who put me on, if I can remember):
YoungThreat
Lil Trey (YSN)
Lisa G
Baby Fifty
Glorygirl2950 (Alphonse)
thirteendegrees ° (Alphonse)
Bloody!
Vson
Jpay
B6
Skrilla (listened last year but didn’t rly enjoy Zombies Love Kingston, tho I liked the way he rapped. Finally heard UNDERWORLD and it’s great + new singles are hard)
CeroP (junkiesrpeople sharing from da mill to Russia version w Lifeboy verses (which I still haven’t heard, not on streaming). For some reason he ripped the leaked demo version of version of untiljapan’s “pyramidz” and made his own blown-out mix of it—and I really loved it lol)
thr33 (tdf producer tape)
Diorvsyou (glock)
Tse e2 (gage)
Maajins (Alphonse)
Tezzus (Jemel)
diamond *
Southsidesilhouette (was familiar but never rly tapped in, glock)
Samosthated
Untiljapan
Lil Lik (zarathak23)
Stickz
Thirstyowe3K (Harley)
12Guage (old timers)
9000 Rondae
Glo (glock)
Zukenee (from thirteen’s tapes)
Vayda
Kenny Mason (BoltJames)
Mog
Lelo (Caleb)
FBLMANNY (whyceg tape)
iam3hard (whyceg tape)
Jripey (whyceg)
Zone1eriic (whyceg)
Babystaydown (whyceg tape)
LuhBrod7
Lil2posh
1100 Himself
Sleepinrelics
Nosaint (I think Glock tried to put me on but I ain’t peep at first? then heard “showmesum” on my own)
Zaan (heard on XA tape)
Rollin Thrax (heard on XA tape)
Lil Righteous (XA tape)
EA TJ (XA tape)
Reezy X (XA tape)
1100 Phats (XA tape)
Percaso
Boofinese (features w Reezy)
Kkanii - (feature w Reezy)
Lucy Bedroque (Max)
-sincerely cng
bonus: albums I been meaning to get to
billy woods - GOLLIWOG
Aesop Rock - Black Hole Superette
clipping. - Dead Channel Sky
1900rugrat - Porch 2 The Pent
Gunplay - Almost Free
Ralfy the Plug - OLD MAN RALFY
T.0wee - Billion Dollars Worth of Game
Nav - OMW2 REXDALE
Sada Baby - Bridge Kard Blessings & Black Tape N.W.O
Kevin Gates - I’m Him 2
Really Stashin - Stashin and Friends
AbgrLilCory - Act Broke Get Rich
G Herbo - Greatest Rapper Alive
Lil Tony - Born Again (Deluxe)
HavinMotion - F**k You Pay Me
Lil Dre6o - Break the Curse (Deluxe)
Zone1eriic & Hariroc - 4wtro2
Babystaydown - Chief 13
LuhBrod7 - Money Rue Of All Evil
Duwap Kaine - Down South Down 2 Earth, Klato: The Redemption, Hustle Ain’t Dead
Shredgang Mone - Pimp And A Gangsta, Vol. 1
This is so fire 🔥