This is the 7th extended play from Atlanta, Georgia rapper NDO D. Releasing his first couple EPs No Dayz Off & Hi 5 in 2022 respectively, he would go on to follow it up a year later with the Running Out of Time EP along with his debut mixtape Lord & the King Whor3 EP. Coming off his full-length debut Life After Death along with the Free YL EP & more recently the Bombsquad 4 Life EP back in August, he’s dropping YL5 a week after he announced it on his Twitter.
“Charlemagne” wastes no time bringing the 808s in the picture comparing all these fans talking to Breakfast Club co-host Charlemagne tha God while my personal favorite track “Calling the Hits” produced by Patrick Garza flexes that he’s the one calling shots now. “Ball” reaches the midway point talking about walking in the spot like a boss while “Pay 4 the Car” looks to turn this bitch into a party. “A$$hole” doesn’t shy away from admitting his wealth got him acting like a dick & “Rocket” ends the EP talks about sending rockets at those dissing his squad.
I didn’t mind the appearances NDO D made on “U.O.E.N.O.” off 9 Vicious’ 2nd mixtape Sedition or “Pray for Me” from 406ahmad’s latest album Life of Ahmad 3 within the past couple months, but I felt divided towards YL5 & that’s mainly because I was expecting more out of the production regardless him stepping up his songwriting & performances. If Patrick’s got more beats for him or maybe get Ahmad & Whyceg in the fold, then I think would get some of his finest material.
Twisted Teens are a slacker rock/alt-country duo from New Orleans, Louisiana consisting of lap steel guitarist RJ Santos alongside frontman Caspian Hollywell. Forming in 2024 & putting out a favorably received self-titled debut shortly afterwards, they would go on to follow it up with the sophomore effort Blame the Crown as well as the EU extended play in 2025 & even their last full-length Florida Water Blues earlier this summer. However, both teasers for their 4th studio LP & Sub Pop Records debut gave me the impression of the probability of them outdoing themselves.
The 2nd & final single “Stalks” blends alt-country, slacker rock, garage rock & punk blues for an intro reminiscent of the late Daniel Johnston mixed with King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard whereas the lead single “When We 1st Met” fuses slacker rock, garage rock, alt-country, cowpunk, power pop & punk blues sings about a couple doing everything together back when they initially got together.
“Be an Angel” moves forward embracing a garage rock vibe for a bittersweet look at a failed relationship while “Blue Rose” takes it back to their distinctive slacker rock sound so Caspian can sing about the relatable feeling of being replaced. “I Spend My Time Crying” takes a shot at fusing garage rock & country music admitting to holding anger towards a rowdy rider because it was easier than merely being sad prior to “Blue Flower” comes through with this minute long compositional interlude.
Meanwhile on the lo-fi “I Bring”, we have the Twisted Teens singing about buying a magic ring & giving it to someone prior to “Look in the Mirror” kickstarting the 2nd half using a lost romance as an illusion & telling an ex that they have to lie to themselves before even thinking of lying to Caspian. “Lock & Key” has a bit of a country twang to it telling the story of a man cooperating with law enforcement to help them take down a cartel while “Figure It Out” sings about hoping this woman will solve a problem without being told to do so.
“Armed with a Vision” nears closer towards the end of the album taking inspiration from Dinosaur Jr. pleading listeners to not let confusion determine the outcome of their everyday lives while “Every Flower” sings about the fact that we’re all flying in under the reaper & the time for our demise is closer than it ever was previously. “Darker the Night is the Brighter I See” concludes The Holy Cross Tigers bringing some acoustics in the picture for a creepy outro reminiscent of “Something in the Way” off Nirvana’s iconic sophomore effort Nevermind.
It hasn’t even been a few months since the Twisted Teens dropped Florida Water Blues & The Holy Cross Tigers has a real chance of comfortably joining Sunn O)))’s self-titled Sub Pop debut along with PISS’ recent debut you made me / skin on linen amongst the greatest music the Seattle indie label has to offer in 2026 with less than a couple months left. The loose breakup concept combined with the slacker rock, alt-country, garage punk, punk blues, cowpunk, garage rock & power pop production bringing every style they’ve explored full circle results in Caspian & RJ’s answer to Bob Dylan’s 15th album Blood on the Tracks.
This is the 5th extended play from Mitcham, London, England, United Kingdom singer/songwriter Ella Mai. Signing to DJ Mustard’s very own Interscope Records imprint 10 Summers Records over a decade ago. Her first few EPs Time as well as Change & Ready were all solid preludes ahead of her acclaimed eponymous full length debut, following up her sophomore effort Heart on My Sleeve with 3. Her 3rd album Do You Still Love Me? came out earlier this year & she’s dropping 3² to celebrate her birthday week.
“Favourite T-Shirt” produced by none other than DJ Mustard begins the 3-pack with a contemporary R&B intro singing about the father of her child Jayson Tatum while “Over & Over” bridges the 3 sequel admitting that she finds herself falling in love with Jayson all over again right when she feels like they’re through. “All I Know” sends off the EP incorporating some rich piano chords so she can sing about affection being the only thing she’s familiar with.
Do You Still Love Me? still remains the most intimate statement in Ella Mai’s entire discography so far considering that she gave the world her new outlook on the complexities of love & life altogether, but I don’t see myself coming back to 3² as much as it’s predecessor 24 months ago or even the new LP we got from her back in February & that’s primarily because it wouldn’t be much of surprise to find out if the 10 minutes of material here were originally intended for what we got 9 months earlier.
Atlanta, Georgia rapper RRoxket is back for his sophomore effort. Emerging in 2022 off his debut extended plays Rixhie Rixh & the full-length debut album R.I.P. RRoxket, he would go on to drop 3 more EPs Happy Birthday RRoxket as well as RRoxket Valentine and Red M&M ahead of his debut tape Red Ranger that was preluded by High School Flunky. He put out a fun self-titled effort on Black Friday 2024 after officially signing to Sony Music, coming off Rixhie Rixh II & Geek Monster to drop High School Flunky 2.
“Dork” begins with a dark plugg intro recalling a time in his life where he had a shootout on his mother’s porch whereas “Cali Weed” talks about having the feeling that the feds are tapped into him because of his mob ties. “Euphoria” has a more standard plugg vibe to it telling this girl she’ll be his honey bun if she stays down for him until “Planet Pilot” talks about young dudes touching the gat before the floss.
Continuing from there, “Pesos” cautions that it’ll take a bit of a lengthy amount of time to calm him down if anyone gets him rowdy leading into “Miami” atmospherically talking about his girl wanting some red bottoms as opposed to him desiring to stack his bread up. “Perkysex” obviously revolves around him popping percocets & fucking bitches over another plugg instrumental while “Fair” talks about his doctors advising him to lay off the meds.
“Player” reaches the midway point of High School Flunky 2 expressing his love for the Ben Franks & keeping a gun by his side while the pluggy “Cell Phones” talks about law enforcement wiretapping both of his mobile devices. “Royal Rumble” references the first of the WME Group-owned TKO Group Holdings division WWE’s big 5 pay-per-view events while “Anger” talks about calling up his shooter & so he can take a look at the new stick he bought.
My favorite track here would probably be “ATM” produced by Hariroc looking back at the days when he was broke laying on the cockroach infested floors of the trap house where he used to stay at & robbing people growing up but after “Tres Pills” asking himself why his cousin ended up betraying him along with calling out a middleman who’s acting like the plug over psychedelic synthesizers, “Picking Flowers” makes it clear that he isn’t the good guy.
“Cash Cow” gets closer towards the end talking about making a consistent amount of money whilst getting head while “Watermelon” brings these exuberant piano chords in the picture to talk about reaching an agreement for his girl to pull up & fuck. “Bad Habit” featuring B6 ends High School Flunky 2 with it’s only guest appearances, pairing both of them to discuss smoking gas out in the west coast & going cold turkey on the percs over some 808s & retro synth melodies.
Becoming the first rapper to ever graduate from Harvard University majoring in pharmaceutical beverage sciences & minoring in advanced financial display last month, it makes all the sense in the world for RRoxket to celebrate this monumental achievement than to drop a new full-length & one that I prefer more than the predecessor 11 months ago. However if he locked in with Hariroc for an entire collection of material whether it’s the next album or an EP or a mixtape, it could outdo everything he’s done previously.
Here we have the 3rd extended play from Louisville, Kentucky rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & actor Jack Harlow. Breaking through when the pandemic started off the single “What’s Poppin’?”, this resulted in DJ Drama & Don Cannon signing him to their Atlantic Recordsimprint Generation Now Entertainment as well as them putting out a mediocre full-length debut with That’s What They All Say that same winter & who could forget the arduous listen of a sophomore effort Come Home the Kids Miss You in 2023. Coming off Jackman. & Monica, he’s dropping off a sequel to Sweet Action.
“Signora” begins the EP sampling “Ideally Yours” by Ideal responding to a woman wondering why he’s acting so laid back whereas “Too Soon” shifts towards an acoustic trap vibe instrumentally to pose the question of whether or not it’s untimely for him to fuck another bitch. “She Gets Me” confesses that he’s been seeing another woman & feeling like she understands him better than his old chick did while “610 Magnolia” talks about wanting to show her who he really is.
The song “Hold Back” produced by Rogét Chahayed might have my favorite beat here because of the way he samples “Hold N’ Back” by Marques Houston even if bars like “I can tell you must think I just wanna paint your face, Cirque du Soleil” feel grossly tacky while “Pressure” flips “ego talkin’” by Saint Harison acknowledges his imperfections. “Move On” ruins “That Was Then” by Lalah Hathaway to end Sweet Action II wining over an ex-girlfriend.
It was pretty great seeing Jack Harlow getting clowned for the neo-soul direction Monica went for when he dropped it back in March & regardless of the pop rap elements from the original Sweet Action being retained, the trap influences being swapped out in favor of Monica’s neo-soul sound & contemporary R&B makes Sweet Action II feel like a collection of outtakes that were originally meant for his latest album whether it’s the obnoxious usage of R&B samples or Jack’s corny songwriting.
New Orleans, Louisiana rapper, songwriter & record executive Curren$y dropping his 25th LP a week after its announcement. Starting with No Limit Records in 2002, he would then hop over to Young Money Entertainment & Cash Money Records in 2006 & eventually branched out in 2008 with his own label Jet Life Recordings. The man has since made a name for himself by dropping a handful of projects every single year with my favorites including the Harry Fraud-produced Cigarette Boats, the Alchemist-produced Covert Coup, the prominently Ski Beatz produced Pilot Talk series, The Carrollton Heist, the Lex Luger produced Motivational Speech, the Statik Selektah-produced Gran Turismo & Continuance to name a small handful. Last time I covered Spitta was when he had So So Def Recordings founder Jermaine Dupri produce For Motivational Uses Only & Never Catch Us, heading Off to the Races over a year later.
“Colorblast” opens up with a smooth instrumental talking about having his passport & money on his fast car whereas the luxurious “White Linen Dinner” discusses people having their eye on everybody else’s bag. “The Telethon” featuring Rome Streetz works in an operatic vocal sample to put their foots on muhfuckas’ necks & after “Kamikaze Drive” admits to feeling alive again following the death of his friend, “Night Vision” featuring Wiz Khalifa talks about the the kind of scenery others dream of.
As for “Duffle 2 the Dealership”, we have Spitta discussing making a name for himself through his audio cocaine & the drug war while “Go So Fast” featuring Bruiser Wolf & Fendi P talks about their champagne being colder than the world. “Tightrope” moves on from there trying to take more than the average cut & once “Sound of the Rain” featuring Jazzy details their hunger for success, “Factory Settings” ends Off to the Races talking about people forgetting shit.
Coming off the Spiral Staircases & Roofless Records for Drop Tops collaborative projects he did with Larry June & Wiz Khalifa respectively, Curren$y runs it back with Harry Fraud to pick up exactly where they left off a year & a half ago flowing over the latter’s sample-heavy production enlisting only a select few guests in joining him to give us the typical stoner/luxury raps we’ve come to know him for clocking at almost a half hour.
Brand new sophomore effort from West Palm Beach, Florida rapper/producer vax. Someone who’s gone on to drop 8 extended plays since 2023 after beginning to make music at the age of 12 ranging from New Jazz to Forgive My Sins & Pyramid Scheme, with Is This You? following my personal favorite of the bunch Throne. Coming off #B4BlueDawn & the full-length debut Blue Dawn as well as the Steeze EP &B4VXN, the main course to the latter is finally ready to be served after several delays
“Hold Me Over” opens up with a hypertrap instrumental pleading for his bae to not switch up on him whereas the self-produced “Angel” kinda has some digicore undertones to it asking whether or not this woman can be honest with his love. “Obey” talks about doing whatever the individual he’s addressing wanted him to do without asking any questions while “Mob” lets Hostile handle the sole verse, painting imagery of the gangsta lifestyle.
Meanwhile on “Nation”, we have vax coming through with a 2-parter moonwalking like the late King of Pop Michael Jackson & aiming at heads leading into the rage-inducing “1 4 Ya” talking about getting money like he’s some sorta mad man. “Move Right” leans towards the digicore side of things again explaining that he can’t get up because he’s fried as fuck just before “Drop the Act” sends a clear message directed at people fakin’ the funk.
“Tearin’ Up” featuring Onyx77 kicks off the 2nd half of Vaxination realizing the ones who they were confident of being their soulmates not caring enough while “Correct” talks about having the ability to fuck your bitch by sending her a single text message. “Tajin” flexes how hot he is & his love for all bad bitches across the world regardless of skin color but after “Iconic” boasts his legendary status, “Take My Number” asks if this girl would be ok with having his digits.
Cochise saves my favorite guest appearance for last during “Eastside” representing the alligator state they call home while “Turn Off the World” interpolates “New Wave” by Sam Gellaitry when the hook comes around, yearning to cancel out everyone near his vicinity. “Luck” confesses the feeling of his fortune diminishing when it seems like he stumbled across a pot of gold & “End of the Day” sends off the album talking about walking away with his heart wrapped around a noose.
The averageness of B4VXN & Steeze sparked some concerns heading into Vaxination, but thankfully I’d put it above both of those EPs & behind Blue Dawn to claim the bragging rights of becoming my 2nd favorite thing vax has done all year. The production predominantly balances digicore & rage other than some secondary influences of pop rap although I feel like it’s not as cohesive as his debut was back in April.
Vallejo, California trio SOB x RBE consisting of Slimmy B, Yhung T.O. & DaBoii reuniting for their 4th studio LP. Catching wind of them in 2018 when “Paramedic!” became a personal highlight for me on the soundtrack for the near perfect Marvel film Black Panther, they quickly followed this up by releasing their first 2 albums with EMPIRE Distribution entitled GANGIN’ & GANGIN’ 2 even if both of them were incredibly average. Their 3rd extended play Family Not a Group produced by Hit-Boy under Def Jam Recordings to this day stands as my favorite thing they’ve done, reuniting 7 years after Strictly Only Brothers to drop From the Land.
The intro begins the group’s comeback talking about muhfuckas still being broke as they were when they initially split up whereas the lead single “10 Summers” reminds us exactly how long they’ve been doing this shit for. The title track talks about uppin’ B’s & throwin’ 3’s in what they call the City of Opportunity prior to the 3rd & final single “Someone” admitting to getting caught up in the field at night totin’ their rifles & looking for their enemies when searching for their soulmates.
“SOB Only” asks who can they call whenever either of them are alone & need somebody, fuckin’ with each other because the rest are bitches leading into “Her Loss” featuring Lil Bean & Lil Yee sampling “F.A.S. (Fine As Shit)” by Shelby Ruger talking about turning other hoes up. “Rock n Roll” instrumentally goes for a Mobb vibe keeping a Glock on them when they make money until “Honeypack” flips “Stay with Me” by DeBarge asking women to be theirs.
As for “Need It”, we have all 3 of them continuing the romantic themes incorporating some finger snaps & an airy backdrop accompanying them while “Clockwork” talks about showing muhfuckas how their Glocks work. “Red Eye” tropically assuring their partners that they don’t have to be shy & after “Birthday” talks about the type of women they need when they make their trip around the sun, the closer “What Came With It” ends From the Land breaking down everything that comes with their territory.
Many including myself didn’t think this day would ever come but now that it has, From the Land ranks amongst my biggest disappointments of 2026 & could go down as the weakest album in SOB x RBE’s entire discography. I’m very happy to hear DaBoii alongside Slimmy B & Yhung T.O. getting back together after focusing on their solo careers for the past 7 years although the production is nowhere near as exciting as Family Not a Group’s was.
Here we have the latest mixtape & 12th overall from Detroit, Michigan veteran Ty Farris. Emerging under the name T-Flame being featuring on a lot of projects throughout the mid-2000’s until the very end of the decade, it was at that point where he started to put out solo stuff at a prolific rate by dropping 11 mixtapes, all 11 of his previous albums & 4 EPs. Standouts include the Room 39 duology & the No Cosign Just Cocaine series, the Machacha-produced Malice at the Palace & the Graymatter produced Sounds That Never Left My Soul. Coming off Enigma with an Attitude as well as Timing of a Tarantula & the Apollo Brown-produced Run Toward the Monster, the Bars Over B.S. Records founder’s epiloguing the NCJC series with The Devil’s Dandruff.
After the “I’m Concerned Cuz It’s Nothing Wrong” intro, the opener “So Many Nights” recalls the times he avoided death in prison over a drumless piano loop whereas “Vainglorious” produced by Trox instrumentally goes for a trap vibe talking about his struggling leading him to glory. “Braid & Naps” shifts towards a boom bap direction flexing that he’s been trained to kill all snakes & snitches just before “I’ve Done You Wrong” talks about taking his time whenever he writes over a Futurewave beat.
“Paranoid by Design” admits to having deliberately irrational anxiousness over a Animoss instrumental while “Cold Shoulders” featuring Crimeapple eerily talks about it being them against the entire world. “Stop the Search” dustily explains that it’s either death or jail where he comes from & being a product of his turf while “The Fix” soulfully talks about getting paid after paving his own lane in addition to making it clear that his recipe at the same as everyone else’s.
Sebb Bash gets behind the boards during “Shook Sinatra’s Hand” explaining that a guy who doesn’t have a code of any sorts shouldn’t consider himself a man while “No Trepidation” talks about never running from smoke of any kind & assuring himself he won’t ever go back to not having any money. “Focus on the Profits” reunites with Apollo Brown discusses being built for the battle & conditioned for the way because he grew up in poverty while “Generational Run” featuring BLUEHILLBILL brings it hardcore together over more sampling techniques.
“What They Fiend’n Fo?” kinda has a bluesier flare to the beat talking about how they don’t make ‘em like him anymore while the bloodcurdling “Cleanse My Soul” speaks of being in the streets so much to the point where he considers it home. “Mental Therapy” talks about diving deep in his mind only for him to recover another page of his pain & “Searching for the Truth” sends off No Cosign Just Cocaine 6: The Devil’s Dandruff promising he ain’t going anywhere.
It’s already been a few years since No Cosign Just Cocaine 5: The Final Sniff ended the saga that changed Ty Farris’ entire life, so I completely understand why he took it back to 6 Mile & Davison where it all began 1 last time ahead of Run Toward the Monster’s anniversary next weekend. Even if my personal favorite installment of the saga would be the 4th one, I commend him for making sure this hour-long reflection of a man who got it out the mud without cutting any corners would be worth every penny.
This is the 11th studio LP from Boston, Massachusetts producer, DJ & radio personality Statik Selektah. Widely considered to be one of the most consistent & hard-working producers in all of hip hop for over a decade now whether it be his output as part of the producer/MC duo 1982 alongside fellow Boston native Termanology or entirely producing projects for the likes of Action Bronson & Paul Wall, even his 10 solo albums contain some outstanding material of their own ranging from Extended Play to #WhatGoesAround… & more recently Round Trip. He originally announced Expensive Taste to come out in January under his own label Showoff Records in tandem with Mass Appeal Records, but has finally dropped it 10 months later.
Ab-Soul, AZ, Boldy James & Bruiser Wolf all unite for the jazzy intro “Rose Tinted” talking about feeling like Hell despite Heaven being around the corner whereas “Generational” by Killer Mike, Styles P & 1982 kinda goes for a rap rock vibe so they can bring it hardcore. “Eye Shine” by Busta Rhymes, Nina Sky & Smif-n-Wessun brings everyone together to talk about glowing up prior to the 2nd single “Champagne Wishes” by Ab-Soul, Freddie Gibbs & Raekwon discussing their caviar dreams.
“No Time Soon” by 2 Chainz gives us another taste of what we can expect outta his upcoming 8th album Playaz Only Live Once arriving next month while the symphonic boom bap crossover “Growing Pains” by Joey Bada$$ talks about having no time to get caught up in the past. “Kings County” by M.O.P. & NEMS finds the trio aggressively representing the borough of Brooklyn just before “365” by Kai Ca$h, Paul Wall & Smoke DZA soulfully talks about what’s changed for them in the past year.
The Cool Kids, Jay Worthy & Rome Streetz all link up during “Real Player Baby” throwing jabs at those who can’t freestyle for shit while “Globetrotters” by Logic & Lørd Skø talks about their status traveling around the world over a soulful boom bap instrumental. “Good Vino” by Crimeapple & Monday Night kicks off the 2nd half detailing each of their luxurious preferences while “Choose Life” by G-Eazy talks knowing he had to flourish & grow.
“Is That You!” by Bruiser Wolf, Chris Crack & Wiki continues from there dissing the carbon copies of them for not being as fly as either of them while “Crown of Thorns” by Coyote & Dirty Sanchez ruggedly talks about people wanting their views now that they’ve climbed to the top. “Northside” by Northside Lord gives the Queens up-&-comer a couple minutes to show the world what he’s got over a piano-inflicted boom bap beat while “Tooth 4 Tooth” by Coyote, JFK, Lørd Skø, REKS, S.T.R.E.E.T. & UFO Fev references WWE Hall of Famer, former 3-time WWE Champion, 11-time WWE tag team champion, the inaugural WWE Hardcore Champion, CWA World Tag Team Champion & TNA World Champion Mick Foley.
Winding down the last leg of Expensive Taste, the song “I Tried” by Brother Tom Sos & Kota the Friend makes it clear how they’d rather sell dope in the streets instead of selling out while “Ain’t So Far” by Cordae jazzily talks about being up at 3am counting money & shooting shit in his backyard. “The Louvre” by Joey Bada$$, Rome Streetz & Westside Gunn speaks of flying their lovers out to Paris to hit the titular museum while “The Red Carpet” by Pharoahe Monch preceding the Hannibal Buress outro “Where Did the Shroom Guy Go?” ends the album connecting to what the culture says.
Thematically built around the idea where expensiveness doesn’t always deal in cost the quality of life you live, Statik Selektah makes up for the 10 month delay Expensive Taste suffered when the Legend Has It series was wrapping up with a full-length that feels as equally enjoyable as the one he put out a few years earlier. His soulful boom bap production gives room for every guest to provide their own perspective on the realities that come with success & ambition regardless of there being a few performers I could’ve done without.
