Ghanan emcee Recognize Ali dropping his 20th solo LP & the 2nd of 2026. This guy has been a dominant force in the underground from his vast discography of LPs, mixtapes & EPs within the last decade or so to the stellar feature performances that he’s provided for numerous artists. Some standouts in his ever-growing catalog to me personally include the Giallo Point-produced Back 2 Mecca, the Stu Bangas-produced Guerrilla Dynasty trilogy & the Bronze Nazareth-produced Season of the 7 to only name a few. Coming off Back to M3cca & the DJ D-Styles-produced All Shall Perish, he’s having Giallo fully produce Mantequilla.
“Risky Business” begins with this aggressive boom bap instrumental explaining his deadly tendencies that come out whenever the pin’s pulled out whereas “Russian Roulette with a Loaded Tech” talks about doing his thing & leaving it at that. “Criminal Kind (Violent by Design)” discusses him being the type of person who’d break the law over this cinematically raw beat while “Defy Death” talks about leaving anyone who tries him in a hearse.
Tru Trilla’s appearance on “Danger Zone” was ok despite the eerie boom bap sound & cautionary tone to the lyrics while the drumless title track after a skit hypnotizes audiences with his maddening flow. “Mic’s I Smoke” turns up the grittiness so he can boast his proficiency while “A King’s Ladder” talks about bringing out a bazooka when the beats matter of a piano flip. “These Streets” featuring Tru Trilla finds the 2 decently looking to split the wigs of those enter their home turf while “Meet Your Maker” was an enjoyably jazzy outro.
Both albums we’ve gotten from Recognize Ali so far almost halfway through the year have been enjoyable, but I could potentially see myself leaning towards Mantequilla a bit more since he & Giallo Point always kill it whenever they together for a project. Despite neither of Tru Trilla’s guest appearances doing much for me personally, I’ll always appreciate the completely raw flavor that the Greenfield Music founder & one of my favorite UK producers always deliver.
Brand new extended play & the 9th overall from Seattle, Washington up-&-coming rapper & producer Tayo. Originally starting under the moniker ByeTayo, he started on SoundCloud close around Halloween 2021 off his first few EPs Crash on Purpose as well as Inside Voices & PM the following year. He would later go on applying pressure with couple more EPs in wintr & a sequel to PM, coming off Thank You Tayo taking himself to newer levels both artistically & personally on both Bye & Goodbye. The latter of which is the most refined he’s ever sounded, returning 6 months later to end the trilogy Bye began & Goodbye bridged with Farewell.
“rainbow 6 2” begins with an enjoyable plugg sequel to a Bye highlight nearly 13 months earlier whereas “proud of you” hops over a more upbeat instrumental to tell his bae how happy he is for her & watching himself on YouTube smoking weed. “window” incorporates another blissful plugg beat encouraging someone flexing on their own to do the same thing to these hoes while “cancer” talks about not believing this woman who wants him back.
As for “3am”, we have Tayo turning up the plugg influences so he can tell his lover that he’ll be right here waiting for her while “bailey” produced by Pi’erre Bourne tells his lover to show her patience for him. After a sequel to the Tooly? interlude, “burn” featuring Tooly? finds the 2 talking about each of their pockets staying crowed & the closer “thing about it” sends off Farewell with a 2 minute outro admitting that he gets high out of nervousness.
I may have not loved Farewell as much as I did Goodbye last fall, but I still believe that Tayo’s one of the most interesting plugg artists I’ve heard within the past couple years & would consider this to be on par with Bye around this time 12 months earlier. His knack for catchy songwriting has changed & it’s still rooted in plugg & pluggnb stylistically, although I’d like to hear him working with producers in that vein who I’m a fan of like SOULJASPIRITS or Ayelavish! for example.
New surprise mixtape & the CBFW Records debut from Detroit, Michigan rapper Veeze. Emerging back in 2019 off the strength of his debut extended play Navy Wavy, he would go on to blow up in the summer of 2023 after dropping his full-length debut Ganger under Warner Records. He has since spent the last few years making guest appearances for several projects & felt like Y’all Won only announced 24 hours prior through social media would cement Veeze as the greatest signing on the entire CBFW roster.
“Tesla Pill” begins with a cloudy trap instrumental talking about him not hanging it up until he becomes a billionaire whereas “Wrong Place, Wrong Time” embraces the Detroit sound so he can discuss keeping it lit for the city. “Bruce Wayne Coupe” talks about how there should be 1,000 people kissing his ring considering people take a lot from him just before “Malice in the Palace” sticks out as a favorite from the Taurus beat to the boastful lyrics.
Meanwhile on the significantly darker “New Clothes”, we have Veeze detailing him being rich without any problems prior to another highlight track explaining that he doesn’t talk about “Old Shit” & tana producing a cloudy instrumental that I’d consider to be amongst Y’all Won’s strongest. “Listen to Me” describes giving advice to bosses over this soulful trap beat while “Still Grinding” talks about this shit historically being in his blood.
“IDK” winds down the last act of the tape observing that the reason all these muhfuckas are broke is simply because they don’t have any aura & his main bitch being unapproachable while “Birdman” compares himself to the Cash Money Records co-founder of the same name way he stunts in addition to staying around shottas whenever he’s in the hood. The outro “Lose It All Today” takes up the last 4 minutes hopping over a sped-up vocal sample talking about making bands flip.
Ganger already made it pretty clear that Veeze ranks amongst the 2020’s finest Detroit trap artists alongside the likes of Lelo & Y’all Won marks Veeze’s comeback with a respectable half hour letting the world know what makes him more appealing than Rylo Rodriguez or Lil Dann & Noodah05. Not even gonna mention EST G & 42 Dugg because they’re both on CMG too, but I respect that he held it down without any guests even if some of the production could be better.
England, United Kingdom boom bap, political hip hop & ragga duo Babylon Dead consisting of Bristol emcee Jman alongside London producer Illinformed reuniting for their 3rd LP. These guys initially got together for The Mould Tape’s outro “Gettin’ Mouldly” & signed to the Glastonbury, Somerset imprint Real Life Drama Records for their full-length debut 2000 B.D. near the end of 2017. Last we heard from them was the 2020 sophomore effort Book of the Dead, returning once more for Death Upon Dem almost a week after the Slater Dojo & Leyton Buzzard respectively became the new RPW British Tag Team Champions & RPW British Cruiserweight Champion.
“Crash & Burn” begins with this cold blooded boom bap beat talking about destroying the whole system whereas “Real Badman” goes for a jazzier vibe instrumentally explaining that the legitimate are the ones busting shots. “How Yuh Mean” works in some vibraphones so Jman talk about the authorities wanting his people incarcerated leading into Illinformed embracing a darker boom bap sound so they can figure out who they’re trying to “Flex On”.
As for “Out Here”, we have Wyatt Earp appearing to diss the government along with them talking about burning up some weed because they’re struggling to breathe outside while “Bare Burial” after the “Covered in Blood” interlude nears the halfway point of Death Upon Dem on some ghostly boom bap vibes putting us inside the shoes of a mortician. “Buss a Shot” turns up the grittiness talking about shooting at corrupt officers while “Run” almost has this horrorcore quality to it surprisingly.
“Chant Down” after the “Seen” interlude winds down the last moments of the album promising that the revolution will in fact be televised this time while “Gully” rawly blends the sounds of ragga & boom bap for a hardcore hip hop anthem. “Redrum” has a ghostly yet dusty tone to it so they can quench for blood while “Anarchy & Chaos” sends it all off with an empowering rap rock outro suiting for a rebellion asking how high to raise the death toll.
It’s no secret that the world’s been in absolute shambles for the past 16 months, so Jman & Illinformed felt that it was only right for both of them to recapture the politically-charged boom bap/ragga fusions that Babylon Dead became known for in a time where we needed Death Upon Dem now more than ever for the people. Almost a decade since their debut, the subject matter they’ve always tackled directly over Illinformed’s jazzy boom bap production still feels relevant as it did 9 years ago except they only have 1 feature rather than a few.
GILLtemper is an east coast underground hip hop duo consisting of Millville, New Jersey rapper & producer Gibby Stites alongside Trevose, Pennsylvania rapper ILLtemper. Both of whom have already made themselves known whether it be Gibby briefly signing to Majik Ninja Entertainment in 2021 or the other being 1/2 of the Even Heathens, making his Lyrikal Snuff Productionz debut last fall with Paxil Rose. However after linking up on songs like “MayNeedAxe” or “April Showers”, they’re linking up for an eponymous extended play.
After the intro, “Save Us” begins with an opener produced by Gibby where he hooks up a gospel sample & both of them are pleading to be saved whereas “Lost Puppy” takes a more darker approach talking about darkness constantly following them. “Doing Fine” works in some pianos & strings to explain that nobody’s gonna get in either of their way leading into “Violence” ending the 1st leg talking about the enjoyment they get outta watching brutality unfold.
“Song” begins the 2nd half by being intentionally unserious for 3 minutes over an orchestral boom bap beat even if I’d say it’s my least favorite track here, but then “Cruise Dread” gives off a summery vibe instrumentally talking about a murder mystery on a boat. “Misogyny” asks themselves what kind of rappers they’d be without bringing up prejudice against women & “Manic” concludes with a boom bap outro feeling like they don’t have much left.
Excluding both remixes & the intro, I’d say that GILLtemper feels more like an EP than a full-length LP although I very much appreciate what both Gibby Stites & ILLtemper were trying to do blending humor & stealth-horror with hip hop over the course of their self-titled debut. There are a couple moments I don’t see myself revisiting especially like “Song” or “Misogyny”, but I do enjoy a great bulk of the production & each performer compliments one another.
Here we have the 6th solo LP from Baltimore, Maryland emcee, singer, producer & visionary JPEGMAFIA. Breaking out a decade ago with the release of his full-length debut Black Ben Carson, it wouldn’t be until the man’s next 2 albums Veteran &All My Heroes are Cornballs where he would reveal himself as one of the most creative minds in hip hop today. The 8-track EP, it’s follow-up with almost all newly recorded material, LP!, the Danny Brown collab effort Scaring the Hoes & I Lay Down My Life for You each had moments of their own despite Experimental Rap’s length worrying me.
The self-produced “babygirl” after the “投影の芸術” intro begins with this hardcore trap metal single referencing 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, 14-time WWE world champion, 5-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 3-time WWE tag team champion & the WME Group-owned TKO Group Holdings division’s CCO Triple H whereas “Burning Hammer” references former 10-time AJPWタッグチームチャンピオン, 3-time AJPW三冠ヘビー級チャンピオン, GHCヘビー級チャンピオン, GHCハードコアチャンピオン & 2-time GHCタッグチームチャンピオン 小橋 建太’s finisher.
“$” combines brostep tearout, hardcore hip hop, experimental hip hop, jersey club rap, industrial hip hop, deconstructed club, hybrid trap & riddim talking about the love he has for his own wealth while “Pop this Heat” samples both “The Way” by Ariana Grande featuring the late Mac Miller & “A Little Bit of Love” by Brenda Russell to discuss the game being so soft. “Meet the Dealers” featuring DATPIFFMAFIA links up for a 2-parter about them telling who ain’t ever been to war in their lives based on how they act.
We have Peggy going at the throats of people who be running to the internet soon as shit happens to them during “headline but once “Degenerate Prayer” flips “Frankie Teardrop” by Suicide to talk about scrapping the plates if anyone who touches his paper, “Shake Your Booty” by Bunny Sigler gets sampled during “The Ghost of Emmett Till” making a reference to WWE Hall of Famer, former WWE Champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion, 3-time WWE Tag Team Champion, 17-time WWE Hardcore Champion & current English color commentator for their Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) subsidiary JBL.
“Since I Met Ye” chops up “Mr. Big” by 8Ball & MJG so Peggy can respond to the backlash he got after producing some tracks for ¥$’ debut albumVultures alongside it’s sequel while “¥” combines industrial hip hop, glitch hop, glitch, epic collage, hardcore hip hop & deconstructed clubhouse referencing the inaugural 2-time AEW World Trios Champions The Elite. “G.Y.B.B. (Get Your Bitch Back)” on the other hand goes for a more soulful boom bap vibe talking about being nothing like those in the streets.
2-time WWE Hall of Famer, former 16-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, 6-time WWE United States Champion, 6-time WWE tag team champion & 9-time NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair gets referenced on “Tsar Bomba” to end the 1st half while “Mask On” talks about robbing people. “Lights” after the “His Will” interlude however references WWE Hall of Famer, former SMW Tag Team Champion, 3-time WWE world champion, 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 12-time WWE tag team champion & WWE Hardcore Champion Kane.
“New Era” gives off a more laidback atmosphere talking about people wanting to dismiss him for coming to the game with a plan while “War Over Land” after the “1 Day It’ll All Be Over” interlude fuses conscious hip hop, urban contemporary gospel, glam rock, rap rock & drumless explains how possessive he can be. “Bridges on Fire” soulfully talks about him trying to make it through the night while “No Strippers in Heaven” includes a bar referring to the inaugural 4th Rope World Tag Team Champions & current 2-time HoG Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz.
After the “內戰” interlude, “Chat” experiments with a pluggier sound even though the “free Derek Chauvin” line when the hook comes around doesn’t sit with me right & the final song “The 1st Amendment” preceding the “You will always lose money chasing women, but you will never lose women chasing money” outro spends Experimental Rap’s final minutes talking about Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk being killed last fall.
Being a fan of JPEGMAFIA for almost 8 & a half years already, it’s been disappointing to see him go from giving us classics like Veteran & All My Heroes are Cornballs to beefing with artists that I’ve been a fan of longer than him like Armand Hammer or Earl Sweatshirt & Freddie Gibbs. That said: I’m sure it would surprise people to hear me say I’m more on the fence with Experimental Rap than a lot of his previous output. His experimentally industrial hip hop taking additional inspiration from riddim, brostep, glitch hop, rap rock, rap metal & deconstructed club is tastefully mixed even if the hardcore lyricism can be repetitive.
Another extended play & the 8th overall from Detroit, Michigan rapper Lelo. Signing to 10K Projects a couple years ago, he would make his presence known more widely in the local trap scene by putting out his 4th EP Nightingale not too long after landing a record deal & gained even more exposure a month later by dropping the single “No Contempt” on SoundCloud. LifeAfterDogshit along with When It’s Over & New Detroit would further increase his profile, coming off Mastiff earlier this month to drop Pink Tiles.
The self-produced “Mo Betta” hooks up a sped-up vocal sample to talk about turning a bitch out whereas “Get Geeked” experiments with Detroit techno to speak of getting no sleep during the weekends. “White Russian” take a more soulful approach instrumentally to discuss hustlers receiving no love while “End of the World” suggests to worry about tonight over a pluggier beat. “All I Want” embraces a dancier sound talking about making this woman feel good & “I Just Wanna” ends by admitting he wants to fuck.
I respect Mastiff’s counterpart being more musically fun than it’s was 2 weeks earlier experimenting with secondary influences of Detroit techno as well as ghettohouse & juke, but I’m admittedly on the fence with Pink Tiles since I wouldn’t put it in the same ranks as the predecessor or New Detroit & When It’s Over. His performances & songwriting both validate him as one of the best Detroit trap artists in recent memory even if the production can feel repetitive, certainly doing more justice for dance music than Drake’s 10th album Maid of Honour tried to do.
GRPPLNG is a punk band from Detroit, Michigan founded by former DPW World’s Tag Team Champions, GCW World Tag Team Champions, IWGPジュニアヘビー級チャンピオン, 新日本プロレス 強力オープンウェイト タッグチームチャンピオン, ROH World Tag Team Champions, 3-time TNA World Tag Team Champions & WWE Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns. The full lineup however includes drummer Adam Tatro, guitarist Chris Plumb, guitarist Adam Cline, former TNA World Champion & record 10-time TNA X Division Champion Chris Sabin playing bass and lastly former TNA World Champion & TNA X Division Champion Alex Shelley performing lead vocals. However ahead of Alex & Chris signing to AEW in a couple months, they’re dropping off a debut extended play.
“Hovering” finds Alex singing about cutting his gateway drugs into 2 with all the things he does over pop punk instrumentation while “Held Out” reaches the midway point of H’s All Around pleading to let him move along. Hollowed” kicks off the 2nd half of the EP singing about being laid to rest in the graveyard of Alex’s dreams & the closing track “Hellbound” spends the final minutes suggesting for an ex to claim a spot with the bereaved if she breaks up with him.
The Motor City Machine Guns were already apart of another band called The High Crusade with former 2-time TNA X Division Champion Petey Williams back in the late 2000s so this isn’t really anything entirely new for them, but H’s All Arounddoesn’t sound anything like It’s Not What You Think even I prefer the latter. GRPPLNG eschews the alt-rock style of The High Crusade’s only album in favor of embracing a more pop punk sound exploring themes of heartache, happenstance, hubris & hope.
This is the sophomore effort from Detroit Michigan emcee, producer & disc jockey DJ Oreeyo. The son of local veteran Fatt Father previously of the world famous Fat Killahz, he eventually followed his dad’s footsteps by making music himself, properly introducing himself in 2022 & Freshman Year the subsequent fall made for an impressive self-produced debut primarily rooted in trap. It’s been a few years since & the Prodigy’s ready to let us see how much he’s grown since 2023.
The self-produced “Killshot” hops over an orchestral trap beat talking about his preference of having kin instead of friends whereas “How We Comin’” aggressively talking about holding nothing back his confidence being mistaken as arrogance. “Him” keeps expressing his self-assurance of being that muhfuckin’ dude & “What We On” featuring T Cruz was one of the weaker moments here despite them talking about these haters being fans in the grand scheme of things.
“Quick Workout” goes off-the-top for 80 seconds over some horns & hi-hats flexing that he doesn’t need a personal chef because he’s cooking in the studio regardless leading into “Old Soul” reminds me of Slum Village’s early output from the boom bap instrumental to the scratch hook appealing to the old school & new school fans. “Gen Check” has a more cinematic sound to it addressing the people he sees daily while “Me vs. Me” feels like a convo between his older & younger self.
After the compositional “Commercial Break” intermission, “Ain’t Worried Bout U” cloudily makes it clear that he ain’t stressing over anyone while “Makin’ Moves” shifts back towards a more trap-oriented sound suggesting those who support him to get in the mood. “I Have a Dream” however feels less of an interlude & more of an atmospherically woozy statement regarding him making it to the end of this movie we that many would call life.
“Growth Mindset” has a more exuberant boom bap flare to it winding down Prodigy’s final moments talking about bringing his homies with him to make sure they’re all fed by the time he’s gone while “Suspense” has a bit of a west coast groove to it pleading not to show him love later if you’re not gonna do it at this present moment. The closing track “My Dear Reflection” takes up the last couple minutes of the album expressing the importance of standing tall in any challenge the world might hit us with.
Freshman Year was a impressively broader introduction to who DJ Oreeyo from both artistic & personal standpoints, but Prodigy pushes himself further by taking everything that made his debut LP so interesting from the continuation of the predecessor’s trap sound aside from a couple moments where he’s rapping over boom bap production to the penmanship being more sharpened now that he’s older than he was 2 & a half years ago.
This is the 5th studio LP from Atlanta, Georgia emcee Nick Grant. Blowing up a decade ago off his debut mixtape ’88 along with the Epic Records-backed full-length debut Return of the Cool, his next tape Dreamin’ Out Loud would prelude the acclaimed God Bless the Child produced by Tae Beast of the Top Dawg Entertainment in-house production team Digi+Phonics followed by Carolina Diaries & Welcome to Loveland. I did like Sunday Dinner & I Took It Personal was a great perspective on the industry itself, but he’s returning with a Smile on his face.
“Another Classic” hops over an orchestral boom bap beat from the Trackmasters to talk about the realest stepping on business for as long as he lives whereas “Money Problems” works in a chipmunk soul sample so he can break down his experiences with financial issues. “The Algorhythm” featuring Punch incorporates a flute so they can talk about some of these people dancing to the same song over & over leading into the gospel-influenced “Back Up” sending a warning to those who want to put him down.
Westside Gunn & Young Chris join Nick on “Price Tag” sampling “Love (I Guess That’s the Fool in Me)” by City Limits so they can talk about nothing being free in this world to end the 1st leg while “Bullsh!t” featuring CyHi the Prynce & Ransom references the late アイアンマンヘビーメタル級チャンピオン, TNA World Tag Team Champion, WCW World Television Champion, 2-time WWE United States Champion, 7-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, 4-time WWE Intercontinental Champion & 2-time WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall.
“Generational Runs / No Shortcuts” kicks off the last leg of Smile with a 2-parter expressing his desire or being placed amongst the greatest when his run’s up just before “Dope Bitch” talks about the girl he’s with being awesome in her own ways. “Sensitive Gangsta” spends a couple minutes poking fun at these so-called street dudes who’re overly in their feelings & “Everyday I Wake” concludes Smile by spitting pain some wouldn’t understand over a soul sample.
Agreeably considered to be one of the most slept-on lyricists of this decade, Nick Grant continues to validate those claims with Smile striving to become a timeless artist. He’s trying prove to his audience that anything’s possible now that he’s at a place where he doesn’t want people to forget who he is & learning that our experiences are the true meaning of life, bringing a handful of guests who’re all on their own plateaus of potency rather than continuing to spit verses by himself over a varied batch of production.
Legends Will Never Die 