Skinny Hightower: The Drummer Who Plays Everything Else, Too
A Billboard chart-topper who started on drums as a toddler builds Feels Like Destiny almost entirely by himself
R&B·Soul Hip-Hop·Rap Jazz·Fusion Reggae·Dancehall Blues·Rock
Busta Rhymes: Opening the Dilla Vault, 19 Tracks at a Time
On Dillagence II, Busta turns roughly 300 unreleased J Dilla beats into a full album, with a posthumous D’Angelo vocal and Ma Dukes at his side.
Buju Banton Goes Back to the Dancehall on Too Too Bad
His new album leans back into the harder dancehall sound he built his name on.
Jill Scott Comes Back Home: To Whom This May Concern
Eleven years after Woman, the Philly poet returns on her own label with a 19-track album, a Hip-Hop guest list and a soul that hasn’t aged out of the room.
Kool Keith: Thirteen Tracks of Sonic Psychosis, Zero AI
Producer Mike Redman builds the world, Chuck D, DJ Shadow, Del and a full cypher walk through it
Larry June's Who Coppin: Uncle Larry Keeps Cooking
Sixteen tracks, zero rush — the Bay Area's healthiest hustler drops his second album of the year
Erykah Badu & The Alchemist: Before the World Blows
Eleven years apart, one shared beat, and a phone-free room in Toronto
E-40: Turning His Money Over, One Hustle at a Time
Inside the Bay Area legend's new 40-song quadruple album — and the entrepreneurial empire that's been building alongside it for over a decade
Julian Vaughn Put the Bass Out Front
Smooth jazz has always been a saxophone genre. For over a decade, a 6'7" bassist from Kansas City has been quietly proving the lead instrument doesn't have to be a horn.
My Philosophy, Thirty-Eight Years Later
KRS-One built a song out of a mission statement in 1988. In 2026, he's turned that same title into a book — spending a year researching in Greece to argue that philosophy itself has been telling the story wrong from the start.
Southern Avenue Isn't Waiting Its Turn
Memphis doesn't do subtlety, and neither does Southern Avenue. Name a street that runs from the city limits straight into Soulsville — the old home turf of Stax Records — and you've basically declared your mission statement before playing a note.
Jane Handcock Made a Weed Anthem in 2021 — And It's Still a Stoners Banger
Before "Stingy" introduced her to a wider audience, the First Lady of Death Row Records dropped a one-of-a-kind ode to getting high. Four years later, the message still holds up.
Sister Nancy: The First Lady of Dancehall Never Left
Most sampled record in dancehall history — and why the woman behind it never got her due