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

Most records with a full-band sound have a full band behind them. Feels Like Destiny, out August 21 on CastOver Records, mostly has one man: Skinny Hightower. Paris Move reviewer Thierry De Clemensat noted that Hightower handles keyboards, bass, drums, percussion, guitar and production across the album, with two flutists the only additional players. The credits also list Hammond B3, Rhodes, Moog bass and the string and horn arrangements.

It makes sense that the drums come first. Born Jason Carroll in Wichita, Kansas, Hightower started on drums as a toddler and later moved on to piano and bass, JAZZIZ reported, with his parents’ jazz and gospel records as the early soundtrack. His own site puts it simply: a drummer who happens to be a multi-instrumentalist. On “Hypnotic,” he says, the drums take center stage for much of the track, which is rare in his catalog.

Billboard’s Smooth Jazz Airplay chart has put him at number one three times. Community Voice reported that “Taboo” (2017) topped the chart, and “Blue Moon” and “Now or Never” from his 2020 album followed. This summer “Red Lights,” made with trumpeter Alex Parchment, peaked at number two. The Wichita Eagle reported that he spent five years in the U.S. Army, and that his stage name started as a nickname from fellow soldiers once they learned he was a jazz musician. His first album, Cloud Nine, came out in 2016 while he was still serving.

Feels Like Destiny is his seventh album, and it sounds like a musician who knows where his sound comes from. Paris Move heard the language of 1970s soul, funk and jazz, but with harder, more insistent rhythms, cleaner production and a slightly psychedelic way of building grooves. The review names Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Billy Cobham and Brad Mehldau among his influences. It also hears Santana in some of the guitar riffs. The closer, “Deeper Than You Think,” is a reinterpretation of a George Benson composition.

Hightower told Paris Move the title wasn’t brainstormed. Once the music was finished, it simply seemed inevitable. The reviewer’s closing thought is worth keeping in mind: after an album this self-contained, the next step might be opening it up to other voices, or even his own.

His catalog even crosses paths with the first Jazz·Fusion story we ran: his track “Jubilee” features bassist Julian Vaughn. For many listeners outside smooth jazz radio, this is a first introduction. It’s a good one: a record that rewards a full listen.

Sounds

Sources & Further Reading

1. Paris Move: Review of Feels Like Destiny (Thierry De Clemensat)
2. JAZZIZ: Blue Moon profile (2020)
3. The Wichita Eagle: Chart-topping musician relocates to Wichita
4. Skinny Hightower: Official site
5. Apple Music: Feels Like Destiny release details
6. Community Voice: Kansas musician Skinny Hightower is topping smooth jazz charts (2019)

Official Artist Links

No affiliation — Funknuz earns nothing from these links; they go straight to the artist.

• Skinny Hightower: Official site
• Skinny Hightower: Store
• Skinny Hightower: Listen links
• Skinny Hightower: Instagram

A note on this article: This piece was researched and drafted with Funknuz AI, then edited, fact-checked, and finalized by our editorial team. All sourcing is linked above. AI can make mistakes, and so can we — if something reads off, that's on us, not the tech.

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.

On August 25, 2026, Busta Rhymes released Dillagence II, a 19-track album built entirely on J Dilla productions, nearly two decades after Dilla’s death in 2006. Spin reported that it draws on roughly 300 beats Dilla sent Busta over the course of their friendship.

It follows the 2007 mixtape Dillagence, which Complex described as a DJ Mick Boogie-hosted project with Busta and guests rapping over Dilla instrumentals. Busta had told GQ back in 2020 that Dilla left him with more than 300 beats. Spin noted that across his albums he generally used only one or two Dilla productions at a time, so this is the first time he has gone deep into the archive.

The album took shape slowly. Complex reported that Busta revealed it at a private listening session in New York on February 19. Spin said he began seriously assembling it in November 2025, working with Dilla’s estate and his mother, Ma Dukes, to make sure the music was handled with care. She appears on the record, and AP singled out “Royalty” as the emotional center, where she is joined by Busta’s own children, CIE and Trillian.

The sound is the whole point. Busta told The New York Times’ Popcast that Dilla’s gift was understanding that music’s soul comes from human timing, which is never perfectly on the grid. AP described that “Dilla Time” feel as a cockeyed, uneven swagger that went on to shape much of 21st-century popular music. Spin also quoted him saying he has never tried his famous speed-rap on a Dilla beat: “It doesn’t warrant that.”

Then there is “This Woman.” Rolling Stone reported that the track is built around what appears to be a scratch vocal from D’Angelo, recorded in a Dilla session about 20 years ago that never became a project. D’Angelo sings the hook of Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” over the groove, which Rolling Stone called a pristine chorus even in rough form. Funknuz readers know where that hook comes from: our Sister Nancy piece. Busta and D’Angelo never released music together while D’Angelo was alive. After D’Angelo died last October, Rolling Stone said, Busta released the tribute song “Magic,” and told Okayplayer, “I feel like the Earth shifted when D came to do music.”

The guest list runs deep. Lil Wayne appears on “Talk Ya (Expletive),” which AP said is his first time on a Dilla beat. Rolling Stone also named Common, Big Sean, Anderson .Paak, Ludacris and Jon Batiste, and HotNewHipHop listed T3 of Slum Village and Talib Kweli among the features, keeping Dilla’s Detroit circle in the room.

For a genre that sometimes treats its producers as footnotes, this is the reverse: the beatmaker’s work is the main event, and the rapper steps in as a guest in his house.

Sounds

Sources & Further Reading

1. Spin: Release-day report with Busta’s Popcast comments
2. Rolling Stone: D’Angelo’s posthumous “This Woman” vocal and the guest list
3. AP: Album review
4. Complex: Original announcement of the album and the 2007 mixtape background
5. HotNewHipHop: Full tracklist
6. The New York Times: Popcast interview with Busta Rhymes

Official Artist Links

No affiliation — Funknuz earns nothing from these links; they go straight to the artist.

• Busta Rhymes: Official site (store opening soon)
• Busta Rhymes: Instagram
• Busta Rhymes: YouTube channel

A note on this article: This piece was researched and drafted with Funknuz AI, then edited, fact-checked, and finalized by our editorial team. All sourcing is linked above. AI can make mistakes, and so can we — if something reads off, that's on us, not the tech.

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.

Buju Banton turned 53 on July 15, and two days later, on July 17, 2026, he released his new album, Too Too Bad. The title winks at Too Bad, his 2006 dancehall album that gave us the Jamaican hit “Driver A”, and the music follows suit. Reggaeville reviewer Gardy Stein hears a return to dancehall’s golden days, in contrast to 2023’s Born For Greatness, which leaned on modern productions.

The Jamaica Observer reported that the album is out through Buju’s own Gargamel Music and VP Records, his first release on VP in 23 years, with 13 tracks on the digital edition and a 15-track CD with two bonus tracks. The tracklist includes DJ Khaled on “Wild Woman”, Ari Lennox on “Satisfy Me” and Gramps Morgan on “Power”.

Reggaeville points to “We Nuh Play” as the tone-setter: Jermaine Reid’s remake of the Diseases riddim, ridden in deep patois with that unmistakable growl. The same review notes that “X Rated” rides the viral WYFL riddim, and that the nostalgic cover was painted by sign-painter Bug.

The rollout started with “Butterflies”. The Source reported that the single was produced by Supa Dups, got a video shot in Miami and directed by Justice Silvera, and passed a million streams. The Jamaica Observer added that Billboard read it as a lovestruck track, and that when the album landed it debuted at No. 3 on the US iTunes chart.

A small footnote on the numbering. The Jamaica Observer calls Too Too Bad his 13th studio album, but Buju’s official site numbers Upside Down 2020 and Born For Greatness as his twelfth and thirteenth, which would make this the fourteenth. Sources count differently, so we won’t pick a number for you.

Since coming back to recording in 2018, Buju has stayed busy, and ReggaeVibe reported that he is also on the road this year on the Roots and Rhymes tour with Stephen Marley. His official site puts the mission of reggae simply: to “uplift, educate and eradicate negativity”. On Too Too Bad he pursues that in the dancehall, which is where it all started.

Sounds

Sources & Further Reading

1. Jamaica Observer – Album release coverage
2. Jamaica Observer – US iTunes chart debut
3. Reggaeville – Album review by Gardy Stein
4. The Source – Album announcement and “Butterflies” video
5. ReggaeVibe – Album announcement and summer tour
6. Buju Banton – Official bio
7. Qobuz – Artist biography
8. Wikipedia – Too Bad (2006 album)

Official Artist Links

No affiliation — Funknuz earns nothing from these links; they go straight to the artist.

• Official site: bujubanton.com 

A note on this article: This piece was researched and drafted with Funknuz AI, then edited, fact-checked, and finalized by our editorial team. All sourcing is linked above. AI can make mistakes, and so can we — if something reads off, that's on us, not the tech.

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.

When Jill Scott announced a new album on January 2, 2026, it was her first in more than a decade, following 2015’s Woman. The title, To Whom This May Concern, reads like a letter. She said the name itself brought her peace, as Billboard reported, and that this one is for the people it’s for. PhillyVoice reported the same.

The break was not a block. She told Billboard she simply took a creative break. The album came together over roughly the last eighteen months, and it runs 19 tracks, all of them new. It arrived independently through her own Blues Babe imprint, distributed via Human Re Sources/The Orchard, and it landed on February 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day, as Soulbounce noted. More than ten years of quiet, then 19 tracks at once.

The sound. The lead single “Beautiful People,” produced by Om’Mas Keith, opens with Jill talking to her mother, Joyce Alice, before the groove comes in. Soulbounce hears ’70s soul, modern R&B and jazz in it, built on rhythm guitar, bass, keys, drums and congas. The press release, as twntythree ran it, frames the whole project around connectivity, humanity and collective home, and says it stretches as far as spoken word and even house. The Arts Desk heard improvisational spirit in it, and the room feels lived-in rather than polished flat.

The Hip-Hop paragraph. Jill has always kept one foot in the culture, and this guest list shows it. Ab-Soul, J.I.D., Tierra Whack and Too $hort are all featured, Okayplayer reported, with production from Adam Blackstone, Om’Mas Keith, DJ Premier, Camper, Andre Harris, Trombone Shorty and others. At the 2024 Roots Picnic she brought out Tierra Whack to debut a song together, as the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, and Whack is on the album. Fellow Philadelphian, same streets.

The cover. The artwork is a painting by Chicago artist Marcellous Lovelace of a Black woman carrying affirmations like “We can save ourselves,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. It tells you the album is an offering and a warning in the same breath.

The reception. AceShowbiz reported that the album debuted in the top 10 on seven Billboard charts dated February 28, including No. 4 on Top R&B Albums and No. 7 on Top Album Sales. Not bad for a record released without a major label behind it.

Where to start. “Beautiful People” for the mood, “Pressha” (her latest Top 10 R&B radio hit, per the press release) and “Right Here, Right Now” for the range, and the Tierra Whack feature for the Philly connection. Then let the album run front to back. It’s also out on CD and gold vinyl, if you like to hold your music.

Sounds

Sources & Further Reading

1. Okayplayer – Album announcement and features
2. Soul Bounce – Lead single and release date
3. Philadelphia Inquirer – Album announcement and cover art
4. The FADER – Features and tracklist
5. Billboard Canada – Release and label details
6. ABC Audio – Interview quotes on the break
7. AceShowbiz – Chart debut
8. PhillyVoice - Salute norf side

Official Artist Links

No affiliation — Funknuz earns nothing from these links; they go straight to the artist.

• Miss Jill Scott – Official site
• Miss Jill Scott – Official store
• Jill Scott – Album, all streaming and buying options
• Jill Scott Arts Fund – Her own arts foundation
• Jill Scott – Instagram

A note on this article: This piece was researched and drafted with Funknuz AI, then edited, fact-checked, and finalized by our editorial team. All sourcing is linked above. AI can make mistakes, and so can we — if something reads off, that's on us, not the tech.

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

Few MCs have made a catalog as hard to file as Kool Keith's. Ultramagnetic MC's, Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Black Elvis: four decades of doing it his own way. On August 28, he added Sonic Psychosis, a 13-track album made with producer Mike Redman, who owns Redrum Recordz.

The liner notes state it plainly: no form of AI was used in making the album. Redman painted the cover himself, a cosmic red backdrop with hypnotic imagery, and he composed, produced and mixed every track. The one shared production credit goes to DJ Shadow on "Uh-Oh, It's Me Again." The instrumentals were recorded at Redrum Studios in Rotterdam, while Keith's vocals were recorded in New York City by J. Stylez.

The guest list reads like a family reunion. Ras Kass and DJ Lord are on "Lyrical Insanity," Killah Priest on "Psychedelic," Del The Funky Homosapien on "Traveling Through Time," and Craig G on "Times Square." "From Beyond The Galaxy" is a full cypher with Sadat X, Mr Lif, Young Zee and Trackstar The DJ. Scratching is split among Redman, DJ Lord, DJ Shadow and Trackstar.

The closer is the title track with Chuck D and DJ Lord. According to MRC Hip Hop, it's the first time Keith and Chuck D have appeared on the same song. The album opens with a nod to Keith's roots, a track called "The Ultramagnetic."

As for how it lands, Hip Hop Golden Age calls it one of the most convincing Keith releases in years. Their argument is that Redman gives Keith one consistent world to move around in, something his huge catalog hasn't always had. Redman, per MRC Hip Hop, is known for his work with Public Enemy and his Deformer project.

Thirteen tracks, and we're still not tired of them. "The Ultramagnetic," "Lyrical Insanity," "Ultraman 7000," "Times Square" and the title track have been on heavy rotation in the Funknuz office. Kool Keith is still the real deal, and with an A-list of guests riding Mike Redman's funk-heavy beats, this one feels like a 2026 classic.

Sounds

Sources & Further Reading

1. Redrum Recordz – Album page, credits and tracklist
2. MRC Hip Hop – First Look at Sonic Psychosis
3. Hip Hop Golden Age – Sonic Psychosis review
4. Discogs – Release entry

Official Artist Links

No affiliation — Funknuz earns nothing from these links; they go straight to the artist.

• Redrum Recordz – Buy Sonic Psychosis on Bandcamp
• Redrum Recordz – Label website

A note on this article: This piece was researched and drafted with Funknuz AI, then edited, fact-checked, and finalized by our editorial team. All sourcing is linked above. AI can make mistakes, and so can we — if something reads off, that's on us, not the tech.

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

Larry June doesn't sound like he's in a hurry, and that's the whole point. Born Larry Eugene Hendricks III in San Francisco's Hunters Point neighborhood, raised partly in Atlanta before finishing school back in the Bay, June built his name the slow way — nineteen self-released projects deep before most casual fans caught on, with a brief stint at Warner Records in the mid-2010s that he walked away from to keep doing things his own way. These days he's independent again, releasing through his own imprint The Freeminded, and that independence is the whole engine behind his catalog: no label calendar to answer to, no filler to pad a rollout — just steady, well-made albums on his own schedule.

The other half of the June story is the one that made him a Bay Area icon beyond rap circles entirely: he's arguably the genre's first true wellness rapper. Long before "clean living" was a hip-hop talking point, June was rapping about fasting until 1pm, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and morning walks instead of trap-house war stories — trading crime narratives for spreadsheets and smoothies, basically. The orange became his whole visual language, down to the merch and the album art. Albums like Orange Print (2021, which topped Billboard's Heatseekers chart) and Spaceships on the Blade (2022) built the template; The Great Escape with The Alchemist (2023) and last year's Life Is Beautiful with 2 Chainz and The Alchemist widened his audience further.

Who Coppin, released July 17, 2026 on The Freeminded, is June's second full-length of the year — landing just five months after Spiral Staircases, his joint album with Curren$y and The Alchemist. Sixteen tracks, about 49 minutes, and true to form for an artist who treats consistency as a personality trait rather than a marketing strategy.

What stands out on Who Coppin is how sparingly June uses his guest list. Motivational speaker and podcaster Wallo267 opens the record on "Go Outside Intro," setting a tone that's part pep talk, part scripture. Jhené Aiko shows up on the airy "California Dream," floating over production from Cardo Got Wings. R&B veteran Musiq Soulchild brings a softer, more vulnerable register to "Pretty Green Eyes," produced by Jay Versace. Bay Area veteran B-Legit adds a rawer voice on "Win or Lose." None of it feels like a guest-chasing exercise — each name earns its spot rather than padding the tracklist.

The album closes on "God Got Us (Ain't Too Many)," which critics have singled out as June at his most effective: part hustler, part motivational speaker, closing the record the same way he's built his whole career — one steady step at a time, no shortcuts implied. It's the throughline of everything June makes: the luxury-rap surface stays intact, but the actual message underneath is discipline, patience, and doing the work quietly until the results speak for themselves.

Sounds

Sources & Further Reading

1. Album Info — Apple Music —  Who Coppin
2. Wikipedia — Larry June 
3. Ratings Game Music — Who Coppin (Album Review) 
4. HipHopVibe — Larry June Drops "Who Coppin" Album
5. Shatter the Standards — Album Review: Who Coppin
6. KQED — The Bay Area's healthy rap wave

Official Artist Links

No affiliation — Funknuz earns nothing from these links; they go straight to the artist.

larryjunetfm.com — official website (listed as his site in his Wikipedia infobox)

larryjune.bandcamp.com — official Bandcamp store, distributed via EMPIRE

A note on this article: This piece was researched and drafted with Funknuz AI, then edited, fact-checked, and finalized by our editorial team. All sourcing is linked above. AI can make mistakes, and so can we — if something reads off, that's on us, not the tech.