Zacari and Ab-Soul Connect for New Collaboration “Motions”
Ab-Soul
Lance Skiiiwalker’s “Audiodidactic” Album Lands With Ab-Soul & Isaiah Rashad Features
Top Dawg Entertainment’s artists are a force to be reckoned with this New Music Friday. Previously we highlighted Zacari’s new “Motions” single in tandem with Ab-Soul. Now, we have another appearance from each of those artists on Lance Skiiiwalker’s latest project. Audiodidactic landed on DSPs at midnight, complete with 11 tracks as well as an additional guest appearance from V.C.R.
Ahead of his album’s debut, the artist dropped off “Beantown” as a single in late January. “I experienced Boston once while I was on tour, it felt like a really cool city,” he explained of that release. “Thinking about it more, I realized it was missing a love song. I haven’t heard anything about Boston in that world. The record is more about the vibes I felt there than a particular person, the girl is a metaphor.”
While he carries most of the titles on his own, Skiiiwalker did recruit Ab-Soul to help him on “Church.” A few songs later, on “Sample Talk,” we once again hear from another TDE star, Isaiah Rashad. As mentioned earlier, V.C.R also helped his friend, specifically showing out on the eighth title, “It Was All.”
Audiodidactic marks the Chicago native’s first full-length effort since he dropped Introverted Intuition in 2016. More recently, he delivered a pair of EPs in 2021 to hold fans over until today’s album was ready. Along with that, Skiiwalker shared an accompanying visual for “Where To With You.”
Before his inevitable rise to fame, the “Lover’s Lane” artist was discovered by former TDE labelmate Kendrick Lamar. He’s previously been described as the collective’s “secret weapon” by Moosa, their president. Aside from his own releases, Lance has worked alongside names like ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul on their own tapes.
Stream Lance Skiiiwalker’s Audiodidactic album on Spotify or Apple Music below. Afterward, tell us your top three favourite titles in the comments, and check back later for more hip-hop release updates.
Audiodidactic Tracklist:
- Friends
- Where To With You
- Church (with Ab-Soul)
- IG
- Everybody Hurts Somebody
- Sample Talk (with Isaiah Rashad)
- I Just Want
- It Was All (with V.C.R)
- Beantown
- Audiodidactic
- (Ni) Radio Whispers
Zacari & Ab-Soul Reunite For “Motions” Single
It’s been a major few months for the roster of artists at Top Dawg Entertainment. SZA finally delivered her sophomore effort, SOS, which has had an undeniably impressive run on the charts. Additionally, Ab-Soul’s Herbert project made an emotional debut after the rapper survived a suicide attempt in the midst of putting his work together.
Thankfully, the 35-year-old seems to be in a much better place now and even reflects on his mental health in a new collaborative track. This New Music Friday, Ab-Soul links up with Zacari for his “Motions” single, marking the duo’s fourth time working together. Previously, we’ve heard them on “Do Better” and “RAW (backwards).”
Additionally, they came together with Kembe X and Jay Rock to create the over five-and-a-half minute long must-hear single, “Raised A Fool.” While audiences obviously loved that, it’s time to make room in your playlist for Zacari and Ab-Soul’s most recent work. Thus far, “Motions” has been in constant rotation for many TDE fans all across the nation.
“No need to check up on, I’m doin’ just fine / I’m signin’ cheque after cheque, homie, I’m alright,” the former rhymes on the first verse. “But every time I go home, I get anxious / And every time I go home, I’m impatient,” he continues over production by ESTA.
For his part, Ab-Soul comes through with noteworthy bars later in “Motions.” He begins the third verse with, “Like five towers on top each other, I’m talkin’ high power / God’s rainin’, right now, you’re bathin’ in my shower.” He later closes his impressive rhymes out with “Chillin’ in silk sheets with you? / Have some empathy, would you? / I’m a sensitive Pisces and I keep it real, baby.”
Stream Zacari and Ab-Soul’s “Motions” on Spotify or Apple Music below. Afterward, tell us which of the duo’s past collaborations is your favourite in the comments. Finally, check back tomorrow for more recommendations on our Fire Emoji playlist.
Quotable Lyrics:
Tourin’ the globe, keepin’ poetry in motion
Full of subliminal shit I do to keep you open
It’s difficult to stay focus
When my mind sidetracked by
Dividin’ your thighs like an ocean
[Via]
TDE’s Zacari & Ab-Soul Connect on “Motions” Single
TDE’s latest run continues. With Ab-Soul, Kendrick, and SZA holding it down…
Ray Vaughn Builds “Sandcastles” With Ab-Soul On New Single
Ray Vaughn tapped TDE labelmate Ab-Soul for a new track, “Sandcastles.” Moreover, both MCs deliver impassioned, emphatic, and high-impact verses over a heavy banger beat. With a new project coming soon from the recent signee, Vaughn might just make his big splash this year.
Furthermore, the last we heard from the Long Beach native was back in August of 2022 with the Isaiah Rashad-assisted “Dog House.” On that track, Vaughn matched Rashad’s often low-key but intoxicating delivery over a smooth beat. This time around, it seems he’s boasting and matching the energy of one of TDE’s premier MCs.
Momma I made it !
TDE BITCH ! pic.twitter.com/1qGfk5kyOG
— Ray Vaughn (@rayvaughn) August 25, 2021
In fact, the California label has a lot to celebrate recently. Moreover, Ab-Soul just dropped his long-awaited album Herbert to critical acclaim last December. While Ray Vaughn isn’t featured on that project, this new single displays some strong chemistry between their performance styles. Both have their energy on high, command fast and aggressive flows with ease, and add a lot of conviction to the track.
Meanwhile, the instrumental is a mid-tempo banger with heavy bass, sharp snares, and eerie piano chords. For those enamored by this beat, producer Wallis Lane worked with the likes of Mac Miller, Drake, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and many more. Even if it falls into an engaging bounce assisted by the MCs’ triplet flows, you could remix that melody into some creepy stuff easily. Throughout the verses, the instrumental relies on muted plucked strings and ethereal synth pad samples to switch things up.
Still, what did you think of Ray Vaughn’s newest single with Ab-Soul, “Sandcastles”? Whatever the case, let us know in the comments and peep some standout lines from the track below. Also, if you haven’t heard it yet, you can find the song on your preferred streaming service. As always, check back in with HNHH for the best new drops in hip-hop.
Quotable Lyrics
The lil’ homie got five hundred when he ran it up off EDD
A year later, he back broke, robbin’ white folks on Beverly
All F on my report card, got a list full of felonies
Better learn to choose your words better, that’s the quickest way to put your life in jeopardy
TDE’s Ray Vaughn & Ab-Soul Connect For “Sandcastles” Single
Long Beach and Carson connect.
Ab-Soul Asked LeBron James To A&R His Next Album And The NBA Star Agreed
LeBron James is doing something no other NBA player has done in the history of the league. No, I’m not talking about scoring 40+ points against all 30 teams, although that is historical and impressive. No, he’s the first NBA player to become one of hip-hop’s go-to A&Rs, despite having little formal music business experience.
What he does have, though, is a golden ear — or at least, a big enough following to turn burgeoning viral songs into bonafide Billboard hits. Any song that makes its way into one of James’ offseason workout posts has the potential to skyrocket. For example, when he played Tee Grizzley’s “First Day Out” on his Instagram story, fans flocked, shooting what might have been a one-off from the Detroit bar smith into the upper atmosphere of rap radio bangers.
In 2019, he offered his A&R duties to trap veteran 2 Chainz, resulting in an executive producer credit on Rap Or Go To The League, and now, he’s going for a repeat with Top Dawg Entertainment rapper Ab-Soul. Despite Soulo being just a month removed from the release of his new album Herbert, he’s already looking ahead to his next, asking James at Wednesday night’s game against the Clippers (which the Clippers won, 113-104) to A&R his next project.
Ab captured the moment on video and posted it to his Instagram, calling working with James a “rite of passage.” “Top [Dawg] told me to ask you if you would A&R the next album,” he said. “Yeah, I can do that,” LeBron replied. Surely, such a project won’t be coming out anytime soon, but LeBron’s involvement will make the wait for it even harder than the six-year break between Ab’s last two albums.
LeBron James Agrees To A&R Ab-Soul’s Next Album
LeBron James will get in his A&R bag for Ab-Soul’s follow-up to Herbert.
Ab-Soul recently took to Instagram where he shared a recent link up with LeBron James at the Crypto.com Arena. Following the Lakers’ 113-104 win against the Spurs, the two chopped it up, eventually leading Ab-Soul to propose that James serves as the A&R on his next album.
“You really the right of passage,” Soulo said shortly after the Lakers’ win. “Top [Dawg] told me to ask you if you would A&R the next album.”
“Yeah, I could do that,” James replied. Ab-Soul went on to explain that Calamatic, the director of the Lebron James-starring House Party, previously shot videos for himself and Kendrick Lamar back in the day. Overall, it seems as though LeBron James could help bring Ab-Soul’s next body of work to life.
Though James was rather nonchalant about A&Ring the next Soulo album, he’s undoubtedly a big fan of Herbert. Upon the album’s release, James tweeted, “Ab-Herbert-Soul is so COLD MAN!!!!!!!!! [Fire] project G.” Ab-Soul later asked for courtside seats to a Lakers game.
LeBron James is no stranger to the A&R role. He previously served as an executive producer of 2 Chainz’s Rap Or Go To The League. However, he took on an A&R role, as well, putting together the tracklist and helping with sequencing.
“We put the unexpected together, we painted a beautiful picture together,” 2 Chainz told Vanity Fair of Lebron’s role on the album. “And that’s what we continue to do—we’re really friends. He and Maverick [Carter, LeBron’s business partner] have a wonderful blueprint of how to bring your friends up with you—share the wealth. And it was important that I brought in someone of his stature. He was a presence that I appreciated having around. I mean, let’s be real—he’s King James.”
We’ll keep you posted on the Ab-Soul’s next album.
Ab-Soul Drops “It Be Like That” Video Featuring SiR
“But it don’t gotta be like that.”
Ab-Soul Gets Candid In New Interview
When it comes to hip-hop music from the 2010s, Ab-Soul is one of that era’s household names. His second studio album, 2012’s Control System, was one of the most popular projects that year, thanks to tracks like “Illuminate” and “Terrorist Threats.”
After years of absence, he returned late last year to drop his latest album, HERBERT. It serves as his first project in six years, since 2016’s Do What Thou Wilt.
On Tuesday (January 10), XXL published their new interview with the “DO BETTER” rapper. The 35-year-old talks about a range of topics including his new album and his struggles with mental health.
HERBERT is arguably the TDE rapper’s most intimate and expressive album of his career thus far. “The album Herbert is about getting back to self. I just kinda feel like I was becoming Ab-Soul more than Herbert. So, this album, to say the least, is dedicated to the people that refuse to call me Ab-Soul. That still call me Herbert or Herbie or Herb. It’s about getting back to the roots. Getting back to the foundation, to the source. Getting back to self,” says the L.A. native when asked about the meaning of the project’s title.
“This album, I really removed my ego and asked for help. Nobody’s bigger than the program. I asked for help. I didn’t just go pick beats or records,” he tells XXL. Elsewhere in the interview, he addresses substance abuse and mental health in society.
Ab-Soul is evidently not holding back when it comes to the rollout of his fifth studio album. In a prior recent interview with Charlamagne Tha God, the L.A. native even opens up about a suicide attempt.
“My jaw is f*cked up. I got a lotta work to do still. I’m about 85% on my foot. My foot is completely reconstructed, all the way to my pelvis, my femur, everything, was affected except my knee. If my knee would’ve been affected, I might not be walking,” he shares to Charlamagne.
Ab-Soul speaks on attempting to take his own life while he was working on his new album ‘Herbert’
Glad he’s doing better
pic.twitter.com/15vCm4ZgF3
— Rap Favorites (@RapFavorites) December 16, 2022
Furthermore, on December 30, he took to his Twitter account to proudly declare HERBERT as a top-five album of 2022. “ALSO. My album IS top 5 of da year. F*cc all dat humble sh*t. Dead homies,” writes the 35-year-old in his tweet.
Regardless, it’s certainly great to see and hear Soulo opening up so candidly.
What are your thoughts on HERBERT and Ab-Soul’s new interview? Comment down below. Finally, make sure to stay tuned to HNHH for all of the latest updates and releases.