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If you’ve been longing for Hip-Hop that prompts a visceral reaction within you, Injury Reserve’s second studio album By the Time I Get to Phoenix is exactly what you need to listen to. Injury Reserve has always inhabited an alternative space on the outskirts of rap, but their record is an even more experimental offering from the former trio.

Following the passing of Jordan “Stepa J.” Groggs, however, the creation of By the Time I Get to Phoenix was put on hold, and now, over a year later, the album has finally been released. The ambitious album delivers on Stepa J. Groggs’ desire for Injury Reserve to keep making “weird shit,” but sadly, the late rapper’s voice isn’t featured on many of the project’s 11 tracks.

Matt Jelonek/Wire Image/Getty Images

On “Footwork in a Forest Fire,” however, Stepa J. stole the show. With a performance that truly encapsulates the COVID-19-related paranoia and police brutality-induced distress of 2020, Stepa J.’s verse perfectly meshes with Parker Corey’s frantic production, and it serves as yet another reminder that the fallen artist will be sorely missed.

Give Injury Reserve‘s “Footwork in a Forest Fire” a listen below, and be sure to check out the rest of By the Time I Get to Phoenix here.

Quotable Lyrics

Panic in the skies
Panic in the sky
Worse down below
There’s nowhere to go
You better run and hide
Take your ass inside
If you don’t go breathe the air
You might stay alive

Before artists like Rod Wave and Yung Bleu cemented their name in the rap game, it was Derez De’Shon that brought the sounds of “pain rap” to the masses. Singles like “Hardaway” became undeniable bangers that echoed through the streets while the Pain mixtape series produced records that fans continue to spin regularly. Unfortunately, this year has been particularly quiet on his end which likely means that he’s been locking in the studio, preparing for the right time to pop out.

This week, the rapper returned with his latest single featuring Money Mu titled, “Residue.” Marking his second single of the year, it follows the release of “In My Feelings.” Derez and Money Mu swap bars over hypnotizing trap production as they detail their rise to the top of the game.

Quotable Lyrics
That money got residue
I came up juugin’ right on Second Avenue
Throwin’ plays to my dawg like a lateral
Put that shit on, I’m in Louis V casual 

After hitting a series of milestone achievements, including his first chart-topping single with 24kGoldn’s “Mood,” hitmaker iann dior is back with his latest single.

The Puerto Rican-born, Corpus Christi-raised vocalist has returned with his latest new music, enlisting Lil Uzi Vert for “V12.” The track, which was produced by Taz Taylor, Nick Mira, and Cxdy, has been in the works for several months, and fans are excited to finally hear the finished version. It comes alongside a new music video, directed by Rudy Grazziani and iann dior.

The song premiered on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music 1 show. It comes on the heels of iann’s European tour announcement.

Check out iann dior’s new single below, featuring Lil Uzi Vert.

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Quotable Lyrics:

I’m in first, never last, never in reverse
It’s a Thursday when I be drippin’ down in Ricky O’ like Uzi Vert, shit
The money stretching longer to the door 
It’s a Coldplay, when you get left right there, I said I’m gone

If you were looking for a track to help let somebody know how you get down, look no further than NO1-NOAH’s “Bounce”

NO1-NOAH, one of last year’s Billboard Top 15 Hip-Hop & R&B Artists to Watch, as well as Summer Walker’s first signee, gets right to it on this record. Turning up with his friends at the house, at the liquor store and in the streets, NOAH skates over an instrumental as bouncy as the track title and surrounds it with a hypnotic hook (“Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce”). NOAH is explicit in what’s going down the second he hits the bedroom. Sparing no detail, NOAH lets listeners know the type of lover he is and much like Summer Walker, isn’t shy about his intentions with any of his lyrics. 

Stream “Bounce” below and keep an eye out for NO1-NOAH’s upcoming EP You Should Come Over. 

Quotable Lyrics

If you do it for me right I’ll do it better than you did
Make it bussin’ / Make it lovin’
Make you really want a kid

Money Man’s hustle and drive is a rare attribute these days. The independent grind following his short stint with Cash Money proved that he’s certainly a mastermind in his own right without having to rely on the major label machine. And, it also gave him the luxury to release music at his own accord. 

This week, the rapper returned with a brand new banger alongside close collaborated BC JRoc. The two rappers team up for “Louisville, KY Freestyle” where they swap bars and detail their rise to the top over opulent trap production.

Money Man and BC Jroc most recently connected earlier this year for their collaboration, “Dr. Rose.” Hopefully, more music from the two is in the pipeline before 2021 comes to an end.

Check their new freestyle below.

Quotable Lyrics
I used to hit the block and beat the pack, I’m talkin’ single handed
Now it’s making sense to a lil n***a ’cause we really gettin’ it
I’mma keep that blick on me fasho, ’cause I can’t be a victim

Soulja Boy is on a roll this year. Though he claimed that he had the biggest comeback of 2018, 2021 is treating him pretty well so far. The rapper topped the charts with “She Make It Clap,” created more viral moments, and even teamed up with Adult Swim to help launch the fifth season on Rick & Morty. Then, he dropped three mixtapes in the span of a month and a half.

Soulja Boy continues to unload records out of the vault with his latest release, “Casamigos.” Inspired by the tequila brand of the summer, the rapper takes on bouncy production and uses the art of repetition to his benefit on the hook. 

Along with his new single, “Casamigos,” he also dropped off “Zoom” over the weekend.

Check out the record below. 

Quotable Lyrics
She want that Casamigos
Young Draco, n***a, I ball like a free throw
Rick N Morty, shoot you like Jordan
Ball on these n***as, drop-tops out the foreign

There’s been little music released from Uncle Murda’s end this year. 2020 was particularly busy for the G-Unit affiliate after releasing two installments in the Don’t Come Outside mixtape series. However, even if he has been laying low, it seems like he’s been grinding away and tapping in with the new energy emerging out of the East Coast.

This week, Uncle Murda locked in with the budding Brooklyn drill rapper Eli Fross for their new collab, “So What? The two rappers reflect on the abundance of models on Instagram these days, from two different generational perspectives. Murda ultimately can’t resist the humorous pop-cultural references like, “She put her p*ssy lips on the ‘Gram, tryna get a band out of Boosie.” Meanwhile, Fross shamelessly details the activities that take place after he slides in the DMs.

Check out the record below.

Quotable Lyrics
I slap her with a bible
Bitch tryna to go viral
She on TikTok twerkin’
Goin’ hard for a Birkin

It goes without saying at this point that whenever Twista drops a project — as he recently did with Shooter Ready — he’ll be putting on what can only be described as a flow clinic. Case in point, the standout track “Prayer,” which features the potent combination of relentless lyricism and haunting production. 

Lyrically, Twista seems to revel in the violence, depicting acts of savagery over a blend of sitar, melancholic violins, middle-Eastern wails. Over the course of two verses, Twista frames his violence through a lens of religious imagery. “I am the Christ and y’all are my disciples,” he raps. “Religion will protect, bullets hit you in the chest / If I have to I shoot through the Bible with the rifle.” If you’re a fan of Twista’s unrelenting style, be sure to check out “Prayer” now, as well as his brand new album Shooter Ready. 

Quotable Lyrics

I am the Christ and y’all are my disciples
Religion will protect, bullets hit you in the chest
If I have to I shoot through the Bible with the rifle
Tiger without a title, strike ’em like I’m Michael Myers

The mixture of comedy and a menacingly deep delivery has made Ron Suno an incredibly unique figure in the drill scene. For one, he’s from the Bronx, not Brooklyn, like many of the drill stars emerging out of New York. On top of that, he’s a former comedian and YouTuber that’s managed to shed the stigma of both as he entered the rap game.

The single “Grabba” was a highlight off of Suno’s Jokes Up project he dropped earlier this year. This week, he slid through with the official remix to the song with the help of Dusty Locane. Suno’s verse from the original track remains the same but Dusty Locane’s sprinkles his aggressive energy to the mix to boost the record.

Check out the remix below.

Quotable Lyrics
My Rollie go click-clack, let me have it
Mac empty, we aim at his 6 pack
All my homie’s they know the get back
You ain’t solid break him like a Kit Kat

For nearly a decade, Lil Durk’s taken the sounds of drill from the underground into mainstream consciousness. The past year, specifically, has proven that his sound certainly isn’t limited to it, either. The rapper’s latest album The Voice is among the most commercially successful projects to drop in the past 12 months which has carried him to the top of the rap game. And while he has dominated the streets and the radio simultaneously, it appears that he’s ready to make an international imprint.

Over the weekend, reggaeton star Farina slid through with a brand new record titled, “Neuva Vida” ft. Lil Durk and Play-N-Skillz. In a statement to Complex, Farina explained how she’s had to keep this single under wraps for months since it was recorded during quarantine.

“We started working on this song during quarantine and it has been a hard secret to keep! This collaboration has been one of the most exciting collaborations I’ve done in my career thus far,” she explained. “I am a huge fan of Lil Durk’s music and am super honored that he joined me for this song.”

Check the song below.

Quotable Lyrics
Mamma Mia, bad lil’ thing look like Selena 
Hundred thousand worth of tennis chains on, thinkin’ I’m f*ckin’ Serena 
I be up off all them drugs, don’t need sativa
Even though she say she Catholic, she gon’ ride the Demon