New Hip Hop This Week: Che Noir, Mathematics, MC Eiht, Shabazz Palaces and More

We’ve been waiting for this one since Vol. 002. The Buffalo MC’s new album is out: 12 tracks, around half an hour, and a list of producers any beatmaker would sign off on. Havoc of Mobb Deep did “Urban Essence” and “A Caged Mockingbird”, Nottz did “My Village”, DJ Design did “This Morning”, and Mathematics did “Fame & Fiction” with Black Thought, our pick from Vol. 003.

Our track this week is “Wasted Time”: Conductor Williams on the beat and Ransom next to her, just over two minutes of straight rapping. Conductor also gets his own interlude, and the album closes with “Magic”, produced by Chuck Strangers and ill Brown, with Bruiser Wolf (it’s in the playlist too).

Mathematics is the Wu-Tang Clan’s longtime DJ and producer, and the man behind the Wu logo. Last year he and the Clan put out Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman, first as a Record Store Day vinyl. This new single comes with two Wu veterans, Masta Killa and Inspectah Deck, plus West Coast lyricist Planet Asia and Popa Wu, the Clan’s elder and mentor.

Apple Music lists it on Black Samson: The Saga Continues, due November 6, with Method Man & AZ on “God Body”, Rome Streetz & Cormega, Skyzoo, U-God, Ransom and Che Noir. A busy month for Math: he also produced Che Noir’s “Fame & Fiction”.

The Compton’s Most Wanted veteran is back with 20 tracks. We had two of them early: “EVERYDAY” with Conway the Machine in Vol. 002 and “8 LAWZ” with Glasses Malone in Vol. 003. Now that the whole thing is out, the guest list goes coast to coast: Dave East on “SOUL FOOD”, B-Real on “RUN IT UP”, Brotha Lynch Hung, Jay Worthy on “HUBCITY” and Tha Chill.

The one for the crate diggers is “ON GO”, with Pete Rock credited as the featured artist. The Mecca and the Soul Brother next to the king of “geeah”: West Coast and East Coast on the same song, the way it should have happened in the 90s.

Adrian Younge and A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad made The Midnight Hour together in 2018. The sessions for a second album started in 2020 and were stopped by the pandemic. These are those tapes, number 28 in their Jazz Is Dead series.

Nine tracks, two of them with singers: Sam Dew on “Til It All Falls Down” and Loren Oden on “Through My Soul”. This is the kind of record producers sample from in twenty years. If you want to learn how it’s done, start with our guide on how to sample vinyl.

Bruiser Wolf, from Danny Brown’s Bruiser Brigade in Detroit, has one of the most recognizable voices in rap: slow, funny and with a lot of street stories. Conductor Williams is the Kansas City producer who came up with Griselda and has since worked with Drake, J. Cole and Tyler, the Creator.

They’ve worked together before, and it shows. Wolf has been on our playlists with Harry Fraud and Twista, and this week he shows up twice: here and on Che Noir’s “Magic”. Conductor is twice in the list too, behind Che Noir’s “Wasted Time”.

Ishmael Butler, from Digable Planets, is still one of the most experimental voices in rap. Sub Pop says he recorded this follow-up to 2024’s Exotic Birds of Prey over eight days at Seattle’s Hall of Justice studio, with a real band: Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, Thaddeus Turner on guitar and keys, Kassa Overall on drums and Carlos Overall on sax. Erik Blood produced and mixed it.

Ten tracks that go from R&B-style flows to Italo disco synths and end with “From One Future To Another”, which moves from upright bass into a fuzzy live band. Start with the first single, “Ahh World (I Won The Alpha Bet)”.

Chauncey Hollis Jr. is Hit-Boy’s real name, and the first Chauncey Hollis Project came out a few songs at a time between 2019 and 2020. The sequel is short: nine tracks on his own label, Surf Club.

Our pick is “LUNCH LINE”, where a producer who raps calls another producer who raps: The Alchemist. It’s not their first time; they were already together on “Slipping Into Darkness”. Also on the album: 03 Greedo, Dom Kennedy and Stacy Barthe. More Alchemist in our Alchemist discography.

The big release of the week. Cordae and Anderson .Paak first met on “RNP”, produced by J. Cole for Cordae’s 2019 debut The Lost Boy, then came back for “Two Tens” and “Summer Drop”. Now there’s a full album, 11 tracks, and the announcement named J. Cole, 9th Wonder, Conductor Williams and Swizz Beatz among the collaborators.

The lead single “A Good Day” is built on Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” (1977), one of the warmest samples in soul. The cover tells you the mood: an old-school portrait studio and matching sweater vests. On vinyl and CD.