New Hip Hop This Week: Sampa the Great, Curren$y, Planet Asia, V Don and More

The album of the week. Four years after As Above, So Below, the Zambian rapper and singer is back on Loma Vista with her third album, and it has a family story behind it. Sampa found out that her uncle, George Kunda (“Groovy Joe”), was a founding member of WITCH, the legendary Zambian band of the 1970s Zamrock scene: Zambia’s psychedelic rock. Nu Zamrock is her answer, with rap, poetry and soul on top of that sound.

Sixteen tracks, executive produced by Cadenze, with Sia on “Supernova” and KAMAUU on “Star”. We already had “Location” in Vol. 002; this week we go with “Can’t Hold Us”, the single with Mwanjé that started it all last year.

Curren$y and Harry Fraud are one of the most reliable rapper-producer teams of the last fifteen years: Fraud’s label is SRFSCHL, Spitta’s is Jet Life, and this single is out on both. Rome Streetz, from Griselda, is not a new guest either: he was on “86 Testarossa” on their 2023 album Vices and on “Money Magnet” on Never Catch Us.

“The Telethon” is two minutes and twenty-three seconds, no hook to wait for, just two very different voices over a Fraud beat. The cover, two speedboats in black and white, keeps the Vices mood going. Fraud is the kind of producer who builds a whole world from one loop.

Right on time for Halloween. Planet Asia, the Fresno lyricist who was on Mathematics’ Wu-Tang posse cut “Knowledge My Wisdom” in Vol. 004, now calls a Clan member himself: Method Man.

“Haunted House” came out on Thursday, October 29, and the cover says it all: an old brownstone, the light on behind the door and smoke in the windows. Two veterans with nothing to prove, trading verses for three minutes and twenty seconds.

This one is for the crate diggers. Mike James Kirkland was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in 1949 and put out two soul albums on his own Bryan Records in the early 70s, Hang On In There (1972) and Doin’ It Right (1973), in the style of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield. When Luv N Haight, part of Ubiquity, reissued them in the 90s, their reputation grew. John Legend and The Roots later covered “Hang On In There”.

Now he has a new album, backed by Monophonics, the California soul band: ten tracks with horns, up-tempo soul and ballads, out on Ubiquity again. Start with the title track, then go back to the 70s records. If you make beats, our guide on how to sample vinyl explains why this kind of soul is gold.

The beatmakers’ pick. V Don is a producer from East Harlem, part of the East Coast revival with a dark, gritty sound, and he has worked with Westside Gunn, The LOX, Dave East, Willie the Kid and Eto. His label is Serious Soundz.

The eighth Lost Gemz comes as an instrumental album: 19 beats with no vocals. That’s the best way to study how a producer works: where the drums sit, how long the loop is, when he takes things out. The cover, crates of records, tells you where it all starts. If you want to try it yourself, read our guide on how to chop samples on an MPC.

The Buffalo MC is back with his crew, Black Soprano Family, and with Fuego Base, who was already next to him on “Like It Is”, their COLORS session from August. The cover puts Benny in the desert, in a BSF cap, leaning on a car.

Benny is one of the most consistent rappers of the last decade: from Griselda to his own label, he keeps putting out music with a street story in every verse.

Aaron Frazer has one of the best falsettos in soul today, first as drummer and singer of Durand Jones & The Indications and then solo, with Into the Blue in 2024. Corners is a six-song EP he wrote and recorded between tours, with people he admires: Mayer Hawthorne, Gabe Roth of Daptone, Tommy Brenneck, Kelly Finnegan and Cold Diamond & Mink.

Our pick is “Paint The Picture”, the single that announced it in September. There’s also a 7" of “Paint The Picture” with “Back Into the World” on the B-side, out on Colemine on November 13.

The big release of the week. The Dallas rapper puts out his fourth album, 18 tracks on 600 Entertainment and UnitedMasters, a year after taking his voice to country music on I Hope You’re Happy. The lead single was “LITE” with Belly Gang Kushington, and the guest list goes wide: Leon Thomas, Ava Max, GloRilla, Ro$ama, Loe Shimmy and Fridayy.

We picked “BELIEVE”, with Babyface Ray from Detroit and Lil Yachty. Three very different voices on one beat, and it works. On vinyl and CD.