New Hip Hop This Week: Mike Ladd, Mathematics & Wu-Tang, Curren$y, Skepta and More

The album of the week, and the oldest name on this list. Mike Ladd was born in Boston, lives in Paris and has been making strange, smart rap since his 1997 debut, Easy Listening 4 Armageddon. Welcome to the Afterfuture (2000) is still a cult record, and he has spent years working with jazz musicians like the pianist Vijay Iyer.

Nonechosen is his first solo album in more than ten years, and it comes out on Backwoodz Studioz, billy woods’ label (Ladd was on woods’ Aethiopes in 2022). Sixteen tracks, some named after meals (“Breakfast”, “Lunch”, “Dinner”). Start with “Twenty Five”, the first single. On vinyl, CD and cassette.

The boom bap pick. Mathematics is the man who designed the Wu-Tang logo, the group’s tour DJ and a producer with credits on every Wu-Tang album since the first one. In April 2025 he put out Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman; this is the next chapter, Black Samson: The Saga Continues, produced from start to finish by him.

The guest list goes beyond the Clan: Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa and U-God, plus Ransom, Cormega, Rome Streetz, Che Noir, Skyzoo and Planet Asia. We already had “Knowledge My Wisdom” in Vol. 004, so this week we go with “God Body”: Method Man and AZ over a dusty Mathematics loop.

Last week we had “The Telethon” with Rome Streetz in Vol. 005. Now the full album is here: ten tracks, all produced by Harry Fraud, out on Spitta’s Jet Life and Fraud’s SRFSCHL. The cover keeps the boat theme going, this time an old racing photo.

Wiz Khalifa is on “Night Vision”, but our pick is “Go So Fast”, with Bruiser Wolf from Detroit and Fendi P. Wolf has worked with Fraud before, on his album Made by Dope, and his slow, funny flow sounds great next to Spitta.

For the people who still read the producer credits. Ty Farris is a Detroit rapper with one of the hardest pens in the underground, and No Cosign Just Cocaine is his main series. The fifth one, in 2023, was called The Final Sniff… and three years later here is part six, The Devil’s Dandruff.

Seventeen tracks and a list of beatmakers you should know: Trox, Futurewave, Animoss, Sebb Bash, Fonkstarr and, on “Focus On The Profits”, Apollo Brown, another Detroit name. If you like Apollo’s soul loops, read our review of his album with Skyzoo, Luxury Tax.

A rap record made to get people to vote. Smoke DZA put out We Outside on Monday, November 2, the day before the US midterm elections, together with Popular Democracy, a network that works on voter engagement. Six tracks, just over sixteen minutes, all produced by Mike & Keys.

The guests are serious: Benny the Butcher, Big K.R.I.T., Bun B, Chip tha Ripper, Reuben Vincent and, on our pick, two Philly and Yonkers legends, Beanie Sigel and Styles P. Short, direct and full of veterans.

The big one from London. The Fork and Knife is Skepta’s first solo album since Ignorance Is Bliss in 2019, and the title comes from something his mother used to say: work hard now, so one day you eat with a fork and knife. It looks at his Nigerian-British family and at the Windrush history, with sound system and rave culture in the music.

Fifteen tracks with Central Cee, Jorja Smith, Novelist, Project Pat, Asake and JME. Our pick is the lead single, “Innocent Smile”, with Suggs of Madness and Chase & Status. On 2LP vinyl and CD.

The biggest release of the week. The Atlanta rapper puts out seventeen tracks on Quality Control and Motown, with almost no guests: just Future, Young Thug and Rylo Rodriguez. The cover is his face made from hundreds of small photos.

“Dead Fresh”, the single from the summer, was produced by Pharrell. Our pick is “All My Partnas”, the one posse cut, with Future and Young Thug back next to him.

The R&B pick. Omarion, J-Boog, Raz-B and Lil Fizz are back with their first album since Pandemonium! in 2002. After the Boys 4 Life tour this spring, ECLIPSE brings twelve songs, with Bow Wow, their old tour partner, on “BOYFRIEND”.

“Mileage”, out in July, was the comeback single. This week we play the album’s opener, “I LOVE YOU”: early-2000s R&B harmonies from four grown men.

We told you it was coming, and now it’s here. The Boston DJ and producer’s new album has 21 tracks on Mass Appeal and one of the longest guest lists of the year: Busta Rhymes, Smif-N-Wessun, Killer Mike, Styles P, M.O.P., Joey Bada$$, 2 Chainz, Pharoahe Monch, Logic, Cordae, Westside Gunn and many more.

“Champagne Wishes” was already in Vol. 003, so this week we play the opener, “Rose Tinted”: four rappers, AZ, Boldy James, Ab-Soul and Bruiser Wolf, over a Statik beat. AZ and Bruiser Wolf show up twice this week, here and on the picks above.