Drake, Kanye, Joey Bada$$, Tkay Maidza, more

This week birthed the new 20-song double album from Blu & Exile (their first album together in eight years) which you can read about in Notable Releases, and we also got new songs from Drake/DJ Khaled, Kanye West, Joey Bada$$, Open Mike Eagle, Problem/Freddie Gibbs/Snoop Dogg, Tkay Maidza/Kari Faux, Tinashe, Sada Baby, 14 trapdoors/Benny the Butcher, Lupe Fiasco, ICECOLDBISHOP, Ho99o9, new EPs from Oddisee, Sheff G, Jay Worthy/Shlohmo, and more. Read on for all the new rap and R&B we posted this week…

DJ KHALED & DRAKE – “POPSTAR” & “GREECE”

Longtime collaborators DJ Khaled and Drake are back with two new songs, one that finds Drake in chest-puffed rap mode (“POPSTAR”) and one that finds him delivering cooed R&B (“GREECE”).

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JOEY BADA$$ – “THE LIGHT,” “NO EXPLANATION” (ft. PUSHA T) & “SHINE”

Joey Bada$$ has followed 2017’s great All-Amerikkkan Badass with his first new music in three years, The Light Pack, which features “The Light” (which also has a video directed by Kerby Jean-Raymond & Levi Turner), “No Explanation” (featuring a pretty great Pusha T verse), and “Shine.” The long gap without music hasn’t done anything to taint Joey’s sound; just the opposite. He sounds energized and more crisp than ever, and these songs find him exploring some new territory too. Glad to have him back.

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OPEN MIKE EAGLE – “NEIGHBORHOOD PROTECTION SPELL (LANA DEL BIDEN NEM)”

The consistently great, eccentric rapper Open Mike Eagle is back with another captivating new track. “When I wrote this song the world was not on fire yet,” he says. “I had felt subtle attacks on blackness from Joe Biden and other public figures. Notions that were harmful about authenticity. Notions that called our behavioral and consumption choices into question without any reference to the historical context that they are couched in. I made this song as a spell to ward off subtle social attacks at blackness. I put a lot in it to make sure it works.”

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PROBLEM – “DON’T BE MAD AT ME” (REMIX ft. FREDDIE GIBBS & SNOOP DOGG)

Problem has released released a new remix of “Don’t Be Mad At Me” from this year’s Coffee & Kush Vol 1, and this new version features a fired-up verse from Freddie Gibbs (who’s been on a roll this year) and a hazy verse from Snoop Dogg.

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ODDISEE – ODD CURE EP

Oddisee surprise-released this EP which finds his warm alternative rap in fine form.

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SHEFF G – JUST 4 YALL EP

Sheff G continues to emerge as one of the leaders of Brooklyn drill and he follows his recent One and Only album with this new five-song EP. Guests include Rich the Kid, Jay Critch, Lil Tjay, Sleepy Hallow, King Von, and Eli Fross.

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JAY WORTHY & SHLOHMO – TIL THE MORNING EP

Jay Worthy follows his recent collab EP with producer Harry Fraud with this one helmed by WeDidIt beatmaker Shlohmo. Its one guest is Krayzie Bone of the legendary Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

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TKAY MAIDZA – “DON’T CALL AGAIN” (ft. KARI FAUX)

Australian rapper Tkay Maidza has announced a new EP, Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2, due August 7 via 4AD. It…