Sheldon Pearce
[Copyright 2024 NPR]
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The new albums Quantum Baby and Bird's Eye are exercises in self-liberation, leveraging the sounds and potential of a loaded category while rejecting its limits. -
The duet-packed F-1 Trillion marks a new chapter, but it's no wild swerve — the one-time SoundCloud rapper has had his eye on Nashville for years. -
I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU, the artist's fifth album and first since his Kanye collabs made him a snark target, swings back at everyone in sight — but saves a few knocks for himself. -
The Bronx rapper's acid tongue and unbothered stance made her one of hip-hop's hottest prospects. On her debut album, Y2K!, her snowballing hype may have exceeded the reach of her pen. -
Three survivors of a chaotic moment in hip-hop conjure its best qualities, a decade and a few major career twists later, for three new albums released on the same day. -
The two veteran rappers read as comic inversions of one another on their new albums, by turns renewed and restrained by the instincts that defined them at the start of their careers. -
Megan Thee Stallion's post-traumatic reset, a left-field Lil Yachty collab, the raunchy return of cupcaKKe: June 28 delivered a truckload of major albums, and a portrait of modern rap's main tension. -
New albums by Don Toliver and LUCKI take opposite paths to the same calling, an understanding of rap as texture rather than text. -
Lamar's blowout Juneteenth concert, held at the Forum in Los Angeles and live-streamed on Amazon Music, planted flags for the future of LA rap, while uniting in hate for a certain Toronto titan. -
Canon-making is a core part of rap fandom, the subject of endless barbershop parleys and message-board battles. But something curdles when the companies that control the music business enter the chat.