Cleo Sol will probably get the most attention for good reason. What else is out there?

A few things I've seen:

Blu x Mickey Factz x Nottz - The Narrative EP

Damu released another single, "Enchanted Spirits" with Insight. That makes three recent singles, God Speed w/Blu and Four Better or Worse w/Nitty Scott being the other two -- hopefully that means a full-length is coming. (He and Raw Poetic did "Big Tiny Planet" EP this year, too, haven't checked that yet.)

Seeing some other singles but not a ton of full-lengths of interest on the hip hop/r&b side of things. What's everyone checking out?

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

>Blu x Mickey Factz x Nottz - The Narrative EP

I liked this a lot on first listen --- some good features too (including from Kota, despite the trouble he's been in...), although I don't know whose ignorant ass anti-vax lyrics got included on track 3. Solid beats and rhymes though all the way through.

If you didn't check it when it dropped, go back to Blu's "For Sale" EP from earlier, too. That dropped the same week as Skyzoo so I think it got a bit overlooked, but it's great. As much as I liked Miles from last year, I think lyrically Blu does better on these smaller EP projects.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

Name came across my Twitter feed and I spent a few minutes listening to the sample on iTunes.

I dig it.

She's got big features behind her too (NaS, Brandy...)

Not sure I'm copping anything else for the rest of the year.
That Cleo Sol set me BAAAACK! Ha.

https://digife.com

Nice pop-rap/soul so far. Something you could imagine current-day Stones Throw putting out.

https://quicklyquickly.bandcamp.com/album/the-long-and-short-of-it

Any Paul Barman fans? He released a new album as YOUNGMAN (Paul Barman with a half-assed New-York accent?) Good beats. His rhymes have grown on me, but he's not trying to dazzle with wordplay/dense writing nearly as much here.

https://mcpb.bandcamp.com/album/a-year-of-octobers

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I check for: Serengeti, Zeroh, Open Mike Eagle, Jeremiah Jae, Moka Only.