Lamont's Lists

Well, we made it through 2025, with 365 wild days and what seemed like 365 million songs released along the way. The volume of new music keeps climbing every year, and I keep doing my best to listen to as much of it as possible so you don’t have to. One of the biggest trends this year was the flood of releases from legacy artists—far beyond what we saw even during the 50th anniversary year of 2023. New music arrived from Wu-Tang Clan, Diamond D, Ice Cube, Slick Rick, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Kwame (yes, that Kwame), Big Daddy Kane, and Salt-N-Pepa, just to name a few. At the same time, we got a welcome breather from the so-called Big 3, with relatively little noise coming from the camps of Kendrick, Drake, and J. Cole. If there was a dominant force in 2025, it had to be Clipse, whose reunion gave us an album for the ages, paired with a brilliant rollout and an electrifying small-venue tour. All told, it was a rewarding year of listening—with more than enough beats & rhymes to f...

Whew, 2025 was quite a year. As tumultuous as it was, it seemed more like a decade than 12 months. As usual, I’m thankful to have had tons of music to listen to—music that helped distract me from the madness. This year, without the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef dominating the conversation like it did in 2024, there was more oxygen for a wider range of artists to shine. And sure, social media naysayers made much ado about that brief stretch when no hip-hop records were charting on the Billboard Hot 100—something that hadn’t happened since 1990—but I believe that was more a quirk of changing rules and consumption patterns than any real commentary on the music itself. The quality and diversity of releases from new voices, established stars, and veterans alike, was as impactful as ever. One trend I especially liked was the return of the single-producer album, which gave us music with sharper focus, stronger chemistry, and a more unified sound—whether it was Pharrell Williams with Clipse,...

The Best New Hip Hop Tracks Of The Week Every Friday, on new music release day,  2% Reese  and I slog threw a ton of new hip hop songs that were just dropped. After a weekend of listening in the car, the shower, at the gym and so on we then curate our favorites on Monday so you can get a sense for which ones we think are worthy of checking out.  The goal is to build an epic playlist that ultimately results in a curated list of the best songs of the year. It's hard work (because there's sooooo music out there and most of it's poop). But hey, somebody's gotta do it. Consider this a public service on behalf of the culture. Thank us later. Enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Watch Us Talk About The Tracks On YouTube Listen On Spotify Listen On Apple Music Read Lamont's Lists - The Best Hip Hop Songs Of 2025... So Far Listen To The Latest From 2% Reese ----------------------------------------------------------------...

The Best New Hip Hop Tracks Of The Week Every Friday, on new music release day,  2% Reese  and I slog threw a ton of new hip hop songs that were just dropped. After a weekend of listening in the car, the shower, at the gym and so on we then curate our favorites on Monday so you can get a sense for which ones we think are worthy of checking out.  The goal is to build an epic playlist that ultimately results in a curated list of the best songs of the year. It's hard work (because there's sooooo music out there and most of it's poop). But hey, somebody's gotta do it. Consider this a public service on behalf of the culture. Thank us later. Enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Watch Us Talk About The Tracks On YouTube Listen On Spotify Listen On Apple Music Read Lamont's Lists - The Best Hip Hop Songs Of 2025... So Far Listen To The Latest From 2% Reese ----------------------------------------------------------------...

The Best New Hip Hop Tracks Of The Week Every Friday, on new music release day, 2% Reese and I slog threw a ton of new hip hop songs that were just dropped. After a weekend of listening in the car, the shower, at the gym and so on we then curate our favorites on Monday so you can get a sense for which ones we think are worthy of checking out.  The goal is to build an epic playlist that ultimately results in a curated list of the best songs of the year. It's hard work (because there's sooooo music out there and most of it's poop). But hey, somebody's gotta do it. Consider this a public service on behalf of the culture. Thank us later. Enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Watch Us Talk About The Tracks On YouTube Listen On Spotify Listen On Apple Music Read Lamont's Lists - The Best Hip Hop Songs Of 2025... So Far Listen To The Latest From 2% Reese -----------------------------------------------------------------...

The 25 Best Hip Hop Songs Of 2025... So Far Apple Music Playlist Spotify Playlist Ace Trumpets - The Clipse Anxiety - Doechii Armani Section - DJ Premier & Roc Marciano Band4Band - Central Cee & Lil Baby Blue Devil - Key Glock Brand New - The Underachievers, Issa Gold & AKTheSavior cLOUDs - J. Cole Cut The Lights - Armani White Dark Thoughts - Lil Tecca Day One - Childlike CiCi & Lecrae Egypt - Westside Gunn Ft. Doechii Feels So Good - Amine Free - Little Simz Gawdlley’s Breath - Stalley Get With It - Diamond D Ft. Sadat X Hol’ That - Reason Ft. Ransom & Coyote I Hate Your Friends - Coi Leray I’m On - Ovrkast Pardon Me - Joey Bada$$ Rather Lie - Playboi Carti & The Weekend Sign Language - Benny The Butcher & Harry Fraud Top 5 - Ryan Witherspoon Treasure Island - Larry June The Vibes - Jon Connor & Dizzy Wright Woes Of The World - Saba & No ID 25 More For Your Summer Playlist Blanco - Wale Dum, Dumb and Dumber - Lil Baby, Young Thug ...

For hip hop, 2024 represented a triumphant bounce back after slow sales in 2023 led to much hand wringing about the decline in the genre's popularity. Of course, momentum was helped in no small part by the biggest rap beef of all time between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, which dominated the cultural conversation for several months. Kendrick's decisive victory, and extended victory lap, was fun for all of us to watch (that is, unless you were a Drake fan).  But there was plenty more to keep us dancing, singing and rapping along in 2024. From the continued rise of women in hip hop - led by contributions from talented artists such as Doechii, Latto, Megan Thee Stallion, Rapsody, GloRilla, and more - to the resurgence of legacy artists like LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Common and Pete Rock, Rakim, and even Masta Ace, there was something for every type of fan to consume with guaranteed satisfaction. Hip hop even continued to make inroads into country music, thanks to boundary-pushin...

Well 2024 is a wrap, and I'm so happy to report that the rumors of hip hop's so-called demise were once again greatly exaggerated. For all of you who, just a year ago, were gleefully citing hip hop's declining streams and airplay as evidence of everything from a lack of creativity, to rampant commercialism, to too much mumble rap, and all manner of other "it ain't what it used to be" nonsense, let me be the first to say "STFU".  As I knew it would, the culture has once again proven to be resilient. There was so much great music released in 2024 that it was hard to keep pace with. From ratchet to righteous, boom bap to trap, and party starters to thought starters...the sheer breadth and diversity of the tunes offered something for every eardrum.  Yes, shots were fired and beefed settled, but there were also calls for peace, perseverance and power moves. Above all else, the music compelled us to put on our headphones or hit the dance floor or rap along...