The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from EST Gee, Nardo Wick, and Will Smith.

Sounds like an odd combo, right? After all, Will Smith has largely been recognized as the paragon of wholesome, family-friendly blockbuster soundtrack rap, while those other guys often sound like rap is just something to do between various capital crimes. But that’s hip-hop for you; as a genre it spans a dizzying range of contexts and styles, many of which were represented this week.

For instance, here’s Latto teaming up with fellow ATLien Playboi Carti on a remixed version of her Sugar Honey Iced Tea song “Blick Sum.” They may be from the same city, but their styles form a sweet-and-sour blend.

Gelo Ball and his brothers continued to expand on the success of their throwback-sounding hit “Tweaker,” despite all of them being toddlers at the height of that style’s success.

Meanwhile, Nardo Wick, who is usually out for blood on his hits, shows his versatility with the tender “I Wonder.”

Larry June, 2 Chainz, and The Alchemist gave fans something to look forward to, announcing their upcoming joint album Life Is Beautiful with the video for “I Been.”

And hey, Will Smith, he of the Big Willie style and hefty Hollywood paychecks, revisits one of his few career missteps alongside Big Sean in the video for “Beautiful Scars,” showing he can still get serious — especially when it comes to showing off his rap chops.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending January 31, 2025.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

EST Gee — I Ain’t Feeling You

The Louisville native last released a full length project in 2023, with El Toro 2. In the year since, he’s laid low while building up an impressive arsenal of street rap anthems, which he unleashes here. All of the album’s features (Lil Baby, Rylo Rodriguez, Travis Scott, Veeze) are focused onto just two tracks, allowing him to hold court on his own.

Madlib & MF DOOM — Madvillainy Demos

Not so much a “new” release as a (mostly) unheard one, this compilation collects the demos for the groundbreaking collab album that leaked a few months before its release in 2005. Remastered and featuring the original beats and lyrical treatments that were later tweaked for the official drop, Madvillainy Demos is a peak behind the curtain at the creative process that led to one of the most beloved albums from two of hip-hop’s under-the-radar favorites.

MIKE — Showbiz!

Showbiz! is MIKE’s tenth album, and a testament to the enduring impact of projects like Madvillainy. Somewhere in the mid-aughts, a crop of young MCs inspired by DOOM’s murky abstractions took up the masked menace’s mantle and ran with it, turning DOOM-core into its own subgenre within the indie rap scene. Growing up alongside names like Earl Sweatshirt, ZelooperZ, and other adherents of “weird but lyrically adept” rap, MIKE displays the full range of his skills here.

Pink Siifu — Black!Antique

The itinerant producer takes a thrash metal approach to his beat making on his latest, which opens with a blast of distorted sound and whips the listener through a psychedelic daydream that occasionally drifts into the realm of nightmares (kinda like the experience of “being Black in America” amiright?). A slew of collaborators runs the gamut from thrash-rap band Ho99o9 to Dungeon Family poet Big Rube.

Vayda — Vaytrix Reloaded

Speaking of weird, abstract styles, recent years have seen the inception and ascension of what I like to call “motormouth rap” — a sort of adjunct/reaction to mumble rap. Instead of slurring and blurring their bars together into a soupy sing-song, these hyperverbal MCs spit as many words as they can in a cluttered, often-rushed, rarely-inflected jumble. It’s a little like watching jugglers do their thing but with knives and swords. Anyway, Vayda is just one of this crop, and Vaytrix Reloaded is an updated version of the project she put out last year. It’s a very punk approach, keeping rap’s rebellious edge intact by flying in the face of established mores.

Young Dro & Zaytoven — 10 Piece Hot

Before today, I didn’t even know this was in the works, but projects named after chicken wing combos have yet to let me down. It helps that this one is produced by one of Atlanta’s foremost trap hitmakers (isn’t weird how most of the guys you can say this about aren’t actually from Atlanta?), with the vocals handled by one of its most colorful and creative picture painters.

Singles/Videos

BabyDrill — “Wicked West”

The hard-charging Atlanta upstart continues to pick up steam this week with a sinister anthem that lives up to his name.

BabyTron — “Lunch Break Freestyle”

The witty Detroit jokester dropped a five-song EP, Song Wars, today, but this diversion from Lyrical Lemonade displays Tron at his best.

D Smoke — “I’m Winnin'” Feat. Davion Farris & DreTL

The Inglewood evangelist often works with his brothers SiR and Davion, but on his latest, he shines some light on the latest Rhythm + Flow winner, DreTL.

Driew — “Don’t Know” Feat. Ab-Soul

There isn’t a whole lot of information out there about this Long Beach-bred artist, but he’s been dropping music on YouTube for a few years, and it’s all pretty solid. The co-sign from Ab-Soul could do a lot toward getting his name out there.

Fly Anakin — “My N****” Feat. Quelle Chris, $ilkmoney & Big Kahuna OG

Richmond, Virginia is well-known for being a rap town, but Fly Anakin has been on a mission to change that, along with his Mutant Academy collective.

Lelo — “A&G”

I highlighted Lelo last week, and you sorta have to respect the drive for the kid to put out another video in such a short span. If he’s looking to flood the lane, it could help him overcome the shortcomings I previously noted.

OhGeesy — “Babygirl” Feat. Lil Tjay

The Shoreline Mafia standout has been working on his pen game, and it shows on this take on Fabolous’ 2003 hit “Can’t Let You Go.”

Sturdyyoungin, Ohthatsmizz & Zeddy Will – “Trippin”

Sometimes, a track is just fun. Sturdyyoungin and his friends seem like they’re having a ball here, and you have to hand it to them for convincing Fergie to appear in the video after sampling her for the New Orleans bounce-esque beat. Also, we need more charming, popular-kid rappers making party music — especially if OGs of the form like Will Smith and LL Cool J are refocusing on “BARS, SON!”