The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from Tyler The Creator, Lil Uzi Vert, and IDK.

Okay, now I am mad at all the rappers. It’s not that there hasn’t been a slew of worthy contributions to the canon over the past 10 months; it’s that so many of them waited until November to release absolute bangers that will have to be mainlined instead of savored ahead of the inevitable year-end lists. There were so many dead weekends over the past couple of months; did Tyler The Creator, Earthgang, Lil Uzi Vert, IDK, and Freddie Gibbs all have to wait ’til this week to drop? On the bright side, though, there’s a decent chance that Tyler’s new album manages to bring back New Music Tuesday, which can only benefit artists, fans, and labels — if only the latter have the brains and balls to follow through. More notable releases this week:

Drake’s “No Face” video. No comments, the man’s been through enough this year.

Central Cee’s “One By One” performance on COLORS announcing his upcoming debut, Can’t Rush Greatness.

Future and Travis Scott’s long-awaited remix for “South Of France.”

Snoop Dogg’s first Missionary single, “Gorgeous.”

And a timely remake of Kurtis Blow’s ’80s classic “Basketball” featuring Lola Brooke and finally acknowledging the ascendance of women’s hoops. I don’t care if it is technically a commercial for DoorDash; it’s a long overdue investment into women’s sports.

Also: Saweetie kicks us off on Christmas, relegating Thanksgiving to the also-ran status it deserves.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending November 1, 2024.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

Bishop Nehru — Nehruvia: Solace In Shadows

In the years since the East New York native’s teenaged debut over a decade ago, he’s kept up a truly stunning level of output, especially since going independent after parting ways with Mass Appeal. You might not have noticed; he moves with the sort of murky mystery as former mentor MF DOOM, but let his latest project (and second of 2024) serve as a reminder of his deft pen and commitment to cerebral lyricism matching that of other notable underground names like Earl Sweatshirt and Ka.

EarthGang — Perfect Fantasy

Like Tyler The Creator, EarthGang dodged the Friday deluge with a Tuesday release for their new album, which is a truly unexpected mashup of alt-indie sounds, funkwave dance floor fillers, and African diaspora riddims that explores all the ways in which human ingenuity trumps algorithmic precision. No AI would ever think to combine the sounds and ideas presented here, which is the point of EarthGang’s whole ongoing “Versus The Algorithm” project. Sometimes, it’s the things that don’t “make sense” that work the best. Surrender to humanity of Pefect Fantasy; resistance is futile.

Freddie Gibbs — You Only Die 1nce

Gibbs’ first full-length since 2022’s Soul Sold Separately, You Only Die arrives with little fanfare or advance warning, yet all the skillful wordplay and emotive storytelling rap fans have come to expect from the Indiana product. The soulful production includes notable samples like the Tony Toni Toné interpolation on “It’s Your Anniversary,” which offers a form-fitting backdrop for Gibb’s heart-yanking raps.

IDK — Bravado + Intimo

As quiet as it’s kept (at least, among some of you so-called “rap fans”), IDK has become one of the most compelling and consistent voices in hip-hop today — even if that voice pretty closely resembles one of our recent excommunicates (I joked on Twitter that it’s silly to look forward to any Kanye project as long as IDK is releasing new music). The Maryland rapper’s latest distills the best of prior projects like Simple and F65 into a compact compilation of songs that show the most critical sides of rap: the chest-beating and the soul-baring.

Lil Uzi Vert — Eternal Atake 2

Another “surprise release,” the sequel to 2020’s Eternal Atake wisely foregoes a long windup in favor of a shortened runway that allows Uzi to dodge the buildup of expectations that can crowd out artistic ambitions. By taking the pressure off, the Philadelphian genre bender gets to focus on showing off the rapid fire bars that gave them their rap name over a collection of beats that should appease anyone who was disappointed by all the rock and rolling on Pink Tape.

Tyler The Creator — Chromakopia

After taking a few detours into R&B and mixtape rap territory, Tyler gets back to his most familiar lane, crafting a slick successor to 2017’s Flower Boy. However, in the years since, he’s grown as both a composer and a person — growth that lays the groundwork for one of his most polished and mature releases to date. While Tyler’s early work spoke to the rebels and rapscallions of the world doing their best to make it through their rocky teens, his latest speaks to adults they’ve become while still honoring those youthful ideals.

Westside Gunn & DJ Drama — Still Praying

Gunn — bar none, the most productive person working in rap music today — actually has two projects out today: The five-track 11 and the Gangsta Grillz entry Still Praying. We’re giving the spot to the more polished product, which resides comfortably in the now familiar zone that has defined his output to date. Enough drugs to fuel the New York State economy get sold, enough verbal bullets to take over a third-world nation get thrown, and those ad-libs everybody loves remain intact.

Singles/Videos

Gang Starr — “Finishem”

I’ll be honest: I did not think I would ever hear a whole new Gang Starr song in 2024. Surely, every last viable Guru verse has been used, every session between Guru and DJ Premier has been plumbed. And yet, here we are, miraculously hearing the Beantown representative over his Houston brother’s production in honor of the five-year anniversary of One Of The Best Yet, their last album together and first since 2003’s The Ownerz.

Flau’Jae — “Big Bag”

LSU’s women’s basketball season tips off in just a few days, and junior guard Flau’Jae Johnson gets herself hype with a boastful new release tapping into every rapper-hooper’s favorite subject — that bag. While we’ll see how her off season bag work pays off on court in a few days, we’ve already seen how her off season rap moves contributed to a “big bag” of opportunities, making her one of the first college athletes to be afforded such gains from extracurriculars during her student-athlete years.

Kal Banx — “Sunstory” Feat. Isaiah Rashad

The TDE producer continues the rollout to his debut project, following “Hop Out Cho Feelings” with “Sunstory” a jazzy mood poem featuring labelmate Isaiah Rashad. Featuring a looser structure than the traditional “verse-hook-verse-hook” model, “Sunstory” sees Rashad contemplating his conditions. A pretty string section closes things out, showing off Banx’s production prowess and leaving appetites whet for his eventual release announcement.

Luh Tyler — “Money Virus”

Tyler loves rapping; it’s been evident since his breakout “Law & Order.” But it’s rare to see someone who blew up so young so committed to improving after all the success. At first blush, “Money Virus” might seem just another example of the teen rapper piling double entendres on top of each other, but he’s gotten more precise with his delivery and creative with his hook work, demonstrating his dedication to actually improving rather than coasting on past wins. If only they could all be like Tyler.

Maxo Kream — “Big Hoe Me”

The Houston big stepper swaggers all over a rumbling but surprisingly pretty beat to highlight the thin line between mentorship and bad advice, detailing the ways in which his “big homie” low-key ruined his life. After all, someone really looking out for him would keep him away from the street life, not hand him a gun and send him out to hit the opps. In that way, “big homie” is more like a “big hoe,” hence the title.