This album is not to be taken lightly.

Royce Da 5’9″, a Detroit legend and seasoned wordsmith, releases his eighth solo studio album The Allegory laced in 22 tracks amid features from Benny The Butcher, Westside Gunn, Vince Staples and more.

Lyrically this body of work is not only prophetic but incontestably poetic as well. From start to finish he douses this album in intellect, personal anecdotes, wealthy freedom and the state of the culture

Of the album he states,”I hope that it starts a narrative and a conversation that it’s OK to be smart, it’s OK to be hip-hop…It’s OK to have balance.”

We need potent, substance-imbue hip-hop and clearly Royce delivers just that; indulge above.

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Kodie Shane, the Atlanta Heartthrob and definite multi-talent, releases volume one of her new EP series Blooming. The six track compilation is experimental in execution and lyricism but it clearly revels in her evolution as an artist.

She tells IG, “…I’ll be honest I’m scared but happy giving you little pieces of me makes me nervous. I have you love it. Every flower blooms in its own time no need to be scared...”

Check it out above.

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Bibi Bourelly, Jean Deaux, TOKiMONSTA – a threesome you need to hear, so go ahead and click the link above.

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Hip-hop doesn’t come with an instruction manual or list of “What Not to Do’s,” which is clearly why this generation in particular crafts myriad versions of rap music. Among that list of peculiar creatives lies Asoh Black! and his new album Black Ocean: Season One. The Brooklyn native emcee forges a lane all his own.

He tells HypeMagazine, “Black Ocean” as you see, it’s season one being released on Friday. Now, I intend to make it a series installment. Now that means this is season one of four coming projects. Every individual season will have its own identity. But realistically, it won’t be truly grasped as to what that identity is relative to the series concept as a whole until the series is over. The pieces will ultimately come together when it’s done. When the puzzle is done. And me just being the type of artist that I am, I find great value in the anticipation of the artist. Not knowing what his next move is. I’m not going to lay everything out for you.

But I will tell you that, “Black Ocean” stems from… so, I just got my masters in, technology commercialization and entrepreneurship. When I was in school, they were telling us how companies use innovation to gain competitive advantage in their industries, right. Ultimately, there is something called, Red Ocean. And that’s when an industry is so geared to a specific format. One spread of innovation worked, and it allowed one company to get a competitive advantage to where they are a leader in the market. Red Ocean is when everyone starts to follow that strategy and it becomes a formula and now the standard in the industry.”

Listen to the full album here.

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Why make music if your hearts not in it?

Chika, always candid, releases a record entitled “Industry Games,” a fitting title, listen below.

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Chattanooga, Tennessee native YGTUT calls out the real and the fake on his new bop “Bootleggers.”

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New York native singer-songwriter, Russell Elliot , never disappoint. He’s an intrepid soul with a tell-all pen. His latest release “Bet” proves that he can be a little petty but if the shoe fits, he’s wearing it. Watch your man, Elliot just might snatch him up; take a listen below.

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Broxn native singer, Angelica Vila , teams up with the self-proclaimed “King of R&B” for this new lovers quarrel.