The Emperor's New Clothes Album ∙ Rap ∙ 2025 Raekwon There’s aging like fine wine, and then there’s Raekwon. The Wu-Tang Clan legend’s solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… , is rightfully revered as one of the greatest rap albums of all time, a benchmark release for the mafioso rap that so many other MCs would attempt to emulate in the decades that followed. But aside from that, his albums from the late 2000s forward unlocked a sharper curatorial ear and are largely more consistent than his works that preceded them. Early Wu-Tang music had an indispensable feeling, and the rapper known as The Chef has found ways to recreate it without allowing it to feel stale. The Emperor’s New Clothes finds Raekwon delivering more of the lucid street raps that make him great: crystal clear portraiture of characters down to the details of their clothing or the amount of money in their pockets, fluid storytelling, and popping shit while depicting a life of luxury. He’s strongest here while f...
Full Time Job Album ∙ Worldwide ∙ 2024 Phyno With Full Time Job , seasoned Nigerian MC Phyno resumes his role as cultural flag-bearer and dons the air of elder statesman. Wielding intergenerational and cross-cultural collaborations, Phyno tasks himself with the mission of a global ambassador. At the heart of this fifth studio album is both an unyielding dedication to the craft and a desire to punctuate moments of gratitude, joy, love, and accomplishment with authentic cultural expression. As the project traverses these and other emotions, the artist christened Chibuzo Nelson Azubuike highlights his sonic inventiveness through the album’s invitees. Building on the Afroswing explorations of yesteryear, Phyno reaches across the pond for an array of styles served up by Chip, ArrDee, and the collective NSG. Closer to home, frequent collaborator Flavour joins the homegrown contingent of Cheque, FAVE, Burna Boy, and Johnny Drille in crafting sounds drawn from across the Afrobeats songbo...
Veronica Electronica Album ∙ Pop ∙ 2025 Madonna During the extra-long recording process of her 1998 magnum opus, Madonna came up with an alter ego drawn from her confirmation name—a character she felt so strongly she nearly named the album after it, though ultimately she decided on Ray of Light . Her entrancing seventh album introduced electronica to the American mainstream and reignited the relevance of the 39-year-old new mother at a time when pop music was trending teenage and perky. It was a pivotal moment for the icon both spiritually and creatively, and she’s often cited the record as her proudest work. Back then, she planned to follow up the original album with a companion disc of harder-hitting remixes, though the project was ultimately sidelined due to Ray of Light ’s runaway success. (The boundary-pushing original would become one of the best-selling albums by a woman of all time and earn Madonna three Grammys, including Best Pop Album.) More than two and a half de...
Damaged Thoughts Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Bay Swag Bay Swag has tangentially been related to the rap game since he was a young boy, but his career took off in earnest in 2024 when he was featured on Cash Cobain’s New York City takeover hit, “Fisherrr.” Hip-hop devotees will also know Bay from another source: His father is Lloyd “Bay Lloyd” McKenzie, a legendary New York rap figure who has been incarcerated since 2017. It was about this time that his son began rapping, and on Bay Swag’s 2025 LP, Damaged Thoughts , he goes about forging his own identity while still paying homage to the person he most wishes was by his side. On the Meek Mill-assisted “Seventeen,” Swag quickly establishes the way he operates in the game, spitting, “I don’t just think for self, I put on the whole damn team.” Elsewhere, the Queens native continues to help pioneer the sexy drill subgenre he helped galvanize, like on “Billie Jean,” which features a link-up with fellow New York mainstay Sheff G. ...
The Art of Loving Album ∙ Pop ∙ 2025 Olivia Dean ثمانية App ∙ Entertainment ∙ 2025 Thmanyah, LLC Thmanyah is the platform for the best Arabic content. Films, docuseries, and entertainment shows created with heart and produced with intent. And it’s the exclusive hub to catch Saudi football championships live: the Saudi Super Cup, Roshn Saudi League, King’s Cup, and Yelo League. All streamed as you’ve never seen before, at the highest broadcast quality in their history, with features making their debut in Saudi football. Thmanyah features for mobile and smart TVs: • Inside the Match: real-time, in-depth stats for Saudi championships, updated moment by moment. • Crowd & commentary control: set the perfect balance between the commentator and stadium atmosphere, or let the crowd noise take over. • The best Arabic content library: 30+ interests, from sports and culture to comedy and lifestyle. • All the highlights: key moments, match recaps, and goals from Roshn Saudi League, t...
STAR LINE Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Chance the Rapper Since his debut mixtape, 2012’s 10 Day , launched 18-year-old Chancelor Bennett to indie stardom, fans have watched the Chicago native grow up in real time—from stoner on high school suspension to precocious hometown hero to God-fearing family man. “I lived an adulthood at a really young age,” Chance, now 32, tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “I was touring and traveling and supporting multiple family members, businesses, friends, everything. I’m damn near a child star, you know what I’m saying?” Marking the journey were three studio mixtapes now deemed classics and an official debut album, 2019’s The Big Day , on which Lil Chano from 79th stepped with purpose into the roles of husband, father, and adult. The Chance who opens his sophomore album by declaring, “Surprise! It’s the boy who lived,” is not the same man from six years prior; since then, there was the acrimonious split from his longtime manager in 2020, then the 2...
Wishbone Album ∙ Pop ∙ 2025 Conan Gray When Conan Gray announced the arrival of his fourth studio album Wishbone , he shared in a statement that he wrote the album in secret. While touring his 2024 album Found Heaven , he would finish shows and sketch demos with zero stakes attached. He showed the songs to Dan Nigro, who helped Gray record his first album, Kid Krow , way back in 2020. The tracks, created with the sort of vulnerability only achievable when writing without an audience in mind, ended up becoming the bones of Wishbone , Gray’s cathartic exploration of his foray into adulthood. With his signature blend of beautiful vocals and earworm melodies, Gray opens up his diary to sing about the way romance has changed his life—for better and for worse. The powerful “This Song” finds Gray admitting that it’s easier for him to sing about love for his unspecified partner than it is to utter the words face to face. “Romeo,” on the other hand, begins with a playful ...
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