Moments in Timelessness

Lil Herb (Extended) Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 G Herbo When the rapper known as Lil Herb broke through in 2012 with his searing Lil Bibby duet “Kill Shit”—an instant classic in the Chicago drill canon—he was a baby-faced 16-year-old with the voice and gravitas of a grizzled veteran. Since then, G Herbo (as he’s been known since 2015) has watched the genre he helped pioneer become a worldwide juggernaut. Meanwhile, he grappled with the trauma of the lifestyle that informed his storytelling on albums like 2020’s  PTSD  and 2022’s  Survivor’s Remorse , which upped the studio gloss without sacrificing his visceral intensity. Stardom fit the former street rapper like a glove. But for his seventh album, titled after his original alias, the 30-year-old rapper felt drawn back to his past, revisiting old songs like 2015’s “Briks & Mansions” or 2017’s “ Street .” “I was just trying to tap into that stage and that era—just trying to find the hunger again,” Herbo tells Apple Mu...

Still Goin the Ep Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 MexikoDro

Purple Passion Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Icewear Vezzo Though Icewear Vezzo is one of the most successful rappers to emerge from Detroit during the city’s 2020s renaissance, his 2025 EP  Purple Passion  is a dedication to the idea that despite having accomplished many of his goals in this game, there’s plenty of opportunity to get better. The album cover glows with the stunning purple of Vezzo’s luxury whip, but the operative word in the title is “passion,” which the MC brings in spades, even when he’s attacking these electro-infused beats with his signature laidback flow. Opener “Regular” floats along with a whimsical woodwind sample and rumbling bass, leaving plenty of room for Vezzo to take a moment and count his wins. He invites 2 Chainz to join the fun on “Status,” featuring a powerful choir sample and Vezzo lamenting that upstarts in the game are glamorizing the wrong things.