SZA is her bubbly, vindictive self on “I Hate U”

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Earl Sweatshirt drowns in his younger self on “2010”

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Lil Uzi Vert Rides His Winning Formula on “P2”

There were plenty of reasons to believe that Lil Uzi Vert, every bit a creation of the Soundcloud wave, wouldn’t still be around these days. He seemed to keep bagging co-signs and leaping on big-time tracks, not least of which the Migos’ “Bad and Boujee”. But he often seemed like an odd star. Objectively, he was a lazy, unimpressive rapper and a painfully nasally singer. Frankly, it shouldn’t have worked.

Noname and Saba Sound Miles Away From Home On The Loungy “Ace” [Click To Listen]

Two rappers rooted deeply in the new-ish wave of ponderous Chicago music are Noname and Saba. Both came up around Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap-hovering orbit in 2013 with respective eye-opening verses. But the great find was that both of these artists are brilliant in their own right, no qualifiers needed. “Ace” isn’t an earth-shattering single, but it’s further proof that these are two of the better, more thoughtful writers in hip-hop.

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