The New Hotness Vol. 8

1. SZA - "Go Gina" 2017  Queen SZA is killing the game right now. I love that she "conquered self doubt and took Ctrl" because I'm definitely tryna do that shit too. I recently found out that SZA and I share the same last name so I must be genetically predisposed to take Ctrl.(?)




2. DoNormaal - "Third Daughter" 2017  SEATTLE MUSIC  I can't say enough good things about this Earth Goddess. Her artistic journey is already the stuff of legends and she's just getting going. Here's hoping we get to see some visuals from this album very soon.




3. Ravyn Lenae feat. Appleby - "Free Room" 2016  I found Ravyn Lenae via the Spotify algorithms a few weeks ago, shout out to technology. I tried googling Appleby for 5 minutes but came up empty so I can't link you to their work; learn from this musician friends.




4. Mali Music - "Gonna Be Alright" 2017  No relation to the Mali Music side project by Damon Albarn that I mentioned in the 10th post on this website back in 2009. My respect for Mr. Albarn and his art runs deep but this guy is dope too. If you're freaking out about life again, listen to this on repeat and everything will be alright.




5. Kendrick Lamar - "ELEMENT" 2017  For a few weeks after hearing this song for the first time, I couldn't stop Weird Al-ing the lyrics and making all kinds of weird shit look sexy. Its normal I think. Full disclosure, I do it for the gram sometimes but I've never been to Compton.




6. Sudan Archives - "Come Meh Way" 2017  STONES THROW  Stringed instruments in Hip Hop are a do. Sudan Archives is wearing it better than most.




7. VanJess feat. Masego - "Touch The Floor" 2017  It's almost too poppy sweet for me but the ladies got skillz and are more than worthy of your attention.




8. Leikeli47 - "Miss Me" 2017  Lesson Learned: Never pre-judge a music video/artist by their mask and gold teeth. The details in this video really get me; she's got her own swag sauce and everything.




9. Everything Is Recorded feat. Sampha - "Close But Not Quite" 2017  Due to the mind-blowingly awesome art in this video, I added it to the New Hotness YouTube Playlist AND the Special Effects Playlist (Better than Netflix, seriously). It felt like this XL Recordings artist just popped out of nowhere but they were hiding on the internet this whole time.



10. Jehst - "44th Floor" 2017  UK HIP HOP  One of my biggest regrets is not trying my hardest to get into the Bristol New Year's show this past year to see Jehst etc. when I was just an hour away. Regrets are bullshit so I'm gonna have to take care of that issue ASAP.




11. Jesse Boykins III - "B4 The Night Is Thru" 2012  I just discovered this five year old song but it has remained so damn fresh that it still qualifies for The New Hotness cuz I make the rules here.



12. Onry Ozzborn - "Black Phillip" 2017  SEATTLE MUSIC  Onry gave us a present on July 17...




13. Action Bronson - "Let Me Breathe" 2017  Pretty sure we're all tryna live like Action Bronson right now. I'm literally typing this now so that one day soon I'll get paid to travel around the world with dope producers and videographers eating the best food in the universe. Dude in the still looks like a super dehydrated Dog The Bounty Hunter.



14. Jon Bap - "Queen Chimera Pt.1) 2017  Word on the street is that this is Jon Bap's tribute to New Jack Swing (Shoutout to the Don Teddy Riley); I fux with that.



If you wanna re-Bap, here's his What Now album from 2016.




15. Myke Bogan feat. Blossom - "Take The Nite Off" 2017  EYRST/PORTLAND It warms my caffeinated heart to see male rappers collaborate with female artists; some of the best songs in the history of the (my) universe are duets. Example: Method Man & Mary J Blige - "You're All I Need To Get By" (Bad Boy Remix) (of course, duh)



16. Little Dragon - "Strobe Light" 2017  It's been awhile since Little Dragon made me feel the way it did that first hit I took years ago of "Feather" but I'll keep chasing the Swedish dragons for life to feed my music addiction.



17. Toro Y Moi - "Boo Boo (Album Stream)" 2017  An album stream video like this masterpiece would launch a Soundcloud artist into another dimension. Try harder, it works. For real though, I've been fucking with Toro Y Moi since I heard he was into collecting random pieces of wood.