Clockwise from top left: LOLAA, Kyle Lux, Beanz, Spacey Jane, Salt Ashes, and BAYLI with ILoveMakonnen. LOLAA collaborates with Sin Color’s Crisia Regalado to create “Bésame,” a song about the beginning stages of a new relationship, while we round out the best new music of the week with Beanz’s early…

A bold and bittersweet closing chapter for one of the greatest rappers of all time, the long-awaited album from DMX, Exodus, comes a little over a month and a half after his death. His first release in nine years (following 2012’s Undisputed) and his first on Def Jam since Grand Champ, Exodus is…

Benny the Butcher has delivered hard-hitting and detailed songs covering his involvement in drug dealing and life on the streets. Last year’s exceptional examination of such matters defined Burden of Proof as a modern classic, exploring themes of survivor’s guilt and the cost of participation. The followup to the 2019…

Our list of the 20 best hip-hop albums of 2020 includes Megan Thee Stallion, Big Sean, Backxwash, Dizzee Rascal, Busta Rhymes, Aminé, Bambu, Nas, Public Enemy, R.A. the Rugged Man, Benny the Butcher, Eminem, Logic, Homeboy Sandman, Royce da 5’9″, Aesop Rock, clipping., Black Thought, Run the Jewels and…

The best albums of 2020 include (clockwise from top left): Benny the Butcher, Sault, The Soft Pink Truth, Jacob Collier, Lucinda Williams, Jahari Massamba Unit, Bruce Springsteen, Loyal Lobos, Soccer Mommy and Crack Cloud. Welcome back to RIFF’s year-end album roundup! If you’re joining us just now, you’re here…

After striking gold with 2016’s space odyssey Splendor & Misery, L.A. experimental hip-hop trio Clipping now takes a more sinister approach. The underground subgenre known as horrorcore is now the vocation for rapper-actor (and Broadway star) Daveed Diggs’ technical, intense flow and the harsh, immersive textures of co-producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes.…