Hip-Hop Continues a Dominant 2016 Showing: Travi$ Scott and Isaiah Rashad Drop New Albums
It’s already been a huge year for hip-hop, but as we make our way through 2016, more and more essential releases continue to make their ways through the pipeline, and for both established stars and up-and-comers, it’s an exciting season for the release of new music.
This year has seen Kanye West and Chance the Rapper release masterpieces in The Life of Pablo and Coloring Book, respectively; then, there’s been new projects from several emerging stars, including last week’s releases of Young Thug’s eccentric and exciting No, My Name is JEFFERY, and Vince Staples’ mean-mugging Prima Donna EP. This week, two more notable releases cross Hip Hop’s radar with a new album from Kanye West associate Travi$ Scott, and a debut album from Kendrick Lamar associate, Isaiah Rashad.
Scott’s album Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight might be the second wordiest title of 2016, and comes almost exactly a year after the release of Rodeo, his debut LP, which featured the hazy “Antidote,” a track that became a fair-sized hit at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. The 24-year-old worked on two songs on Kanye West’s Yeezus (“New Slaves” and “Guilt Trip”), and also got a writing credit for Pablo’s “FML.” If there’s interest in hearing from the man himself, Scott is set to appear with Chase B. on the .WAV Beats 1 Radio show, where he’ll discuss and break down each track on the record.
http://twitter.com/Beats1/status/771461932108779520
After the Beats 1 premiere of the album, it will be exclusive on Apple Music for an unknown period of time.
While Isaiah Rashad may not be unknown to hard core hip-hop heads, his debut album, The Sun’s Tirade, on Top Dawg Entertainment–the label that houses Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q–should do well to acquire and build an audience for the Chattanooga, Tennessee native.
The fact that Rashad is signed to Top Dawg, an independent label that focuses on west-coast based hip-hop, is a stamp of approval in and of itself–not that Rashad, one of the most exciting voices in the genre, needs it. During the album’s 17-track setlist, Lamar shows up on “Wat’s Wrong,” while another TDE rep, Jay Rock, shows up on “Tity and Dolla.”
The 25-year-old rapper released his album title, album art, new songs and more all in the past few months. Just a few days ago, he shared the artwork and tracklist of the album’s final tracklist.
http://www.instagram.com/p/BJv6pefhg3v/
Tirade is Rashad’s first solo release since 2014, when he put out Cilvia Demo, a mixtape that placed him right smack in the middle on hip-hop’s map, as well as on the cover of XXL’s annual Freshman Class issue, alongside Chance the Rapper and Rich Homie Quan.
The album is, again, available now. Check it out below via Spotify.