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Meek Mill — Championships
Meek Mill hopes to hoist a trophy with his highly-anticipated new album, Championships. The Philly rapper’s latest offering comes with 19 joints and a plethora of guest appearances from the musical landscape.
Rappers Cardi B, Drake, Rick Ross, Future, Fabolous, Young Thug, Kodak Black, and 21 Savage pop up throughout. JAY-Z adds fuel to all of that fire with a Kanye West-referencing verse that’s already got people talking. Elsewhere, singers Ella Mai, Jeremih, and PnB Rock lend their voices. Anuel AA, Roddy Ricch, and Melii add more flavorful features.
Championships arrives in the wake of Meek’s legal troubles. The Philadelphia spitter says it also lands at the perfect time. “I feel like I’m at a championship stage in my life,” he told Beats 1. “Beating poverty, beating racism, beating the system, beating gun violence, beating the streets. Once I made it through all that, I feel like I’m at that winning stage in my life.”
Meek also said that he wanted to showcase his growth and evolution with versatility. “I represent a certain sound, like the energy, the loud hype,” he said. “But this time around, I’m like, ‘I gotta stretch it out.’ You might in the gym today, you might be going through something tomorrow, you might got a big test coming up and need motivation to be inspired…I don’t think an album should just sound like one thing.”
Listen to Championships below.
Earl Sweatshirt — Some Rap Songs
Earl Sweatshirt delivers some rap songs with his appropriately-named new album, Some Rap Songs. The new project an provides anxiously-awaited 15 tracks, soulful instrumentation, and intricate rhyme patterns from the Odd Future alum.
The rapper, real name Thebe Kgositsile, self-produced a bulk of the new project. Black Noi$e, Sage Elsesser, Adé Hakim, and Darryl Anthony add additional production. Featured artists include Navy Blue, Standing on the Corner, Cheryl Harris, and Keorapetse Kgositsile.
Sweatshirt recently spoke about why the album’s title is so direct. “Incomplete shit is really stressful to me, and the concept of un-simplified fractions is really stressful to me,” he told Vulture. “So, with things like the album title, how I structure shit, and even how I write, it was really just like, ‘What is this?’ The album title was kind of a response to that question.”
Listen to Some Rap Songs below.
Chance the Rapper — “My Own Thing” & “The Man Who Has Everything”
Chance the Rapper keeps the loosies coming. Shortly after dropping four songs earlier this year, Lil Chano from 79th unleashes two new joints with “The Man Who Has Everything” and “My Own Thing.”
“The Man Who Has Everything” is a soulful cut produced by Jeremih and Nascent. “What in the world for the man who has everything?” he asks on the track. “Man, West Chatham Park can use some better swings / Used to be disheveled, I went and shoveled everything / Tell Santa to show up to doors he never ring.”
Longtime collaborator Joey Purp joins Chance on the bounce-driven “My Own Thing.” “I gotta do my own thing,” Chance sings on the hook. Later, he raps about his BM’s reaction to DMs and his new lifestyle. “Got a baby, got a house, got in-laws,” he raps. “Go and kick rocks.”
Earlier this year, Chance dropped four tracks for his fans in the form of “Wala Cam,” “65th & Ingleside,” “Work Out,” and “I Might Need Security.” Listen to his new joints below.
Lil Baby — Street Gossip
Fresh off Drip Harder with Gunna, Lil Baby steps back out on his own for Street Gossip. Following Harder Than Ever, this marks Baby’s second solo album of the year.
Just like he’s done in the past, Lil Baby calls on familiar faces for this effort, including Meek Mill, Gunna, 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, Offset, Young Thug, and NoCap.
Quay Global manages a bulk of the album’s production, with additional beats by Mattazik Muzik, Metro Boomin, Wheezy, and Algino.
Baby’s only been rapping for a short time, but he’s already amassed quite a following. “I’ve been rapping a whole two years now,” he recently told Hot 97. “I truly just take it as a blessing.”
In that short time, he’s already released several projects and he doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon. “I be workin’,” he added, during the aforementioned interview. “That’s all I do. Ain’t nothin’ else for me to do.” Listen to the product of that work below.
Offset — “Red Room”
Following in the footsteps of Quavo and Takeoff, who released their solo debuts this year, Offset is gearing up for his own. But first, the Atlanta star uncovers the LP’s lead single, “Red Room.”
Produced by Metro Boomin, “Red Room” is an inside-look at Offset’s personal life. The Migos rapper addresses his upbringing, recent car accident, and more. “How I grew up, my mama was my dad,” he raps. “So when I blew up, I put her in a pad / I like to throw up when I think about the crash / When I hit the tree, I smelled the gas / Looking at the sky, thinking about my past.”
Cardi B, Offset’s ultra-famous wife, recently teased his new album by celebrating its personal perspective. “I’m loving hubby album,” she tweeted. “It’s a very deep album..Intro made me cry twice.”
Offset also explained how Bardi shifted his life during an interview with The New York Times. “I have a wife and a child — that changed my whole everything,” he explained. “I was a young hothead, but now I understand the value of life.”
Enter the “Red Room” below.
STREAMED: Meek Mill’s Triumphant Return Continues With “Championships,” Earl Sweatshirt Drops “Some Rap Songs,” & More was originally published on cassiuslife.com
