This week’s best new hip-hop

This week’s Best New Hip Hop features albums, videos and songs from GloRilla, JID, NLE Choppa and more.

In terms of new releases, it’s pretty thin on the ground this week. Maybe everyone’s still sleeping in for the holidays, or maybe the whole hoopla with Ticketmaster, the Super Bowl and the Grammys all crammed into the first two weeks of this month has made artists dreading being drowned in the noise.

That said, there have been some artists willing to take the risk of releasing a few singles — and it might well pay off considering there’s no competition for attention.

Here’s the best of hip-hop this week ending February 3, 2022.

2KBaby — fear of 2 love

The Louisville rapper, who first made his name with tracks like “Zack & Cody” and “Don’t Love Me Now,” is getting his Valentine’s Day celebrations off to an early start. fear of 2 love maintains its melodic trap groove with 12 tracks mostly focused on the whirlwind emotions of young romance.

JayDaYoungan — Forever 23 2x

The Louisiana rapper might not have been a household name at the time of his tragic death last year, but he was on the right track. A handful of fan-favorite SoundCloud singles were the stepping stones to his debut commercial mixtape Misunderstood put it on the billboard 200 and his debut album baby23 landed at number 46 on the charts in 2020. And while his ascent was punctuated by legal troubles, it’s still a shame that his life was violently ended before he had a chance to turn it around. Forever 23 2x is a testament to the resonant urgency of its meager catalogue.

Armani Caesar – “The Survival of the Smallest”

Griselda’s First Lady has built her hype and recently released her second album. The Liz 2, At the end of last year. This week she shared the project’s latest video; Aided by a whistling whistle and those signature Griselda horror movie synthesizers, the Buffalo native struts her way from rags to riches, backed by unique punchlines worthy of her crewmates.

NLE Choppa – “Champions”

The Memphis boy has been producing fairly consistently since his breakthrough with “Shotta Flow,” though he hasn’t quite reached those heights since. “Champions” is a suitably triumphant-sounding meditation on his past success and whatever he’s willing to do to continue it.

Rob Markman – “4 Cornered Room”

A big thank you to my esteemed colleague Rob Markman for conducting an emotional seance and breaking some heavy thoughts with a throbbing instrumental by DviousMindz. It’s a poignant and relatable reflection on depression and anxiety that ends up being more motivating than anything else.

Russ – “Can’t get this right”

Russ does what he does best on his latest release, spitting deceptively complex emo bars over a dazed, self-produced beat over a complicated romantic situation.

Symba – “Never Change” with Roddy Richch

The Bay Area bar juggler drops a video for a standout performance from his DJ Drama-produced tape Results take time. The two rappers spit out nostalgic lyrics that reflect on their respective rises to fame and the changes in their lives since rap.

Some of the artists featured here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.