Best Songs of the Week

DP raps with a casual disdain that him sound, at times, like a true rap villain, violent and money-driven edging on coldly nihilistic. In most cases, those ingredients would form a recipe for boredom, but DP's able, agile rapping make songs like "Glitch" into the sort of entertaining hardcore rap that seems in short supply in 2014. As on past standouts "Jabar" and "Glass Casket," DP's dark energy is matched by an equally odd and ominous production from producer and featured emcee Brooklyn Taylor.

Find DP on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from whatever you consider conscious, socially responsible rap, pissing on your morals.—Jon Tanners

There's a lot of different kinds of "pop" music out today. There's synth-pop, indie-pop, electro-pop, mainstream pop—and then there are songs like this. SOPHIE creates a type of pop that sounds like the result of inhaling helium and then downing 100 pixie sticks. And, as evidenced by her newest single "Lemonade," that's not a bad thing. Featuring wonky production and an undeniable hook, the song is as infectious as anything you'll hear on the radio.—Katie K.

Having both released excellent full-length projects over the course of the past month, Allan Kingdom and Kevin Abstract joined forces this week and delivered "Already," the first of what will hopefully be a handful of collaborative tracks. Produced by Phony Ppl's MaffYuu, the record is a seamless collaboration that highlights both emcees' abilities to attack a bouncy instrumental with inventive, personality-infused flows and an exciting sign that there is much more where both recently released bodies of work came from.—Tim Larew

Cloaked behind JJ's grandiose production, hip-hop references, and general love of weird left turns are painfully honest songs. "Dean & Me" might be the best example of that on their new album V, out August 19 on Secretly Canadian. At first listen the soaring melodies might grab your attention, but listen carefully to the lyrics and you'll find something poignant, something that reads like a drunk, soul-bearing stream of consciousness.

I know I'm drunk I know it's late but I will call you anyway calling because I fucking shake calling hoping you awake because I'm falling apart because I'm falling in love with you and something inside me tells me we could be together something inside me tells me we could be forever but something inside tells me we will never be together.

There are always layers to JJ songs, it's just a matter of peeling them back.—Constant Gardner

In "Pendulum," FKA twigs has given us one of her most brilliant tracks to date. Her LP1 album isn't out for another two weeks, but she's already proven herself a devastating songwriter, and that remains the same here. James Blake and Joni Mitchell get channeled on her latest—"Pendulum" is a dust cloud of swirling synths and harmonies in the upper register, complete with hiccups of dead silence. FKA twigs describes it as one of her favorite songs on the album. Samesies.—Crax

Wara From The NBHD has proved two things to us very clearly: he can produce just as well as he can rap. That’s not something a lot of artists can say. On his latest single, “Raw” ft. GrandeMarshall, Wara delivers his verse with well-deserved confidence over a hypnotic beat. The bassline is smooth and somewhat dark in a way that is reminiscent of the kind of soundtrack that would be played in an old mystery movie. But the piano and horns bring in a jazzy element that lightens the mood just enough. And in order to make sure this track stays on repeat, Wara adds a catchy hook that’s hard to resist.—Adrienne Black

Talkbox vocals can be corny as fuck. Or, as is the case across Redinho's new self-titled album (out September 24 via Numbers), it can be incredibly badass and foot-tappingly funky. From the opening "Oh.. yeah" vocals, layers of colorful sound are added—a strobing synth here, a fat kick here—until the full vocals come in, smooth and seductive and summery. Throw this on and get that head nodding ASAP.—Constant Gardner

In what will surely go down as one of the most unpredictable collaborations of the year, Chicago rapper Fredo Santana and Childish Gambino linked up on "Riot" off Fredo's Walking Legend mixtape. The Young Chop-produced cut is a certified banger, and as it turns out, Gambino sounds right at home on a trap instrumental. He brings substance with an aggressive flow, managing to fire off a shot or two at the critics who "love to hate yo, but wouldn't say shit to Fredo cause they afraid yo." This concludes quite a newsworthy week for Because the Internet auteur—we're excited to see what he has in store for the remainder of 2014.—Tim Larew

While a lot of words have been written about how Porter Robinson's transcended modern EDM in the search for something more, I just appreciate that his Worlds album is chock full of him just experimenting with sound. For someone who's toured with Tiesto and Skrillex, it takes a lot of balls to knowingly leave that life to pursue what you feel is better.

Cuts like "Flicker" do dive back into those older ways, but he's wrapped them in a cut that shares a pretty happy hip-hop sensibility, coming from the odd vocal that he loops over the this hip-hop flavored beat—one that seems to nod to his love of Kanye's use of bright melodies at one point in his career. This is possibly the most feelgood tune on Worlds, and one I'm glad the world got to hear before the album crashed all up in your living rooms.—khal

alt-J are pretty vocal fans of hip-hop, but no one can say that they saw this remix coming. Continuing the "Story" series, clipping.'s remix of "Hunger of the Pine" contorts the original, bringing distant elements towards the foreground to surprisingly strong effect. Daveed Diggs lends his lyrical fire and brimstone atop the immediate beat, weaving between the bright horn samples with finesse. His storytelling expertise reaches a new height here, but it's still just as delightfully challenging to figure out exactly what it is he's talking about.—Joe Price