Best Songs of the Week

Now that spring is peeking around the corner, with temperatures rising and buds on the trees, everything else is starting to seem equally as pleasant. Colors look brighter, sounds are sweeter. In short, RKCB and Demo Taped couldn’t have picked a better moment to release their collaboration "Open Arms."

The production of the track opens up delicately, like it's soundtrack ing a flower in bloom. A steady snap looped in the background helps to tie the instrumentation together, creating a catchy foundation for the soothing vocals to layer themselves over. “Open Arms” is simply lovely.—Adrienne Black

Kano has been leading the way when it comes to British rap and grime albums ever since his classic 2005 debut Home Sweet Home. Never content to just throw a bunch of big tracks together and call it an album, Kano has released records with substance, variety, and depth throughout his career. His latest, Made In The Manor, is no different.

Although Kano has been an integral part of grime culture for years—he's a certified legend at this point, really—he has always made songs that don't stick to the a typical grime format. While straight up grime anthem "3 Wheel-ups" is one of the highlights of his new album, the slow-moving, reflective "A Roadman's Hymn" and "T-Shirt Weather In The Manor" are equally brilliant. On the latter, a nostalgic reflection on his East London upbringing, the production builds and mutates subtly, changing to reflect the building tension in the lyrics, beat and rapper in perfect harmony.

Simply put, Kano has dropped another classic.—Constant Gardner

For some reason, it feels like I haven't heard new material from Trim in a minute. All praise due to Joker's Kapsize imprint for letting Trim bring us "Up To Speed" over this magnificent riddim from Asa & Sorrow for their new Knights of Ren EP. While it's hard to take talk of America finally giving grime a chance seriously (wake me when a proper grime tune can seriously impact radio), we're on the cusp of... something.

Truth be told, I'm okay with mans like Trim coasting over these intoxicating start-stop rhythms. Heaping helpings of braggadocio all over this one, standard. Dream collaboration ting.—khal

ANOHNI's album is gearing up to be very special. Co-produced in its entirety by Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke, the two songs we've heard from HOPELESSNESS so far have tackled climate change (the bombastic "4 Degrees") and now drone warfare. "Drone Bomb Me" is a love song written from the perspective of a young girl in Afghanistan whose family has been executed by unmanned U.S. drones," ANOHNI explains. "She dreams of being annihilated.”

The song is anchored by ANOHNI's vividly violent lyrics, which are brought to life by Naomi Campbell in the Nabil-directed video, completing a powerful package of 21st century protest music.—Constant Gardner

Chester Watson would sound completely out of place over most typical modern hip-hop beats. Thankfully, Chester Watson doesn't rap over typical beats. The teenaged Florida artist has an ear for dusty loops and jazzy backdrops, and on "Frozen in Time" he gets cerebral over a dark, heavy, trippy beat that he produced himself. This is that alone-in-a-dark-room type of music, and if you're not feeling it at first, give it a try the next time you're up in the middle of the night.—Jacob Moore

When we think back to the best verses of 2016, I hope we remember the first two minutes of "Knotty Head." Denzel Curry is ferocious from the start—"Jumpin' in the door, kamikaze / Origami if the neighbors saw me"—and doesn't slow the pace until he's finished, two hooks and verses later.

The gasping, defiant delivery makes up the first half of "Knotty Head." The second contains an above average Rick Ross verse ("Obituary on his mother’s fireplace / Baby mother fuck another sucker on a blind date"), and don't skip the outro if you played video games in the '90s. "Knotty Head" is off Curry's Imperial, required listening for anyone interested in rap's rising class.—Graham