Best Songs of the Week

With so much good music, it's easy to miss some of the best. To help prevent this, we've rounded up the best new songs of the week. Here are the songs you can't afford to skip, in no particular order.

Is 2018 about to be Jay Rock's year? "King's Dead" with Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake from the Black Panther soundtrack is still ringing off, he's killing it on TDE's Championship Tour, and now the Watts, LA rapper is back with another anthem. The production from Boi-1da and Vinylz is huge and filled with triumphant horns, and Jay Rock delivers the most immediately memorable track of his career. It's confident, fun, and 100% slaps. "Third album comin' soon," Jay Rock raps, and we're ready.—Alex Gardner

.Paak back. The Apple/FKA Twigs collab "Til It's Over" reminded us of the Oxnard native's depthless talents, but "Bubblin" dispenses with pleasantries. He's back to his raspy, bombastic ways on this one—with its crazy energy and and skittering production, "Bubblin" is a sonic descendant of .Paak's iconic Venice cut "Milk 'N Honey," but 2014 feels a lifetime away.

.Paak's sound has continued to evolve, and ever since Malibu, he's retained a mantle as one of music's most exciting and talented acts. "RIP to the times that I was broke," .Paak raps over trumpet sample from Jahlil Beats and AntMan Wonder. He's rumored to be releasing two projects in 2018, and if the video for "Bubblin" is any indication, it's about to get theatrical.—Graham Corrigan

There’s nothing more pure than the feeling of wanting to start over, and Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan renders it in heartwrenching fashion on “Let’s Find An Out,” the latest single from her upcoming project Lush. With sweeping, elegant fretwork and a quiet, thumping bass, the track is gentle but unyielding in its emotion, as Jordan yearns for another chance beneath ominous red skies.

While the lyrics are a touch cryptic, the ultimate fate of Jordan and the song’s subject is telegraphed in the plaintive strumming and the creeping resignation of her beautiful vocals. There's not always a fresh start on the horizon, but Jordan is capable of finding the beauty and power in that fact, however bleak it may be.—Grant Rindner

Read our interview with Snail Mail here.

Lil Baby is on fire right now. He may not be as flamboyant as Migos or the rest of his Quality Control comrades, but he's capitalizing on the moment they're all having and has picked up more and more steam with each release. Earlier this month, snippets and rumors started floating around about a collab between Drake and Lil Baby. Shortly after the record premiered on OVO Sound Radio, "Yes Indeed" was officially released. The track is only a little over two minutes long and features flex-filled verses from both artists, connected by a Baby hook that floats over the hard-hitting Wheezy production. The song is built for clubs and parties and both Lil Baby and Drake are having some of the biggest moments of their respective careers.—Eric Isom

GRIP's album PORCH has the best intro I've heard in a long time. It takes over a minute for the beat to kick in after a suspenseful build-up, and the payoff is one of those "oh shit" moments on par with Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" drum fill. It's a hell of a way to kick things off, but the second song on the Atlanta rapper's album shows his full set of skills.

"These Eyes" paints a vivid picture of struggle through GRIP's perspective, and he dishes it out with intensity bordering on a breaking point. The internal chaos is palpable, and for those of us looking to face reality instead of escaping it, GRIP's music is vital.—Jacob Moore

Hear PORCH and read our interview with GRIP here.

Over the past couple of years, Smino has become the kind of artist you don't compare to other artists. He's established his own style, and it isn't defined by any one quality—it's in the production he chooses, the agility of his zigzagging flows, and the details packed into every word of every line of every verse.

Smino's meticulous with it, and his dynamic delivery is complemented nicely by Mick Jenkins' commanding presence on "New Coupe, Who Dis?" THEMpeople join Smino on production duties for a beat that has equal parts bounce and space, making this the kind of song you can sway with or break your neck to, depending on the mood.—Jacob Moore

It’s been over six months since Lil Peep passed, but his presence is still very much felt. The slow trickle of unreleased material from him has made his absence as one of the most promising young artists all the more hard to bare, and his patient Clams Casino collab “4 Gold Chains” exemplifies why. Deconstructing his rise and how he sought to make it less painful, it’s a heartbreaking display of just how much he wanted to do for his family an friends, first and foremost. It’s a bittersweet, forlorn track that shows once again just how much more Lil Peep had to give.—Joe Price

In 2016, Puberty 2 was the soundtrack for my transition from a post-grad millennial full of hopes and dreams into a real, working woman with bills to pay. "Geyser" marks Mitski's long-awaited return to music, her first new single in two years. It's easy to jump to the conclusion that the song falls in line with familiar themes from her previous work—the hardships of falling in love while fighting your own demons, and knocking down any barriers in order to be with that person.

But Mitski recently told NPR that the song touches on making a full commitment to music as a career, despite the looming cloud of uncertainty that comes attached to the job. The Zia Anger-directed video is an extension of what it feels like to completely burst with passion as Mitski sprints down a beach, throwing herself into the sand and digging below the surface while the guitar slowly builds up and then erupts behind her.—Sydney Gore

As we close in on the one-year anniversary of his debut mixtape Humaniac!, Staten Island MC Lou The Human decided to step back in the game with a new freestyle and video titled "Sour." Lou's lyrical ability is up there with the best of them in a time where melody and adlibs have taken over the game. And while he's often compared to some of the GOATs of the golden era, one look at his Twitter account you'll quickly realize he doesn't give a single fuck about any of that.—Eric Isom

Deem Spencer is one of the most compelling artists to emerge from New York in some time. He’s a gifted lyricist with a knack for sloping, MF DOOM-ish cadences, and doubles as an effective, emotive singer. He puts both skills to use on “boy ain’t a bad boy,” a song about his tumultuous childhood that takes a turn towards religious surrealism. The track’s ruminative, soulful beat was provided by Miami’s Sylvan LaCue, who is better known as an MC but has quietly been growing as a beatmaker.

The production is moody and atmospheric, with delicate falsetto riffing and noirish guitars and strings, but it’s also more traditional than Spencer’s usual instrumentals, which affords the young artist room to experiment and play multiple characters. He embodies both his mother and God at different points on the song. Spencer released “boy ain’t a bad boy” along with “i was talking to God,” and after impressing with his off-kilter we think we alone EP, he’s clearly cooking up something grand and mysterious in 2018.—Grant Rindner

Read our interview with Deem Spencer here.

Nothing about "Like a Farmer" should work. Somehow, Tracy and Lil Uzi Vert have made one of the year's funniest songs also one of the catchiest, transcending meme status and legitimately producing a track that's just as tongue in cheek as it needs to be. There are so many quotable lines, but maybe the biggest accomplishment here is that the song isn't awful. It really should be nothing more than a goofy, memey mess, but instead it's the SoundCloud version of a country banger we never knew we needed.—Joe Price

LA production duo DJDS release their new album Big Wave More Fire today via Loma Vista Recordings, and they continue to show that they're master collaborators and curators. The album is packed with a wide variety of features from both established and rising artists, including Khalid, Vic Mensa, Charlie Wilson, Amber Mark, Empress Of, Vory, Kacy Hill, Marco McKinnis and more. One of the instant standouts, released earlier this week, is "I Heard." It's an adventurous song with peaks and valleys throughout, and just one taste of the many sounds and approaches packed into this impressive album. —Alex Gardner

Teenage artist Jelani Aryeh is still in the early days of what should be a long career, but he's already pushing himself both as an artist and a person. We first became familiar with Jelani as a genre-blending  rapper and singer, but on "Daunt" he puts his singing front and center. The thoughtful song is written from the perspective of Jelani's exes, and boasts another brilliant hook.—Alex Gardner

Read more about Jelani here.

LunchMoney Lewis has made a name for himself in the industry by penning for some of the more popular names in the industry and is now looking to kick things into high gear with his solo work. Bouncy and upbeat, “Who’s Up?” is a feel-good track that features a sweet blend of pop and old school funk. It is produced by Axident, Gladius and Ben Billions and puts Lewis' knack for both songwriting and arrangement on display as he looks to make 2018 one of his biggest years yet.—Grant Rindner