Now it's a new year, I figured why not try and switch it up a little. Because what's more important than criticism of old music that's been discussed to death? That's right, criticism of brand new music that's not been discussed yet. So that's what I'm going to try to do in 2026. And so to start that, here's my thoughts on some singles that have released this year by artists whom I'm interested in to whatever extent.
A$AP Rocky - "Punk Rocky" (prod. A$AP Rocky & Cristoforo Donadi)
One of my favourite artists of the 2010s decade has finally decided to release a new album it seems, which has certainly helped in boosting my interest in his new singles (seriously, did anyone give a fuck about "Pray4DaGang"?). This track, despite what the title may indicate, is actually kind of a mellow love tune that feels somewhat similar in vibe to some of A$AP's Testing era tracks, like "Kids Turned Out Fine" and "Sundress". And while this track doesn't really have the hit potential of the latter, it does still sound pretty nice, if a little repetitive, and underwritten (think "I thought you was the one, I guess you just the two" - Jesus, I know most people don't listen to Rocky for the lyrics, but you'd think he'd at least put a little more effort in for those of us that do). This new track isn't mind-blowing, but I like it, and hopefully Don't Be Dumb will turn out to be just as sonically diverse as A$AP's previous two full-lengths. Also, this music video is fantastic.
A$AP Rocky - "Helicopter$" (prod. Kelvin Krash & Soufien 3000)
A$AP's second single of the year was released today, and it seems to be a source of disappointment for some fans, since Playboi Carti appeared on an older leak of this, but is nowhere to be found on this official release. Well, I don't care if it's controversial - I'm glad he's left off. The guy is pretty much a gimmick of himself nowadays anyway. As for the song itself, it's decent. I think it sounds at it's best toward the end where the dark bass sound is more apparent, but the whole thing is enjoyable enough, if a somewhat generic trap banger that doesn't touch the uniqueness of something like "Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2". A$AP Rocky doesn't really have the luxury of producing merely decent fun music at the moment though - with the build up this goddamn album has had it needs to be fucking incredible, perhaps as exciting of a first listen as Utopia was. Let's just hope the other more rap-focused songs on the project will be a little more unique.
IDK & Pusha T - "LiFE 4 A LiFE" (prod. Kaytranada)
After one of the most successful years of his entire career, you'd think Pusha T would have earned himself a nice break, but alas not - a couple weeks into the year and already he's at it again, bodying rappers far, far younger than him. And that's not to say IDK does bad on here - the hook is catchy and I liked his verse a decent amount. But as soon as Pusha T enters, he just dominates the track from every angle. This dark and bassy instrumental suits him like a glove, and the verse stands as probably the best I've heard all year so far. Sometimes it's easy to forget how long this man has been around, given that the first decade of his career was as part of a group - but honestly outside of Nas no-one has been spitting as consistently as him for so long, and very few rappers his age are this good today. This track did not disappoint - it's awesome.
Logic - "It's All Your Fault" (prod. 6ix)
Since his "retirement" in 2020, I think Logic has probably released more songs than half of the mainstream rappers out right now combined. And most of it has been pretty good - I personally fucking loved College Park for example. This new song, for his film that may or may not have come out (I haven't really been keeping up with it to be honest), is pretty interesting, although perhaps not what most people come to Logic for. It's kind of hard to criticise Bobby Boy these days, since he's very obviously just making music for fun and not trying to make much of an artistic statement outside of his main albums... but I will say that this perhaps isn't the best direction for him - I just don't think his voice suits this airy singing style. This was... fine.
Wesley Joseph & Danny Brown - "Peace Of Mind" (prod. Wesley Joseph, Harvey Grant & Tev'n)
Up-and-coming UK rapper/singer Wesley Joseph is someone who I've... never actually heard of before. The main motivation for checking this track is obviously guest star Danny Brown, who has produced some of my favourite albums of all time over the past 10 years (I'm mostly thinking of Atrocity Exhibition, although uknowhatimsayin? was great too). I haven't actually gotten round to his last album "Stardust" yet, but if this track sounds anything like what he's been doing lately then I'm into it. This is fucking brilliant. Danny's verse is nice, but the beat, with that deep bass, is absolutely fantastic, and Wesley slides over it beautifully, whether he's flowing or dropping beautiful melodies. This is quite easily the best song I've heard from this year so far - maybe I should check out more of this guy's stuff!
Larry June - "Who Coppin'" (prod. June Santana & Teeko)
Larry June is a rapper who keeps receiving attention from fans these days, especially when he's making records with The Alchemist, but to be perfectly honest I'm not very impressed. I thought the Life Is Beautiful record last year had its moments, but on this song Larry sounds sleepy, and the production has nothing that is gonna make me want to come back to it. Maybe if June hooks up with another more vibrant rapper like 2 Chainz for his next project I'll have more interest in checking it out, but as for this I'm left feeling nothing. Sorry.
So there you have it. Some of the more important hip-hop releases that have come out so far. As you can tell, the year's been pretty dry, but hopefully the A$AP Rocky record will inject some fire into the genre once more. And hey, maybe if my prayers are answered we'll finally get a new El-P solo record this year. Yeah right. See y'all next time!
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