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Tune In: Best Drops of the Past Few Weeks 

Genesis Owusu — Smiling with No Teeth

Owusu’s debut album is eclectic and surprising — a collection of songs that defy genre identification. Smiling with No Teeth encapsulates rap, R&B, punk, soul, and plenty more throughout the album’s 15 songs and 54 minutes.

Favorite songs: Don’t Need You, Easy, No Looking Back

Slug — Castle by the Sea, Prickly Pear

These two new singles from Slug are casual yet ear-grabbing. “Castle By the Sea” is paced by a strolling piano and expressive trumpet sections, and the group experiments with some strings and a saxophone on the second. Each is rooted in jazz and lo-fi, a smooth collaboration between a pair of inventive genres.

Adrian Younge — The American Negro

Adrian Younge explores projections and understandings of Blackness in this new album, one he calls “my What’s Going On record, to explain why we are where we are in the world.” He spends the album switching tones from impassioned spoken word to expansive freeform jazz sections. It’s a journey of an album and well worth a listen.

CHIKA — ONCE UPON A TIME EP

Despite losing Best New Artist to Megan Thee Stallion, CHIKA’s shown more than enough in her short career to be considered one of the most exciting young voices in rap. This EP, while short, displays a hungry and talented rapper/singer/songwriter experimenting with a series of sounds and styles.

Favorite songs: Fairy Tales, Cinderella Pt. 2, FWB

nelovesBIAS — stop believing the bullshit

The new track from nelovesBIAS features distorted vocals over a rock-influenced beat. The song’s runtime of 1:40 doesn’t leave much room for fluff, and the young artist takes advantage of every second with evocative lyrics about the difficulty of relationships.