With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily roundup of the best new rap tracks you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don’t have to. Thank us later.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again - “Drawing Symbols”
Deep in Baton Rouge, La. resides 18-year-old Kentrell Gaulden, aka YoungBoy Never Broke Again. On SoundCloud his numbers rival those of 6ix9ine, Juice WRLD, and Lil Pump, but because of how closed off he is, he’ll never get the coverage those three command. YoungBoy is an extremely popular and controversial enigma. “Drawing Symbols” is an unusually candid look into the mind of an artist who eschews interviews, choosing to only speak openly about himself in his music. YoungBoy is a melodic storyteller and on his latest single details some of the struggles he has been through, “They say Kentrell got a baby, he ain’t nothin but thirteen/They told me that he needed love, he couldn’t pay for what he need.” The song doesn’t serve as an excuse for his ongoing acts of violence, but it is a track that gives us a more detailed picture of a complex artist who is gradually becoming a superstar.
PNV Jay - “Out the Hood”
PNV Jay lingered in the background of Brooklyn’s Blixky crew. He wasn’t supposed to be the star of the city’s drill scene, a spot that was reserved for his fellow Blixky member 22Gz and Sheff G. But recently Jay’s lighter, glossier approach to the music made in Brooklyn has made him into a bridge to the scene for the uninitiated. He has all the swag and the cadence of his peers, but without the grime. “Out the Hood” feels polished; everything from his flow to the piano-heavy instrumental is easily accessible. It’s the major-label-ready version of a subgenre looking to reach beyond the underground.
A$AP Ant - “Shanghai”
In the last year A$AP Ant has dipped into SoundCloud and gotten a second life, becoming one of the most consistent of the original A$AP Mob members. Ant’s flow has become more versatile, sometimes sounding as choppy as Playboi Carti’s and other times as nonchalant as Hoodrich Pablo Juan’s. His lyrical approach has also become less dense, choosing to instead exclusively flex about opulent shit in his raps: “Gucci my socks, underwear Polo/When I pull up, man, this feel like a car show.” But his most important decision was linking with ethereal beatmaker Lord Fubu using the dreamy production on songs like “Shanghai” to catch a vibe more closely associated with the current iteration of AWGE. This resurgence by Ant is strange because he was always viewed as the weak link of the A$AP Mob, but that’s not something we can say anymore.
Q Money - “Neat”
The Cleveland rap scene hasn’t had a truly popping movement since Kid Cudi released A Kid Named Cudi, but Q Money is trying to change that. Q Money is a character and his over-the-top personality could shoot him into stardom. “Neat” sounds influenced by some of the more off-kilter commercial artists in the South like Blac Youngsta. Q can rap when he wants to, and like a Midwest version of O.T. Genasis, can make almost anything catchy.
The Outfit, TX - “Rocket”
Texas’ somewhat under-the-radar rap renaissance continues, this time in Dallas via the surging collective The Outfit, TX. On “Rocket,” the belligerent energy of Outlaw Jayhawk is contagious although it feels like at any second his voice can give out. Jayhawk sounds like he’s competing with the hard-hitting beat to see which can leave the strongest impression, and Jayhawk wins out.
Check out yesterday’s Ones, and listen to new rap from YoungBoy Never Broke Again, A$AP Ant, Q Money, and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist.
