Welcome to Rap Weekly 140: Tibet Asante. Every Monday, we’ll take you into the world of rap and summarise the most exciting news, announcements and can’t-miss stories. Find out everything you need to know in one place. We only write about the best, so you get the best rap delicacies on a golden platter. We review the albums TIBET ASANTE by Willyynova, I Just Came To Rap by Ghost Da Lyrical & Retrospec, A Blocks Worth of Breathwork by BLK RMBRNDT, The 17th Cipher presents…Cold Work by Mar & Work Scorsese, Throne Away by AJ Suede. Also look forward to great music videos from Radamiz, Fortes, GloRilla, IDK & CORDA, Aesop Rock, or MAVI & Smino. All this and much more in Rap Weekly.
NEWS OF THE WEEK
Willyynova – TIBET ASANTE
That Willyynova has KA’S DEVOTION (Rest in Peace) has been evident for many years. Last year, the Chicago artist released his most expansive albums to date: PARDONMYSLEEZE and SLEEZE WAS PARDONED. PARDONMYSLEEZE was a kaleidoscopic plunge into the artist’s soul: a journey through a magical cave where each wall dazzles with ancient ancestral paintings. An album we ranked among the Top 100 Best Rap Albums of 2024. As the opening track of TIBET ASANTE proclaims: SLEEZEPARDONED, and so it’s time for a new chapter. To the rhythm of a good life in a wicked world: Willyynova is one of the finest made-in-Chicago.
Rap music exists to take us into the artist’s world — to convey their perspective through the rhythm of the rapper, their words, verses, and the music they choose to shape their work. And this is precisely where the new album excels. TIBET ASANTE hypnotically guides you through the rapper’s world — one that’s dark, yet full of determination and hope. The album boasts a unique soundscape, and the rapper’s charismatic voice provides a perfect contrast to the abundance of female vocals — whether it’s a sample on WE GOOD LUV or Kelly Moonstone featured on SENTIENT.
NEWS
Different Phases
Evidence is fakin back. Mr. Slow Flow drops a phenomenal video single, Different Phases — every bar is quotable, every shot could be framed — and after four years, we’re finally getting Unlearning Vol. 2. Let’s break it down step by step. Evidence is one of the most essential artists ever for SudetyRaport, and his music was a key inspiration behind this whole project. We ranked Unlearning Vol. 1 as the second-best album of 2021 in our very first year-end list. Since then, Evidence hasn’t been slacking — he’s produced amazing records for artists like Planet Asia, Domo Genesis, and Blu. Still, we’ve been truly looking forward to his full return to the mic. Unlearning Vol. 2 drops on August 15, and you can already pre-order the vinyl and merch today. The album will feature Larry June, Domo Genesis, Theravada, and The Alchemist — no doubt, this is one of the most anticipated albums of the year.
2Pac’s Autopsy Photo
It’s only been a few weeks since Fatboi Sharif & Driveby dropped their collaborative album Let Me Out. Fatboi Sharif is an artist of a hundred thousand ideas — a creator of new worlds and a restless innovator who never sleeps. So it’s no surprise that on July 11, we can already look forward to his next project. ENDOCRINE is a joint effort with rapper and producer GDP, and it will include seven tracks. What can we expect? Let the artists tell you themselves. “What started as GDP making a beat or two for Fatboi Sharif turned into a friendship, a string of live shows and ultimately, ENDOCRINE. Like a science experiment gone right but not without moments of chaos and intense disarray, ENDOCRINE is two lifelong hip-hop students weaving their unique creative palettes. 7 songs that came together naturally, even accidentally, but with an urgency that warranted a proper release. The result is a wanton celebration of fearless artistry.“
Ace Trumpets
Clipse are back — and they didn’t come to whisper. As part of the iconic A COLORS SHOW series, Pusha T and No Malice made their long-awaited return with the track Ace Trumpets, the first single from their highly anticipated album Let God Sort Em Out. This isn’t a comeback asking for attention — it demands it. The track opens like an opera born of a cocaine dream: ballerinas spinning inside a snow globe, SoHo, strippers, and flurries of banknotes. But this isn’t just opulent flexing. Clipse have always known how to blend luxury with guilt, God with drugs, humility with power — and that’s exactly what you hear here. Pusha T sounds as if he never left: cold, calculated, venomous — every line lashes like a whip. Malice (now No Malice) counters with quiet pain, a reminder of what it all cost him: experience, death, spiritual disintegration. The production feels like a royal procession through a snowy temple — bells, gunshots, silence. The beat isn’t just a backdrop; it’s the vessel of fate. Every tone carries a decade of silence and return. There’s no filter. Just delivery. This isn’t some retro revival — it’s a reminder that time may be ruthless, but truth endures. And Clipse? They didn’t fade. They were just silent — while others talked. Now, they’re here to say everything that was left unsaid.
BEST ALBUMS
Ghost Da Lyrical & Retrospec – I Just Came To Rap
I Just Came To Rap isn’t an album designed to dazzle you with technique, make you raise your hands in the club, or impress you with its cover art. This is raw communication — pure frustration, pride, pain, and the streets laid bare. Ghost Da Lyrical stands with an open chest, no mask, no filter. The track No Scraps is the heart of the entire album — not just because of how it sounds, but because of what you feel in it. This isn’t storytelling for effect; it’s a stream of consciousness from someone who truly survived what others only describe. Every bar reads like an entry from a battle journal — half poetry, half urgent statement. The artist raps about respect that isn’t demanded but taken; about the relationship with his mother, the only soft spot in an otherwise harsh world; about laughter echoing through the blows; about rap not as therapy but as a weapon. Retrospec is exactly the type of producer who lets you breathe — but only half a breath. The beats aren’t polished, digital, or hyper-modern. They crackle like they came straight off the tape. And that gives Ghost’s words space, like silence in a room gives space to pain. There isn’t a single track on this album that fits a summer playlist. This isn’t about catchiness. It’s about moments.
BLK RMBRNDT – A Blocks Worth of Breathwork
We might be repeating ourselves, but the artists from Publichousingnyc create albums with an unmistakable atmosphere. It’s like walking through the blocks of a metropolis in a half-forgotten dream, where all passersby are ghosts who will vanish in a few minutes. “Just breath.” Among the highlights of the album is definitely the track ARRYTHYMITIST, which perfectly captures the melancholic transience of life that the artist carves into their music. The track is a perfect probe into the core of pain pulsating beneath the surface of today’s society: wars, fear, and hatred spreading through the world. BLK RMBRNDT manages to capture everyday emotions both intimately and magically — just as you approach grasping them, they dissolve.
The 17th Cipher, Mar, Work Scorsese – The 17th Cipher presents..Cold Work
This project hurts. But not in a way that makes you want to turn it off. It hurts in a way that keeps you alert until you truly understand the artists’ experience. Cold Work by Mar & Work Scorsese is not just another set of bars about the streets and struggle. It’s a confession of two worlds — what you’ve been taught to survive, and the one you’re trying to live in. The very first track, Where’s Wallace?, references The Wire and sets the tone: here, it’s about characters who disappeared before they had the chance to grow. About boys left standing on the corner with eyes full of questions and pockets full of risks. And then it goes deeper. Paradice with Bub Rock is the album’s peak — not only for its first-class rap language but for its suffocating honesty. Mar writes with his body, memory, and scars. He recalls a stepfather with a needle in his hand, churches where no blessings were given, but life was lived. Yet there’s no self-pity here. Just facts. Just the desire to know that maybe something better lies beyond it all, even if only for a moment. There is hope, but cautious — like steam rising from a bowl of instant soup. Not much, but it warms. Work Scorsese builds beats like a documentarian. They are chilling, minimalist, without any glitter. But they carry weight. Every loop feels like a piece of pavement these verses walked on. Pure boom bap — but with a soul underground and a head in the air.
AJ Suede – Throne Away
AJ Suede isn’t a rapper you play for a quick dopamine hit. He’s more like an old magical mirror in the basement you’re afraid to look into, because you know you won’t see light in it — only truth. Throne Away is his next quiet revolution. The album has ten tracks but feels like an uninterrupted stream of thoughts. Each track is short and concise. No wasted words, no superficial hooks meant to help you remember something (though you will definitely find great hooks on the album). This is rap as a stream of consciousness. Not for effect, but because it can’t be any other way. Artery sounds like an exhale between two fits of silence. On the track, AJ Suede speaks about death, respect, and false idols without any pathos. His vocals are dreamy, almost whispered, but the words carry the weight of a concrete pillar. AJ Suede isn’t a classic storyteller. He’s a modern-day poet who refused to choose just one mood. The production is minimalist and contemplative, like a dreamy fog over a broken city. AJ Suede raps like he’s whispering notes into a recorder at 3 AM after being woken by a dream he doesn’t want to forget. And that’s exactly what creates his magic. He doesn’t play the hero or the victim. He’s just an observer. With open eyes. With fear and courage at the same time. Throne Away isn’t an album you play for your friend to understand rap. It’s an album you play when you want to understand yourself. You might not feel better after it, but you will definitely feel more truthful. It’s a gift. A small recording that doesn’t overwhelm you but stays with you after listening. In your head. In your heart. In the silence.
DOPE ALBUMS
The five albums above aren’t the only ones you need to hear. We’ve handpicked ten more dope records that no one should sleep on. Give every one of these projects a shot — they all deserve your time.
Patty Honcho – Lost at Sea
Villa Velli – Stranger Than Fiction
Arsinel – Foul Play 3
Machacha – Copenhagen Crates presents The Formula: 250
Kota the Friend – NO RAP ON SUNDAY
Nowaah The Flood & Giallo Point – The Anomaly
DayEXSO – Year of the Dragon
Deuce Ellis – BOAT Tape
Elcamino & Fuego Base – Harlem Heat
A Producer Named 2 & Semi Six – Words To The Wise
BEST MUSIC VIDEOS
Hypnotic like ocean waves: Radamiz & Fortes, with the video for their track S.P.I.R.I.T., remind you that you should listen to their joint album LIGHTMAN, the album.
GloRilla mixing rap and gospel? Yes, the track RAIN DOWN ON ME (feat. Kirk Franklin & Maverick City Music) will definitely surprise you.
IDK & CORDAE bring stories from American hoods to European metropolises—check out the video for their track PRINCE GEORGE.
Aesop Rock brings another mundane yet exceptional story to life in the video for his track Movie Night.
MAVI has released the second video single from his upcoming album—there’s definitely something to look forward to.
DOPE VIDEOS
Our list of must-see music videos doesn’t stop at the top five. We’ve selected ten more fire clips you need to check out. Show some love to all the artists below — they truly deserve the spotlight.
Niko Brim – NO SERVICE IN TULUM
K.A.A.N. – PAPER PLATE FREESTYLE
Paul Wall, DJ.Fresh – Blantons Tonite
BA PACE / SNIPER LEW – “MOTION SICKNESS”
Mike Shabb – nothing is the same + outro
Sauce Walka, Peso Peso & OgDBerry – 4 Pints
Grafh x Cory Gunz & Whispers “DEEP DIRT
SEAN LINKS “TECH SUPPORT” PROD BY SEAN LINKS
Ntwali & Saint Kay – The Other Side (feat. Mike Shabb)
Blu x eXquire – Absotively Posilutely
That’s a wrap on today’s news roundup. What caught your attention the most? Hit us up on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok or Bluesky We’ll be back next Monday with another dose of the Rap Weekly and fresh heat from the scene — don’t miss it!
