12 New Hip-Hop, R&B & Alt Albums You Should Be Listening To (Week of March 4th)

Tinashe returns with a deluxe version of 333 while The Cool Kids reconvene with Before Shit Got Weird for this week’s albums round-up.

This week boasts a lot of returns in music, from Homeboy Sandman dropping There In Spirit his latest project in two years, to The Cool Kids doubling-up on 21-track epic Before Shit Got Weird. On BSGW, the Chicago emcees rap include a full cast of features including Chance the Rapper, KEY!, Guapdad 4000, Pac Div, Don Cannon, A-Track and more.

On four-track EP The PhaRaOh’S Return, Pro Era‘s CJ Fly delivers a metamorphic concept, tapping in with his inner self on the chakra-centric “47 Wishes”. The EP comes just one year after CJ’s 2021 albums Thee Way Eye See It and Not What You’re Expecting and instrumental tape The Way I H(ear) It, Vol 1.

Tinashe stretches her metaphysical world further on 333 (Deluxe). The latest version of her 2021 album features four brand new tracks; “Something Like a Heartbreak,” “HMU for a Good Time (ft. Channel Tres),” “Naturally” and “Woke Up Blessed.”

British crooner Bakar winds it down on his debut album Nobody’s Home. With no features, the singer told DIY Magazine that the album was made during a “intense but magical” ten-day period at London’s Metropolis Studios.

Detroit rapper BabyTron channels his inner anti-hero on MegaTron just five months after 2021’s Bin Reaper 2. With spots of basketball references, MegaTron features DaBoii, GlockBoyz, TeeJaee and GTB Daidoe.

Check out this week’s best in R&B, hip-hop and alt below:

RZA & DJ Scratch — Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater

Tinashe — 333 (Deluxe)

The Cool Kids — Before Shit Got Weird

Onyx — 1993

CJ Fly — The PhaRaOh’S Return

King Von — What it Means to Be King

Homeboy Sandman — There In Spirit

Your Old Droog — YOD Wave

ShooterGang Kony — Theeway

RXK Nephew — My Wrist Need Rehabilitation

 

Bakar — Nobody’s Home

Babytron — MegaTron