Black Milk, Ceremonial: On Black Milk’s first solo album in three years (he released Food from the Gods with Fat Ray in 2025), the Detroit musician works with a live band and, more intriguingly, handles most of the sung vocals himself. His hooky vocal melodies reveal a wispy, neutral tone that blend into sprightly nu-funk tracks like “In the Sky” and “Ceremony” without quite enhancing them. When he switches to raps, he teeters with odd syntax like “Dreams Not Only Made at Night” and “Raised in a family with benefits/She found another path, traded it for her innocence.” Yet he remains a compelling arranger who creates songs worth more than their parts. There are some standouts on Ceremonial, including “Crash Test Dummy” and “Youit,” the latter featuring BJ the Chicago Kid. Saba guests on “Ok…Nah.”

Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE & Surf Gang, POMPEII // UTILITY: Earl Sweatshirt has freely acknowledged how much MIKE’s sound influenced his evolution from the pill-popping gloominess of his early work to 2018’s wildly acclaimed Some Rap Songs and beyond. Produced entirely by Surf Gang, Pompeii // Utility is the result of their ongoing bromance. MIKE is a deft craftsman of abstract lyrics, but his voice tends to settle into a monotone muddle, and the novelty of hearing his unique cadence wears off. Meanwhile, Earl speaks in a clear diction while exploring different techniques – chanting and huffing on “Tour De France,” and harmonizing like a Goth singer on “AOK.” As he raps on album standout “Ew!”: “I’m number 9 with the heat, Jimmy Buckets/If you try steppin’ with me, you gon’ stumble.”

Fatboi Sharif & Child Actor, Crayola Circles: On Crayola Circles, Fatboi Sharif riffs abstractly about conspiracies (“Assassination Tapes”), sweat-inducing nightmares (“Night Terrors”), and ghostly icons in the afterlife (“Cold Day in Hell”). “Drew out the murder plot towards Congress/Ate the corpse of a deer hunter for Kwanzaa,” he raps on the latter. At its best, the effect resembles a muddy, gaseous stream during a forest scene in a horror flick. Meanwhile, rising producer Child Actor crafts some stunning tracks, from the echoing jazz piano and standing bass on “Diagnosis” to the pulsing hand percussion of “Night Terrors.” His work hits emotional ranges that Fatboi Sharif doesn’t quite match. Crayola Circles may leave some wondering what it could have been if the duo had finessed their studio work a bit more. As it stands, there are still plenty of delights here.

Latto, Big Mama: Her 55-minute, 18-song track list is overstuffed with lyrics about being a “baddie” in love, thanks to a messy, tabloid-ready romance with chart-topping Atlanta star 21 Savage and the birth of her daughter last month. “Can’t believe my life right now, I feel on top of the world / Should’ve seen my face when they told me it’s a baby girl,” she raps on “Mama,” an overwrought country-rock ballad with Jelly Roll. Musically, Latto may still yearn for the kind of crossover success that seems quixotic in an era where rap has all but disappeared from the Billboard charts. But folks can’t accuse the rapper, who often demonstrates her knowledge of Southern rap canon by chanting “baow baow” like Waka Flocka Flame and dropping nods to Crime Mob’s “Knuck If You Buck” in her lyrics, of not making a statement.

Nappy Nina & Swarvy, Sow & So: Sow & So continues a fruitful partnership between rapper Nappy Nina and producer Swarvy. This is arguably the former’s strongest collection to date, thanks to Swarvy centering her soft, Bahamadia-like cadences in lo-fi funk that feels both modern and nostalgic. Tracks like “Mail Clerk,” where she trades verses with Shabazz Palaces leader Ishmael Butler and “Get Got” with Stas Thee Boss sound like throwbacks from the much-missed Black Weirdo era. Meanwhile, “Been Through” and “Good Ass Day” pay homage to the bass-y slumpers of her Oakland hometown. Yet for all her bravado, Nappy Nina remains an overthinker trying to overcome challenges real and perceived, an introspective quality she explores to bracing effect on “Show You So.”

Navy Blue, Sir Render: Navy Blue’s last two albums felt like inner voices at a silent retreat. But as the L.A. artist tangles with Canadian street rapper Mike Shabb on “Over,” then trades bars with Armand Hammer over the military drums of “Residuum,” it becomes clear that Sir Render will be more confrontational. Much of it features narration by the late actor James Earl Jones, including a recitation of Langston Hughes’ “Who but the Lord.” There’s a very nice verse by Earl Sweatshirt on “Belladonna” as well as a cameo from Kaseem “KA” Ryan. But the principal drama here comes from Navy Blue’s meditative lyrics. The finale, “F.E.A.R.,” is a lovely song about overcoming past anxieties; it sounds like what Terry Callier might have made if he’d been a rapper.

Isaiah Rashad, It’s Been Awful: Sonically, It’s Been Awful resembles Isaiah Rashad’s prior work, with slushy beats and filtered melodies – “slow-ass beats” as Rashad calls them on “10 States Away.” Most of the album evokes the muddy, melancholy Southern blues of mid-90s rap, like UGK’s Ridin’ Dirty and Scarface’s The Untouchable, as well as the work of Big K.R.I.T., another Dirty South revivalist who couldn’t quite break out of rap’s middle class. At its center is “Act Normal,” which addresses a viral 2022 incident when tapes of the Chattanooga, Tennessee-raised artist making out with men leaked on the internet. Rashad isn’t the only mainstream male rapper to publicly explore his fluidity, so to speak; Tyler, the Creator immediately comes to mind. But “Act Normal” is as concise a statement about men in rap struggling with their sexuality as has ever been made.

YG, The Gentlemen’s Club: In recent years, YG’s music has been typified by high-carb, low-nutrition iHeart Radio bait like “Go Loko,” a bizarre number where he and Tyga shuffle along with Speedy Gonzales-styled accents, and “Toxic,” which lifts Mary J. Blige’s “Be Happy” nearly wholesale. (To be fair, his 2019 “Slide” collaboration with H.E.R. is romantic and enchanting.) The Gentlemen’s Club signals a renewed focus on building narratives with his distinctively aggressive Bompton persona. There’s “We Know the Truth,” which responds to persistent rumors that he arranged for Drakeo the Ruler’s murder, and “Hollywood,” a slapper with an Eighties funk bounce featuring Shoreline Mafia. It’s structured around a club where, as a narrator says, “men go when they’re ready to talk. Talk about things you’d never expect us to…Uncomfortable things.” Guests include Tyler, the Creator, J.I.D., and Ab-Soul.