Every week Vulture highlights the best new music. If the song is worthy of your ears and attention, you will find it here. Read our picks below, share yours in the comments, and subscribe to the Vulture Playlist for a comprehensive guide to the year’s best music.
Vince Staples, “Get the Fuck Off My Dickâ€
It takes a special artist to make a heartfelt declaration of aesthetic independence that doubles as an ace-level troll, and Vince Staples is that kind of artist. Beset by complaints from consumers that the EDM-loaded beat selection on Prima Donna and Big Fish Theory wasn’t doing it for them, Staples rolled out “GTFOMD†with an ingenious GoFundMe campaign — give him $2 million and you’ll never hear from him again — but the song itself turns out to be even sharper. DJ Dahi’s muted yet urgent beat matches perfectly with Staples’s weary yet alert lyrics. He’s going exactly where he wants to go, and if you don’t like it, he’s got some helpful advice regarding your own travel itinerary. —Frank Guan (@frankophilia)
Leon Bridges, “Bet Ain’t Worth the Handâ€
We’ve talked recently about the resurgence of the softer side of R&B — well, no one’s more committed to the fundamentals of the genre than Leon Bridges. He’s got the voice of an actual angel and uses it as the principal instrument in his work. Occasionally, he’ll add jazz elements, as he does on one of his two new songs, “Bad Bad News†— anything to keep it old school — but his top-grade honey falsetto is the true appeal. It’s also the star of “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand,†a traditional ballad from his next album about letting love go that is just plain pretty. There are vocal moments so out of this world, they come dangerously close to resembling R. Kelly. I really wish that wasn’t a compliment, but the facts don’t lie. —Dee Lockett (@Dee_Lockett)
03 Greedo, “Baytovenâ€
Los Angeles rap’s latest sensation is 03 Greedo, a Watts gang member facing a life sentence for drug trafficking with some of the weirdest, most natural flows in recent memory. Occupying a unique intersection between Southern trap and California gang life, Greedo’s new album, The Wolf of Grape Street, showcases the artist’s amorphous, agile language. He often attacks the beat from off angles, and before you know it you’re measuring the world by his coordinates. “Baytoven†is an ideal introduction to an inventive yet insular mind. “I feel like I’m Future mixed with Young Thug,†Greedo helpfully announces, and like just like the Atlanta greats he’s got a go-to producer: Beat Boy’s instrumental melds a G-Funk keyboard line with Southern bass to charming effect. Though it’s helpful to know that he’s been homeless for much of his life when you hear a line like “Lower than the ocean but I’m higher than the ozone,†the mark of Greedo’s talent is that you can sense his life in his delivery. Gooey yet insistent, his voice carries weight even as his mind zooms out. —FG
Jeremih, “SMTSâ€
And then on the complete opposite end of the R&B spectrum to Leon Bridges, there’s Jeremih, who makes music for the sole purpose of impregnating you. I almost hate myself for liking his new EP, The Chocolate Box, a shamelessly phoned-in play for pussy. I hate myself even more for loving “SMTS,†which stands for … you know what, I’ll just let you hear it for yourself. Just know it’s an acronym as dirty as NSFW that’s just another way of saying “what that mouf do?†As a feminist, I think I’m supposed to say this song is an abomination and “ugh, turn it off.†But as a person who takes great pride in knowing what great power over a man I can unleash at will with just one strategic flick of the tongue, well, sue me. This is my jam. —DL
Lil Yachty ft. Lil Pump and Offset, “Baby Daddyâ€
Honestly, if you can’t appreciate three rappers clowning someone’s hypothetical baby daddy for three minutes straight for seemingly no good reason — particularly when one of those rappers is himself a baby daddy — lighten up a bit. —DL