SAMPLED▌ DROPS
11 stories
Stories filed under Drops on Sampled — sound, style, and scenes, all in one place.
Anderson .Paak and Cordae are finally making the album 'RNP' promised
Heavy Is the Crown, the duo's first full-length together, arrives October 23 via APESHIT, Mass Appeal and EMPIRE — with a physical-first rollout already live.
Phoebe Bridgers ended a six-year gap with sixteen songs
Lost Weekend arrived Friday on Dead Oceans — her first solo full-length since 2020. The gap itself is worth talking about.
Fridayy's Tension is a lesson in how to run an album rollout
His third album landed Friday via Def Jam, with Mariah the Scientist on "Death Do Us Part." The week-out trailer is the part worth stealing.
Erykah Badu and The Alchemist finally put a date on it
After more than a year of delays, the collaborative album lands 28 August via Control FREAQ and Young Recordings, with new single "Witch Doctor" out now.
Open Mike Eagle and Kenny Segal finally made an album — DOOMED! is a breakup record with jokes
Two Project Blowed lifers, twenty years of friendship and fifteen songs about a relationship coming apart. Backwoodz calls it the world's first half-whimsical breakup album.
Kenny Beats Unlocked 2: Denzel Curry's II Sequel, Aug 21
Kenny Beats Unlocked 2: Denzel Curry's II Unlocked sequel lands Aug 21 with JPEGMAFIA, Westside Gunn and Yebba — tracklist, dates and the rebrand.
The August 2026 underground roundup: five records the labels announced themselves
Backwoodz, Stones Throw, Ghostly and Sub Pop all put real information on their own sites this month. Here is what the press pages actually say — release dates, pressings, and where to pre-order direct.
ELUCID and Sebb Bash stripped it back to two turntables and a microphone
I Guess U Had To Be There is a rapper-producer record in the oldest sense, with billy woods, Breeze Brewin, Estee Nack and Shabaka Hutchings passing through.
Fatboi Sharif and Child Actor had never worked together. Crayola Circles is what happened
Two longtime Backwoodz affiliates finally in one room — horror-movie writing over production that keeps refusing to behave.
Underground rap in July 2026: the month the basements out-shipped the majors
Gangrene came back. Dark Lo and V Don announced another one. Crip Jesus swung a Wu-Tang bat on the West Coast. Here is what actually moved in the underground this month.
New music this week: Zeds Dead, Beyoncé, U2, Kihyun and Told Slant
Five releases worth your ears from the first week of July 2026 — a surprise dance album, a surprise Beyoncé single, a first U2 song in years, a K-pop mini-album, and the return of Told Slant.