Friday (Sept 25) was heavy enough that our New Music Friday roundup ran 28 entries deep, and twelve more releases from the same week earn a place in this catch-up. The list runs from an Atlanta rap album built live on camera to a Pharrell-written ballad with an October album behind it, and from a voice-and-piano jazz record to a Death Row duet between two real-life partners.
For anyone short on time, start with DDG's HIT-A-THON for Atlanta rap made in front of a live audience, go to Your Old Droog's Bread & Butter for the sharpest writing of the week, and save Lizz Wright and Kenny Banks Sr.'s Nearness for the hour when the house is finally quiet.
DDG, HIT-A-THON
DDG built these fifteen tracks during his second annual HIT-A-THON livestream, a seven-day, round-the-clock broadcast from an Atlanta mansion where viewers watched every song take shape, and Epic released the result under license from DDG Entertainment. The credits read like the week's sign-in sheet, with Real Boston Richey, Babyfxce E, SOB X RBE, BunnaB, 42 Dugg, Lil Yachty, OMB Peezy and DreamDoll all passing through before the lone solo cut, "5AM IN ATLANTA," closes the room. Before release he told Hot 107.9's MiAsia Symone, "I'd rather rap over streaming," and this is the first DDG project where the content machine and the music are the same product.
John Legend featuring Pharrell Williams, "Fireflies"
John Legend released the Paul Hunter-directed video for "Fireflies" on Friday, pairing his piano with the Hollywood Cinematic Orchestra against portraits of life in a housing project, and the song previews Muse, the album Pharrell Williams produced in full and co-wrote. Republic has announced Muse for Oct 23 with a Clipse feature on "Bodies On The Floor," a date that stays unconfirmed until a live listing exists. Legend calls the concept "this Black James Bond aesthetic" set on "a modern backbeat," and the full-Pharrell approach places him in the run we traced in our look at why one-producer albums keep winning.
Your Old Droog, Bread & Butter
The title comes from a family memory of arriving in Brooklyn from Ukraine broke, when caviar went on plain bread as thinly as it would spread, and the twelve tracks on Rem-U-Lak Records and Nature Sounds carry that thrift into a producer list that maps the independent rap economy. J-Es, Ohbliv, Conductor Williams and Flying Lotus split the beats, while Evidence, Oddisee, Masta Ace, A-Reece, Tarriona "Tank" Ball, Kim Hill and Georgia Anne Muldrow take the guest spots. Our verdict is that this is his best balance yet between the dense New York rap writing that built his name and a newer willingness to sit with memory, closing track "Hunter Biden (Outro)" notwithstanding.
Lizz Wright and Kenny Banks Sr., Nearness
Eleven tracks built entirely on Wright's voice and Banks' piano and organ arrived through Blues & Greens Records and Candid Records, produced by guitarist Chris Bruce, and the sequence moves through jazz standards and spirituals before closing on the a cappella original "Circling." The partnership began at an Atlanta jam session during Wright's Georgia State years, when she asked Banks for "Amazing Grace" and he played it as a blues, a moment she says "changed my life," and that song sits at track six. The duo plays City Winery in New York on Sunday (Oct 4).
Terrill, Seconds
Terrill's second full-length follows her 2023 debut with eleven tracks on Perpetual Gold Recordings and SoulMusic Records, produced primarily by Preston Glass, whose name on the credits signals the classic, arrangement-first R&B this album chases, according to our release page. The most telling choice is a cover of The Emotions' "Flowers," a song that leaves a singer nowhere to hide, and Brandon Wattz joins her on "Ain't My First Rodeo." This is the week's pick for readers who want grown-folks R&B built on melody rather than mood.
Kevon Edmonds, "Right Here"
Twenty-seven years after "24/7" gave him a solo hit in 1999, the After 7 singer returns with a mid-tempo ballad on Equatr Music, following his earlier single "No Ordinary Love." The song is about devotion and reassurance, sung by a veteran who has spent more than three decades learning when to hold a note back, and it belongs on the same playlist as Tank's EXPERIENCE from Friday's roundup.
Zyah Belle, "What Lovers Do"
Zyah Belle released "What Lovers Do" eleven days before Jai'Len Josey's Serial Romantic Tour opens at The Echo in Los Angeles on Tuesday (Oct 6), where Belle is the special guest for four dates, with LAYA supporting the other four. Timing a single to land just before a run of opening sets is smart development work for an independent singer, since the rooms she plays next month will already know the new song.
Amaria, "What's It Gonna Take?"
Amaria keeps romance at the center of "What's It Gonna Take?," pairing a chorus that lands on first listen with ambient R&B production, and the track arrived Friday as a standalone single with a music video. It fits the lane of recent releases from Tiana Major9 and Kareen Lomax, and it is a name worth adding to any new R&B playlist this fall.
Sidibe, "Summer Rain"
The Los Angeles singer-songwriter behind the EPs Saturn Return and Diamond in the Desert released "Summer Rain" on Thursday (Sept 24) with an official lyric video, a self-released single that runs a little over two and a half minutes. It leans toward neo-soul, and a late-summer title released in the last week of September makes it a fitting send-off to the season.
DreamDoll, "OKAY"
The Bronx rapper opens her new MNRK single on a voice note and then works through producer Kurvo's dark piano loop and heavy 808s in two minutes and 34 seconds, according to our release page. It follows "Clockin It Freestyle" and "Too Established/Maybelline," and it landed the same day she turned up on "FAMILIAR" from DDG's HIT-A-THON, giving her two very different looks in one Friday.
Flinstone and Lisa Santa Cruz, "Story of My Mistakes"
Released through Death Row Records and gamma., this four-minute duet between two real-life partners works through regret, pride and rebuilding trust like a private conversation the listener happens to overhear. It is the most adult record on this list, written for couples who have already had the argument and stayed.
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