Getty Image/Merle Cooper

The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from Bossman Dlow, Snoop Dogg, and Will Smith.

Seeing this week’s lineup might prompt some confusion about just what decade it is, but I assure you, we are still (unfortunately) only a few weeks away from 2025. Snoop and Will’s contributions to this week’s releases just continues a trend this year of Golden Era pioneers dusting off their notebooks to prove they still have the chops to hang with today’s crop of modern MCs. Will did so by teaming up with Joyner Lucas again for “Tantrum“:

But speaking of today’s rap stars, we still got plenty of contributions from them in the form of GloRilla’s festive holiday single with Kehlani, “Xmas Time“:

Offset subtly referenced his split from Cardi B in the swaggering new single, “Swing My Wa“:

And Polo G shared some “Thug Memorials“:

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending December 13, 2024.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

9th Wonder — Zion X

9th Wonder

A nice surprise in time for Christmas. The North Carolina beatmaker drops off a 32-track collection of soulful instrumentals. I usually don’t cover instrumental hip-hop in the column (because each week would take a month to write in that case), but it’s always nice to hear from the veteran producer, whose credits include multiple generations of top-tier lyricists, from Jay-Z to Rapsody.

Bossman Dlow — Dlow Curry

Bossman Dlow

The Florida star has had a stellar, breakout year, opening up 2024 with the runaway success of “Get In With Me,” and now, closing things out with a stunner of a mixtape. While he’s solo for most of the 20 tracks, songs featuring Babyface Ray, GloRilla, Ice Spice, and Lil Baby are well worth checking out.

Connie Diiamond — Underdog SZN: BRB

Connie Diiamond

Y’know, for all the chatter about “girl rap” being done… it sure seems like the girlies are doing just fine. Not to be overlooked in a year stacked with releases from talent ranging from standouts like Doechii to established hitmakers like Megan Thee Stallion, the New York drill rebel gets one in under the wire. The Cash Cobain-assisted “Jodeci” is the standout track, but don’t sleep on the delightfully weird “Messy.”

Fat Joe — The World Changed On Me

Fat Joe

After slighting the younger generation once again — I almost banned him from this week’s list for the Chance slander — the Bronx vet returns with a timely lament that many 2000s kids can undoubtedly relate to as they look forward to another flip of the calendar that promises plenty of disasters ahead.

Kota The Friend & Statik Selektah — Once In A Blue Moon

Kota The Friend

I’m sorry to say that the latest team-up between the Brooklyn rapper and his frequent, Boston-based collaborator snuck up on me. I blame Kota’s antagonistic relationship with social media, but it certainly was a pleasant surprise to find a new release from one of my favorite artists on the “New Albums” tab on Tidal. If you like boom bap, you can’t do any better than a Kota/Statik collab.

Paul Wall — Once Upon A Grind

Paul Wall

Paul Wall’s longevity should be studied. The Houston native has consistently and quietly kept his legacy of crowd-pleasing, block-beating Texas rap alive independently. On “All Money Good,” he raps, “I’m on the grind from Austin to Australia / I’m what you call the antithesis of a failure.” He really deserves all the love he’s got in his hometown and more.

Roc Marciano & Alchemist — The Skeleton Key

Roc Marciano

Alchemist produced a full album for Roc Marciano. If I have to sell you on this, we should not be having this conversation. Either go listen and learn, or stick to whatever genre/culture ain’t hip-hop.

Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre — Missionary

Snoop Dogg

I used to pray for times like this. Compton and Long Beach are back together (we have been in trouble, but at least the soundtrack to the upcoming dumpster fire will ease our collective burdens somewhat). Unc returns with one of his most lavish-sounding releases in 20 years (2004’s R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta) might have been the last time you heard Snoop over production this lush). The guest list is wide-ranging and eyebrow-raising, Snoop’s raps are as sharp as they’ve been in at least half a decade, and the production is everything you’d expect from the man who put gangsta rap on the map.

Singles/Videos

DMX — “Bear With Me” Feat. Lecrae

Y’know, it’s kind of fitting that one of the last times we’ll ever get to hear Earl Simmons deliver one of his signature gravel-voiced prayers on a record, it’s on a posthumous EP with a very, very gospel rap bent. I mean, Lecrae’s on this song, but just about every guest rapper on Let Us Pray, which dropped today, has had some element of religiosity to their output in recent years.

Chicken P — “1:45 In Milwaukee” Feat. YTB Fatt

I’ve been trying to work Chicken P into this column for MONTHS. With that name, how could I not? But nothing he dropped up until now really moved me the way this does. Maybe he just needs other voices around his to break up his admittedly monotone flows. I’m still looking for him to have himself a breakout in 2025, but it’ll definitely come from a switch in production. He deserves it.

Luh Tyler — “Bandz Up”

Tyler has graduated from hijacking Kodak Black’s flow to straight-up stealing his hairstyle. I love this kid. “Bandz Up” isn’t too much of a reach for the former “coolest teenager in rap,” but it’s a solid bridge from his well-received collection of freestyle-ish debut raps to whatever the new year will bring.

Sugarhill Ddot — “Like This” Feat. Bay Swag & Wolfacejoeyy

You’re never gonna believe me, but I was just wondering what happened to Sugarhill Ddot. He had some motion early last year, and he released his debut album 2 Sides of the Story in August, but it seemed like it got lost in the rush of new music that month, which included Doechii’s star-making debut. Fortunately, with Bay Swag along for the ride, he gets to remind fans of where he’s been — and to keep track of him in the future.