Welcome to our first R&B Season playlist update of 2024, which is understandably one of the slower ones we’ll probably do this year. Moreover, there wasn’t a ton of activity in the mainstream this week when it comes to more soulful releases to kick off this next set of 365 days. Still, that wasn’t really the case for strictly hip-hop artists this week. For example, Hit-Boy linked up his father Big Hit with The Game and produced their surprise collaborative mixtape, Paisley Dreams. While we only have two new tracks to highlight for this check-in, they are so quality that it feels like they aimed to compete among a stacked release schedule.
The first addition on our inaugural R&B Season playlist update for 2024 is the single “La Perla” [The Pearl] by Eric Bellinger, B HAM, and Corey Cooper. It’s a bright, sensual, breezy, and vocally passionate cut about lusting for a potential partner with as much commitment as possible. The “BNB” singer puts together a pretty steady progression with sharp drums, cloudy synth pads, and smooth harmonies. It’s by no means the most re-inventive cut on the market, but it’s an energizing and engaging way to start your soulful musical intake this year.
In a more acoustic direction, our other R&B Season pick is “Hang Me Out to Dry” by Kyle Dion. This song is led by crisp guitar chords and embellishments, which match very nicely against the light percussive pattern, more harmonic displays, and synth and key licks and chords. Not only that, but the Sassy creative shows off his high register while retaining a lot of power and heft behind his voice, which is a tough balance to accomplish. It’s still pretty cold in many parts of the world, but don’t let that stop you from throwing this sunny song on.
Meanwhile, other rap highlights from this week include Erick The Architect’s excellent jazz-funk-rap jam with the one and only George Clinton, “Ezekiel’s Wheel.” If you want to check out more standouts from how MCs kicked off 2024, check out our Fire Emoji playlist with the link below. Also, don’t forget to check out our R&B Season playlist above and let us know which song you preferred– plus what we missed this week, as well. As always, stick around on HNHH for more great music releases around the clock.
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