Highsnobiety Soundsystem 50: Let Young Thug & PinkPantheress Blow Your Mind
This past week has been filled with stellar music releases and if you haven't gotten around to listening to everything or don't really know where to start, don't fret, because Highsnobiety Soundsystem 50 is back. Our biweekly playlist packs all the best new tunes curated just for you so you don't miss a beat.
And if you're looking for a little insight into just how we select these tracks, get into it with our curator's top picks below:
The Best New Music You Need to Hear (& Why)
1 Young Thug - Bubbly (ft. Drake & Travis Scott) - If you didn't think Thugger was a rockstar yet, I trust his latest album Punk convinced you. Thug's at his best when he drops delirious bars about the dark and twisted realities of fame, like on "Bubbly" featuring fellow GOATs Drake and Travis Scott.
2 PinkPantheress - Just for me - "I found the street of the house in which you stay / And my diary's full of your name on every page." This is how PinPantheress' entry starts off, an excellent pop ballad aching with nostalgia, written, produced, and performed by the young artist.
3 ENNY - Bernie Mac (ft. Odeal) - If you didn't know already, this is the year of ENNY. The London MC reminds us just why she's the voice, dripping her smooth bars over the Tygreen-produced track featuring Odeal.
4 Ladipoe - Running (ft. Fireboy DML) - I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ladipoe is the brightest rising star in African rap. And he just made another case for his ability to drop feel-good anthems with a cinematic single, "Running" featuring the sweet-voiced Fireboy DML.
5 Pa Salieu - Bad (ft. Aitch) - I love a good rap bop and when two of the UK's best hop on a head-spinning beat to have some fun, I know this is one we're gonna keep in our rotation for a while.
Album Alert
At this point you're probably waiting for a paragraph or two about Young Thug's Punk. And while it's definitely essential listening, I'd like to steer your attention to another alternative project that deserves more love: M3NSA's BONDZIE.
In his native Ghana, the producer and rapper has made his name as one of the leading engineers of Ghanaian music, significantly as part of the Fokn Bois rap duo. Now, with his latest solo album, the illustrious artist proves his ability to craft compelling soundscapes and perfectly satirical raps is sharper than ever.
On BONDZIE, M3NSA takes us on a trip from the Fela Kuti-esque funk of "Healing Powers" and straight up lo-fi hip-hop on "Question for the Gods" featuring M.anifest to the electric-R&B musings of "Eyes But No Eyes." Do yourself a favor and expand your horizons with this tape.
On Your Radar
If there's one reason why I'm thankful TikTok exists, it's got to be PinkPantheress, who we otherwise might have never discovered.
Somehow within the cultural whirlpool of TikTok has emerged one of the most exciting new artists. The 20-year-old British producer cuts through the noise with a pure nostalgia for the early aughts. You can hear it in the naive honesty of her lyrics and the lipgloss melodies which she coos over. True to her art, PinkPantheress has put her music at the forefront of her fame, hiding her identity behind a moniker adopted from her TikTok username.
Her debut mixtape to hell with it stretches her Y2K fantasy into an intimate body of work that promises this is an artist we'll be hearing a lot more from.
