YG and the Weeknd were already guaranteed to make this Friday an NMF to remember, but surprise releases from Boosie, Frank Leone, G Herbo, and more don’t hurt either. Check out this week’s selection below:

Boosie Badazz – Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas

Any normal artist would have slowed down after having their career interrupted by an eight-year prison sentence and nearly dying of kidney cancer just last year, but Boosie Badazz is no normal artist. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas is Boosie’s seventh project of the year, and after a brief run of introspective projects (namely In My Feelings and Out My Feelings), the Baton Rouge rapper has returned to his usual turn-up style for this holiday mixtape. Rich Homie Quan, Lil Durk, Hurricane Chris, and Lil Scrappy are all featured on the 19-track project.

Frank Leone – Mansion of Fang

Chicago rapper/singer/producer Frank Leone had a stellar debut in last year’s EnterWILD, and as he continues to work on his sophomore album (coming early next year and featuring early singles “Loser” and “Cocaine for Kids“) Leone teamed up with Hypebeast to release Mansion of Fang. The 24-track album, released as a pay-what-you-want project on Bandcamp, only features Leone’s vocals on two tracks: “Fancy Dining”, with 18-year-old British rapper CJ Run, and a snippet of a track called “Hometown Heroes”, presumably another cut off his next album. The rest of Mansion of Fang is essentially a remix album: Leone’s always had a knack for pairing odd samples, and on this project he matches his neo-soul/jazz/cloud rap sound with tracks including Freddie Gibbs’ “Shitsville”, Danny Brown’s “Blunt After Blunt”, Future’s “Shit!”, Kendrick’s “Backseat Freestyle”, and Desiigner’s “Panda”.

G Herbo – Strictly 4 My Fans

Since changing his name from Lil Herb to G Herbo, the Chicago rapper has been reaching greater and greater acclaim, particularly with his last project “Ballin’ Like I’m Kobe” and some acclaimed collaborations with Earl Sweatshirt, Joey Bada$$, Chance the Rapper, and Common. His work tends to bridge the gap between conventional rap and drill, but his latest project, Strictly 4 My Fans, favours the latter. As the title suggests, it’s a tribute to the fans who stuck with him throughout the years, especially in the illuminating outro “Jay-Z”.  The 11-track project features production from the likes of C-Sick and Southside, and has a solitary guest feature from Lil Bibby.

 

Lil Durk – They Forgot

Durk already dropped his sophomore album, Lil Durk 2x, back in July, but today he’s returned with They Forgot, his first mixtape since 2015’s acclaimed 300 Days, 300 Nights. The new 14-track project has 21 Savage carrying on his run of excellent features on single “Shooter2x“, as well as features from Meek Mill, BJ the Chicago Kid, YFN Lucci, Mozzy, Lil Reese, and rumoured girlfriend Dej Loaf for another excellent duet (if this track, “My Beyoncé“, and “True or False” are any indication, Durk & Dej are long overdue for a collaborative album).

Lil Uzi Vert & Gucci Mane – 1017 vs. The World

It’s barely been a week since Gucci Mane teamed up with Future for a collaborative EP, but he’s already returned with another quick project, this time with upcoming XXL freshman Lil Uzi Vert. Uzi’s a part of the new school of so-called ‘mumble rap’, along with fellow freshmen Lil Yachty and Desiigner, and while he tends to reject the classification of ‘rapper’, he really stepped up to the plate to match Gucci Mane for 1017 vs. the World. The quick seven-track project finds the duo trading bars over production from Zaytoven, GloHan Beats, Mannie Fresh, C Note, and DP Beatz.

P Money – Live & Direct

South London’s P Money has been a prominent figure in both the British Grime and dubstep scenes for the better part of a decade now, but after a prolific EP and mixtape run he’s finally dropped off Live & Direct, his debut studio album. The album was introduced earlier this month with the Skepta-produced single “Gunfingers“, featuring Grime favourites Jme and Wiley; the rest of the 15-track project features Stormzy, BBK’s Solo45,  Rubylee, Splurgeboys, NY, and more.

 

The Weeknd – Starboy

After cutting off his signature hair, the Weeknd surprised the world with a new Daft Punk-assisted track that found the Canadian superstar proclaiming himself “a motherfucking Starboy” and rallying against Beauty Behind the Madness, his Grammy-winning, triple-platinum second album. Starboy is the perfect merger of the hit-making pop sound of Beauty and the ambient, personal intricacies of early works like House of Balloons, and features an all-star team of contributors including Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, Future, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Cashmere Cat, Diplo, Frank Dukes, and Labyrinth. Early singles including the title track, “False Alarm”, “Party Monster”, and “I Feel It Coming” are all on the album, but tracks like “Reminder”, “Six Feet Under”, and “Sidewalks” feel certain to dominate the airwaves well until the new year.

YG – Red Friday

YG already blew fans and critics away with his sophomore album Still Brazy, released just five months ago, but the Compton rapper has shown no signs of slowing down. While touring the album over the past several months, YG has somehow found the time to work on this EP, several tracks on DJ Mustard’s Cold Summer, an upcoming collaborative mixtape with Mustard called 400 Summers, and the upcoming third installment in his Just Re’d Up mixtape series. Red Friday is an eight-track EP featuring RJ, Mitch, and the best 21 Savage verse since “Outside”. YG’s on top form, bouncing effortlessly between ignant bangers (“Get Out Yo Feelings”, “Down Bitch”) and political warcries (“One Time Comin'”).

Also released: Akon, Konvict Kartel Vol 1; Flume, Skin Companion; Glasses Malone & J-Haze, Apalachin; J-Hood, Featuring Hood 3; Kate Bush, Before The Dawn