With album announcements by Kid Cudi and J. Cole, 2016’s already impressive year for music is going to end stronger than anyone expected. Check out this week’s roster of incredible music below:

Childish Gambino – “Awaken, My Love!”

Donlad Glover’s had an incredible year, with his phenomenal TV series Atlanta being a strong contender for show of the year, and placements in the cast of both the new Spider Man film and the role of a young Lando Carlissian in Star Wars’ Han Solo-centred prequel film. He’s finishing off the year strong with “Awaken, My Love!”, a soulful, funky album without a hint of his earlier hip hop work. With influences including Parliament, Funkadelic, and Prince, it’s a divergence for Gambino, but it’s an example of experimental change done perfectly. Expect a larger dissection of the album sometime soon.

Curren$y – Andretti 11/30

12 albums in 12 months: Spitta’s on a role, and he’s still not slowing down. Curren$y has been working consistently his whole life, dropping laid-back stoner rap about cars, weed, and money. Andretti 11/30, droppped at 11:30 on November 30th, features fellow Jet Life artists Corner Boy P, Tiny C-Style, TY, and Mr. Marcelo, and includes production from Don Cannon, Metro Boomin, Polyester the Saint, and Cool & Dre.

 

Geechi Suede – 0.9 NyteLife FM

Camp Lo, the rap duo consisting of Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede, has been steadily releasing music since their 1997 debut Uptown Saturday Night. While they never really outshone their early hits “Cooley High” and “Luchini AKA This Is It”, they’ve maintained a solid underground following, and received recent acclaim for Sonny Cheeba’s verse on the Avalanche’s “Because I’m Me”. While Sonny has a project on the way, Geechi dropped his solo debut today with 0.9 NyteLife FM, a 21-track project including a handful of skits and a single feature from Nikki P.

John Legend – Darkness and Light

Darkness and Light is John Legend’s first album since 2013’s Love in the Future, and it was preceded with a stellar Chance-assisted single in “Penthouse Floor”. Miguel and Brittany Howard are the only other voices on the R&B legend’s sixth LP, along with production from the likes of Ludwig Göransson and Bloodpop. It’s an excellent return to form for John Legend, whose soulful crooning hasn’t diminised in the three years between albums.

 

Kodie Shane – Zero Gravity

Kodie Shane is the most skilled member of Lil Yachty’s ‘Sailing Team’ collective, something she’s proven in various features (see Yachty’s posse cut “All In”) and her past two albums 2060 and Little Rocket. Her latest release, Zero Gravity, is a six-track EP to tide fans over until she releases her first full-length next year. Catch the Lil Boat himself on single “Sad“, which just received the video treatment.

 

Smoke DZA & Pete Rock – Don’t Smoke Rock

Pete Rock’s been in the news a lot since announcing that he’s reuniting with CL Smooth for the duo’s first project since 1994, but another collaboration of his has been drawing heads lately: Don’t Smoke Rock finds the reknowned producer teaming up with fellow NY rapper Smoke DZA a laid-back, thirteen track project. The stacked feature list includes Mac Miller, Rick Ross, Royce da 5’9″, Big K.R.I.T., Cam’ron, Wale, and many more.

 

Spillage Village – Bears Like This Too Much

Bears Like This Too Much is the third compilation (following Bears Like This and Bears Like This Too) by Atlanta record label Spillage Village. Label members EarthGang, J.I.D., Hollywood JB, and JordxnBryant all appear on this album, as well as J. Cole and Bas (on first single “Can’t Call It”) and Quentin Miller. The group has been receiving a lot more acclaim since “Can’t Call It” was sampled on “Jermaine’s Interlude”, J. Cole’s song of DJ Khaled’s recent Major Key album.

 

Statik Selektah – The Best of A3C

Every year, Atlanta’s yearly A3C festival puts out a compilation of music from its performers. For the festival’s sixth anniversry, producer Statik Selektah remixed some of the compilations’ standout tracks for a free mixtape, The Best of A3C. Included on the album are remixes of tracks by Action Bronson, Vince Staples, Mick Jenkins, Michael Christmas, Dave East, G-Eazy, and more.

 

Various Artists – The Hamilton Mixtape

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton musical brought hip hop to broadway, and in doing so made one of the biggest acts of theatre in history. The interminably sold-out show has had a phenomenal resonation due to its political themes of the history of American slavery, prompting support from various rappers and musicians. Now, many of those musicians came together to create The Hamilton Mixtape, an assorted collection of performances from the play. The Roots were heavily involved on the project, and you can catch the likes of Nas, Busta Rhymes, Common, Snow Tha Product, Riz MC, Ja Rule, Ashanti, and Wiz Khalifa over bombastic, musical theatre-esque production. Catch Chance the Rapper and Francis & the Lights on the the stunningly melancholy outro, “Dear Theodosia (Reprise)”, an early standout from the already impressive album.

Wolfe de Mçhls – Naked

Not a whole lot is known about Wolfe de Mçhls, a producer/singer out of California who’s received cosigns from artists including Big K.R.I.T., and LVRN artists Raury and 6lack. K.R.I.T. himself made an appearance on “Sunset Park”, the track that introduced me to Mçhls. For his self-produced debut album, Naked, Mçhls opted out of features for the 14-track album, available for purchase on iTunes.

 

Also released: Deadmau5, W:/2016ALBUM/; The Rolling Stones, Blue & Lonesome