Keep the music coming. This week, we’re listening to a bunch of new releases from A$AP Ant, Post Malone, Youngboy, Vory and… wait, Kendrick’s back too?!

As always, you can see what our team is listening to at the official The Shift playlist on Spotify. We’re always listening to the good stuff. On to this week’s music!

Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

It’s been 5 long years without you, K-Dot.

At long last, Kendrick Lamar has returned with his latest studio album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The album is split into two volumes of nine tracks and features collaborations from Beth Gibbons, Kodak Black, Summer Walker, Ghostface Killah, Thundercat, Baby Keem, Sampha and more. Lamar explores his own spirituality and his own inner demons and vices in his new deluxe album, which frequently features the voice of spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle as the narrator of multiple songs.

The album includes a wide range of producers including Pharrell Williams, Duval Timothy, the Alchemist, Beach Noise, Boi-1da, Sounwave, Dahi, FNZ, J.LBS, Bekon and more. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is Kendrick’s final album with Top Dawg Entertainment and serves as a ceremonious final bow to honour a 17-year-long run with the record label that he won 14 Grammy Awards and three consecutive chart-topping albums with.

Post Malone featuring Roddy Ricch - “Cooped Up”

Three years since they last teamed up on the remix for the hit, “Wow.,” Posty and Roddy are back together with “Cooped Up.”

The song follows the moody, pop-rap vibes that we’ve seen Malone use in the past to echo the feeling of the song’s title, especially over the course of the last few years. He noted this to Apple’s Zane Lowe, saying, “I’m trying, man. I’m trying. I’ve been out of my bag for a long time, and I’m trying to hop back in there, man. We knew what we wanted to say, and we knew what we wanted to express, not only in a song but in that particular moment on the album. And yeah, it just came super naturally. I couldn’t even tell you.”

“Cooped Up” will be a part of Malone’s upcoming fourth studio album, Twelve Carat Toothache, set to be released on June 3. Malone and Roddy are slated to appear as musical guests on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live.

 

A$AP Ant - Lil Black Jean Jacket 3

Three’s the charm as A$AP Ant returns with the third installment of his Lil Black Jean Jacket series. This time around, he’s recruited fellow A$AP Mob artists A$AP Rocky and A$AP Twelvyy as well as Larry June, Curren$y, Lil B and more.

The 16-track album arrives after Ant premiered “The God Hour” with Rocky back in March. The album, which brings his signature aesthetic energy, comes as he continues to build up his brand, Marino Infantry. In a press release, he says that “putting in the groundwork & building the foundation for myself and my brand is the most important thing to me.”

NBA YoungBoy featuring Quavo - “Don’t Rate Me”

NBA YoungBoy continues to drop new music, this time tapping Quavo to join him on his latest, “Don’t Rate Me.” The Louisiana rapper comes in with his signature rapid flow on this one while the hook itself features a sampled female voice on top of YoungBoy’s.

The rapper recently announced that he will release his new album, The Last Slimeto, on August 5.

 

Vory featuring NAV and Yung Bleu - “Do Not Disturb”

Ahead of the release of his upcoming album, Lost Souls, Vory connects with Nav and Yung Bleu for the LP’s first single, “Do Not Disturb.” The song is a melodic-driven track that finds Vory singing about his relationship woes over a guitar-laden beat. Lost Souls, executive produced by Kanye West, is set to be released sometime this year with an official release date not yet revealed.