In the throes of protest and pandemic, with festivities dotted and distant while black deaths and police brutality stretched out the themes of Juneteenth, the Fourth of July and Independence Day this year feels more like a reckoning than a celebration. Kanye West and Sufjan Stevens, artists who moved from soul and roots to scabrous electronic experimentation and today navigate the borders of the sacred and profane, marked the moment this week with two songs on the state of God and America: anxiety-fuelled, blurring the boundaries of the personal and collective, consumed by the culture or solitary flags flapping against the wind. Through the birth pains of bad album illustration the posthumous voice of Pop Smoke still steadily emerged, Babyxsosa and BKTHERULA set out their stalls for the summer, and 18Veno left the rap game trailing in his wake. There’s post-punk by Special Interest, jazzy flourishes from Jorja Smith, and SPARKLE DIVISION pay tribute to the enigmatic double bassist Henry Grimes. Haim and Charli XCX continue to roll out their latest albums, and there’s new music from G Herbo, Willie Nelson, BlueBucksClan, Saweetie, John Carpenter, ZOMBIE-CHANG, and Duwap Kaine.
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Sufjan Stevens – ‘America’
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Kanye West – ‘Wash Us In The Blood’ (feat. Travis Scott)
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Saweetie – ‘Pretty Bitch Freestyle’
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Pop Smoke – ‘Got It On Me’
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Special Interest – ‘All Tomorrow’s Carry’
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18Veno – ‘Fuck Rap’
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Babyxsosa – ‘Hi Roller’
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Greg Foat – ‘Anticipation’
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Let It Come Down – ‘Pennies’
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070 Phi – ‘No Resources’
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SPARKLE DIVISION – ‘Oh Henry!’
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No Home – ‘I Couldn’t Cry Before I Wrote EPs’
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BKTHERULA – ‘Summer’
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Jason Molina – ‘The Mission’s End’
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Andrew Wasylyk – ‘Last Sunbeams of Childhood’
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Burna Boy – ‘Wonderful’
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Ty Dolla $ign – ‘Ego Death’ (feat. Kanye West, FKA twigs, and Skrillex)
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Willie Nelson – ‘We Are The Cowboys’
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Westside Gunn – ‘Lil Cease’ (feat. Armani Caesar)
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G Herbo – ‘Like This’ (feat. Lil Uzi Vert)
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Boris – ‘Anti-Gone’
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patten – ‘Rorschach’
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Jorja Smith – ‘Rose Rouge’
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Lucrecia Dalt – ‘Disuelta’
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Shabazz Palaces – ‘MEGA CHURCH’ (feat. Stas THEE Boss)
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Mark White x Sada Baby – ‘Breaded’
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Mozzy – ‘So Lonely’ (feat. Shordie Shordie)
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Lianne La Havas – ‘Can’t Fight’
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Haim – ‘Don’t Wanna’
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Hayley Williams – ‘Sugar On The Rim’
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John Carpenter – ‘Skeleton’
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Lonnie Holley – ‘Like Hell Broke Away’
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Lil Gotit – ‘No Kizzy’
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Kaash Paige – ‘Jaded’
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BlueBucksClan – ‘Want Me To’
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A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie & Don Q – ‘Flood My Wrist’ (feat. Lil Uzi Vert)
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Lil Poppa – ‘No Issues’
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Shirley Collins – ‘Sweet Greens and Blues’
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Charli XCX – ‘Enemy’
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Gábor Lázár – ‘Excite’
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Duwap Kaine – ‘Ain’t Nothin’
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Rah Swish – ‘Tongue Out (Treeshin 2)’
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ZOMBIE-CHANG – ‘???????’
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Jadakiss – ‘Pearly Gates’
