Category: Hip Hop

Uptown Records has officially relaunched under Republic Collective, marking a new chapter for the label during its 40th anniversary year. Danielle Price Sanders will lead the relaunched company as President, Uptown Records/EVP, Republic Collective, with Natina Nimene joining the executive leadership team as EVP, Urban Audience and Artist Relations, Republic Collective.

The announcement arrives with new music and recent activity from a roster that includes Yung Miami, G Herbo, Trap Dickey, Sunkis, 9B Meechie and producer ATL Jacob. Price Sanders said Andre Harrell built “one of the most influential record companies in music history.” Harrell founded Uptown in 1986 and developed a roster that included Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, The Notorious B.I.G., Heavy D and Guy. In a press release, Price Sanders explained that the relaunched label will support “the next generation of artists.” She also noted that Uptown will operate as part of Republic Collective alongside other Collective labels and in connection with Def Jam, led by Tunji Balogun and Kevin Lipson.

Yung Miami is among the artists at the center of the relaunch. Her April 2026 single “Spend Dat” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 66 and rose to No. 34, giving her first Top 40 entry as a solo artist. The song also reached No. 25 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart and moved from No. 50 to No. 34 on the Hot Hip-Hop/R&B Songs chart. Yung Miami said Uptown “already feels like home” as she continues her solo career with the label.

G Herbo’s Uptown-released album Lil Herb debuted at No. 1 on Apple Music’s Hip-Hop Albums chart and featured the platinum-certified single “Went Legit.” Trap Dickey’s project The Ville included “Down South” featuring Key Glock, which passed 25 million streams and became the No. 2 most-added song at Urban Radio. The relaunched label plans more news and announcements in 2026.

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Jacquees just gave the world another big reason to anticipate his upcoming album Mood 2. On new single “Lick Back,” the Cash Money R&B star teams up with one of the label’s legacy talents, Juvenile. Produced by Nash B, Hitmaka, D-Rok, and Dinuzzo, the track leans into the sound of New Orleans bounce, providing a high-energy environment for Jacquees’ gorgeously gliding vocals and a vintage rap verse from New Orleans native Juve the Great.

The “Lick Back” music video, directed by Jacquees on location in New Orleans, further amplifies the music’s invigorating vibe. Sonically and visually, it’s an ideal convergence of Atlanta and New Orleans, two of the most important cities in American music.

Mood 2, the sequel to Jacquees’ 2016 mixtape Mood, is scheduled for release July 31 on Cash Money and available to pre-save now. In addition to “Lick Back,” the 22-song project also features the recent singles “Physical” featuring Tink, “Let You Go” featuring K Camp, and “He Kant.” It’s part of a prolific streak for Jacquees that also includes last year’s collaborative album with Dej Loaf, Friendzone 2, and 2024’s Baby Making. Inspired by his own new fatherhood, Baby Making had Jacquees pursuing a specific objective. “If you and your significant other are on that same wavelength and one of you needs to set the mood, the Georgia native has got you,” Hot New Hip Hop wrote of the release.

Last weekend, Jacquees gave a headlining performance at the five-year anniversary and pre-Juneteenth Los Angeles edition of Black On The Block at Los Angeles Center Studios. He has more shows on deck for this summer, including stops in Indianapolis June 26 at La Flaca at the Square, Aug. 24 in Norfolk at Waterside District, and Aug. 15 in Minneapolis at Armory. Tickets are available at JacqueesLive.com.

Listen to Jacquees’ Lick Back here.

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British singer-songwriter Sekou has announced In A World We Don’t Belong Pt. 2, a new mixtape due June 26. The project follows In A World We Don’t Belong Pt. 1, which was released in November 2025, and arrives as Sekou continues a year that has included headline dates, festival appearances, and new material.

The upcoming mixtape will include the previously released single “Dangerous Lover” alongside four new releases. Its tracklist also includes the forthcoming “Does She Know,” which received its live debut during Sekou’s recent UK and European headline tour. Speaking about the project, Sekou said he wanted to tell his story and express how he feels as a 21-year-old artist. He described the title as connected to feeling like an outcast while also finding value in that experience.

Sekou also said the new songs came from an honest place. “When I write songs, I’m still learning about myself, and that’s what makes it exciting,” he said. The announcement follows news of Sekou’s headline show at KOKO in London on December 14. He also appeared at Capital’s Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium, where he performed and drew praise from SZA and Kehlani.

Sekou begins his first US headline tour on June 15 at Vinyl in Atlanta. The North American run includes Elsewhere, The Hall in Brooklyn on June 21, El Cid in Los Angeles on June 24, The Troubadour in Los Angeles on June 26, and Barboza in Seattle on June 29. He will then play Montreux Jazz Festival on July 3, Summer Sonic Festival in Osaka and Tokyo in August, All Points East in London on August 21, Rock en Seine in Paris on August 26, Lalalib in Dijon on September 4, and KOKO in London on December 14. Earlier in 2026, Sekou opened for Sam Smith at the To Be Free residency in San Francisco and made his BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge debut with “Catching Bodies” and a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Yukon.”

Listen to In A World We Don’t Belong Pt. 2 here.

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2BYG has released The Yearbook (Extended Version), a deluxe edition of their mixtape The Yearbook, via Waystar Records/Def Jam Recordings. The Dallas-Fort Worth R&B quartet’s new edition arrived June 12, 2026, with five added tracks: “WYW,” “I Want You,” “Be Mine,” “TLC,” and “Road Rage.” The release extends the school-year framing of the original mixtape with a new set of songs described as the group’s “second semester.”

2BYG teased the deluxe release with “I Want You,” which uses a sample from Biz Markie’s “Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz.” The track was highlighted by VIBE among “50 Hip-Hop and R&B Releases You Need On Your Playlist,” while Rolling Out wrote that the song “bridges eras with respect, style and a strong sense of musical joy.” Another advance cut, “Be Mine,” also arrived with an official video. VIBE included “Be Mine” in its “50 Hip-Hop, R&B Releases You Need On Your Playlist,” and Rated R&B described the song as a step toward a more mature sound.

Matt Brown, Touré, Nixx, and KD initially connected through a performing arts high school and a local talent show. The group has since passed one million TikTok followers with an account that features covers of music by H.E.R., New Edition, and Mint Condition.

Listen to “The Yearbook (Extended Version)” here.

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Tierra Whack has announced a new mixtape, WHACK’S MUSEUM, due June 19 via Interscope Records. The project follows the release of her new single “WAX PAPER,” which also arrives with an official music video shot in Whack’s native Philadelphia.

The new track is the first offering from WHACK’S MUSEUM. Ahead of the mixtape, Whack used social media to address doubters and invite them to text her with an apology, writing, “I never stopped believing in myself when you stopped believing in me.” The single centers on Whack’s sharp delivery and wordplay as she addresses critics while moving into the next phase of her catalog.

The “WAX PAPER” video was directed by Child and frames Philadelphia in black and white. Child said the team looked to older hip-hop videos while shaping the clip’s visual approach. “Philadelphia isn’t polished,” Child said. “It’s a living museum held together by grit, community, and memory.” The director added that every frame was meant to reflect “the soul of the culture there.”

Whack’s new mixtape follows her 2024 debut album, WORLD WIDE WHACK. In May 2026, she appeared at Amazon’s Upfront series and discussed Twitch’s social reach during a presentation that also included Oprah Winfrey. In 2024, she made her voice-acting debut in the Invincible VS fighting game, connected to the Amazon Prime Video series Invincible. She also appeared as Adrienne in the Marlon Wayans-led film HIM.

Listen to “WAX PAPER” here.

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Infinity Song is almost ready to share their fourth album, Infinity Song. After teasing the album with new music in the first few months of 2026, the group confirms that their new self-titled album is due out on June 12. It is available for preorder on CD and vinyl now.

The album Infinity Song comes on the heels of two new singles. “One Foot Out” sees the band performing their signature blend of nearly-choral harmonies combined with sundrenched guitar strumming and a danceable beat. “Hurricane” gets into funkier territory, with a disco-influenced bassline, guitar, and string harmonies. The latter track also comes with a stylish music video, shot mostly in black and white with a few pops of color.

Infinity Song consists of siblings Abraham Boyd, Angel Boyd, Israel Boyd, and Momo Boyd, who have been performing together for nearly their whole lives. “We’ve been singing since we were little kids, and music is truly our family’s way of life. It’s been an outlet for development, for processing life – we come together around music. We made it official in 2014 or something, I don’t know the exact date. But really, it was a formality more than anything,” Abraham told Euphoria magazine in 2024. After the group made it official, they released their debut album, Infinity’s Song, in 2015. That was followed by 2020’s Mad Love and 2024’s Metamorphosis Complete. The return to an album bearing the group’s name feels momentous, like a full circle moment more than a decade in progress.

Of course, like so many musicians in the 2020s, Infinity Song was able to reach a new audience thanks in part to TikTok, which made their track “Hater’s Anthem” go viral in 2023. The group also frequently performs live, with dates scheduled this summer in U.S. cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco before they’ll embark on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, stopping in Melbourne, Auckland, and more. Later in 2026, Infinity Song will also tour Europe, performing in London, Berlin, Istanbul, Brussels, and more cities.

Shop INFINITY SONG here.

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Swedish-born Neneh Cherry’s critically-acclaimed and award-winning debut album, Raw Like Sushi, was a massive international success in 1989. Following its release, on June 5 that year, she turned up everywhere – including pinned to countless bedroom walls. The album’s collaborative outlook and mixture of atmospheres also presaged many of the most creative electronica albums of the 90s and 00s, signaling the end of the 80s as Cherry called out the “money men” in favor of urban sweetness.

A rich musical heritage

Neneh Cherry is part of a lineage of music royalty. The daughter of Sierra Leonean drummer Ahmadu Jarr, and step-daughter of jazz legend Don Cherry, her siblings include Eagle-Eye Cherry and Titiyo, both of whom followed Neneh into the charts. She married her regular collaborator Booga Bear, aka Cameron McVey, and her musical offspring include recent pop sensation Mabel.

This rich musical heritage shows through in Cherry’s work, from her initial records with post-punk groups The Slits and Rip Rig + Panic, through sessions with a bewildering array of artists as diverse as Cher, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, The The, Steve Beresford, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Chrissie Hynde, Pulp, Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, Gang Starr, The Notorious BIG, Timo Maas, and Loco Dice. There have been collaborations with Bernard Butler (on her hit “Woman”) and Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour (on their famous duet “7 Seconds”), her Dreem Teem-produced garage hit “Buddy X 99,” and recordings with Scandinavian jazzers The Thing, electronica maverick Four Tet, and Swedish pop legend Robyn.

A career springboard

Cherry’s career springboard, Raw Like Sushi, however, contains some of her best-loved music. She put together the Madonna-esque sass of the go-go influenced rap opener and smash lead single “Buffalo Stance” with Bomb The Bass’ Tim Simenon and Mark Saunders. It’s based on – and successfully commercialized – her appearance with her future husband McVey, the singer Jamie J Morgan and Bristol’s The Wild Bunch on Morgan/McVey’s choppy 1987 B-side “Looking Good Diving With The Wild Bunch.” Single remixes for “Buffalo Stance” included one from American dance legend Arthur Baker, who pushed the Madonna comparison to the max, as well as one from DJ Mushroom of The Wild Bunch (which was then morphing into Massive Attack). Massive Attack clearly learned a lot from Cherry about how to get their ideas across to a wider audience.

Listen to Raw Like Sushi now.

Nellee Hooper from Soul II Soul helped his Wild Bunch colleague 3D on the massive, strings-led “Manchild,” 3D writing, and Hooper arranging. Focusing on male immaturities gave an indication of the music to come from 3D, almost a decade ahead of his inward-looking work on Massive Attack’s classic 1998 album Mezzanine, while Cherry channeled New York’s iconic Roxanne Shanté on the rap. “Manchild” is one example of the prescient third-wave feminism that percolates throughout Raw Like Sushi, from the anti-prostitution lines of “Buffalo Stance” onwards. This time the remixes came from Massive Attack themselves (thickening up the bass and sounding like Portishead several years early, with rave stabs limply slurring in musical metaphors), as well as from their collaborators Smith & Mighty.

The uptempo, poppy, multilingual coming-of-age single “Kisses On The Wind” features lively scratching from Mushroom, with remixes coming from Latin dance figureheads David Morales and The Latin Rascals. Low-slung single “Inna City Mamma” follows. Its title is a perfect moniker for Cherry, but the track opens out to reveal the “shattered dreams” of city life, with the city personified as a pimp. “The Next Generation” was produced by Mushroom, and it shows: block-rocking breakbeats, jazzy samples, and scratches underscoring Cherry’s call for the 90s generation to embrace multiculturalism and to raise their children correctly.

Predicting the future

The second half of the album keeps up the diversity. The skittery, feisty love triangle of single “Heart” introduced Cherry’s brother Eagle-Eye to the world (while some editions of the album also feature the rawer demo version of the song). The synth-poppy “Phoney Ladies” pleads for female unity, while the lustful “Outré Risqué Locomotive” is a James Brown-sampling swingbeat piece. School-days tale “So Here I Come” features production from hip-hop stalwart Bryan “Chuck” New, plus turntable work from Mushroom, and some versions of the album finish with “My Bitch,” a two-hander with rapper Gilly G in which he inevitably comes off worse.

Raw Like Sushi predicted work by Cherry collaborators such as Bomb The Bass, Soul II Soul, Massive Attack, Smith & Mighty, Portishead, Groove Armada, and Gorillaz, but, for some reason, isn’t often spoken of in the same breath. It’s time the album was fully re-appreciated, taking its place beside those acts’ most vaunted collections as a progressive modern classic.

Raw Like Sushi can be bought here.

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FLO is already having a hot year. It just got even hotter. Later this month, the British R&B girl group will be honored with the Vanguard Award by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) at a private ceremony in London. The group will be honored on June 16 ahead of the debut of their sophomore album, Therapy At The Club, which is due out on July 24.

Composed of members Stella Quaresma, Jorja Douglas, and Renée Downer, FLO will join the ranks of acts like Dua Lipa, Victoria Monet, Billie Eilish, and St Vincent when they receive the award. The Vanguard Award is presented to an artist or act who are breaking through and shaping the future of music. The award was first presented in 1996 and honored Björk in its inaugural year, with other honorees including Kendrick Lamar, Jess Glynne, and Chris Stapleton.

“FLO are redefining R&B with incredible chops and style,” says ASCAP chairman of the board and president Paul Williams in a press statement. “As they continue to build on their remarkable creative achievements, we’re proud to honor FLO with the Vanguard Award.”

FLO has already been having a busy year. Ahead of the upcoming release of their second album, the group shared tracks “Leak It” and “Therapy At The Club.” The latter track, of course, shares a name with the album. “It’s a body of work that feels super personal to us, it’s been a labour of love. For us, the club is more than just a night out, it’s like therapy,” the group said when announcing the album last month. “I mean, where else do you feel more understood than in a girls bathroom on a night out…that’s the vibe!” The group has also popped up everywhere from the MusiCares Person of the Year gala, where they honored Mariah Carey with a performance of her track “Dreamlover,” to NPR’s Tiny Desk, where they treated lucky fans to an early performance of “Therapy At The Club” and the still-unreleased track “HaterBooth.”

Order Flo’s Therapy at the Club now.

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Peabo Bryson, the celebrated vocalist known for his solo oeuvre and work in Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas, has died. The news was shared via a statement from his family.

“With broken hearts and profound sadness, the family of two-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and balladeer, Peabo Bryson, announces his passing,” the statement begins. “He transitioned peacefully at 5:00 p.m. ET on the evening of Tuesday, June 2, 2026, surrounded by the love of his family and those closest to him.”

The note continues: “For more than five decades, Peabo’s extraordinary voice served as the soundtrack to some of life’s most cherished moments. His music carried generations through joyful celebrations, great love stories and enduring moments of comfort and inspiration, creating a legacy that will forever live in the hearts of those who loved him and the countless lives he touched through song.”

Bryson was celebrated for songs from Disney films like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Whole New World” with Celine Dion and Regina Belle, respectively. He was also known for his work as a solo artist, particularly his 1977 solo debut smash, “Reaching For The Sky,” which amplified the era of Black achievement and excellence. Despite his success, Bryson’s humble beginnings informed his work ethic.

A native of South Carolina, Bryson spent his youth in Greenville, living with no running hot water. As he once put it, “some people try to put a greater distance between the early part of their lives and the point of success they’ve reached. I grew up a country boy and my grandfather’s farm of 100 acres was the country. I plowed with a mule, picked cotton, and planted everything that grows. I even washed toilets bowls for a living.”

He began his career as a member of the group Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display before he inked a deal with Bang Records as a solo artist. He released his first album in 1976, and signed with Capitol Records in 1977. Among solo standouts is We’re The Best Of Friends, a duet album he made with Natalie Cole, the daughter of Nat King Cole. He also recorded an album of duets with Roberta Flack. In an interview, Bryson once spoke of his reason for songwriting, which rings true as strongly today as ever: “…people need to hear [my songs] to know that they’re still alive.”

Listen to the best Peabo Bryson songs on Apple Music or Spotify.

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Floetry, the neo-soul duo of Marsha Ambrosius (“the Songstress”) and Natalie Stewart (“the Floacist”), stopped by NPR’s famed Tiny Desk to perform hits from throughout their discography.

The band performed as part of NPR’s celebration of Black Music Month and BET, stopping by the set shortly after wrapping their first tour in a decade. Ambrosius and Stewart ran through six songs, including “Big Ben” from the duo’s 2002 LP Floetic; the Common-assisted “SupaStar” from 2005’s Flo’Ology; “Butterflies,” made famous by Michael Jackson; “Say Yes” from Floetic; “Getting Late,” also from Floetic; and the title track from that LP.

After spending a few years performing in the U.K., Floetry’s career hit new levels when they relocated to Philadelphia in the early 2000s and performed with the Black Lily women’s collective. The duo followed up Floetry with their only other album, Flo’ology, in 2005, and eventually disbanded in 2006. However, the Songstress and the Floacist have reunited a number of times, including this current iteration of the “Say Yes” tour, which wrapped on May 17 in Oakland, California. The run kicked off April 8 in Newark, New Jersey and featured support from Raheem DeVaughn and Tedra Moses.

The tour continued an era of resurgence for Floetry. Last year, Floetic was reissued on vinyl, marking its first ever availability in the format.

Floetic was nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album, and individual nominations for the songs “Floetic” and “Say Yes.” Upon their emergence, Floetry dubbed their music as a whole new sound under the neo-soul umbrella. “We were also saying Floetry is more than a name, it’s a genre, it’s a style, it won’t die as long as we remember, it will be kept alive,” Stewart reflected in an interview with You Know I Got Soul marking Floetic’s tenth anniversary.

Buy Floetry’s Floetic on vinyl here.

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