We’re back with a certified-fresh round of picks from the best acts in emerging R&B and hip-hop. Victoria Monet is spicing up the summer with her latest single, “On My Mama,” while Amindi and Ambré are digging into our deeper side with their introspective and smooth new offerings. On the hip-hop side of things, alternative duo Paris Texas are keeping us on our toes, while SoFaygo leans into his inner rock star.
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Freshest Find: Forest Claudette, “Pool Boy”
On his soulful new EP, Everything Was Green, Forest Claudette shines across genre spaces. On “Pool Boy,” the 23-year-old singer dips their toes into funk and hip-hop, delivering a timeless cut with a worthy message. “If I apologize with heart in hand/ With heavy eyes/ Will that absolve me?” he contemplates within the groovy track’s opening lines.
Victoria Monét, “On My Mama”
Victoria Monet is on a roll. The R&B rising star dips into her vicious rap flow on the Chalie Boy-inspired “On My Mama.” Interpolating the Texas rapper’s breakout single, Monet adds a feminine edge, breathing new life into the confident 2009 cut.
Amindi, “green house”
Boasting one of those timeless tones and cadences, Amindi can’t go wrong. “Green house” is no exception, as the Inglewood native paints a pretty picture of romantic wonder, singing, “Thinkin’ ’bout that green house you said that we’d buy when/ We get at all these millions that we get from ridin’.”
Paris Texas, “Everybody’s Safe Until…”
You can always be sure that Paris Texas will do things their way. On “Everybody’s Safe Until,” the pair dig into the intrusive thoughts about their own insignificance atop bouncy live drums, as they run away from themselves in an artfully simplistic visual. The single comes ahead of their debut album, MID AIR.
Foggieraw, “Psalm 62”
Foggieraw used the power of social media to secure Alicia Keys’s blessing for the use of her 2003 hit “You Don’t Know My Name” for his new track “Psalm 62.” In March, the DMV artist teased the song on Twitter, asking his followers, “okay guys I’ve tried everything in my power to get this out… maybe y’all could kindly ask miss alicia on my behalf lol.” Three months and nearly 60,000 likes later, Foggieraw met Keys, she cleared the sample (her first time doing so for this song) — and “Psalm 62” got its official release, via Republic Records.
Ambré, “Muse Freestyle”
The intro to her new EP, who’s loving you?, “Muse Freestyle” sees Ambré posing the title question of the five-song project. “who’s loving you? is a question I’m asking myself and asking the audience,” the New Orleans artist said in a press release. “What does it feel like? What does it sound like to be loved? I wanted to create something that felt like b-sides or deep cuts, almost like a mixtape. Still very intentional but it was very easy to make.”
SoFaygo, “BEAUTIFUL ROCKSTAR”
“I am a beautiful rockstar/ I got some folks in my life I love, so I do this s–t with my heart in it,” sings the beautiful rockstar himself, SoFaygo. The Atlanta artist delivers this high-energy song as a bonus track on his latest EP, GO+, though he first teased it on Instagram Live in December 2021. “Beautiful Rockstar” also samples Jhené Aiko and H.E.R.’s 2020 hit “B.S.”
JAHKOY, “Man On Fire”
JAHKOY is a walking flame. On “Man On Fire,” the Toronto singer exaggerates his emotions and likens them to a fire. “[The song] is about when a guy feels a spark with a woman, but not only is there a spark, it slowly turns into what becomes a full-fledged fire,” he told Billboard. “The feelings become so ignited that he is now a walking flame.”
