New Hip Hop Releases: Baby Keem, Larry June, Curren$y & The Alchemist + More | Friday to Friday

This is Friday to Friday, your weekly rap wrapup. Going through the releases in rap and hip hop from Friday, February 20th to Friday, February 27th. I have with me today Terry V. Say hello.

Yo yo yo yo, what's up?

Gav aka Lunar G, say what's up.

What's going on?

And we have Matt, producer and artist manager, say hello.

Oh, it's good.

All right, guys. So, man, we got a lot of releases this week. We have Baby Keem. That's kind of the big one that everyone's been waiting on. Uh, Larry June, Currency, The Alchemist, it's Spiral Staircases, Babyface E, D, The Realist, Mazian, ESTG, Not a Chance in Hell, Trap Matt Savior, and Nicholas Craven, Scotty Tripping. Uh, that's the name of the album, Scotty Tripping. Pale J had did Celestial Sweet Flips. Uh, Sleazy World Go, album I Want Blood. Dave East and Scram Jones, For the Love Too. OMB Peasy, Better and Better. Skywater, Wonderful. Uh, and then we got some singles to talk about as well.

It's a lot of good [expletive] coming out this week. So, I definitely want to just kick it off right off the bat with Casino, released on PG Lang. And the first thing I wanted to bring up was that I saw this dollar sign in the S in Casino and then I see a dollar sign in uh some other song titles and I'm like, "Okay, that's cool." Like, and then I see there actually is a Too Short feature on here and it reminds me how purposeful everything they do is over at PG Lang.

Yeah.

What'd you guys think about that?

I noticed that same thing. It's uh, and I noticed also when the album first came out, they didn't have any of the features on there at first. I think other than Too Short was like one of the only ones that they listed. Uh, so I thought it was kind of cool that for at least a couple days they let it kind of breathe and just had, like, he was the only feature listed on the album.

Yeah, that seems to be like a common thing now where—

Mhm.

—features will just never be listed on drop for some reason. I don't know. It's interesting though.

It's a nice surprise. I feel like the first time it happened, I remember, um, it started like a couple years ago. At first it kind of bugged me a little bit because I kind of I go by feature sometimes like for albums, but now I kind of like the mystery of it, the unraveling of the feature, especially the Kendrick feature. I knew there was going to be one. I just wasn't sure on which song.

Um, and Kendrick, I mean, you don't really know from hearing the beat which one is going to be on cuz it could be anything, right? But yeah, it was a nice little surprise, especially I heard it on day one, so I didn't know what to expect, but yeah, it was nice.

We got the surprise feature on House Bunny as well. That's unlisted.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think a lot of us, or there a lot of people who kind of run to check the Kendrick feature with everything just to see if he was going to say something, um, with, you know, with what's been happening. But overall, I really like this project. Um, really, really dope project. Surprisingly though, I was not feeling the Too Short feature break.

It didn't ruin the project or anything like that. It was just like, ah, I don't know. And my homeboy loved it. He was all like, man, come out to California, listen to it. I don't know. Maybe I had to go to California and check it out. But other than that, um, I really did enjoy this project. It was um, it was really dope. There was a lot of depth he showed, especially that No Blame record, um, or when he's talking about his mom, like that one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was really powerful. It samples James Blake, I Never Learnt to Share, off his debut album.

That little shout out James Blake real quick.

Yeah, definitely.

I got to say that's one of my favorite favorite just producers that's been kind of quietly making moves for a minute now.

Absolutely.

For me was honestly the Casino beat, that being like— I like the epicness of like the first, when the first or second track is just some crazy beat, and to me that Casino beat was just like a crazy way to enter an album. It calms down a little bit after, but as a beat I found it was just a great way to— it was like an intro beat, you know?

Yeah.

Really, really funky.

That stood out to me, too. I was like, it sounded— I kind of put a little note that it sounded like classic Baby Keem. Like it was kind of like he's back with a vengeance kind of, like—

Yeah, it sounded a lot like uh Melodic Blue in my opinion. Like just that big kind of production, like almost Travis Scott sounding, like since and stuff.

I will say though that that energy I find didn't carry till the end of the project. Like Casino's very— I find, stands out as a track. I wish there was a bit more of that, but I'm still enjoying it today. So I mean I'm good with having it on repeat for now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, I listened to the album again when I was in the gym when that song came on. It was like you could feel it again.

It took you out there.

It's like fi or something.

Yeah, that's it. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Did you guys have a chance to check out the three-part documentary series that came out alongside this?

Pretty interesting.

I did not— I didn't even know he had one.

Yeah, it was just a short little YouTube series where it's interviewing his family and his friends and there's a couple short Kendrick interview clips in there. The highlight for me was when Kendrick said something about like, I had a thousand close homies and a thousand cousins that wanted to rap and like Keem was the best one.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So that was from that documentary. So definitely recommend that. It's called Booman.

Yeah.

Which is like one of his old nicknames.

Oh, right on. Yeah.

Okay. Was there anything else that stood out um out the documentary?

There was an interview of a friend of his that had— was blurred out. His face was blurred out. He was like, "No one will ever understand what it's like for their best friend to become like an international star all of a sudden."

That's got to be insane. Like cuz that's your life flip, especially— Well, I mean, with his cousin being Kendrick, like you know, maybe Keem's a bit closer to that feeling, but you know, for you to watch somebody shoot up like that, cuz like Keem came out and was just like boom, which is like a breath of fresh air, too. And one thing I do love about his style is that on this album, like he hasn't compromised. He didn't compromise his style. I love that he takes chances, especially with his voices, um, with his cadence when he's rapping. Like all of that stuff is like a breath of fresh air.

One thing I do want to mention is that a lot of people are trying to compare it to The Fall Off like, "Oh, this is way better." Like these are two different complete albums. I wouldn't size them up, you know? I would have sized him up one, but I do understand— one thing I did see a lot was that people wish that Cole had more beats like this on a project, but again, it takes away from what Cole was trying to compl— Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The only thing they have in common is both came out in February.

Like I didn't even correlate the two at all in my head. Like, not being on socials and stuff, not seeing like what people are saying about stuff. That's why I missed the whole like interview thing. Like I have no idea what anyone's opinion has been about The Fall Off other than you guys. I don't know what anyone's had to say about Casino. So like that's just kind of crazy that people are even trying to pit the two against each other.

That's a good way to enjoy music though. Like everything you pass away. It's a better way cuz people especially will start reading between the lines like, oh, this bar is aimed at this guy and you know, like, then you start—

Drives you crazy.

Like, damn, I missed that. Like now I got to pick a side, what's going on? But no, um, yeah, I think, um, No Blame, House Money, Casino, um, I even like Good Flirts too, um.

Yeah, there's not— there's not Highway 95, there's not, um— again. The only one was like the Too Short one where I was all like, "Ah." But other than that, yeah, I highly recom— if you haven't heard it yet, go listen to Baby Keem. He has a little bit of everything for you. Some stuff to dance to, some stuff for you to sit and think about, and some stuff that'll hit you. So, I enjoyed it.

Mhm. Yeah.

Yeah. Same. The only one that was really a skip for me is Dramatic Girl cuz I just found the chorus just a bit like hard on the ears on that one.

But besides that track, it's like I liked everything on it. I really enjoyed it.

All right. Uh, Terry, do you want to do a pick for us?

Yeah, let's do um Spiraling Staircase.

Good one.

Yes. It's Larry June.

Yo.

Currency.

Produced by The Alchemist.

This joint was fire. Um, Empty Pages. Um, I want to say cuz I didn't look at the credit. Um, that third feature that was— or that was Al, right? Or am I tweaking?

Yeah. Yeah, he did a couple verses on this thing. It's pretty fun.

It's interesting.

I love when producers— Yeah. I mean, for me, like, okay, I'll give— Oh, yeah. Let's hear it, dog. You made the beat. I'm pretty sure there's so much material that he has that's, you know, that we probably won't get to hear because, you know, as somebody who like creates and just makes beats, I know there's times where he just put like, man, let me get on this.

No, the production of this joint, um, Currency, Larry June, I rock with this project. I love this project. This was actually really dope. And um, I'll be honest, like I haven't heard a lot of Larry June projects. So this being like the first one that I listened to, this was really dope. Like I'm going back and listening to some more of his stuff. Like I've heard of him. I heard him on features and things like that, but I haven't gone through and listened to a full album and this one was dope. It was a vibe, man.

It's a good— like two other albums together, too. I think there's um, there's The Great Escape, I think. Yeah. And then there's Life is Beautiful, I think, just last year.

Yeah.

Okay.

You know, Alchemist has been phenomenal.

That guy does not sleep.

No, no, I don't think he stopped since he hooked up with House of Pain or whatever in the '90s.

That's like— that's it, bro.

Very consistent. Uh, even again, like you said, on this beat, every single beat on this album is just perfect. Honestly.

Yeah.

The guy is meticulous and—

Lines together and it's woven together beautifully, too.

Yeah, his the sampling method that he went in, um, like the parts of records that he chose to sample and loop for this, were dope. Like I'm like, okay. It inspired me um to look at records a bit differently. Like cuz I hear a lot, you know, I go on YouTube, you know, like Larry June type beats and stuff like that, but like this one right here— smooth.

I've seen a report that Currency may not be rocking with Alchemist anymore. Is that true?

I haven't heard that. I think something had happened with um him and um, what's his face, Freddie Gibbs I think, or something with Alchemist or something like that. So—

I heard somebody had took sides or— I'll have to send it in the group chat, but yeah, if not, cuz Currency was floating on this project. Like this is really dope. This is really dope.

Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, so Alchemist just continues to be ridiculously consistent. Probably just one of the best sample— like he's up there with Primo, Dilla.

Like as far as sampled beat makers, I can't think of many people that are that consistent.

For me I have like Mad Lib and Doom up there too, like—

Oh yeah, just listen the other day.

Nice.

The quantity and quality is— it's crazy. Crazy cuz I mean like I think just last year he dropped a couple of projects, Alchemist. I think— Yeah. Two, three, four. Like every couple of months I see something else pop out, and yeah, always great sample selection.

Yeah. My favorite project from last year was him and Hit-Boy did—

Uh—

Yes.

—the whole album where they were both rapping the whole time and switching back and forth between beats. It was just so crazy.

Man, did you guys catch the YouTube video from those sessions where they're in like some designer clothing store? They've got both of their setups. They've each got a table, um, and like a laptop. So they're doing like Ableton, they're doing samples, beats back and forth. So like Al will do a beat on the table and Hit-Boy will be rapping and then they switched off. Yeah, it's sick.

That sounds fire.

I want to say like 10, 20 minute video.

That sounds cool.

Yeah, I'll find it and send it to you guys.

Yeah, please send that.

Uh, Gav, you want to do a pick next?

Yeah, I um, I think outside of the ones that we've already kind of gotten into a little bit, I really liked Sleazy World Go's project, especially just kind of— you know, he's from Grand Rapids, Michigan, so close to home, west side of the state. But yeah, I think um, I was actually really kind of taken aback by the intro, like the first song on this, um, blanking on the name right now. I think it was uh, Championship Ring. Yeah. Kind of sounded like uh, like a Big X the Plug kind of sound a little bit where it was like real heavy southern style kind of trap music.

I was like—

It's kind of uh coincidental. That's the kind of stuff I've been working on making lately too. But um, I thought that it was really cool. It kind of showcased his versatility, like outside of just being a Midwest rapper. Um, like still, you know, still rest of the project kind of went back to that. But yeah, this one caught my eye. There were a couple on here that I really liked.

Yeah, I had a chance to check this out. I like the beats on it a lot. Uh, also that album artwork is really crazy. It looks like an image of like water with water and blood like splashing in front of his face or something. I can't even really tell what's going on, but it looks insane.

Yeah.

Yeah. Good [expletive].

Uh, Matt, you want to give us a pick?

Yeah. Uh, so for the most part pretty much the projects I went through were the ones that we spoke of, but I'd like to throw in the single uh by The Scythe. Um, so it's a new group with uh, formed by Denzel Curry with ASAP Ferg, uh, BK the Ruler and Kayata.

And I'm excited. Uh, the single was uh, it was good. Uh, I like the different energies that are all put together. Um, and you know, I find that Denzel is good at taking risks and sounding a little bit different, and I'm really excited to hear the whole project.

Agree.

And ASAP Ferg sounds good on weird, too. So, I mean, they all do, so it's exciting.

Yeah, I really like that single, too. It was dope. Um, what's the female artist name?

Uh, Tia Corine on that one.

Okay. Yeah, I have not— that was my introduction to her. Um, and I think she stood her ground um on that record with both of those guys. So, I'm excited. I didn't know that they were doing a new group. Like that was going to be a new thing that they're—

It's random. Yeah. I didn't find out until I heard about the project which was just like, I think just in January, but like it came out of nowhere. I didn't realize that ASAP Ferg was even looking to— where, I guess we'll call him Ferg. Uh, but I know he was looking to even get into a new group. Uh, I don't know where it came from, but I'm really interested.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what they do. I like their style. I like their style.

Yes, that's going to drop on March 6, Strictly for the Scythe.

Yeah.

Oh, okay. This weekend. Okay.

Yeah, I'm excited for that one.

That's going to be soon.

I've been a fan of Denzel Curry for a long time. I mean, probably 2015, 2016 when he was still like doing SoundCloud rap kind of like underground. Oh man, he did stuff with I think Ski Mask um back in 2016 or 17. There was uh a couple songs that they did like diss tracks and stuff and just like small little offshoot projects, but yeah, he's been someone that I've had my eye on for a while. I've seen him live a couple times and just I'm super excited for this project. Yeah, especially Tia Corine. It's funny that uh you said you hadn't heard of her before, Terry. She's someone that like I haven't been following super heavily, but I've definitely— she's been on my radar for a couple years at the least. Um, I know one of her projects, like Freaky T is a pretty popular song she had and stuff, but um, yeah, I think this is going to be exciting. Denzel Curry's, like you said, Matt, not afraid to kind of push the barriers a little bit.

It's interesting cuz it's like we all like him as an artist, right? But like his sounds have also, like they've always been good the way he picked his albums and everything. So, him being the kind of leader of this group, like I wish I can see the studio sessions of them making this album, I'm sure it's going to be really really fun.

For my next pick, I wanted to mention this Babyface E, B, The Realist. Uh, and I just wanted to first off just shout out Gav for showing me like a lot of really good Michigan artists, this being one of them. So, first of all, this is funny that Babyface Ray is featured on this, which I think this is the first time they have ever worked together cuz they're like commonly confused with each other. Babyface E and Babyface Ray. So, now they have a song together. ILRB is pretty fun, and uh, just great beats, fun project. I was pretty impressed. Like it. I was really blown away by the replay value on this. I probably listened to it like seven or eight times this week and I was just bumping into it every time. Solid project.

That one I didn't get a chance to check out, but I want to. Yeah.

All right. Does anyone have a—

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Well, that's the thing, too, is like I know about of course Em and Royce da 5'9" and then, you know, years later you get Danny Brown, but it's like there's a crazy like new scene right now that's like— so much good [expletive] coming out of Michigan right now and Detroit.

Just the [expletive] talkers are having a crazy run right now, bro. Especially Rio's free, so it's a lot of— it just kind of revitalized. Feels like it died a little bit, but he's doing another Dumb and Dumber project. Forget when that's scheduled for or if that's kind of some ways out with RMC Mike, but yeah, there will be a lot of good stuff coming.

Yes, definitely Rio da Yung OG leading the pack there for sure.

How does— does anyone else have a— Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Oh, no, no, I was going to say, how does Big Sean, um, how does he—

Oh, I miss Big Sean.

No. And I've— I think he's like, he says Detroit, but like bro, when was the last time we saw him? That's my question.

I don't— he just did something, random features.

Yeah. With um, what what was it, with Alchemist last year? He—

He's actually been doing a lot, but I feel like it's been very lowkey. He's been very under the radar.

They had like the Baby Tron Eminem song that they did.

Yeah.

So that was— Yeah. It was good to see. I just mean like with Detroit artists, it's good to see. It's been a while, I think, since there's been a lot of collaboration.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Well, it seems for somebody of his star power, it seems like every time he comes out with something, like something happens to like overshine, um, Big Sean. Like it's the craziest thing.

That's been his whole career often is, unfortunately, and sometimes that's, you know, just the luck of the draw.

Yeah. No, it's—

Yeah.

I'm liking the Detroit sound. I like the cadence. I like the drums, like the specific like—

Yeah.

I'm not going to do it, but you know that.

No, it sounds like— Yeah, it's different.

The bass is all like— the 808 patterns are real recognizable, aggressive, you know, like—

Yeah. Very few hooks.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. I like it for the Midwest, man. And I mean Chicago, um, Chicago and Michigan just in terms of like what they've done with their music, like Chicago's artists are like amazing lyricists. Um, Saba, Mick Jenkins, like these guys are dope. But then like— but Michigan, man, you guys have your own signature style too.

Um, which is— yeah, I love that for hip-hop. Like that's— I mean those are the like the albums that get me excited, um, that are a bit different, unique, um, kind of have their own vibe. Like I don't like when everything, you know, sounds like— I mean some of it's enjoyable. You get what you get, but yeah, I love the unique and the artistry of it.

For sure.

Totally agree.

Does anyone have any other picks for this week?

I feel like I've been listening to a lot of stuff from the previous weeks, even though it was a good week. I feel like uh, it's been a pack 2026 so far.

I'll be— Yeah, like I've been playing catchup. I had to pick a couple from this week and be like, "All right."

Yeah.

Yep.

But I like it. I feel like every year, January, February, I kind of have the like, "Oh, there's nothing good out." And like I'm still listening to stuff from last year, but this year I know it's— we've been well-fed, honestly.

For sure.

Wrong.

100%.

Yeah.

Excellent. Well, let's go ahead and wrap it up here then, boys. Uh, so I'll just do a quick plug. I'm Jacob from Frequency Overflow. You can find me at Frequency Overflow on Instagram. Email me at frequencyoverflow@gmail.com. Little bit about what I've been working on this week. Mixed a track for an artist named N. Mixed a track for an artist named Baby Flame. Mixed another track for my boy Bloodlink, who's a great rapper from Jersey that I've been working with consistently for like six months. And then it's just been a bunch of setting up the podcast. That's just really been what I've been on this week.

What about you, Gav? Let's go to Gav next.

Yeah, I'm Gavin. Um, Instagram, socials, Spotify, uh, all of it's prod by lunar.g. Um, so I've been working with a couple artists and engineers out in my area, like Detroit area. Um, we've been working on a project for uh Fat Boys with my boy Wild Bill Willy Weasel. So, just been— we had a studio session earlier this week, so we've just been busting out that album, trying to get that ready. Uh, we're going to be doing some music videos for it soon here. So, just kind of gearing up for release on that. Um, outside of that though, I've really just been, yeah, working on a lot of beats myself and—

Yeah, you've been sending me some beats for sure.

Yeah, I was going to say, crafting away and working on uh sharpening up my socials. I'm not— I said earlier, on there too much. So, takes a lot of effort.

Yeah, better to be off that [expletive] anyways.

Amen.

All right. What about you, Matt?

Uh, yeah, I've just been upping my producing game. Uh, so, just been learning some music theory. Other than that, um, I managed an artist named Lucius B Thundercat. We just dropped a single uh on February 20th named Ruse Dear, which was mixed and mastered by uh Jacob here. Um, yeah, other than that, just learning, trying to up my producing uh game.

Excellent. All right. What about you, T?

So, um, yeah, so I've been working um on singles. I just released a single and a video last week, um, song called Lil Bro. Um, which has been pretty good. It's actually dope because for a while I've been talking about— and me and Jacob have talked about this— like there's content that I've had that I've been trying to um put out. I said that I've been trying to put out but I haven't been doing anything. Just be like, "Yeah, I'll get to it. I'll get to it. I'll get to it. I'll get to it." Um, but last week— Yeah. But last week um I dropped it and it's been pretty good. I'm feeling motivated again. So I'm working on the next single that I'm going to release and I'm trying to— I want to be as consistent as I can without burning out. So, I've talked it over like maybe a track a week. I don't know, bi-weekly, but at the very least, I want to release two tracks a month. So, that's my goal. I have a project that I'm working on as well at the same time. But, I don't know. I'm kind of curious to see how this journey is going to go. Um, I like releasing it and getting it out. It feels good now. Things are flowing. So, I just want to keep the train moving, man. But yes, um, and socials. Yeah, socials. Follow me everywhere. Yo Terry V at Yo Terry V, Instagram, YouTube, uh, TikTok, and all that other fun stuff.

Awesome. Okay, real quick, I just want to list off everything we didn't cover. That would be Mazy and ESTG, Not a Chance in Hell, Trap Matt Savior and Nicholas Craven, Scotty Trippin, Pale J with Celestial Sweet Flips, Dave East and Scram Jones with For the Love Too, OMB Peasy with Better and Better, Skywater with Wonderful. Uh, yeah. So, also next week we have to look forward to Lil Yachty and the Concrete Boys, It's All Us Volume Two. Uh, Joey Valence and Brae have the deluxe version of their project that came out last year from Hyper Youth. It's called Hyper Youth Afterparty. And then what I'm most excited for, Boldy James and Roc Marciano's EP. It's a little seven song EP released through Mass Appeal.

That's going to be sick.

And then last but not least, Gorillaz, The Mountain. I'm mentioning this here, of course, cuz we got confirmed features from Black Thought, Yasiin Bey, and a posthumous verse from Proof. And you know, the Gorillaz are always keeping it hip-hop. So, we'll talk about Gorillaz albums for sure.

Should be interesting.

Excited for that one. That one's been on the radar for a while.

Yeah. Mhm.

Absolutely. All right. Well, thanks for joining me, guys. Uh, to get a hold of us, you can email fridaytofrpodcast@gmail.com. Our intro and outro music by Lunar G. Find him at Prod by Lunarg.g on Instagram. Podcast edited by me, Jacob from Frequency Overflow. You can find me at Frequency Overflow. Join us every week to stay in tune with hip-hop releases from Friday to Friday. Peace.

Peace.

Hey.