New Music Friday: August 11, 2023

August 11, 2023 Ben Pagani

This Friday is hip hop’s 50th birthday. The genre started at a house party in the Bronx in 1973 it will never ever end. With that, we are Beyond The Stage and we’d like to say hello. To the black, and the white, the red and the brown, the purple and yellow.

That said–this is the best new music out this week. Hip hop is leading the way.

Albums:

Noname – Sundial

Chicago born rapper and producer Noname has used her latest LP to give herself a legacy, not a name. She’s “drifting in and out of consciousness like the rappers do // she’s a rapper, too.”

Providing beats and her own backing vocals–Noname, also named Fatimah Nyeema Warner, started as a poet. Then she became a teenager who wanted to put out music after finding inspiration in Avril Lavigne and Andre 3000. Three full albums later, Noname is likely already an influence to young musicians and writers.

Noname can rap–that’s the name of the game anyways. She can be very real too. Noname speaks her beliefs the whole album through and never wastes time packing punches. On second track “hold me down,” she verses:

“White man or front man, a whole vision // We just see self in his image,

Won’t be a self-critic, burn up our whole village // That wasn’t us, that was colonialism // We keep our babies fed, we don’t beat and rape on our women, we good, // We is Wakanda, we Queen Rwanda // First black president and he the one who bombed us.

That’s just one verse. Noname even hits “afro futurism” near the end of the record–with nice beats and hooks.

Hip hop will be around in the future–and the future’s name is Noname.

New albums out this week:

The Band CAMINO – The Dark

Rob Moose – Inflorescence EP

Son Lux – Alternate Forms

Public Image Ltd. – End of World

Turnstile – New Heart Designs EP

Singles:

Olivia Rodrigo – “bad idea right?”

Olivia Rodrigo has unleashed the next track from her sophomore LP slated for a September 8 release via Geffen.

It’s got more of a taste for what’s to come. It shows Rodrigo’s ability to evolve with her own touch. It’s poppy, lyrically intense and even features noise rock. Seriously.

Releasing this track was a good idea right?

New singles out this week:

English Teacher – “The World’s Biggest Pavement Slab”

Coach Party – “Parasite”

Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you be adding to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!

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Ben Pagani

Music Projects Manager at Beyond The Stage Magazine

Ben is a music journalist living and working in Chicago. They joined Beyond The Stage as an intern and have stayed on the staff for several years. Now serving on the editorial board, Ben is proud to be BTS' Music Projects Manager, coordinating coverage between international record labels and our staff. Ben has interviewed, photographed and written about bands from across the world. Ben has lived all over the United States working in television and media. They are an Emmy Award-winning writer. Ben can be found spinning records as 'DJ Wearing Sunglasses' in clubs and basements across the US.