BoomBaptist is a producer from Austin that has been working as part of The Vapor Caves as well as a solo artist. Most recently, this past April, we finally got his long-awaited debut full-length solo album, the NBA Jam-themed project Boom Shakalaka. Now he’s come back with a brand new beat tape, COVID the Earth. COVID the Earth is an interesting project in a couple of ways. One is that while this is an instrumental project, and not one that is necessarily political in the music itself, BoomBaptist makes his commentary through the title of the album and naming his tracks things like “Fauci a Boss Theme,” “The President’s Twitter, Though,” and “Herd it Through the Dateline.

Dirt E. Dutch is a producer originally from Connecticut, but now based in Florida. He’s been going strong since the mid-‘00s, working with artists such as Cavalier, Sketch the Cataclysm and Breez Evahflowin’ along the way. Most recently, he teamed up with Atari Blitzkrieg last year to drop an EP, Mostly Ill but Sometimes Sick. Now he’s come back with a beat tape, The Unconditional. Beat tapes are tricky projects, only in that it’s really easy to sound incredibly generic when you’re putting together a collection of short beats that aren’t fully developed songs.

Context is an emcee from Melbourne that broke through in 2013 and 2014 with a pair of releases with producer Jimmy Flipshyt. We most recently heard from him in 2017, when he released the solo project Rogue Astronaut. Now he’s teamed up with UK emcee/producer Figarate for another collaborative project, Grand Schemes. Grand Schemes isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel here, it’s just trying to deliver some really solid sample-based boom bap, the gritty midtempo style that you would have heard bumping out of speakers on the East Coast in the mid-‘90s.

Potatohead People is a production duo from Vancouver consisting of Nick Wisdom and AstroLogical. They first teamed up back in 2008, and while they released a few singles and EPs, it wasn’t until 2015 when they released their first LP, Big Luxury. They released their sophomore album in 2018, Nick & Astro’s Guide to the Galaxy. Now they’re back for round three with Mellow Fantasy. As indicated by the title of the album, the general vibe of this album is just that, mellow.

Brycon is a producer from San Francisco who has been releasing music a while now. In recent years, he’s collaborated with artists such as Dregs One and Equipto on different projects. He’s been especially busy in 2020, with releases like the instrumental project Lobster Toes, his annual Halloween release There’s No More Room in Hell, and a collaborative project with emcee Amani Jade, The Cleansing. Now he’s right back with another instrumental project, Brutalism (EP).

More or Les is an artist from Toronto that is part of the Backburner crew. He has been going strong as a solo artist since the early 2000s, working as a deejay, producer, and emcee. His most recent release was a beat tape that came out on Valentine’s Day, 2019, <3Les. Now he’s back with a full-length album focused on mental health, The Human Condition. As you listen to the opening track of The Human Condition, “Assholes,” you just might be under the impression that this was some sort of novelty hip hop album.

Andrew Ashong is a soul singer from London who made a splash in the early 2010s with a couple of releases. Since his self-titled EP in 2014, though, we haven’t gotten a major project from him. He’s kept himself busy by guesting on other artists’ projects, such as J-Felix, Nightmares on Wax, and Submotion Orchestra, but fans have been patiently waiting for that official follow up to his last EP. Now the wait is finally over, as he pairs up with multi-instrumentalist/producer Kaidi Tatham to deliver Sankofa Season.

Seba Kaapstad is an international neo-soul group based in South Africa, built around the core of Ndumiso Manana, Zoe Modiga, Sebastian Schuster, and Phillip Scheibel. They made their debut on Mello Music one year ago with the album Thina. They are now back with their follow up full-length album, Konke. Follow up albums can sometimes be a tricky thing – do you just run back what worked on the first album?

The Lasso first emerged onto the national scene producing for Lando Chill in Tucson, including the brilliant 2018 album, Black Ego. Since that time, Lasso moved back home to Michigan, and got busy right away, producing albums for Chris Orrick and Psyspiritual, along with releasing a solo instrumental album. Not showing any signs of slowing down, he’s now teamed up with New York emcee ELUCID to form the group Small Bills, who release their debut album, Don’t Play it Straight.

SassyBlack has been going strong as a solo artist for about the past five years, since THEESatisfaction went their separate ways. She’s kept herself especially busy in 2020, with an EP, a beat tape, and a single already under her belt. Now she’s back with a new EP, STUCK. STUCK is only four songs long, but SassyBlack is putting in work to make these four of her strongest songs to date.