Birmingham artist Erthling. is certainly having a good July. On July 17, he launched a new podcast with K1NG Eljay, Equivalent Exchange. On July 26, he dropped a beat tape, Sum Flips. Then, three days later, on the third anniversary of starting the group 729 with emcee OZU8LACK, they drop a full-length album, X8. After dropping a series of EPs called Greetings in 2018, 729 was quiet for most of 2019, but then they’ve come back strong in 2020, having already dropped another album, Proceed With Caution, back in February.

Chants is a producer from Madison that has been releasing music for about the last ten years. Just last year, he gave us the wonderfully inventive album, Seven Spheres, on Astral Plane Recordings. Now he’s back with a collection of unreleased material, lo-fi chill beats to steal for your podcast. Like many musicians during this quarantine, Chants has gone back into the vaults to shed some light on some older material that never got released.

Yamin Semali is an emcee and producer from Atlanta, who first gained notoriety with the group Clan Destined before striking out as a solo act with such releases as Yamin and Yen Dollar Music, Vol. 1 & 2. This past February, Semali released a 7th Anniversary version of Yamin, remastered and updated with a few new songs. Now he’s back with an all new full-length album, Phantom Feeling. For Phantom Feeling, Semali reached out to Virginia producer Dublohskytzo, who helps bring an interesting sound to the proceedings.

Birmingham artist Erthling. has emerged over the last couple years as one of the brightest stars in the scene, working as part of groups like 729 and Pen Pals as well as a solo artist. Just last November, he released his debut full-length solo album, the stellar Infloresco. Now, as a short and fun project, he gives us the simply titled sum flips. Sometimes you just need a bit of a palate cleanser.

Hashfinger is a producer from Bradford, West Yorkshire, in the UK who has been releasing music since the early 2010s. The last time we heard from him was a little over a year ago, when he released his album DANDELIONS. Now he’s back with a new full-length album, Miles Beyond. Instrumental albums are a difficult endeavor in the world of hip hop – this is no secret in 2020. There are a plethora of mediocre instrumental albums, but few rise to the top and are able to differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowd.

TEK.LUN is a producer from Baltimore that has been putting out music since 2014. He’s been busy recently, releasing a B-sides collection, a remix collection, a “best of,” and a new album all just in June. Now he’s back to switch things up and drop a house album on everybody, Know Pressure. While house and hip hop are cousins, the transition from one to the other isn’t always the smoothest, unless you’ve really done the work to study the forms.

Fort Ancient Records is the Cincinnati collective of producers Homage CVG, Dren AD, Waldo From Cincinnati, Phonophage, and Samuel Steezmore. Over their short history, the full group has gotten together fairly regularly to deliver their series of short EPs, Fort Ancient Airlines, but it takes a little more to get all five together to make a full-length album. They did it in 2017 with Gatsby, and then again with First Team.

Lee Reed is an emcee from Hamilton, Ontario who has been making political hip hop for over twenty years. He came to the attention of a lot of U.S. listeners when he released Before & Aftermath on Strange Famous Digital back in 2018. Like many others in lockdown, he got the urge to create and work through all of his thoughts and feelings, now giving us his quarantine EP, Murder Hornet Landlord.

Sinitus Tempo is a producer from Mount Ranier, Maryland who has been releasing music at a steady pace for over a decade now. So far this year, he’s already given us two albums, Heavens Footprint and CULTURE. Now he comes back once again with another brand new album, Kuroi Yume. With a title that translates from Japanese into “dark dream,” this album is not quite as dark as one might expect from that piece of knowledge.

Chuckie Campbell is an emcee based in Buffalo, originally from Kentucky, who has been putting out music for over fifteen years now. Two years ago, he released the personal and ambitious album, Taking Back Tomorrow. Now he’s back with an EP that serves as a discussion of current events, Curious Incidents in Cancel Culture. For this project, Campbell has enlisted the help of producer Willie Breeding, who brings just the right mix of Southern trap and gritty East Coast boom bap to get Campbell going.