Sev Seveer is a producer out of Chicago and member of the Push Beats collective. He has been putting out music since the mid-2010s, with his most recent release, Shelfie Baps II coming out last year. He now releases a new EP amid COVID-19 lockdown, Agatite. I say this almost every time Sev Seveer drops something, but it bears repeating to any beginning producers outs there – it’s really helpful to play your beats for other people and to perform live.

Lunch Breaks is a new duo from Orlando featuring Swamburger and Jakal. Both handle production duties, and then Swamburger hops on the mic as well. They now present their debut album as a group, Orange State Project Vol. 1. Sometimes you don’t need things to sound that outside of the box, you just need it to sound good. And Lunch Breaks sounds really good. Orange State Project Vol. 1 is an album that is just full of banger after banger, with some really tight and inventive left field boom bap.

Shay D is an emcee from London that has been putting out music since the early 2010s. After a few mixtapes, singles, and EPs, she dropped her first album, A Figure of Speech, in 2016. Now, after spending time doing workshops, radio, and throwing shows, she’s ready to return with her sophomore album, Human Writes. The first thing that hit me in listening to Human Writes is just how confident Shay D sounds on the mic.

Vex Ruffin is a producer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist from Chino who has been putting out music since the early 2010s. His most recent effort was an EP in 2017, Conveyor. Now he comes back with another EP, Emilio. If you’re not familiar with Vex Ruffin, he works in a very minimalist style of lo-fi indie-pop/hip hop. The music often sounds like it was recorded in his bedroom on an old four track, with a couple of cheap mics recording live in the room.

Esh is a Boston artist who has in the past worked as part of a duo with producer Arc, and with producer Dox before that. In 2017, he stepped out as a solo artist in the traditional sense for the album Darwin’s Frankenstein. Now he takes that evolution a step further, re-inventing himself as Esh & The Isolations for his latest album, Idiot Fingerz. Now you might be asking yourself, “Who are The Isolations?

Oso Negro is an emcee now based in Pensacola, formerly based in Oregon. Over the years, he’s collaborated with such artists as PH8, Doze, and Weighn Beats, just to name a few. For his latest project, he reached out overseas to a British producer now living in Cambodia, Mute Speaker. Together, they present a new EP, Unk Funk. Mute Speaker is a really talented producer, best known for his work with Gajah, along with a rich solo catalogue.

Missy D is an emcee from Vancouver, although originally raised in Africa, spending time in Rwanda, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe. She’s been going strong as an artist for about the last five years, but it’s been a couple of years since we got more than a single from her. That changes now with her new EP, Yes Mama. If you need a crash course for Missy D, Yes Mama is a great place to start.

Bosco Mann is known as the bass player and bandleader for the Daptones, along with co-founding Daptone Records in Brooklyn. In recent years, he has returned to his hometown of Riverside, California, where he has recently built a recording studio, and now launched a new imprint, Penrose Records. To celebrate the launch of this imprint, they are now giving us a label sampler simply titled Penrose Records, Vol. 1. While it will come as no surprise that the overall sound of this compilation is that of vintage soul, there is a markedly different sound to the West Coast.

F.Virtue is an artist from New York that returned from a multi-year hiatus last year to drop their explosive album, Millennial Love in WWIII. While that album was enjoyable, what F.Virtue didn’t necessarily let us know is that the writing and recording sessions that resulted in that album were so fruitful, there was a second full-length album waiting to see the light as well. Now it’s here in the form of All’s Fair in Love and War but Really All’s Unfair Always.

Calvin Valentine is an emcee and producer originally from Eugene but now residing in Los Angeles. He has been especially prolific in recent years, with Valentine releasing four projects in two years on Mello Music Group, the last of which being Napkins, which came out in June of last year. Now he comes back with another project that was created right after that album came out, Save the Planet. Save the Planet is an interesting project in a couple of ways.