Sweatson Klank is a producer from Los Angeles that has been making music for over twenty years, first under the name Take before switching over to Sweatson Klank a little over ten years ago. He’s never really slowed down or taken much time off, either, with his last release coming out just this past January when he dropped his project Path of an Empath. Now he’s back to switch things up once again with Jewels From The Sun EP.

Nathaniel Cross is a trombonist from South London who over the course of the last four years has played on records by everyone from Moses Boyd to Zara McFarlane to Sons of Kemet, as well as his brother, tubist/trombonist Theon Cross. Now he’s finally stepping out on his own as a solo artist, delivering his first EP on First Word Records, The Description Is Not The Described. For this project, Cross assembled an ensemble that includes Dylan Jones on trumpet, Richie Garrison on sax, Simon Mitchell on keys, and Saleem Raman on drums.

Allan Cole, aka Allmos, is best known as one half of the Brooklyn production duo The Stuyvesants. As a solo artist, he’s done remixes for a few modern jazz-fusion artists, such as Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Braxton Cook, and Reginald Chapman. In 2017, he released his first solo album, Sound Affects, Vol. 1. Now he’s finally back with his second album, Sound Affects, Vol. 2. If you listened to Vol. 1, you won’t be surprised by what you hear on Vol.

BLKrKRT is a producer from Fort Worth who has been especially busy in 2021. In addition to working with Tornup on the album Hologram Zoo Vol. 1: The Crypt, he’s already released two collections from his Black Siddhartha series. With no signs of slowing down, he’s now back with a different solo project, Ancestors. With a look at the title and the timing of releasing this project the Friday before Juneteenth, it makes it easy to read this project as a rumination on African American history, a soundtrack to consider the roots of Black America.

Stimulator Jones is a producer from Virginia that has been releasing music since 2014. In that time, he’s released albums on Stones Throw and Mutual Intentions. Most recently, he released a dance music EP called Dance of the Universe in May of this year. Now he’s back with a collection of beats called Dust Bunnies. With a full-length album coming out in about a month, Dust Bunnies is definitely more of a warmup, as Stimulator Jones is collecting a bunch of his favorite beats he had in the vault.

Prior to the announcement of the Polaris Prize last October, most people outside of the Montreal music scene were not familiar with the name of Backxwash. When she pulled off the upset and walked away with this prestigious prize for her debut album, a lot of people went rushing to learn more about the artist. What they found was that this Zambian Canadian trans artist was not just someone with an interesting backstory, but a truly innovative and dynamic musician with a fresh voice on the mic.

A little over a decade ago, the character of “Mykki Blanco” was created as part of a video art project, where Mykki was a teenage girl inspired by Lil Kim’s “Kimmie Blanco” alter ego. Well, it didn’t end there, as the project and character evolved, and the artist realized the power of using this character as a vehicle for self-discovery. That journey led Blanco into the world of hip hop, and after releasing a couple of mixtapes and EPs, they dropped their stellar debut album, Mykki, in 2016.

UDABABY is the Chicago duo of Joshua Virtue and Davis. Two years ago, they released their debut EP, simply titled UDABABY EP. Now they have come back with their first full-length album as a duo, simply titled UDABABY LP. For the album, Joshua Virtue is handling all of the production minus one track, “Coinstar Blues,” which is produced by Malci. The overall feeling of the album is the hip hop equivalent of free jazz, like UDABABY is drawing upon influences like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, but also a group like Antipop Consortium.

Skyzoo is an emcee from Brooklyn who first came onto the scene fifteen years ago with a cosign from 9th Wonder. After a couple of releases on First Generation Rich, Skyzoo moved to Mello Music Group in 2016 with his album, The Easy Truth, made alongside Apollo Brown. Most recently, in 2020, he dropped the fatherhood-centric project, Milestones. Now he’s back with a new full-length album, All the Brilliant Things.

Ray West is a producer from New York who, along with Abdul Jabar and AG, founded the record label Red Apples 45 back in 2010. Since that time, he has released projects with everyone from Kool Keith to O.C. to Blu, along with his own solo work. Back in 2017, he paired up with an emcee who moved to New York from Australia, Nathan Dialect, to make an EP called 2 Train With the 7.