Los Angeles producer B. Bravo made a splash in the spring of 2017, when he released his solo album, Paradise, which featured some fantastic electro-boogie and G-Funk. Amongst the guests on that album were Portland vocalist Reva Devito and Bay Area vocalist Rajai. Having already paired up with Devito to drop another excellent album as Umii, Bravo now takes the time to work with Rojai on a full-length album, this time using the name Kool Customer.

Mr.Composition is an emcee from San Antonio that’s been releasing music for the better part of this decade. His last release came back in 2016, when he released an EP called Excuse My Graffiti. Now he comes back with a full-length album called Light Labors. It doesn’t take long once you listen to Light Labors to see what the attraction is with Mr.Composition. He’s got a really versatile flow, with a penchant for melodic runs to his rhymes, and a higher pitched voice that remind me at different points of Slimkid Tre from The Pharcyde, Butter Fly from Digable Planets, and One Be Lo from Binary Star.

Peter Beardsworth is a name that you might not know yet, but the Nottingham musician has been part of a lot of projects in the last couple of years, including the Invisible Orchestra, Three Body Trio, and producing soul singer Yazmin Lacey’s last two EPs, Black Moon and When The Sun Dips 90 Degrees. Now he finally ventures out as a solo artist with his first EP, Pour Un Homme Seul.

Cyesm is a producer from France that has been delivering a wide variety of projects over the course of the last twenty years. Back in April, he gave us a short project by the name of The Man From Taured, something of a soundtrack to an urban legend. Now he comes back with a full-length album, Minorities. One of the exciting things about following Cyesm’s career is that you never know what to expect with each release, because he’s already covered so much ground.

Several years ago, it used to be that Twin Cities artists Guante and Big Cats were thought of as a duo, with four releases that spanned from 2009-2012. After that, they got caught up working on other projects, and before you know it, it’s been six years since their last release as a duo. That all changes with the release of their new EP, War Balloons. If you’re familiar with these two, you’ll be happy to know that even though they’ve taken an extended period between releases, they haven’t skipped a beat.

Tanya Morgan emcee Von Pea first started collaborating with D.C. production team The Other Guys back in 2014, when they released the EP To: You. The followed that up with a full-length album that came out last year, The Fiasco. They weren’t done, though, as they’ve come back with another EP, I’m Good Luv, Enjoy. There are a couple of interesting angles to this EP, but perhaps the one that jumps out immediately is that on five songs, we get two with the other half of Tanya Morgan, Donwill.

Philadelphia emcee/vocalist Ivy Sole has made a big splash in a short amount of time. After releasing her debut recording, Eden, in 2016, she followed that up with a pair of EPs in 2017, East and West. Wasting no time, she comes right back in 2018 with her full-length album, Overgrown. While Ivy Sole has only been releasing music for a couple of years, the amount of growth she’s shown in that time is remarkable.

Dessa is best known for her work as both a solo artist who floats between indie pop and hip hop, and as a member of the Minneapolis hip hop collective known as Doomtree. Along the way in her career, she’s done spoken word performances and published some short collections of poetries and essays. So when she announced that she had written her first full book, it wasn’t a complete surprise. Now that My Own Devices is here, we get both the expected and unexpected.

Seattle emcee Onry Ozzborn has been releasing albums since the late ‘90s, both as part of groups like Oldominion, Grayskul, and Darktime Sunshine, as well as working as a solo artist. The last couple of years has seen him focusing on his solo career, with Duo coming out in 2016 and cvpiid coming last year. He keeps working at that steady pace, now giving us Nervous Hvnd. While the last two albums had concepts to them, Nervous Hvnd is a bit more straightforward in its approach.

Calvin Valentine is a producer/singer/emcee who’s seen his career really grow over the last couple of years. After growing up in Eugene and spending a few years in Portland, he relocated to Los Angeles to take on the next step of his career. Recently, we’ve seen him produce an album for Illa J, Home, and drop a beat tape, Plush Seats, to announce his signing with Mello Music Group. Now he releases his first full-length album for the label, Keep Summer Safe.