What's Good (Week of 11/16/25)
Bit of a leaner set of drops this edition of the blog, but with back-to-back weeks of The Horrors™ and huge releases, I don't mind getting a tiny breather. We've still got a lot of great joints for this week's What's Good, including:
New Albums
- Ben Reilly
- De La Soul
- Fabiano Do Nascimento
- Ransom & Conductor Williams
New Singles
- Converge
- Deniro Farrar & Child Actor
- Thee Marloes
- Nolan The Ninja
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Playlists
TIDAL
TIDAL: What's Good Playlist - Week of 11/16/25
YouTube
Bonus Beats
Dash Lewis
Dash Lewis took a look back at Aesop Rock's 2000 LP Float for Pitchfork's Sunday Review:
Aes raps as though he’s running out of time, desperate to convey his message before being carried off by death or angels or some other unknown force. There’s an air of paranoia hanging over the record, manifested most clearly in the chorus of “Commencement at the Obedience Academy”: “Must not sleep, must warn others,” a phrase so deeply held that he tattooed it on his arms. His words careen around each other; you get the sense he’s constantly trying to hold himself together like a dropped pie. Verses move from acidic to nakedly emotional within the space of a few bars. “My tummy’s full of glass because I promised my friend I’d chew up the bottle if he truly drank the poison,” he says on “The Mayor and the Crook,” only to follow it up later with “I cherish the Ferris wheel’s revolutions not because the ride enthralls/But more simply to the fact that it still revolves.”
Rhymesayers uploaded the footage from the DVD that came with the original relase of MM..FOOD onto their YouTube, so if you didn't catch it back then, now you can. Cop the 20th Anniversary version of MF DOOM's MM..FOOD from Rhymesayers or Metalface Records.
Yaya Bey touched down at the KEXP studios in September with a few joints from this year's do it afraid (and the title track from exodus the north star).
Dylan Green
In the wake of Max B leaving prison last week, Dylan Green wrote about the trials and tribulations of rappers returning home from jail stints:
Post-prison notoriety for rappers has evolved from dropping the obligatory First Day Out freestyle to making the rounds on every podcast couch, YouTube channel, and TikTok fashion or music page that draws ears and eyes. So there was Max, doing a fit check with an influencer at a Jets game before he could even stop at the jeweler. To his credit, though, his comeback also involves another, more old-fashioned strategy: appearing at clubs throughout the Northeast, culminating in two sold-out Brooklyn homecoming shows set to happen next January. But after seeing a clip of him in the club looking bewildered as someone yelled in his ear, I couldn’t help but wonder how it felt to be that perceived, that outside, after being locked away from the world at large for so long. Sixteen years is a while for anyone to be gone, but it might as well be three lifetimes in rap.
Pigeons & Planes sat down with billy woods for an interview that covered horror flicks (shout out a fellow Session 9 fan), indie rap across eras, music criticism, and more.
And speaking of woods, he and E L U C I D sat down with Rohan for the Rap Music Plug Podcast to break down Armand Hammer and The Alchemist's latest collaboration, last week's Mercy.
Music
Ben Reilly - Heroman (From SAVE!, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
al.divino - bamboo (From jus2feelsumn: side b, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Jackpot Records)
Thee Marloes - Harap Dan Ragu (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
FKA twigs - HARD (From EUSEXUA Afterglow, out now. Purchase: Vinyl via FKA twigs' official store | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Paul Wal & Dj.Fresh - Dedicated to the Game (From The Tonite Show, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Brian Nasty - You Thought! feat. Lord Apex (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - California Games feat. Earl Sweatshirt (From Mercy, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Backwoodz Studioz | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Nolan The Ninja - daffodil (Out now. Purchase: EVEN, Stream: Soundcloud)
Cavalier & Child Actor - Sojourn (From CINE, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | CDs and Vinyl via Backwoodz Studioz | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Domo Genesis & Graymatter - PLAINFACE (From SCRAM!, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Navy Blue - God's Kingdom (From The Sword & The Soaring, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
The Doppelgangaz - Wacky Wild Crazy (From Bet On Black Cloak, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon - Texting This Fine Shit for a Month feat. OUTRO (From As Of Now, out on 1/30/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Vinyl via Lex Records | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Sleep Sinatra - Luscious (Out now, a loosie.)
Tokyo Cigar & August Fanon - John Constantine (From Raymond, out now. Purchase/Stream: Bandcamp)
Surprise Chef - Body Slam (Live at the College of Knowledge) (From Superb, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Big Crown Records | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Chuck Strangers & Evidence - BMOP (Out now. Purchase: 7" Vinyl via Bigger Picture Recordings | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Ransom & Conductor Williams - BLOOD STAINS ON COLISEUM FLOORS (From The Uncomfortable Truth, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
CRIMEAPPLE - FOREVER (From HANZAI, out on 11/28. Preorder: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Converge - Love Is Not Enough (From Love Is Not Enough, out on 2/13/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Physicals and merch via Convergecult | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
14KT - Rain Watcher (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Deniro Farrar - Kinetic Sand (From Raw Materials, out on 12/2. Preorder: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
addy - fire, fire (From the cradle/fire, fire single, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
El Cousteau - Quid Pro Quo (From Dirty Harry 2, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Aesop Rock - Pay The Man (From I Heard It's A Mess There Too, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Merch, physicals, and digital via Aesop Rock's site | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
De La Soul - Sunny Storms (From Cabin In The Sky, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Physicals and digital via Mass Appeal | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Ariel - Marigold (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music | Qobuz)
Seneca B - Flashes (From Seneca's new upcoming EP, due out next year. Purchase "Flashes": Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Shungu - Did You Hear The News feat. Ruqqiyah (From Faith in the Unknown, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Vinyl via Lex Records | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Ben Marc - But Why feat. Wahid (From Who Cares Wins, out on 12/5. Preorder: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Gabriel Garzón-Montano - CHARIOTS & CHANDELIERS (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Fabiano do Nascimento - Cavejaz (From Cavejaz, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Leaving Records | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal (for some reason "Cavejaz" isn't in the Cavejaz tracklisting, but is a single, weird) | Apple | YouTube Music)
Kim Deal - Summerland (Live from Electric Lady Studios) (From Nobody Loves You More, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | 4AD | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Miri Tyler - November Bender (From This Is The Last I'll Speak On It, I Swear, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | YouTube Music)
Sonnyjim & Morriarchi - Scotch & Escovitch (From Golden Parachute, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Moor Mother, Wooden Elephant, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, & Dirk Kaftan - The Myth Hold Weight (From Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes, out now. Purchase: Vinyl via Don Giovanni Records | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Royce Wood Junior - Things (From Penny Ballads, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Conway The Machine - Diamonds feat. Roc Marciano (From You Can't Kill God With Bullets, out on 12/12. Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
That's this week, done and dusted. If you enjoyed anything from this edition of the blog, let me know in the comments or on social media, and don't hesitate to share it with your people. Have a great weekend, take care of yourself, and make good choices.
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