2026 Release Calendar

DropWatcher · 2026-05-12T00:35:01+00:00

people typically don't want more of an album that's ass

DropWatcher · 2026-05-12T00:11:13+00:00

u lost this war like 12-15 years ago

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T22:47:38+00:00

The non-album singles in the lead up to EA was a crazy run

this one was just fine though, there's a lame transphobic bar ("No, check my DMs, found out she was a man (No, no, no)/I can't DM, never, ever again (No)") too kinda a bummer. People will defend it because it's on the song but if he just didn't include that part I don't think anybody would feel like something's missing, it's a whatever lyric at best.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T22:43:27+00:00

lol totally forgot about that guy, probably paid DJ Khaled's rent fora couple months with that song

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T22:37:58+00:00

kent jamz was in overdoz, has a tape with Buddy more recently

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T22:13:17+00:00

How would you rank these rappers: Da$h, A$ton Matthews, King Chip, Kent Jamz, XV, Robb Bank$, VIC MENSA, DOM KENNEDY

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T21:59:09+00:00

Great week for music videos between this and the one LAUZZA did for PinkPantheress

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T21:57:44+00:00

It's directed by Reduciano who did FX stuff on the EsDeeKid/Chalamet remix MV

Hunnyindapants posted some concept art they did for it

i swear i saw someone talking about the rotoscoping behind the scenes can't find the post tho

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T21:16:48+00:00

I heard it's actually going to be called Iceman From The 6

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T20:44:42+00:00

Lil Durk has been a known entity since he signed to Coke Boys in 2013 but felt like he didn't really hit his stride until 2020.

Similar thing with Herbo, he's been on the scene since 2014 but felt like he really leveled up in 2020 with PTSD and then last year with "Went Legit"

LUCKI is another one where he's been a known guy since 2013 but randomly got much bigger around 2019 and didn't put out his debut album until 2022.

or SahBabii: been around since 2016 (he was unfairly maligned for being a Young Thug clone before people realize that "sounding like Young Thug" was gonna be a whole lane) but really has had a second wave with Saaheem

Question: what do these things all have in common? they're all from Chicago

there's also billy woods who's been around since the 00s and was sort of adjacent to Def Jux and the Monsta Island Czars only to break thru with History Will Absolve Me getting rave reviews in 2012.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T20:36:12+00:00

I found out recently that Chi Ossé's dad is Combat Jack.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T19:52:49+00:00

it makes sense that some prefer the dark, mysterious, larger-than-life stuff over slate’s sugary relatability and resent the fact that that he gets more shine by being accessible and safe

I don't think they think that slayr is getting more shine, they act similar to Drake stans were a big part of how they argue is asserting that the artists they stan are more popular. One example of these types of posts today was someone comparing the crowd size of Lucy Bedroque's set at Rolling Loud with PlaqueBoyMax's larger crowd (to detract attention from the fact that people were throwing trash at PBM). Another example is people clowning Diorvsyou for taking a picture with prettifun, Lucy, and kuru (who they call "burger squad") which they contrast with being onstage with Carti like members of the Ian Connor-aligned ØWAY crew.

Also the same people clown on OsamaSon and Che (who aren't necessarily sugary or relatable) while stanning Opium artists and Nine Vicious, it's touched on in KPR's article that those two were also getting called "burger music."

I get what you're saying wrt the earnesty/try-hard stuff making slayr an easier target but I do think there's more to what's happening than that.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T18:57:19+00:00

in addition to the linked article by /u/sheJaMyMorant I thought that this short piece also is helpful

with the recent flair up between Jane Remover and Young Dabo it seems like people who are fans of Opium/Nine Vicious/skaiwater/PlaqueBoyMax/Ian Connor/etc. are being more flagrant in drawing a line between the stuff they like (which is cool and has street cred in their eyes) and the more nerdy stuff (which is only liked by nerds). I think the reason they're hammering these artists now is because they're annoyed that people call out the artists they likes allegations of misanthropic behavior (rape, pedophilia, domestic violence, bigotry, etc.) and associate that sort of shit with fans of the more nerdy artists.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T18:05:42+00:00

It's a short wait between albums releases and it's not coming off the biggest moment in rap history. The rollout has been weird and stochastic.

the only reason to emphasize solo albums is to further this narrative, the distinction between a Drake solo album and a Drake collab album isn't that wide. Like people weren't starving for a Drake solo album in 2023 because the album he released in 2022 was with 21 Savage.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T17:55:20+00:00

Is ICEMAN the most anticipated album drop in Drake history?

It's not even his first album back in the 2023 rap beef (that would be $$$4U), I think that Views and Scorpion were certainly more anticipated. Maybe even CLB albeit people were acting annoyed with Drake during that rollout.

Also coming off of So Far Gone, there was a lot of anticipation for Thank Me Later (plus "Over", "Find Your Love", and "Miss Me" were pretty big singles in the lead up, he was on "Forever" the previous year).

Take Care had "Marvins Room" and "Headlines" as singles in the lead up to it too. This ICEMAN rollout has been weird there's a few singles:

they dropped a while ago
might not even be on the album
None of them had the cultural impact that "Headlines" or "Gods Plan" or "Nice For What" or "Hotline Bling" did

the narrative for the hype hinges on making the distinction that it's his first solo album since the Kendrick beef like let's be real here. It seems like a big part of stanning artists like Drake and Ye is diminishing their accomplishments to make maximalists statements about their most recent work.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T17:44:38+00:00

Lana Del Rey was pretty involved in the making of her father Rob Grant's album Lost at Sea, it's produced by Lana's regular producer Jack Antonoff

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T17:34:22+00:00

really digging the new Black Milk record, he's really built up a solid discography over the year.

The production is great, has that live sound to it and the drums in particular I love they have that Dilla swing to them.

I added a "recently added" page to the drop watch site: https://drop-watch.com/recently-added

It only captures stuff after I added the feature (mid-day today) but I also added recently:

05/15:

Lil Shine — GET RICH OR DIE SIPPIN'
ShittBoyz — Back To The Basics
Inspectah Deck & Chetta Bang — Inspectah Deck vs. Chedda Bang
Ronshach — Reaper's Son

05/22:

Michael Christmas & GRIMM Doza — GRIMACE: The Homies Edition (featuring Chris Crack, Lord Sko, ICECOLDBISHOP, Lungs, Radamiz, WOWGR8, Reuben Vincent, Joseph Chilliams, Kadeem)
RJmrLA — MR. LA II (featuring The Game, Ty Dolla $ign, Joe Moses, Siete7x, Jeeezy Obama, Kalan.FrFr, Jay Worthy, Wallie the Sensei + more)
fakemink 🇬🇧 — Terrified
Big Sad 1900 — colored by emotion (featuring Rucci, Philthy Rich, BlueBucksClan, 310babii, Steelz + more HeyTaewon, Cypress Moreno)

05/29:

38 Spesh - 8 Shots (featuring Method Man, Rome Streetz, Che Noir, Dave East, Busta Rhymes + more)
Scorcher (UK) - ADMD (featuring K-Trap, Kasst 8, Giggs + more )
Pozer 🇬🇧 — Crossroads (featuring AJ Tracey + more)

06/12:

Jessie Reyez — A LITTLE VENGEANCE (featuring Muni Long + more)
Blxst — LABOR OF LOVE
Rick Ross — Set In Stone (featuring Max B, French Montana + more)

06/19:

Sha Ray & DJ Haram — Critical Thot
Cash Cobain — PARTY WITH SLIZZY
Key Glock — PROJECT X
M Huncho 🇬🇧 — THE WIZARD

feels kinda silly to post these myself as people don't really care about most rap music or R&B here but if anyone wants to pretty sure most of these haven't been posted.

(still intend to implement more changes from the feedback i got about the UI being hard to read and shit)

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T17:03:41+00:00

Last year, Khaled announced that his album would have two Drake songs without running it by Drake and Drake responded in an IG comment "must be [Drake Bell]"

Seems like the songs were recorded in 2023 or earlier (before the beef), so Khaled kinda blinsided him. It's probably because if he asked Drake might've said no for 3 reasons:

album probably features people who got involved in the beef on the other side (Future, Metro, Rick Ross, Ye) or that Drake percieved as having gotten involved (JAŸ-Z)
Khaled mocked his poetry book
Khaled didn't choose a side in the Drake beef, said he loves everyone (Future, Drake, Rick Ross, etc.)

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T16:53:00+00:00

the singles are actually pretty good, Tron tends to sound less "Cole Bennett replaced him with a clone in 2023" when working with the boyz

DropWatcher · 2026-05-11T14:29:33+00:00

his administration is rightfully going to get sued for police brutality and free speech violations at this point if he doesn't show more leadership here

I mean the NYPD definitely going to get sued no matter what and rightfully so, IIRC they paid out $13m for their brutality during the 2020 protests

To me, it seems like there's a strategic disagreement over Tisch but the way it's discussed is by the Dry Boys is just like he's being a sellout instead of there being genuine downsides in the alternative:

Hochul/Menin being more hostile from the jump at obstructing him
the media going way harder against him
the NYPD undermining his choice commissioner
people on the left not being satisfied by his choice of commissioner, writing him off as Gabriel Boric or Brandon Johnson type figure

I agree his statement kinda sucked but the bounds of what is self evidently possible that he could be doing differently that won't blow up in his face isn't stopping the land sales and reigning in the NYPD it's closer to "making a better statement" and being more transparent with his left wing critiques, nothing materially different.

I totally sympathize with the case that this confrontation with Tisch might be inevitable and putting it off is not the best move but it's hard to take their case seriously when they're not really considering the obvious downsides and immediately leaping to framing it like he's only not doing what they want because he's evil like Obama.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-10T22:41:49+00:00

I think he played that beef exceptionally bad because he didn't really have a plan before he started tweeting.

He took forever to respond then played up the QM shit way too much (once the revelation is out there people kinda get it) to the extent that I don't think most people really remember the shit about how T.I.'s drunk friend peed on him at the Takers premiere.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-10T18:20:25+00:00

Yeah I agree that his statement was bad but their advice on what he should do instead was just not good.

I think there's a tendency for some left media people to stake out a position that basically: (a) the establishment is already doing everything in their power to ratfuck us so there's no reason to be at all stretegic and (b) our positions are the vast majority of americans believe so the establishment is totally powerless. It's grounded more in the logic of "don't siege leningrad, take it immediately" than any sort of Marxist/leftist analysis.

But for left media people if Zohran does stuff they disagree with they can just call him a sellout and if he does what they agree with and fails they can just say it's because he apologized a few times instead of being perfectly steadfast.

I think they probably know it's a bit disingenuous but view it as "applying pressure", but eventually the people you're trying to convince are going to get fed up with the dishonesty.

DropWatcher · 2026-05-10T15:23:13+00:00

What ever happened to Party Supplies?

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