Latest / Hip-Hop Now Podcast / Best of 2026 So Far

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Best of 2026 So Far · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to jip Hop Now Podcasts did from the future.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You know what the students your asside past so disrespectful
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: leg black leg hip hop can say this today, Let's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: get rightful to the business. What up, y'all? I am
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: your host, Vegas and Debts. It's hip Hop Now Podcasts,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: all things hip hop, music and culture that happened throughout
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the week, month, year, whatever. It is, celebrating ten plus
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: years of Hip Hop Now podcasting audio form. Shout out
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to those who've been listening from day one. The logo
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: represents that the little gold color and if you would
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: like to purchase some merch that will be available through
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, specifically to celebrate ten years with that
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: gold kind of look to it. The link is in
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a description for merch. Big shout out to those watching
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: right here on YouTube, subscribing, liking, commenting, hitting the hype button.
• 1:15
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• 1:34
  Speaker 1: if you haven't, please do so. Now let's get right
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: into the business of things. So we have now entered
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the halfway point of twenty twenty six, and you know
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: what that means. That means it's time to take a
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: look at the best albums mixtapes of the year so far.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I'll just this in general, twenty twenty six has been
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: somewhat of a slow year. Not necessarily for releases. There
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: have been plenty releases, but as far as when you
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: look at twenty twenty five and twenty twenty four especially
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: or not especially, twenty twenty five was crazy, but if
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: you look at the past two years, it's been kind
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: of crazy as far as releases, Like you start looking
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: at you know what could potentially be in your top
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: five for the year at the halfway point. Right now,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I got some good albums for y'all, but it's not
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the strong, definitive list at this halfway point, so things
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: obviously will change. But I have ten albums right now
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: that I'm going to say are the best of the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: best so far for twenty twenty six. So let's get
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: right into it. Right at the top the game, DJ
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Drama and Mike and Keys em and T the credit. Now,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: this is a sequel to a mixtape that The Game
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and DJ Drama dropped previously, but this one features Mike
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: and Keys, and I think this is the better of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the two. Straight up boom Back, that's what it is.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what. It's. Straight up boom back with the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: West Coast feel that the Game could bring and out
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: the gate. It was dope and this is the joint
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: and this might have turned people off, but this was
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the project that had this song where where Game said,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: if I'm not the best in the West, if it's Kendrick,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you know, tell him to step up, like you know whatever.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: But the project itself, the entire mixtape is dope. So
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: you should check that out. This one you should see
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: coming if you follow this podcast. Baby King Casino. I
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: was big on this album when it dropped a lot
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: of the content leading into the album release. It's kind
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: of what had me interested because I wasn't like a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Baby King fan before that, Like he was cool, but
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: he didn't have anything that interests me as a hip
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: hop fan. And I just remember watching his documentary and
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: it felt like, oh, this is going to be more
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: of a personal album, which is exactly what I wanted
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: to know, because let's be real, y'all, it doesn't matter
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: if it's Baby King or somebody else. A lot of
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: these newer rappers tend to not talk about themselves enough,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And I don't mean like
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I'm the best and stuff like that. I mean, like,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: what's going on with you? And I think Baby King
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: put together a brilliant album and could see a casino. Obviously,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: watching his mini documentaries got me more into it, but
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: it's not like it's an album that's completely reliant on
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: listening or watching these documentaries in order to get it.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: It just helps when you hear him say certain things
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: about his personal life where you like, were damn yeah,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: so very dope album. Heavy rotation for me when it dropped,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: probably will be in my top five by the end
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: of the year, unless we just go on a crazy
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: run in the second half. Next up, IDK E t DS,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: a mixtape by IDK. I wasn't a fan of IDK,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: but this album's hot, and what I liked about it
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: was the fact that it's almost like on every song
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: you get it, like he can adapt to whatever style,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: so there's so many different styles of songs. I think
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: when I reviewed it, I talked about him having a
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: song with like DMX, and it didn't sound like a
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: song DMX wouldn't be on like and he didn't sound
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: like he was switching up to fit with DMX. He
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: just fit. So if you want to mixtape from a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: guy maybe you've never heard of, and you know Clips
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: is on there as well, and you want you like
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: variety in your hip hop, IDK, Alchemists, Larry June and Currency,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Spiral Staircases. Now I'm not a Larry June fan, but
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Alchemists and Currency was like, I need to listen and
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna hold you, but this trio sounds good together.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: The beats mixed well with the styles, with the vibe,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: it all kind of went and I just found myself
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: pressing play over and over and over again. Chill for
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the kids and the adults who can understand it. It's
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: a vibe. I'm not gonna lie. That's that's the best
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: way to describe it. So, whether you driving somewhere and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the weather's perfect and you got the windows down or
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the top off, you got money like that, this is
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: one of those albums. It's just real chill and and
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: dope hip hop. Next up hus Kingpin Wavo Forever. This
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: was a Wu Tang clan dedication which features a number
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of Wu Tang members coming through to a feature on
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: the album Very Dope, Very Dope. This is like, this
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: is a hip hop head album. It really is, right,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: like if you get all the references in the beat,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: in the lyrics, and then you get features like method
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Man and Ghosts and I believe Inspector Deckx on there.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Also Rizza. I believe he got a drink called riz
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: of Things, but I can't remember if Rizz is actually
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: on it. But nevertheless, it's not like a Woo affiliate
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: style album, no disrespect. It's also not like a I'm
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: gonna pretend like I'm in the Wu. It's an homage
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and it sounds dope. So next up Blue and Exile
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Time heals everything I said it on social media. I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: don't think they have a wack project together. It's just
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: always good, good lyrics, good beats, good concepts. The skits
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: make sense like it. It's one of those albums that's
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: almost like a throwback where you feel like I could
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: just press play and let it play. Nothing is annoying, offensive, boring.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: It's just all good hip hop. Blue in Exile. Next.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I did not think I was gonna like this project
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: as much as I did, But right now, if I
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: had to do a top five, especially based on you know,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: me playing the album over and over again Nim's and
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Ron Brown's I Should Boom You boom Back New York
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: boom Back, Brooklyn boom Back every year in my top
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: five is at least one album that's just straight up
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: boom back that I played a whole year that I
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: could say, like, this is here for one reason, one
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: reason at all. Straight head nod boom bat, that's what
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: this album is. So if that sounds good to you,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: this is perfect, very dope hardcore beats rhyme's humor right
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: hardcore lyrics but also humor because that's Nimes is funny.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: It's just perfect, you know what I'm saying, So dope album.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Next up, Davy scrim Jones, Mike and Keys for the
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Love two point five. So earlier in the year they
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: dropped For the Love I think it was two yeah
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: for the Love too, and it was kind of like
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: almost EP, And wasn't that good of a sequel? Compared
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: to you know, the original That Drop Part one, which
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: was really just Davies since Graham Jones, that I loved.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: I think it made my top five the year Dropped.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I think that was twenty twenty four, right, So I
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: was kind of thirsty for a part two when Davey
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: said he would make a part two, because quite honestly,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Davies releases projects and they are hit or miss most
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: of the time. Like last year, I liked his album.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I think it was fine. Dining with Young Chris. I
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: thought that was dope. But it's something about the For
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the Love series that two point five carries on with
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: that nineties nostalgia, you know what I'm saying. Obviously it's
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: centered around relationships with the ladies, but it's it's just
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: perfect And maybe it's the guy who grew up in
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the nineties hearing like clips from Living Single and Martin
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: and on this one a Fresh Prince of bel Air
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: that gives you this nostalgia feel along with the R
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and B tracks they choose to kind of mix and
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: turn into hip hop, and Davies does what he's supposed
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to do on these records right for the Ladies, for
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the Love, But do not listen to For the Love
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Part two two point five? Is it? If you heard
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: part one, go straight to two point five. It's a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: perfect sequel. Stop I love it. It's in heavy rotation.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Two more to Go Young Chris and Made in Tokyo
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the name of the album Made in Philly Young Chris Jay.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Can Chris get a situation between him and Freeway, especially
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Young Chris kind of coming back outside officially, they need
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: they need a situation that puts that puts him out
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: in front dog. Every time I hear from Young Chris
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: is dope. And this is no different beats rhyms. It's
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: not a long project. It gets right to the point.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Chris never sounds like he's wasting words. Even when he's
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: saying something regular, it just sounds genuine right, like he
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: means it. He's not just saying it because it's rapper speak.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: He really means it. And even you know, telling us
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: what happened, you know, like not in specific details, but
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: just saying, yo, I was out the game for a minute,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: had to do this and that. Now I'm back bars,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: But that's what I mean, man, it's it's it was
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: sort of surprising, but not because again, Like I mentioned
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: with the collaboration with Dave East, young Chris was a
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: standout if we just comparing the two on that Fine
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Dining album. But he sounds so good and again the
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: father of jay Z's later flow, because let's just be
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: real them later years in the rock jay was rhyming
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: exactly like young Chris. Well, he's the original, and he
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: don't sound like a knockoff, because you know how sometimes
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: it happened. People well, they don't even care if your
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: favorite artist has adapted someone else's flow. They just all
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: of a sudden make it theirs now right instead of
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and and kind of you know, pooh pooh, the damn original.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: But young Chris is just dope, and honestly, I think
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: he was always dope by himself. He should always been
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: a soloist. This is perfect. He got the bars for it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: So check this out. And the last one on my
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: lists serial Killers, which is a group exhibit be real
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: of Cypress Hill and Demerick. It's called This Thing of Ours.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I missed their original album, which I think was in
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty. Shout out to Spence eighty eight Spence who
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: sent that to me. This was the first one I
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: heard from this group, and man, when I tell you,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I was this was one of them Jim joints where
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I was like, all right, let me just listen to it,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: because I mean, exhibit be real. I don't really know
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: much about Denbrick, but whatever, let me just hear it.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: And song after song after song, I was like, Yo,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: this joint crazy, like you know what I'm saying, and
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: slapt on like big time. So this thing of ours
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: serial killers. Check that out. That is the best albums
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: mixtapes of twenty twenty six so far. Did you have
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: any of these on your list? What's on your list?
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Let me know in a comment section below. You can
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: follow me on social media at Vegas World i NC
• 15:08
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• 15:10
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• 15:18
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying the information you seek about becoming a
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: member is in the link in the description of this episode.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Until next time, y'all. I'm not a critic. I'm a fan.