Usher & Little Simz Get Grand On Our New "R&B Season" Playlist Update: Stream

BYGabriel Bras Nevares1222 Views
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"Hands Of Stone"  Photocall - The 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 16: Usher attends the "Hands Of Stone" photocall during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 16, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Our new "R&B Season" playlist update also includes cuts from Jermaine Dupri and Tommy Richman. Which one's your favorite?

It's a big month for new music releases, and our R&B Season playlist update is here to round up the best soulful jams from this week. Leading the way is a massive one, which comes paired with an even more massive event. Moreover, Usher previewed his Super Bowl halftime show with a brand new album, COMING HOME, which released over the weekend. It has a lot of different melodic styles, aesthetic approaches, and dynamic displays of his vocal range and songwriting talent. If you're looking for a couple of tracks to clue you into the project, we'd recommend "Kissing Strangers" and "Stone Kold Freak" as particular highlights.

Furthermore, our R&B Season update also contains a pretty big team-up between superstar artists in the fields of R&B and hip-hop. Of course, we're referring to the new collaborative single between Jermaine Dupri, Nelly, Ashanti, and Juicy J, which is titled "This Lil' Game We Play." It's a fast-paced and heavily danceable jam with a lot of personality, lust, and plenty of charisma from its artists. It's been a long time since we got a radio-style song that encompasses pure fun, and nothing more to crowd up the mix.

HNHH R&B Season Playlist: Stream

In addition, the most underrated pick on our R&B Season update is easily the new release from Tommy Richman, a dual single with "SOULCRUSHER" and "WHAT DO U LIKE." Specifically, we want to shout out the latter for its creative flip of Jersey club rhythms in a wavier and more melodically constant atmosphere than what those beats typically match with. It's a pretty catchy song with simple synth embellishments and a lot of layered harmonies. If there's something more long-form on the way from Richman, we can't wait to dive in.

Finally, for the best music release of the week, we have the one and only Little Simz's new EP, Drop 7. Similar to "WHAT DO U LIKE," which brightened and re-contextualized Jersey club, Simz's "Far Away" revitalizes those drums, while also giving the same treatment to drill. It's a gorgeous cut vocally, and the tender pianos anchor it in a dreamy mood. Let us know what your favorite R&B Season pick was this week, and what else we missed too. Check out the playlist above and, as always, stick around on HNHH for the latest great music releases around the clock.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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