NEW LEASE MUSIC presents Top Ten Albums of 2020. Each album/EP on the list demonstrates the artists/acts’ undeniable ability of pushing the boundaries in hip-hop, R&B, punk rock and folk music. So hang around and check out these top albums at your leisure.
Be sure to look out for NEW LEASE MUSIC’s Top Ten Songs of 2020, coming out later today.
10. FLYMIX VOL.1 – FLY VON
9. TIME I GOT GOIN’ – HOUSE ABOVE THE SUN
8. DREAM TEAM: A STOKELY HATHAWAY JOINT – GRIFF/SCORCESE
7. ALMANAC – NERU THEE FOURTH FUGEE
6. STILLBORN FLOWERS – RAIN TO RUST
5. BEATS AND PIECES: VOLUME TWO – JOSHUA LUKE SMITH
Hey guys, hope you had a fantastic festive period! It’s that time of the year where NEW LEASE MUSIC rounds up the list for the top ten music videos of 2020.
So sit back, relax and check out the creative productions that’ll perk up your Monday blues…
Toronto hip hop artist K-RIZ‘s afterhours single, ‘What A Shame’, documents the depths of accountability and his own part in the dissolution of a past relationship.
“Sometimes I think as men we don’t take enough responsibility for our part in relationships failing,” K-Riz says. “I have made my share of mistakes, and sometimes loving someone is not enough. I’m in a very honest place in my life right now, and this EP is an expression of that.”
‘What a Shame’ forms part of his new EP, ‘The Room’, released last Friday (18th December). The EP was written by K-Riz while recovering from injuries sustained in a June 2020 car accident. The title signifies the room in which the album was conceived and the mental space and time he was given to reflect and create.
The five-track set includes track, ‘A Place Where Love Is’ which offers up a brightness to the unrelenting events of 2020. Built around jazzy piano loops and whip smart verses, the track features the honeyed notes of Calgary songstress Yolanda Sargeant (of Sargeant X Comrade).
Following his debut on the blog’s Song of Day hotspot with neon-trap single, ‘Demon’ back in the summer, FAYME bounces right back with brand new single titled ‘Ghost’.
For this release, the Leicester-based artist/producer teams up with Australian producer, Avalon, who gave ‘Ghost’ its simple acoustic melodic introduction in order to create a folk song, inspired by Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes. The tranquil intro was later joined by melancholic synths (inspired by James Blake’s electronic sound from ‘The Colour In Anything’) and dancehall drums, giving the production a hard-hitting yet a very edgy/catchy vibe. The track invites us – the listeners – to channel the emotions of a ghost who is lonely and misses his lover.
Fayme describes his offering as electro folk…personally, I would described this single as electro Afro. What do you think? Have a listen to ‘Ghost’ below…
South London artist and producer AINA MORE could easily be described as one of UK rap’s best kept secrets, or perhaps one of the UK’s best new and emerging rap artists.
Having already been championed by tastemakers such as BBC Radio 1, The FADER, MTV and BBC 1Xtra, among others, and with The BRIT Awards featuring her on their BRITs compilation album a few years ago, the British Nigerian native should firmly be on your radar. On the off chance that she isn’t, Aina More is back in the frame to make sure of it!
She closes out 2020 with a fiery new track titled ‘Destiny’ and an equally fierce music video to go with it. Co-produced by Aina More herself and long-time collaborator Musiek Mambu, the track opens with an attention-grabbing sample of the Seun Kuti afrobeat classic ‘Bad Man Lighter’, before Aina More gets in her bag for two minutes straight, as she waxes lyrical in braggadocios fashion, about everything from her superior rap skills to decrying false prophets to the excellence of black women, while giving listeners an update on what she’s been up to this year.
Speaking about the inspiration behind ‘Destiny’, Aina More says, “With what I’ve been creating lately, there’s so much that I’m going to give of myself musically in the coming year, I have this unquenchable hunger to express myself freely, and ‘Destiny’ is the first part of that. Lyrically, I needed to remind everyone of just who Aina More is, and overall, I feel it represents my identity well, even down to the Oye 2.0-directed visuals – I’m very authentically Yoruba, but I’m also that girl that grew up in London, and sometimes I let my ego just do its own thing”.
With a fusion sound that can be described as a cross between Kendrick Lamar, Skepta and Fela Kuti, and a performance prowess that has seen her touring with Professor Green and opening for her idol Lauryn Hill, Aina More is typified by her unapologetic lyricism and cutting edge sonics, as highlighted as far back as her 2016 EP ‘For People With Short Attention Spans’ as well as subsequent tracks like ‘Girls Killing It’, ‘Afrikan Lady’ and ‘Healer’ that led to rave reviews and support from the likes of BBC Radio 1, The FADER, MTV and The BRIT Awards.
NEW LEASE MUSIC presents Top Ten Albums of 2020. Each album/EP on the list demonstrates the artists/acts’ undeniable ability of pushing the boundaries in hip-hop, R&B, punk rock and folk music. So hang around and check out these top albums at your leisure.
New Lease Music 