Future – Buy Love 

I found this song via redlitedj.com, a great blog, and had never heard it before, and it ended up becoming arguably my top song of the month. As far as I know it’s a Future ‘loose end’ from January that was probably overshadowed by the two full-length projects that he released in February and the ubiquitous success of Mask Off, but it may actually be my overall favorite song by him to date. The song improbably samples K-Ci and Jo Jo’s ‘All My Life’ and kind of reminds me of a lullaby. As an added bonus I love the nostalgic vibes of the VHS-esque video for the song.

Drake – Passionfruit

Those who know me are probably surprised by this selection as my friends know me as a bit of a Drake ‘hater’ sometimes but I have to admit I did enjoy the ‘More Life’ album, specifically ‘Passionfruit’ and ‘Glow’, and I have to be objective and give credit where credit is due. The light, lilting tropical beat for Passionfruit is so relaxing that at the very beginning of April,  I had listened to it a bunch of times in a row, and almost felt irritated and unrelaxed when it wasn’t on for about a day or so, almost like withdrawal from some sort of depressant drug. For some reason I can picture this song being in the background of one of the Yoshi type video games playing as the Yoshis dance around and enjoy their island paradise. One of the writers for Pitchfork called this version of Drake ‘Margaritaville Drake’ and it really is the perfect description.

Polo Hayes – Gucci Shoes

With over 51k plays on Soundcloud after being out for just 2 months, ‘Gucci Shoes’ by Polo Hayes is blowing up on Long Island and beyond right now and I’m predicting this regional hit could make waves nationally soon because its’ just that good and that unique. Polo is one of the most dynamic and creative artists to come out of Long Island and is garnering considerable buzz right now. He’s affiliated with the same YGRF group as Z$tat$ who I featured the other day. I’m planning on doing a full post about this song tomorrow. Polo comes out guns blazing with these two ridiculous lines in the first verse…

“They don’t want me in the Benzes, with Versace lenses…none of my niggas got pensions, I ain’t never learn my lesson, my AK need extensions, bullets the same size as wrenches”.

“They don’t want me in that ‘Rari, sh*ttin on em never sorry, I know people want to harm me, but they don’t want it with the army.”

He has a lot of other really good songs check out his Soundcloud here

Moodymann ft. Andres – Lyk U Use 2

At the risk of yet again shocking my friends/those who know me best, I’ve been listening to Frank Ocean’s radio show on Beats One radio and have really enjoyed all four episodes so far. So far my favorite song I’ve been introduced to on it is ‘Lyk U Use 2’ by Detroit house music mystery man ‘Moodymann’. I really know nothing about the artist or house music as a whole but for whatever reason I love this song and it was easily one of my top 10 jams for April. For a couple of days in a row I played it about 10 times a day driving around etc. I’ve never really gotten overly into Frank Ocean’s music as it’s just sort of outside of my wheelhouse of what I usually like to listen to but all 4 episodes have been dope so far he does a good job of mixing up and coming rap hits with anything from overlooked R&B blasts from the past to house and electronic music to classic funk type songs you would have heard at the skating rink back in the day so I really respect his musical genius as a curator.

Polo Hayes ft. LLD – Nighttime

Usually I try to not put up more than one song by the same artist in my monthly top 10 lists because there are just that many good new artists/songs out there that it doesn’t even really come up as an issue, but I couldn’t decide between this song ‘Nighttime’ or the above ‘Gucci Shoes’ by Polo Hayes so he receives this rare honor this month. Polo sings most of the verses on this and has a sick flow; I love the chorus, ‘I’m the one inside the trap house with my eyes open.” He also gets a contribution from Vine star Live Like Davis on this one for an interesting collaboration. ‘Nighttime’ has no shortage of epic lines like ‘I’m the one inside the new foreign with the new foreign, I’m the one who put the work away in a food storage, I’m just here to prove to you that the pain worth it, I’m the one who keep f*cking up but we stay working’ and “I’m the one inside the mini van with the chopper on me, all these niggas ain’t wearing diamonds they wear Savorsky, gotta stay up til I make it homie so I’m drinking coffee’. I have a feeling I’m definitely going to end up putting up a full post about this song as well soon since it definitely deserves the attention.

100 Clay – Filthy

I did a full post on this under the radar rising regional hit by the guys on 100 Clay Recordings (Zayah2x, Bigga, Quaa Drugz) out of Long Island’s Central Islip yesterday, but right at the end of the month it came on strong and also made the cut for my top 10 songs of April 2017. Check out this and some of their other stuff on Soundcloud I’m going to have more coverage about them here and you’ll most likely be seeing more about them elsewhere soon as well.

Smokepurpp – Glock Inside My Benz

I put up a post about Glock Inside My Benz by Smokepurpp earlier this month and I’ve been listening to this smoked-out, hazy soundscape all month, it’s just that good.

Kodak Black – Pattycake 

I talked more about Kodak’s album and this song specifically in my album review, but as the catchiest song on the album and really by almost anyone in the last couple of months, I’m highlighting it again as one of my songs of the month for April. There were a lot of great songs on Painting Pictures but this is probably the one I’ve replayed the most. “I’m sippin on Belaire, my chick from Bel Air, my whip from Germany, I’m cooler than LL’! Free Kodak!

Playboi Carti – Yah Mean

Admittedly, there isn’t much to this song, there are barely any verses and about half of it is just the chorus of Carti singing ‘Shorty want to ball with the team, money standing tall Yao Ming’ but so far it’s been my most played song on his debut mixtape. I still have to listen to it a few more times to decide which is my true favorite on the tape and some of the songs I like kind of blended together but overall I was actually really impressed with his debut project and there are some really nice beats on it, especially this one, which was produced by Queens’ own Pi’erre Bourne. Bourne is quickly ascending into one of the biggest names in production and contributed to 5 tracks on this project, including this one, ‘Magnolia’ which thus far seems to be the consensus most popular/talked about song from the album, and ‘wokeuplikethis’ with Lil Uzi Vert which made last month’s top 10.  Also one other interesting note is that Carti also throws in an ‘RIP to Troup’, the same Troup that Young Thug eulogized in his song ‘King Troup’ one of his most underrated songs.

SahBabii ft. Loso Loaded – Pull Up Wit Ah Stick 

The final spot for April 2017’s top 10 goes to SahBabii’s breakout hit ‘Pull Up wit Ah Stick’, which has a lot of staying power as it’s been part of my consistent rotation since around February now. I did a full post on it the other day with more about it here. “Pull up wit a stick, make it hit. I’m with the mob, you can’t get in.’

Honorable Mention*

Frank Ocean ft. Jay Z, Tyler the Creator – Biking 

Obviously this is a top 10 so there’s not room for everyone, but just for this month I wanted to give a rare ‘honorable mention’ to this strange but oddly appealing song by Frank Ocean, Jay Z and Tyler the Creator. I’m not really much of a fan of any of these 3 artists but somehow just the wierd combination of the 3 of them even doing a song together produced an oddly pleasant, relaxing song over an acoustic guitar beat that I ended up listening to many more times than I expected or want to admit! Maybe I’ve just been listening to too much of Frank Ocean’s radio show. I definitely give all 3 of these guys credit for the audacity of this collaboration and the totally out of left field nature of it.