New Music Friday brought three very different records to hip-hop and R&B on Friday, October 23. Anderson .Paak and Cordae turned years of chemistry into a full joint album, Buffalo-born and Atlanta-based Che Noir made the most personal record of her career with help from some of the most respected names in underground rap, and Brooklyn-born Laila! delivered a sophomore album that arrives carrying a major co-sign from SZA. Here is what landed.
Anderson .Paak and Cordae Finally Go Full-Length
Heavy Is The Crown, the first full collaborative album from Anderson .Paak and Cordae, arrived Friday, October 23, through APESH!T, Mass Appeal and EMPIRE, per Exclaim!'s release listing. The 11-track, 31-minute project, per Apple Music, grows out of a partnership that started with "RNP" on Cordae's 2019 debut The Lost Boy and continued through "Two Tens" and "Summer Drop," according to HotNewHipHop.
The production bench is stacked: HotNewHipHop, citing Apple Music, reports credits for J. Cole, 9th Wonder, Hollywood Cole and Conductor Williams, with Swizz Beatz adding ad-libs on the closer, "Godfather II." The Step Brothers-inspired cover sets a playful tone, but the record turns personal — Cordae opens up about his mother siding with his ex, and .Paak admits to showing up drunk to his child's birthday party, per HotNewHipHop and Apple Music. Clash, in a review dated October 23, scored the album 8/10 and called it "a meaningful, thoughtful, and above all fun collaboration."
Che Noir Builds Her Village
Che Noir released It Takes A Village on Friday, October 23 — a 12-track album the Buffalo-born, Atlanta-based rapper has described through its rollout as her most personal and fully realized project to date, per BroadwayWorld. The record explores motherhood, family and personal growth, according to Winneba News, which published the full tracklist on release day.
True to the title, she did not build it alone. The album features Black Thought, Ransom, Bruiser Wolf and The Uce, with production from Havoc, Nottz, Conductor Williams and Mathematics, per Winneba News. The final single before release, "Fame & Fiction," pairs Che Noir with Black Thought over Mathematics production, according to BroadwayWorld. The full tracklist runs from "Unity Of Thought" and "Grandma's Cookies" to the closing "Magic," featuring Bruiser Wolf, per Winneba News.
Laila! Refuses to Grow Up Too Fast
Laila!, the Brooklyn-born singer, songwriter and producer, released her sophomore album We'll Never Be This Young Again on Friday, October 23, through Three Times Louder and Warner Records, per Wooster Magazine. The 12-track set follows her 2024 debut Gap Year! and keeps the guest list tight: Teezo Touchdown is the only featured artist, on "ANGEL," according to HotNewHipHop's tracklist.
The album plays on youth, love and holding on to moments before they pass, per Hip-HopVibe, which published its release coverage in the early hours of Friday. The rollout singles — "Miss Mango," "Anything Could Happen" and the title track, which closes the album — were already out, per HotNewHipHop. Before the album even landed, SZA called it "the most beautiful sh*t I've heard all year" after an advance listen, according to Rolling Stone reporting cited by Wooster Magazine.
