A few months back, we started our R&B-centric Spotify playlist, “R&B Season”. HNHH curates a bunch of playlists on various streaming platforms, but they are predominantly focused on hip hop. While it may appear that our expertise lies in hip hop, we are great admirers of R&B. As the border between these two genres becomes increasingly porous, it’s hard to be a fan of one without being a fan of the other. However, the distinction remains important when deciding what vibe you’re going for when you turn to your preferred medium of music consumption. R&B tends to be catered for your more mellow moments and there should be a place for you to comfortably retreat into to enjoy those sounds. That’s why we’ve been putting love and care into building up our “R&B Season” playlist.
Since Valentine’s Day coincided with New Music Friday this year, some R&B artists took the opportunity share songs focused on their favourite lyrical theme: love. Snoh Aalegra is the queen of giving us ~those feels~, so we were grateful that she came through with a V-Day offering. It may not have been a brand new track, but it was something equally exciting – a Pharrell remix. Romantic P hopped on “Woah” from Aalegra’s 2019 sophomore album, – Ugh, those feels again. It’s always a cause for celebration when we get to hear Pharrell’s unconventional approach to rap.
A Boogie wit da Hoodie is one of those artists who is incredibly skilled at fusing together trap and R&B. He oscillates between these musical inclinations, as exhibited on his new collaboration with Summer Walker, “Calm Down (Bittersweet)”. The track marks one of the more mellow moments on A Boogie’s new album, Artist 2.0. Anything Summer Walker does is sure to secure a spot on our playlist.
We have no rules against including throwbacks on “R&B Season” and since Valentine’s Day had us reflecting on Kendrick Lamar’s tender 2017 track, “LOVE”, we decided to add to the queue. Grimes also dropped “Delete Forever”, the most gentle single yet from her forthcoming album that we felt fit the vibe of “R&B Season”. The same argument applies to Billie Eilish highly-awaited Bond theme, “No Time To Die”. Enjoy!
Follow our freshly-updated Wake & Bake playlist here.
Follow our G.O.O.D. Music playlist (for a GOOD ASS FRIDAY) here.
