WITLW: October 19, 2025
2 excellent rap projects, a joy of a mix, and my favorite D'Angelo track. Plus everything else I listened to last week!
What I Listened To Last Week:
Hurbesky - hy 💿
Erika de Casier @ El Rey 🎤
Song of the Week: D’Angelo - “The Charade” 🎵
Israel Jones - Go With God
Gainesville rapper Israel Jones always drops quality projects, but his latest, Go With God, passes that bar and then some. Ever the consummate lyricist, there’s a newfound sense of urgency to Jones’s bars on this project, perhaps due to his recent relocation away from his family to New York City. This is the type of project an artist makes when they fully commit to their craft, leaving the doubts behind to forge ahead with the pursuit of something bigger than themselves. It’s also catchy as hell, featuring some of Jones’s best hooks and richest beats as he mines deep grooves of Southern rap hearkening back to early Outkast and Goodie Mob. I hope people hear this record, because it’s a great one.
Highlights: “Caged Bird”; “Infinite Possibilities (ft. sage.)”
Ocho Worldwide - LIBRA
A quick four-tracker from LA-by-way-of-Richmond rapper Ocho Worldwide. Dude is criminally underrated, he commands a quite authority on the mic and I’ve never heard him not skate on a track. LIBRA stands out as having some of his best beat selection to-date, including three buttery smooth thudders from DC legend WifiGawd. Ocho is pure business throughout as he dispatches opps, moves weight and thumbs through cash with ease. And happy birthday to a fellow Libra, may the scales be tipped in your favor this year.
Highlights: “2001 MVP”; “16 Zips”
MK closing set @ Sustain-Release Festival [NY Sept. ‘25]
I love how unfussy this mix from Mia Koden is, moving from cut-to-cut with little fanfare but sustaining momentum all the same. In an age where DJing has become a spectacle unto itself, with over-the-top mashups, needlessly elaborate blends, and unhinged deck set ups getting millions of views on main, it’s nice to hear someone return to the artform’s roots as a means of setting intention and creating space. I bet this was absolutely killer to vibe out to in the closing hours of this year’s Sustain-Release festival, which I’m still trying to go to by the way! If anyone’s got an in for next year, please hit me up.
SOTW: D’Angelo - “The Charade”
Words will be insufficient so I’ll keep this brief. Rest in peace to a legend, a man who understood music’s true potential and reached it time and time again. This is my favorite D’Angelo song, a cutting expression of Black pain and anger released in the wake of Michael Brown’s slaying. May we all strive to channel the source as well as he did.