Rated by The Face: a weekly playlist

Featuring posthumous Pop Smoke, Jorja Smith on jazz and a Black Lives Matter anthem from Lil Baby.

We’re in a crisis, but great music keeps coming out.


To keep up with it all, check out this playlist which we lovingly update every week.

Pop Smoke – Make It Rain ft. Rowdy Rebel

The searing lead track from the late Brooklyn rappers posthumous album, which has been postponed until 3rd July out of respect to the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s a big deal that the feature is Rowdy Rebel, who recorded his verse from jail. Before being incarcerated in 2014, Rebel and his GS9 affiliate Bobby Shmurda started a wave that’s now considered to be the beginning of New York drill.

Chloe x Halle – Forgive Me

The latest single from the Beyoncé-approved duo’s album Ungodly Hour. Chloe says this one’s about taking your power back and not feeling like your self-worth is in the trash.”

Jorja Smith – Rose Rogue

There’s this Bluenote:reimagined compilation coming out in September and it should be fun. New gen artists like Shabaka Hutchings, Ezra Collective and Yazmin Lacey are covering tracks from the jazz label’s back catalogue. Here, Jorja Smith glides through a rendition of St Germain’s Rose Rouge.

Shamir – On My Own

Just a few months ago, Shamir dropped Cataclysm – a nine track collection of warm, lo-fi indie tunes. On My Own is a polished pop-punk break up song. An exciting indicator for the next album, which could be out as soon as this fall.

Lil Baby – The Bigger Picture

A number of US artists have released songs to amplify the protests against police brutality and systemic racism, and this is immediately becoming a Black Lives Matter anthem. Lil Baby is sometimes unfairly labelled as a mumble rapper” due to the fluidity of his post-Young Thug, post-Future delivery – but anyone who listens to The Bigger Picture will be listening closely to every word.

More like this

The best of THE FACE. Straight to your inbox. 

Loading...
00:00 / 00:00