From Beyoncé to Kehlani and Chance The Rapper, SHIFTER’s Yannick Mutombo takes a look at the most anticipated Hip-hop and R&B albums of 2024.
Phew. 2023 was…a year! Losing the great Tina Turner cut deep. And the ongoing genocides in Sudan, Congo, Tigray, and Palestine — amongst many others — left us disillusioned by the state of the world. Music was the silver lining. Beyoncé was everywhere (in the best way possible), and the female rap boom finally kicked into full gear. We also got to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and hip-hop veterans such as André 3000 and Nicki Minaj gifted us with their long-awaited returns to music. Not to mention, one of the Black female artists on our list went home with three golden gramophones after last week’s Grammy Awards ceremony. So despite everything happening in the world, at least hip-hop and R&B music are in a good place.
Here are our most anticipated hip-hop and R&B albums of 2024.
Serpentwithfeet | Grip | February 16, 2024
It’s been a steady ascent to mainstream recognition for the Brooklyn-based singer. His previous LPs, Soil (2018) and Deacon (2021), cemented his position among R&B artists on the cusp of captivating a wider audience.
Known for his introspective and cathartic expression of love, loss, and Black queerness, his upcoming album, Grip will dive deeper into these themes. The first single, “Damn Gloves” features Ty Dolla $ign. The album’s release date is set for February 16, 2024.
Flo Milli | Fine Ho, Stay | Release Date TBD
The female rap revival is in full swing, and Flo Milli is a force to be reckoned with. Her braggadocious mean-girl persona and witty lyricism — shown throughout the aptly named Ho Why Is You Here? and You Still Here, Ho? mixtapes released in 2020 and 2022 respectively — have earned Flo Milli a dedicated fanbase and millions of monthly Spotify listeners. With a slew of viral TikTok hits under her belt and several cosigns from industry veterans such as Ludacris and Trina, it’s no surprise the 23-year-old Alabama native is an oft-cited artist on the rise.
Flo Milli stated she’d close out the Ho trilogy with Fine Ho, Stay, once slated to drop near the end of summer 2023. However, the album has yet to receive an official release date. She dropped several singles ahead of its release, including “Fruit Loop”, “Chocolate Rain” and most recently, “Never Lose Me”, Flo Milli’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.
Lucky Daye
It’s an exciting time for Black music. After dominating airwaves in 2023, SZA won Best Progressive R&B Album (“SOS”), Best R&B Song (“Snooze”), and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Ghost in the Machine”) at the 2024 Grammy Awards. In the men’s corner, American Idol alumni Lucky Daye is gaining attention after playing the long game for over a decade. He signed with RCA records in 2018, but it wasn’t until 2022 that he first appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 when “Over” entered the chart at the 77th spot. He received five nominations at the 2023 Grammy Awards — Best R&B Performance for “Over”, Best R&B Album for his second LP, Candypaint (2022), and three as a songwriter for records sung by Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige.
“That’s You” — Daye’s latest single produced with the help of Bruno Mars and D’Mile — is a nostalgia-twinged ballad reminiscent of the 70s. One day after Christmas, Daye tweeted he was ready to resume work on his next album.
Cardi B | Release Date TBD
The South Bronx-native mainly took a backseat in 2023. She featured on several successful remixes — most notably “Tomorrow 2” with GloRilla and “Put It on the Floor (Again)” with Latto — before leading the charge on “Bongos” alongside previous collaborator Megan Thee Stallion. The Latin-funk-infused rap single peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
When Cardi spoke about the album during an appearance on Ebro in the Morning in September, she revealed she’d be “putting it out very soon.” Fingers crossed the stars align for a follow up to the multi-platinum Invasion of Privacy in 2024.
Megan Thee Stallion | Release Date TBD
The limelight hasn’t been kind to Megan Thee Stallion. Amidst a heated dispute with her former label 1501 Entertainment, the Houston rapper testified against Tory Lanez after he shot her in the feet during an altercation in July 2020. This past August, a judge sentenced the Brampton, Ontario-native to 10 years in prison for the shooting.
Now fully independent, Megan revealed she is excited to have full control over her next project. The first single, “Cobra”, received positive reviews for its vulnerable lyrics and fresh production while peaking at number 32 in the US. The follow up single, “HISS”, a diss record directed at Nicki Minaj, debuted at number 1 in the US, becoming Megan’s second chart-topper as a lead artist.
If we’re lucky, the rest of the album will be equally as innovative as its serpent-themed singles, and we’ll be able to enjoy it sooner rather than later.
Tyla | March 1, 2024
Regardless of how you might feel about the South African singer’s “pop-apiano” sound, “Water” is an undeniable mainstream crossover hit. In addition to charting within the top 10 in over 12 countries, the song broke the 55-year streak since a soloist from South Africa appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 (Tyla is also the youngest), and earned Tyla a Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance. She quickly capitalized on the single’s success and dropped the Tyla mini-EP teasing three tracks from her upcoming album and a “Water” remix with Travis Scott. Tyla is slated for a March 1, 2024 release through Epic Records.
The Internet | Release Date TBD
The alternative R&B band has laid low since they gave us Hive Mind in 2018. Their fourth studio album received critical acclaim for its funk-influenced production, polished sequencing, and cohesive use of each member’s musical strengths. Since then, several members have released solo projects. Most notably Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights (2022), preceded by “Bad Habit”, Lacy’s first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. Days into 2024, the group shared pictures of themselves in the studio, hinting an album might be in the works.
SZA | SOS Deluxe | Release Date TBD
SZA was meant to be a star. The “Snooze” crooner became a household-name after the release of Ctrl in 2017. The album achieved multi-platinum status in several countries and earned four Grammy nominations. During the five-year-gap between Ctrl and 2022’s SOS, the singer-songwriter publicly expressed her discontent with her inability to release her sophomore album. This likely influenced the decision to include 23 songs on its tracklist, which The Guardian deemed “simultaneously impressive and a little exhausting.” SOS earned Best Progressive R&B Album at the 2024 Grammy Awards.
On December 10, SZA unveiled six different album covers for the deluxe version of SOS called Lana, describing it as a B-SIDE to its predecessor. Right now, let’s assume SZA will drop it in 2024, knowing the decision isn’t completely under her control.
Ice Spice | Release Date TBD
Ice Spice is truly in her own lane. Few other artists — if any — have experienced a comparable meteoric rise to fame, fortune, and cultural currency within such a short timespan. Her breakout single “Munch (Feelin’ U)” added a new word for “simp” into the mainstream lexicon, and her debut project Like..? (2022) solidified the Bronx-native’s musical direction. What’s not to love about Spice’s playfully nonchalant flow riding a RiotUSA-produced Drill beat? Needless to say, 2023 was a year for Ice Spice’s books. The “Bikini Bottom” songstress collected four top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Namely, “Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress, “Princess Diana” and “Barbie World” with fellow New-Yorker Nicki Minaj, and on Taylor Swift’s “Karma” remix. It would be great to receive Y2K, Ice Spice’s upcoming project, in 2024. We’d love to see her work with different producers and play with different sounds, so fans can see the true extent of her talent.
Kehlani | Release Date TBD
Do you ever find yourself wanting more for an artist, knowing that in the grand scheme of things, they’ve pretty much made it? That’s how we feel about Kehlani. They have an impressive rap sheet. With the exception of Blue Water Road (2022), all of their projects are certified Gold in the US for selling 500,000 copies or more. In addition, they have fifteen RIAA Gold or Platinum credits to their name (as a lead or featured artist). And yet, it feels appropriate to say Kehlani doesn’t have as much visibility as fellow R&B superstars such as SZA or Summer Walker.
Kehlani’s last LP Blue Water Road (2022) was an effortless display of their vocal prowess, songwriting abilities, and trained ear for sonic curation. The R&B and orchestral pop album received rave reviews from critics and debuted at number 13 on the US album charts. Kehlani supported the album with the lucrative “Blue Water Road Trip” tour. On December 29, Kehlani shared a picture of themselves in a recording studio, confirming new music will drop in 2024. We. Can’t. Wait.
Miguel | Release Date TBD
The current musical landscape could be a case study on the democratization of music — largely thanks to TikTok. In 2023, Miguel’s “Sure Thing”, released in November 2010, went viral on the video-sharing app, which propelled the track into the top 40 in multiple countries. In the US, “Sure Thing” peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 — 13 years after its release.
Miguel’s last album, War & Leisure (2017), debuted at number nine in the US and garnered two Grammy Awards nominations — Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best R&B Song (“Come Through and Chill”). The musician plans to release his next LP, Viscera, in 2024.
GloRilla | Release Date TBD
The Memphis emcee earned back-to-back smash hits with “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and “Tomorrow 2”. GloRilla’s subsequent EP Anyways, Life’s Great (2022) debuted at number 11 on the US album charts and solidified her star-power in the eyes (and ears) of music critics. Glo’s distinct voice is palatable to listeners of all genders; it’s what sets her apart which draws people in, and her success reflects the growing heterogeneity of female rap. GloRilla released a handful of singles in 2023, (we’re still jamming to “On Wat U On” with her Memphis-counterpart Moneybagg Yo), but none have garnered the same buzz as the songs which put her on the map. It’s all par for the course — we haven’t yet seen the best of GloRilla and we are confident she’ll impress us even more if she chooses to release her debut album in 2024.
Doechii | Release Date TBD
Hailing from Tampa, Florida, the self-proclaimed “swamp princess” features amongst hip hop’s most exciting new acts. Doechii can rap. She sounds equally as comfortable singing an R&B hook. In March 2023, an acclaimed Tina Tuner-esque performance at the Billboard Women In Music Awards demonstrated her undeniable star power and stage presence. That same month, she dropped “What It Is (Block Boy)”, her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at number 29. After signing a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment (home to artists like SZA, Isaiah Rashad and formerly, Kendrick Lamar), Doechii released the EP she / her / black bitch (2022). She is currently opening for Doja Cat alongside Ice Spice on the Scarlet Tour. Doechii has yet to announce her next project, but it would make sense for her to put out new music this year to feed the new fans she’ll inevitably gain while opening for Doja Cat.
Chance the Rapper | Release Date TBD
Few could have predicted the independent Chicago rapper’s bizarre career trajectory. Coloring Book (2016) became the first mixtape to enter the Billboard 200 album chart solely off of streams, peaking at number eight. The project received critical acclaim and won Best Rap Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards. Chance’s debut album The Big Day (2019) received positive reviews from critics, but failed to win the appreciation of his fanbase. Many felt alienated by the album’s marital themes and production choices, then took to social media to share memes mocking the LP. During an appearance on The Today Show in March 2023, the “Cocoa Butter Kisses” lyricist announced his second album, Star Line Gallery will be released sometime in 2024. Let’s hope this project shows a balance between Chance’s artistic vision and what his fans will enjoy.
Beyoncé | Renaissance Act II | March 29, 2024
We all remember Beyoncé referring to Renaissance (2022), her seventh-consecutive number one album, as “act one”, right? Naturally, this implies — at the very least — the eventual release of an “act two”. When Beyoncé released “My House”, fans speculated the Renaissance era had come to a close. (And they were right!) The chart topper appeared in a Verizon commercial shortly after Usher’s performance at the 2024 Super Bowl, where she confirmed ACT II is coming. Two new country singles — “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” debuted on music distribution platforms thereafter. Sure, she still owes us the infamous visuals. We’ll look the other way, for now, assuming it’s all part of the rollout for for ACT II, coming March 29.
*Honourable mentions: Lil Nas X, Bree Runway, FLO, Joyce Wrice, Normani
Which album are you most excited for? Let us know!
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