Let’s be clear about this: Church Clothes 3 is a major surprise. It’s an unannounced mixtape dropped on iTunes almost randomly after an unusually long period of quiet from Lecrae. Anomaly came out in 2014, and it’s been almost two years since his last record — the longest stretch in his career. And he released it on a Thursday to boot (which he hilariously quips about on It Is What It Is).

Surprises aside, his third album in the Church Clothes sequel is both a return to his hardcore hip hop roots and a new step for him, one that sees him exploring new directions. He sounds comfortable at this point, throwing around lyrical bullets as if it’s his prerogative.

He’s also still focused on being socially conscious with his lyrics. While Kendrick Lamar seemed almost prescient about the political climate with To Pimp A Butterfly, Church Clothes 3 feels reactionary to the situation. By looking back to modern hip hop’s roots with soul music and smash poetry, Lecrae is playing with his style without sacrificing his voice.

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All that being said, it seems like he’s largely been forgotten. I didn’t see him on anybody’s end-of-year best-of lists. And to be clear, that’s insane: he put out one of the best throwback R&B records of the past ten years with Coming Home, and deserves nothing less than all the success coming to him.

Coming Home excels because it’s a rare modern romance: it’s sweet and sugary without ever dipping into excess, unlike many of Bridge’s contemporaries. Coming Home isn’t about chasing tail; it’s about chasing love. It’s about being lovesick and forlorn about it. It’s also about being in love.

It’s also a total ear worm. Better Man and River espouse everything great about Leon Bridges: they hit that perfect mesh of when blues and gospel collided in the 1960s and created early R&B. And the songs get stuck in your head for days.

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Over the years, she’s recorded a number of solo records that each have their merits. But you can trace her career on a curve: the more records she releases, the more comfortable she becomes with singing. Her last record, Parts of Speech, was more or less a pop record.

A Badly Broken Code is her first record, released in 2010. And it’s filled with delicious and delirious hip hop. Dessa’s voice is seductively powerful and clearly very expressive, playing almost-sung hip hop lyrics, but she’s got a bit of venom in it at this point.

That’s not all to say that this is a pure hip hop record: Dessa is blatantly experimenting. Tracks like Dixon’s Girl expose not just her abilities behind a mic, but also her abilities as a songwriter and a singer.

Dessa is one of those artists who’s got bad timing: I think ten or fifteen years ago, she would have been way more popular. Tracks like Mineshaft II are potential radio hits, but Nicki Minaj beat her to it by 2010 and became the Queen of Rap.

But Dessa’s doing things that are more inventive and original without disrespecting hip hop’s past. She’s an artist that both hip hop fans and “regular folks” are going to love.

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Empress Of excels at writing electronic music that is accessible without degrading into pop territory. The lead single, How Do You Do It, is a great example: Empress of makes a song that wouldn’t feel terribly out of place on a dance floor, but she sings it with the grace of a pop star in the makings.

It’s an album that will appease people who love electronic music, and maybe even dream hop or EDM lovers, but it’s also a record that will be loved by the pop mainstream among us. Empress Of finds success in the crossover appeal, and I think she’s got a bright future.

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It’s a really interesting, unique take on the genre that feels like it’s been becoming stifled recently by either bad throwbacks or overly-dark electronic ambience. Her tries to achieve a blend of the two, but they really succeed in adding an air of mystery to the music.

If you’ve been tapped into the underground scene, you no doubt have heard of Her already — and this EP only adds a couple new songs to the mix — but for those who haven’t heard of this French duo, I think we’re in for a run of amazing records. They reportedly have a lot of material lined up, so the real question isn’t if they’re going to keep it coming — it’s if the new material will be this strong.

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