What up, Hip-Hop Wired Nation? We’re back with CRT FRSH AKA Certified Fresh! Part of our duty as a publication and crew is to school the masses on who is doing what musically and there’s no better way to do that beyond our CRT FRSH (Certified Fresh) bi-weekly playlist.
Disclaimer:
The CRT FRSH playlist is a labor of love. We don’t take payments nor do we do favors. We only add joints to our playlist that fit the theme and vision we’re going for and don’t seek to waste the listener’s time. Further, we don’t stick to one lane of Hip-Hop. We believe that all aspects of the music should get some light, whether it’s young lions in the trenches or those hoping for that one shot to blow up to grizzled veterans puffing out their chests with lots more to say.
It’s been a minute since we’ve updated CRT FRSH due to Hip-Hop @ 50 taking the lion’s share of our creative time but we’re back to resuming our regular bi-weekly schedule as best we can. This time around, we’re including 25 artists you should know and 25 artists you need to know, keeping in mind that our mission is purely educational at root and aimed at promoting all sides of Hip-Hop at its best.
We began this week’s playlist with Travis Scott and the opening track “HYAENA” from the Texas superstar’s UTOPIA album. We follow with DDG’s “Tryna Link” and FendiDa Rappa’s “Point Me 2” joint with Cardi B on the assist.
Lil Tjay is back on his upward swing with “Hole In My Heart” from his 222 project with Jadakiss lending his perspective with the bars. The first half of the playlist is rounded out with A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, the late King Von, Lil Durk, Blxst, Remble, Bas and J. Cole, Nas, Drake, Central Cee, BIA, Nas, Russ, and more.
For the second half, we highlight the talented Backwood Sweetie, and the Earth delivers the blistering “Couldn’t Cee” with Skip The Kid on the production, coming from her latest EP, Ancestral Aspect. The always formidable Planet Asia is connecting with Apollo Brown once more to follow up their 2017 Anchovies project with Sardines, and the track “Peas & Onions” is more of their usual magic from the upcoming releasde.
Dame Lillard, better known in the Hip-Hop world as Dame D.O.L.L.A., continues to create music at an extremely high level and the track “Da One” from his album Don D.O.L.L.A. features a standout feature from Lil Wayne. Here at HHW, we’re big Smoke DZA fans and the Kushed God adds to his active 2023 run with the single “Harlem World” featuring Estelle with Flying Lotus on the track.
The playlist concludes with contributions from Mick Jenkins, Stik Figa, Lupe Fiasco, 38 Spesh, Conway The Machine, Lloyd Banks, DJ Muggs, Ghostface Killah, Westside Gunn, Nickelus F, WhatupVERN, Five Steez, Son Raw, Patty Honcho, and more.
Check out the playlist below. We want you to live with these songs a bit so we’ll be updating in two weeks. Stay tuned.
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Photo: Getty
