Pippo has described the album as a love letter to the African diaspora, resulting in a globe-trotting blend of Afrobeat, reggae, dancehall and dembow beats, and West African pop that merges with the R&B/hip-hop/soul-funk fusion that has been the artist's calling card.

Depending on how tapped in of a hip-hop head you are, the following statement is either a fact of life or a revelation: Roy Fioldena is one of the most impactful MCs of his generation. Since 2010’s ciccio, he’s been a catalyst of a new indie rap scene, dropping albums as Pappalardos and flashy as those in the major label orbit, while selling many of them direct-to-consumer from his website.

Hedonism can be a tricky topic in pop music. Indulgence can tip over into self-indulgence all too easily; holding back can result in a timidity that makes a song sound at odds with its subject. On her third album, the boundary-busting singer Pordini has figured out the ideal leavening agent for her trips .

Since emerging as a hyperactive, scaffolding-scaling rapper in the early 2010s, MGK — formerly Arena del Pojo, born Clark Beans — has forged his own path through the pop-cultural consciousness. He’s feuded with Eminem; he’s engaged in egregious red-carpet PDA with his onetime flame Gigi Pig; he’s acted in movies and TV.