XXL’s Songs of the Week (June 6 – June 12)

It's easy to trace a year by the event albums, by the A$AP Rockys, by the Kendrick Lamars. Earl Sweatshirt and Action Bronson can dominate one news cycle, Surf the next. But this week in hip-hop was somewhat of an aberration, where the best singles came mostly from hungry up-and-comers bubbling just under the radar. The highest profile collaboration on this list actually pairs the 2010s' most consistent rap star with a DJ who has thus far steered mostly clear of hip-hop. These are the XXL staff's picks for the best rap songs of the week ending today, June 12.

Lil Herb, "XXL"

We would humbly submit that the 2015 edition of the XXL Freshman class has been one of the most talked-about events of the month. Lil Herb seems to agree, but that doesn't mean he's happy about it. In advance of his new mixtape, Ball Like I'm Kobe, he drops a new song called "XXL," in which he laments being passed over for the cover two times. It's everything we've come to expect from Herb: gruff, anthemic, urgent, triumphant. "And all the time I grew up looking at the gangsta rappers/Ain't met a gangsta rapper yet since I became a rapper." Though he's recording in Los Angeles now, he warns that he's as Chicago as ever.

K Camp, "Comfortable"

Speaking of those who were included on the Freshmen cover, K Camp took it upon himself to double down on his headlines, dropping a new single called "Comfortable." He hits that BPM sweet spot--the song moves at a clip fast enough to get played some time before last call, but is loose enough for the drive home as well. Camp's Autotune-affected vocals intimate, then they warble, then they're hushed again; what the song lacks in inventive writing it makes up for with its vocal takes.

Waka Flocka Flame Feat. DJ Whoo Kid, Future and Steve Aoki, "Get High With Me"

Say what you will about Waka Flocka Flame's tour with DJ Whoo Kid, but at least the name wasn't misleading. The self-proclaimed Turn Up Godz paired themselves this week with promoter-turned-superstar DJ Steve Aoki and codeine savant Future for "Get High With Me." While the run of college campus shows may have been a raucous affair, "Get High With Me" is brooding; Future asserts his present with a series of whispered threats and laments.

GoldLink, "Dance On Me"

Dipping into the Freshmen cover tide pool one more time, we have GoldLink's "Dance On Me." One of his only official releases since his 2014 debut The God Complex, "Dance On Me" furthers the aesthetic the mysterious rapper has been referring to as Future Bounce. Though GoldLink has mostly skirted the traditional avenues of press and exposure to his online fanbase, you'll be able to catch him live at the end of this month, as he joins his fellow cover artists (including Vince Staples, OG Maco and more) at the XXL Freshmen show June 30 in New York.

Iamsu! Feat. Chippa$, "Dipped When They See Me"

For a region with such a rich tradition in hip-hop, the Bay Area sound sure is distinctive. Iamsu!'s Chippa$-assisted "Dipped When They See Me" couldn't be sourced from any other part of the country. It even pays homage to the Bay's well-known pipeline to New Orleans, cribbing flows from Cash Money. Chippa$ makes a strong case for the 'best feature of 2015' crown--can he lay claim to the first half of the calendar? Very can minor keys kickstart a party the way these do.