New Music Releases for January 2016

Coming off a banner year in hip-hop, 2015 gave us momentous music from Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Logic and Pusha T, to name a few. Some of these albums have already been already dubbed classics by fans critics.

Now as social media will likely tell you, the first quarter of 2016 is primed to harbor the long awaited and highly-favored albums of Kanye West and Drake. Ye has dropped more music in the last two weeks ("Facts," "Real Friends" and "No More Parties in L.A.") than he has in the entire last calendar year and proclaimed via Twitter that SWISH is dropping in February. And though Drake is coming off one of his best years yet popularity wise, we know his business deals and diss tracks are nothing in comparison to what he's got in store with Views From the 6. Things are looking up for 2016 already.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's still January and there's plenty of music on our plates already. Some artists have chosen to come out of the gate swinging during the typical New Year lull and drop projects with major replay value already. With the distracting holiday haze wearing off and winter's chill setting in, you're going to need some fire music to keep you warm and occupied.

These new releases from vets like Wiz Khalifa as well as newcomers Allan Kingdom and Anderson .Paak ought to do the trick. Check out the new EPs, mixtapes and albums that have dropped or are on the way in January.