XXL’s Songs of the Week (Aug. 15 – Aug. 21)

It's Friday, so I'm here to write about moral panic. Chief Keef, one-time Chicago rap star and current Rahm Emanuel nemesis, took to Soundcloud to drop one of his finest post-Finally Rich cuts, even as his likeness is banned in his hometown and seemingly all of Indiana. Open Mike Eagle and milo further the Midwest-Los Angeles connect (divide?); Young Thug taps incarcerated Atlanta legend Gucci Mane for a new single. Thug's former Rich Gang partner, Rich Homie Quan gives another take on a familiar thesis. These are the best rap songs that dropped during the week that ends today, August 21.

Chief Keef, "Bouncin"

Chief Keef left Chicago, bought a nice house, stayed out of trouble and started making weirder--and in some cases better--music than he ever had before. How this has turned him into even more of a pariah is illustrative of some of our culture's most insidious problems, but here we are. "Bouncin" takes its cover art from the paintball world, because Keef is the most teenaged teenager in America. He also raps "Something, something, something, I forgot now," but manages to sound menacing while doing it. Bang 3 is out now and is essential.

Young Thug Feat. Gucci Mane, "Again"

It's no secret that Gucci Mane has been bizarrely prolific while incarcerated. Yet even while some of those behind-bar releases have been more than solid, one can't help but assume that these are the leftovers. Leave it to Young Thug to unearth his mentor's A-game, this time for the nascent Slime Season's "Again." It doesn't hurt that Gucci wants his girl to die her hair "red like Dennis Rodman," seeing as the former Bull and current North Korean mouthpiece is the missing link between conventional humanity and the higher plane Thug is from.

Rich Homie Quan, "Still Going In 2015"

Rich Homie Quan probably doesn't get much. Despite the "I Will Never Stop Going In" credo, it's not that he's a caffeine-and-lean perpetual motion machine--that's Kevin Gates. We imagine Quan loses nights fretting, plotting out how to save money and his soul. "Still Going In 2015" is marked by a hunger not to climb up the social ladder, but to avoid falling back down the rungs.

Nalepa Feat. Open Mike Eagle, milo and Nick Diamonds, "Another One of Mine"

Busdriver and Kenny Segal come through with assists for L.A.-based producer Nalepa on his latest cut, "Another One of Mine." The heavy lifting comes courtesy of the Chicago- and Wisconsin-bred milo and his slightly older analogue, Open Mike Eagle. The latter lets his fictional secretary grapple with his mental health in a sober inversion of Kool Keith's "The Girls Don't Like the Job." The MCs last collaborated on "Objectifying Rabbits" from milo's a toothpaste suburb, where Mike bends his falsetto in a balanced breakfast.

$ha Hef, "Super Villain"

Speaking of verbose, avant-garde rappers, MF Doom branded himself the super villain partially as a means of escaping this reality. The Bronx's $ha Hef is a fan of the opposite approach, where the tenements don't turn into comic book origin stories--they stay tenements, or turn into war zones. "Super Villain," the title track from his new, guest-less mixtape, casts $ha as a brash, boisterous upstart who won't give you change to fill out your Metro card.

Waka Flocka Flame, "Workin"

Since rap was in its infancy, fans have wrung their hands over the prospect of their favorite artists selling out. And sure, it could be embarrassing: Your favorite rapper ditches what made him or her great to make some corny shit that's all over every TV and radio station. They become the most visible artist for a few news cycles at the expense of their integrity. Waka Flocka Flame is considerably smarter than many give him credit for, and he knew how to sidestep this. Realizing that his seminal Flockaveli might be his critical and commercial high water mark in the hip-hop world, he became a mercenary on the EDM circuit--out of sight and out of mind to the authenticity police, but a friendly face at the bank. So it's that much more refreshing when he returns to perfectly unhinged street rap.