Rod Wave, The Game, Megan Thee Stallion and More – New Hip-Hop Projects This Week

As the summer is beginning to wind down, hip-hop continues to pile on the heat with another week of hot new music releases. This week, a former XXL Freshman drops off his fourth studio album, a Compton, Calif. rapper finally unleashes a long-awaited LP, a Houston rapper unpacks her sophomore album and more.

Hoping to follow in his own footsteps with the success of his last album, SoulFly, Rod Wave returns to the game with his new LP, Beautiful Mind. The member of the 2020 XXL Freshman Class was already well on his way to achieving his goal before the album even dropped.

Led by the certified platinum single, "By Your Side," and "Cold December," which has already been certified gold, the 24-track LP primarily features production from TnTXD but also sees beats from producers like Will A Fool and ThatBossEvan. Beautiful Mind also includes two other previously released singles, "Stone Rolling" and "Alone."

While his fourth studio album delivers the same somber-yet-soulful sounds the Florida rap-crooner has become revered for, Rod Wave recently promised that Beautiful Mind will be his last project on the melancholy tip. After much concern from fans following the release of his December 2021 track, "Nirvana," which many viewed as a possible suicide note, Rod hit up Twitter to let his 1.3 million followers know that it's time to switch up his lyrical content.

"On my baby's dis my last sad album," tweeted the "Tombstone" artist. "I'm off dat. Just wanna live happy, travel [and] get dis money."

Following a lengthy delay and a press run for the ages, The Game has finally dropped his highly anticipated album, Drillmatic: Mind vs. Heart. Confidently boasting that the 31-song offering has "no skips" and will surely be in contention for "album of the year," the Compton OG enlisted the talents of Hit-Boy to serve as the Executive Producer for his tenth full-length LP.

Tracks on Drillmatic: Mind vs. Heart include the Kanye West-assisted "Eazy," which dropped back in January, and "The Black Slim Shady," a song that, according to Game's manager, Wack 100, is aimed at Eminem in an attempt to engage the elite lyricist in battle.

Prior to unveiling the track list earlier this week, the game hit up social media with a message to fans, explaining what they can expect and offering up some insight as to why the album's release was pushed back from its original date in June.

"My apologies for the delay but fans sometimes don’t understand how hard it is behind the scenes trying to clear samples on over 30 records & to get publishing splits, agreements, mixes approved, featured artists agreements & a million other things done in order to have a clean, flawless album put together & released," The Game wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post. "What I can guarantee you is that I personally put my heart & soul into this album from beginning to the end & anyone who’s come by my studio or heard this album will tell you that it is everything you expected it to be."

Megan Thee Stallion has bottled the last two trying years of her life into her new sophomore album Traumazine. After steadily releasing new music over the last few months, Hot Girl Meg first teased the album name a week ago, defining the LP's title for fans on Instagram. "The chemical released in the brain when it is forced to deal with painful emotions caused by traumatic events and experiences," the post reads.

Megan has previewed the album with the singles "Plan B," "Sweetest Pie" with Dua Lipa and "Pressurelicious" featuring Future. Also making appearances on the offering are Pooh Shiesty, Latto, Rico Nasty, Sauce Walka and more.

The release of the album seems to be a moment of relief for the Houston rapper, who has said this will be her final project on the label 1501 Certified Entertainment, the imprint she's been embattled with for the past few years.

Promising that his new project is just a pre-cursor to an upcoming album, Young Nudy comes through with EA Monster, an 11-track mixtape that drops on the heels of the two albums Nudy dropped in 2021, DR. EV4L and Rich Shooter.

Led by the previously released single, "Duntsane" featuring BabyDrill, EA Monster includes three fire beats from frequent collaborator and renowned producer, Pi'erre Bourne, who laid the groundwork on "Lunch Meat," "KitKat" and "Project X." Other songs include production from Coupe, Mojo Krazy, Nash, Whatitdoflip and Rio Leyva.

In preparation for the mixtape's release, the Atlanta spitter reached out to fans via social media to help make the final decision on which version of cover art should be featured on the project.

Check out projects from Royce 5'9", Black Thought, Hudson Mohawke and more below.