Off Record Sounds

OUR TOP 15 SONGS OF THE YEAR SO FAR… here they are. now with us being officially four whole months into the year, i think it’s time that we can look back on the songs that have defined 2026 so far, from mainstream hiphop to underground rap there’s a great mix between some burgeoning underground talent peeking its way through the echelons of the industry and some returning mainstream faces coming back with some really solid projects we’ll start with the mainstream. a$ap rocky’s “don’t be dumb / trip baby” is arguably one of the most transcendent tracks he’s ever made. you genuinely float off that first listen when those pads and synths collide to form that living dream of an instrumental. of course, you also have j. cole’s “the fall-off,” which gave us tracks such as “39 intro” and “quik stop” which function honestly as some of cole’s best tracks. can’t forget the magic ye and andre troutman made on “all the love” as well in the underground, you’ve had a bunch of burgeoning talent continuing this year. you guys know slayr’s been someone i’ve been raving about all year, and “toxic” is imo the best track on “bloodluxe.” it would be too much of a miss if we didn’t mention “havana” by pz’ too, which dropped at the very start of the year on january 1st. in addition, you’ve got “idk idk” by jim legxacy (already one of my favorites as it’s been a recent drop, “blow the speaker” by fakemink (got to hear it live last night lmao), “party at my place” with xaviersobased and skrillex and dylan brady, even “miss my choppa” with rocket rese which has the most bonkers beat ever the electronic scene is one i’ve been keeping my eye on a lot too, and we had to get a pick from underscores’s recent project for that. baby keem, earl sweatshirt, don toliver, nettspend, the list goes on. and we’re set to get new jpegmafia among various projects to come later this year still, so it’s early, but here’s our top 15 today do you think hiphop this year is on a good track? what are YOUR favorite songs? what do you agree/disagree on with out list? lmk below <3 — #hiphop #asaprocky #kanye #underscores #nettspend

1,669 days later, we are here. 100k followers. I can’t exactly put all of how I feel into words, but this post is an attempt. I’ve put my heart into my work every single day since I started ORS four years ago in August of 2021. If you’ve ever supported ORS in any way, thank you. We’re in a beautiful position to shift culture now, and I have zero plans of letting up on the gas pedal. This is just the beginning, and we’re about to go wayyyyyyyyyyyyy crazier. Tomorrow, I’m unveiling the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done for ORS at 3PM EST. We shall Light the World together. Love you 💛 - Jeevan

ORS “Light the World” 100k HOODIES + FLAGS OUT NOW 🚨 Link in bio to purchase at “offrecordsounds.shop” after over 8 months of design concepts, calls, shoots, endless revisions, it’s here. 100k is a moment that i’ll never forget, and i wanted to celebrate it with this gift from me to you in a time when apathy is normalized, i’d like to remind us that holding onto love is the most powerful thing we can do. this is an ode to maintaining hope in the world our first merch drop in 2022 was special, but i didn’t feel like i truly accomplished the goal of making a piece fully speaking to me. so that became my #1 goal with this, and we did it. i’ve poured my heart into every aspect of this drop. from working with a japanese manufacturer to make a custom garment, to using a 100% cotton blend (most comfortable hoodie i own, literally a blanket no lie lol), to doing custom typography with full embroidery on the front, to collating an image on the back from photos we took IRL to represent what “becoming oneself” has felt like to me, to specializing every part of this from custom packaging to custom tag labels and stickers in each order and of course, creating an ORS flag you can be proud to hang up in your room or bring outside this surely could’ve been priced at double the price, if not more, but i wanted to make this as accessible as possible to those of you who have given me the ultimate gift that is ORS. 100k is for US massive thank you goes out to everyone who helped bring this to fruition - @rvdiodesign , @ethanortner , @roselover0504 , and the most MASSIVE of thanks to @shivkatakam and @lahsutah for helping every single step of the way, from design to video to manufacturing i hope you feel my heartbeat in my creation, and specifically when you put this hoodie on. there is no force greater than love ORS TO THE WORLD 💛 #offrecordsounds

how do we feel about this chat 😭 i’ve been seeing a ton of chatter around beat switches even beyond this tweet since the release of drake’s “iceman” and honestly it got me thinking travis photo on cover taken by @zacschuss 📸 I feel like beat switches have almost become commonplace on nearly every mainstream hiphop album over the past decade, and twitter really got into a debate over where they feel like the trend officially started in terms of other rappers stacking them all over their albums tyler the creator, drake, travis scott, jid, j cole, kanye — the list goes on for artists we’re seeing beat switches from on basically every album it seems like, but at least to me, I do agree that it felt like things noticeably shifted after folks saw how a song like “sicko mode” could be so “all over the place” in a sense of the beat going in different directions all throughout the song, and could still be MASSIVE of course, that drake feature helped loads, as well as the song simply having hit appeal as a whole, but since then, we’ve seen various different beat switches such as kendrick lamar’s “tv off,” travis scott’s “my eyes,” tyler the creator’s “sweet / I thought you wanted to dance” with brent faiyaz and fana hues, and more I personally loved “don’t be dumb / trip baby” on a$ap rocky’s recent album and I think rocky especially has been a person who’s done it well throughout his career. kendrick lamar especially has been a premier artist doing it throughout his career, even on “good kid mead city” on a song such as “”sing about me /i’m dy*ng of thirst” for drake, “pound cake” easily stands as his most iconic beat switch if you ask me. “furthest thing” is another beautiful song off of “nothing was the same” i’ve had heavily in my rotation recently but what do you guys think: is the trend of beat switches overplayed right now in rap? you even have underground artists such as nine vicious doing it as we saw him litter them all over his recent album “emotions” let me know below family; love y’all <3 — #drake #travisscott #tylerthecreator #kendricklamar #kanyewest

aziedoesntexist is bringing modern a emo alt rap sound to today’s scene and i’m so happy to see it 🖤 azie blew up basically overnight with her song, “everglades,” and she’s only capitalized with her remix of the song. the original version of the song has a bunch of emo and grunge vibes combined with her alt-rap core style. she reminds me a lot of early lil peep or babyxsosa with her soft grunge elements the remix contained a feature from fattmack that really helped turn up the energy while keeping that grunge vibe to the song. mack’s bold and powerful voice is a nice counter to azie’s softer monotone delivery “3am freestyle” is one of the follow up tracks that really kept momentum going for azie. it features her classic emo passive style of rapping with echoes and a pretty expansive and empty atmosphere that really made this song feel lonely. the cold and solemn nature in her delivery is real and authentic but even more so it embodies that feeling of numbness that depression brings someone. it’s a super immersive track that most will relate to at some point in life azie has a pretty strong knack for picking out synths and that’s no difference in her single, “no one else.” the hazy production and prominent synths give you that peak cloud rap vibe. I see a lot of similarities to her and lil peep or babyxsosa if you’re a big fan of xxxtentacion or juicewrld, then i recommend you check out her sound as it’s something you may relate to in today’s scene where rage is the most dominant thing you hear in the underground what do y’all think? did you like “everglades? was fattmack’s feature a good compliment to azie? lmk below <3 — #lilpeep #xxxtentacion #undergroundrap #bktherula #aziedoesntexist

these are some of the best songs in hiphop it’s both an incredible and heartbreaking ability for artists when they are able to mask their pain in a song and package it as something more upbeat. this has been a post i’ve been wanting to make since i saw this tweet first thing that pops into my head has to be “in the night” by the weeknd. what sounds like a surging pop hit is really under the disguise as an exploration of abuse in a woman and the escape from trauma another club centric song that masks itself as a trap classic is “c*deine crazy” by future. we all know and love the song for its generational flows and hypnotizing rhythm but deep down it’s a space for future to address and confront his dr*g addiction. the song catalogues both his experience and ambition surrounding the issue. the more you listen to what he’s saying and give him attention the more reality sets in what he’s addressing it’s unfortunately often times in the underground that lyrics can be glossed over so a pick that flies way under the radar has to be “k*lls” by osamason. you wouldn’t really know the song is about working through heartbreak and ‘k***ing’ an old part of yourself because of a person especially considering that the beat is super bubbly and seemingly forward looking. take a listen to the lyrics and the song gains a whole new meaning lot of other really interesting songs on here including “green room” by ken carson, “up off 1942” by sofaygo, and “hey ya” by outkast. you could almost read lucki or nba youngboy’s whole discogs or big portions of them here too what about these type of songs makes them so interesting to you? any favorite songs with deep lyrics and energetic beats? do we need more of these songs? lmk below family <3 — #sofaygo #youngthug #osamason #kencarson #yeat

unbelievable the drake effect is simply undefeated, and the release of “iceman” has once again proven it. there are so many statistics currently coming out that are breaking the internet, from drake being projected to move 480k-520k first week units on “iceman” alone, to all three albums including “habibti” and “made of honour” being projected to move 705-785K units, to molly santana going from 568K monthly listeners to almost 8M monthly listeners almost overnight these numbers are staggering, and I don’t think i’ve seen anything like this before, at least from any other rapper outside of drake. we can have our gripes with the music, but it’s unquestionable that drake remains the biggest thing in hiphop, and by a LANDSLIDE you can take a look at some of these statistics for yourself and I promise you they’re all mindboggling, from drake beating out the all-time record for biggest streaming day for a hiphop song in global spotify history (13.2M) knocking off kendrick lamar’s “not like us” (ironically lol) to drake now owning the top 10 spots on the list of most streamed hiphop songs ever in a single day on spotify, including songs like “girls want girls” off “certified lover boy” and “rich flex” with 21 savage” off of “her loss” this is the one moment we’re going to look back on during this entire 2020s decade and undeniably say is the most staggering moment ever in terms of a hiphop release causing this much of a numerical shift in the landscape drake’s albums in “scorpion” “for all the dogs” and others have had similar effects in the past, but none bigger than this. we’re certainly going to watch him reach 100m monthly listeners soon as well (he just hit a new peak) and is also set to surpass jay-z for most albums on the billboard 3200 what do you guys make of all this? from future now having his most streamed song in a single day on “ran to atlanta” to everything else? what commentary does this give us on the hiphop landscape, drake’s place in it, and the wider discussion people continue to have on him? lmk below, love y’all — #drake #iceman #maidofhonour #habibti #rap

the genius of @spectre0799 continues to amaze 😭😭😭 people on twitter started saying drake had the “post-slap will smith flow” after listening to “iceman” and so spectre took it upon himself to put “2 hard 4 the radio” over “the fresh prince of bel-air” and man 😭😭 it literally lines up perfectly the discourse around “iceman” “maid of honour” and “habibti” has continued to roar onwards over the past 24 hours on the internet and does not look like it’s about to stop any time soon lmao. people can’t seem to stop talking about these albums and the various moments littered all across the 41 tracks. i’ve taken a bit of time myself to relisten to some of the songs and have a few highlights i’m walking away with such as the intro “make them cry” among “ran to atlanta”and a few other tracks but man drake’s flow really does WILDLY vary given the three whole soundscapes he gives himself to explore on these albums and you have some hilarious pockets such as on this track where it literally couldn’t line up better with “the fresh prince of bel-air” or on a track like “princess” where i’m sure spectre could also do his big one and put those vocals over a rock beat from the 2000s, something we’d hear maybe off of a linkin park song lmao haven’t seen the internet have fun like this in terms of a music/hiphop release in a longggg time man. whichever side of the coin you lay on when it comes to this drake release, the one thing we’re getting is a whole lot of fun and comedy and for that i’m grateful lmao let me know what y’all think down below family, love y’all <3 — #drake #iceman #habibti #maidofhonour #rap

i swear we talk about bnyx’s production for other artists a lot but it’s these producer tapes i wishhhhhh so many more prods like ok, pierre, and more would give us because wow “genesis fm” is ANOTHER one on top of the stacked drops for last night and it’s got names like kid cudi, don toliver, peso pluma, clara la san, yeat, and more. it’s packed with big names that already have some great work with benny in the rollout for this album, the first single that dropped was “everywhere i go (remind me).” bnyx does a great job on this one by just letting cudi’s signature hypnotic vocals flow along so well with his production. the classic cudi hums are back and makes this track a particularly peaceful highlight another track that really lets a vocalist showcase their signature style was “fallen” with don. i’ll admit to skipping the order of the tracklist to get to this one first due to how hyped i was for another collaboration between bnyx and don. don’s vocals are so atmospheric and the stripped back minimalistic production really allows his harmonies to shine through bnyx always does a great job at providing intricate production that doesn’t overshadow the vocalists and you can see that in both this song and his song with big sean and clara la san, “i wanna know ;).” first of all, clara la san provides a highlight whispered hook that really helps the tone of the song get started. never did i think i’d still be listening to big sean in 2026, but he gives a really strong performance on this track the last song that really caught my ear was the highly anticipated track with yeat, peso pluma, and bizarrap, “fuëgo.” any time that yeat hopes on a bnyx beat, you’re expecting a banger and i’d say they delivered yet again. it’s a little bit more chill than their usual collaborations, but the fusion of peso pluma really makes this an interesting track that i see myself revisiting quite often been a pleasure seeing benny’s whole come up man from the working on dy*ng days with f1lthy to his comeup back in 2023 when it felt like he was on every project from uzi to yeat to drake thoughts if you tapped in? lmk below <3 — #bnyx #yeat #drake #kencarson #pierrebourne

chat 😭😭 I swear i wonder what lucki must’ve been feeling like at midnight when he saw that he was up against THREE drake albums lmfao. it was already a storyline with him being up against the “iceman” drop alone credit to @_saulsosa for the cover photo 💛 i’m ngl though, i think i did like “dr*gs r bad” more than the drake drop last night. it’s easily been the biggest drop night for music all year if you ask me, from drake to lucki to lil shine to bnyx and a bunch of other artists lucki’s album honestly is one i’ve been waiting on because it’s one that i feel has signified a whole new era for him in terms of his personal progression. if you listened to it i’m sure you guys recognize the drill influence all over it as it really serves as an extension of this new style we’ve heard from lucki on albums like “gemini,” and we get features from veeze lil baby rylo rodriguez and more it’s always interesting to see how these “fresh era” type of albums are received from artists’ fanbases who ultimately recognize the artist’s “prime” work as from years prior. we saw it happen negatively with yeat’s recent “ADL” album, and in a more mixed-reception type of way in the past with albums such as lil uzi vert’s “pink tape” honestly i’m just happy with the messaging of this project for lucki as it clearly seems like a step in a better, cleaner-living type of direction for him, and lucki’s seemed a lot more clearheaded and healthy in the recent interviews i’ve seen from him I personally think this song “roundtripski” is my favorite, but you have a bunch others like “”gemini dramatics” which actually samples the ponderosa twins plus ones’s “bound,” the same song kanye west sampled on the legendary “bound 2” going up against drake… THREE ALBUMS at that is something else lmfao but lucki’s been doing it pridefully so i respect that. especially not pushing the release date back what do y’all think of all the discourse about this though lmfao i swear it’s been equally funny as it’s been intriguing. and if you listened to the album below too lmao had to make a post lmk what y’all think family love y’all shoutout TUNE — #lucki #drake #veeze #kencarson #playboicarti

new simz just dropped 🥹💛 her new “sugar girl” EP just gave us some of the most atmospheric electronica infused rap this year. it’s exciting as her “drop 7” project back in 2024 gave us a super interesting brazilian funk/edm inspired project i was a big fan of, especially as it showed a ton of evolution from her “sometimes i might be introvert” breakout in 2021. this project is another extension of that evolution simz has been a super prominent artist and lyricist the past couple of years and her latest ep shows some new sounds that she’s experimenting with. tracks like “game on” and “ open arms” explore a lot more club/electronica sound. “game on” is one of the most fun songs in simz’s catalogue with a great feature from the extremely energetic jt. “open arms” is a super fun and interesting song especially because of the yoruban hook from deela. both of these songs have little flairs and unique details that make them stand out in simz’s catalogue one of the more interesting tracks was the opening track “that’s a no no.” right off the bat the song hits you with thumping rage-esque beats that i was really not expecting from a simz project. she has a super intense and deep voice on the hooks and her flows are really biting and aggressive. it’s an area that i’m definitely curious to see simz experiment with a little bit more one of my favorite tracks from “sugar girl” was the 070 shake featured “telephone.” any kind of 070 shake feature is bound to make you feel like you’re floating and this one is definitely no different. simz takes a little bit of a more laid back from while shake’s droning and floating harmonies provide this wide and expansive feel for the song. it’s a really solid ending that serves as not only a good climax, but a conclusion that leaves you wanting more simz music asap little simz just gave us one of her boldest and versatile projects from her catalogue ever and i can’t wait to see where she goes from here what do y’all think? do you like the shake feature? how do you feel about the overall length of this ep? lmk below <3 — #littlesimz #070shake #jamesblake #sampha #doechii

OK BUT COLLAB WHEN THOUGH pinkpantheress just shouted out jim legxacy on her new interview with @elsienotelisee (i’ve been waiting for this day) as one of her favorite upcoming artists in the UK. she even said it’s a bit hard to call him emerging and that’s honestly kind of true at this point because he’s at 1.2m spotify monthly listeners he also literally sold out SOBs in NYC two nights in a row when I went to go see him back in the winter so that’s another clear indication as well as having a dave feature but I digress LMAO. it’s also so cool that she shouted out natanya and ikeda, two other artists who admittedly I do need to tap in with more jim easily has one of the best aesthetics i’ve seen comimg up out of the UK and I have to give such a shoutout to none other than @lauzza for being the architect of so many of his visuals we’ve seen during his come up, and various others such as @rohhan.dil who did the AMAZING “idk idk” video it honestly makes me yearn for a collab so badly because pinkpantheress is the one artist I feel has captured that y2k/london aesthetic SO well and I feel like jim steps into that world perfectly. bot h of them make such cute music with how they pitch and cut up their vocals and I truly do feel they’d make magic together we’ve watched the upcoming UK scene be literally the most important and buzzing scene in the underground over the past year so this isn’t a surprise to see pinkpantheress tapped in, but I feel like she’s almost at a point in her career where she has separated from that class and is a bonafide mainstream star at this point who can mentor some of the rising artists coming up out of the scene that’s honestly so sick to say too because she still is an artist of the tiktok era that’s got a very fresh mind that could lead the artists coming up one of the coolest cosigns i’ve seen recently so I just wanted to share. lmk what y’all think below family love y’all <3 — #jimlegxacy #pinkpantheress #ukrap #centralcee #fakemink