Daft Punk, “Get Lucky”

After oodles of anticipatory action, the full Daft Punk x Pharrell single is finally here, and so now the Internet can start arguing about it (vis-à-vis the correctness of the hype cycle, over/underratedness, classic dance music vs. neo-EDM, etc. etc.). Don’t fall into the trap! Just put this on blast, on repeat, find a friend, and do something along the lines of this here for a while:

Drake, “Girls Love Beyonce”

DJ Khaled feat. Drake, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross, “No New Friends”

Double Drizzy week! First, we got a solo Drake weepie that interpolates “Say My Name” in the :( -iest way possible (and may or may not end up on his next album, Nothing Was the Same). Second, we got another mini-posse cut from DJ Khaled’s upcoming Suffering From Success. That’ll makes seven albums in the last seven years from Palestine’s Finest. What is the secret to Khaled’s remarkable productivity? Besides the fact that, you know, he doesn’t actually make music?

And now let’s talk for a second about this refrain that pops up in both new tracks, and is an important leitmotif in “Started From the Bottom,” too: “No new friends.” It is an evocative phrase, one cooked down to a hardened core and powerful in its candor. Yes, it’s Drake once again lamenting that his success has trapped him, but in a bare-bones, resolved kind of way; he’s pushed into a corner where the possibility of trust or love is wiped away by the potential for ulterior motives and exploitation, and he’ll do the best he can with that. And it also might just be the goddamn emo-est thing he’s ever said. I mean, is twitter.com/DRAKE_THOUGHTS (sample: “oh weezy and kanye made friendship bracelets. don’t care. friendship bracelets are stupid i do not care at all”) actively ghostwriting his shit at this point?

Poliça feat. Justin Vernon, “Tiff”

According to Wikipedia, the “ç” (pronounced as a soft “C”) is “a Latin script letter, used in the Albanian, Azerbaijani, Ligurian, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Kurdish and Zazaki alphabets.” Two reactions: (1) Every third thing in that list sounds made-up, and (2) I will now and forevermore curse the fact that I wasn’t born Zaza.

Rockie Fresh feat. Gunplay, “Rolling”

The great thing here is that Gunplay already has a track called “Rollin,” with Waka Flocka Flame, from 2010 — it’s a righteous jam, and it was probably the first big song of Gunplay’s solo career. And yet, somehow, we get the sense that when Rockie Fresh asked Gun, noted drug aficionado, to jump on another number called “Rollin’,” his reaction was something along the lines of “Yes, of course I’ll do that, what a great idea for a song name, why did I not think of that previously?”

Dawn Richard, “Movie”

Let’s just say Dawn — Diddy’s sex-positive R&B protégé, who’s done stints in Danity Kane and Dirty Money — is not talking about Kurosawa when she says “movie”! [Takes handkerchief out of front pocket, gently dabs at sweat on corners of forehead.]

Savages, “Shut Up”

Attention, angsty high-school seniors: Still looking for a yearbook quote? Please, feel free to lift material from the intro to “Shut Up,” the new video from militantly rad British post-punkers Savages. I’m thinking something like “They multiply, intensify. They will divert your attention to what’s convenient. And forget to tell you about yourself. Love you KW JD CE DZ! My gurlz forever! First lunch crewwwww!!! ;p”

Gold Panda, “Brazil”

Think less “drug-grime-sweat-beginning-of-Fast Five-favela” Brazil, and more “girl not really bothering to cover up most of her butt at the beach” Brazil. Which, I assume, you’re fine with?

Black Sabbath, “God Is Dead?”

OK, so Black Sabbath is back but they’re coming up with all their song titles by writing down the first nine things that come to mind after three quick gravity-bong hits.

Cam’ron and Lil Wayne, “Letter to a Diplomat”

A quick tangent: When the Kevin Ware injury happened, I managed to avert my eyes from any and all footage. I stopped watching the game, stayed off Twitter, and basically walked off the grid for a couple of hours to make sure I’d avoid that sight. And then Cam’ron went ahead and put a super gnarly close-up of Ware’s leg on his Instagram. (Yes, of course I’m following Cam’ron on Instagram. The question you should be asking is, “Are you also following Cam’ron’s girlfriend Juju on Instagram?” And the answer to that is also “yes.”) Cam really did me a disservice by forcing me to see the gruesome sight; it kind of messed me up for a couple of days there, leaving me feeling particularly physically and emotionally vulnerable through a showing of Upstream Color. And so I spent some time thinking, when else had Cam — generally the giver of gifts — wronged me? And the only other time I could remember was his 2006 collab with Lil Wayne, a song called “Touch It or Not,” on which Killa felt it justified to deliver the words “I know it’s white, but here come the hot sauce.” SEGUE/IN SUMMATION: Here is a new song from Cam and Wayne.

R.I.P Guru

Three years ago today, Gang Starr’s Guru passed away at the tragically premature age of 48. Let’s remember him, in part, by listening to some of his timeless music while watching vintage D-Miles and Q-Rich do the forehead-fist-bump thing.