D.R.A.M.: Don’t Let D.R.A.M. Be A Hot Boy (Missy Elliott Remix)

Proving once again Missy Elliott’s brand of music has literally no sell-by date, Virginia artist D.R.A.M. (aka Shelley Massenburg-Smith) has remixed her sublimely perfect Timbaland-produced “Hot Boyz” (from her 1998 album Da Real World) and taken the slick, seductive and effortless sample to create “Don’t Let D.R.A.M. Be A Hot Boy.” The track pays just enough homage to Elliott, while still creating something brand new—complete …

Azealia Banks: Along the Coast

Zero-fucks-giving Azealia Banks fires her sound engineer, and when he threatens to leak her mixtape, she promptly uploads it instead. Slay-Z features Rick Ross and Nina Sky, plus Kaytranada has produced the R&B lullaby-like “Along the Coast,” with Banks showing off her softer side as she silkily croons. Banks has noted via Twitter that “Along the Coast” is a prelude to what’s to come from …

Maria Usbeck: Moai Y Yo

Former lead singer for machine pop trio Selebrities, Maria Usbeck, sets out on her own for the first time. Her solo album Amparo (co-produced by Caroline Polachek) will come at the end of May, and the influences are quite personal. Brooklyn-based, Quito-born Usbeck sings “Moai Y Yo” in her native Spanish, backed by the gentle lapping of water, sparse percussion and the eventual layering of …