Lil Baby, Skepta, Future, Drake and Travis Scott’s “Ya Hit” and the Releases That Matter Right Now

Friday (Nov. 6) was a big day for rap: Lil Baby’s fifth album, Skepta’s first in seven years and a surprise posse cut that finally put Future, Drake and Travis Scott on the same track. It was also a big day for everyone else, from JENNIE’s first song for an animated film to Dove Cameron’s long-awaited debut album and Kings of Leon’s boldest reinvention in years. These are 10 releases worth your time, seven from the headliners and three from the garage and club underground. Every entry comes with something to press play on.

Lil Baby, Fresh

Two weeks after his big reveal, Lil Baby’s followup to WHAM, which went to No. 1 in February 2025, packs in 17 tracks, and only two have guests: “All My Partnas” with Future, Young Thug and his 4PF running mate Rylo Rodriguez, plus “In Your Head,” where Rodriguez gives an assist, Billboard reports. Pitchfork hears him testing his hometown devotion on poppier songs, including his first collaboration with Pharrell, and the Pharrell-produced lead single “Dead Fresh” peaked at No. 18 on the Hot 100, Billboard notes. He’s clear about the stakes. “If I can’t make hits,” he told the New York Times’ Popcast, “I ain’t gonna make music no more.” (Our earlier report has the album’s setup, and another covers its first-day streams.)

FRESHLil BabyListen on Apple Music

Skepta, The Fork and Knife

Skepta’s first album in seven and a half years arrives 34 months after he first announced it, Pitchfork notes, and the review reads it as a mural of three decades of Black British music and a modern story of an immigrant family flourishing in spite of the odds. It opens on “Secrets of Patriarchy,” borrows the icy palette of Dizzee Rascal’s “Sittin’ Here,” and flirts in French with Aya Nakamura on “Chippie.” The grime star had previewed “Pandora’s Box,” “Aloe Vera” and “Innocent Smile” at Reading in August, NME reported, and on “Revenge” he dissects his missteps with a comfort that comes with age: “I’ve been in denial, but not today.” Rolling Stone’s weekly rundown has him reclaiming the grime throne with Asake at his side. (More here.)

The Fork and KnifeSkeptaListen on Apple Music

Future, Drake and Travis Scott, “Ya Hit” (feat. Loe Shimmy)

The first track ever to put Future, Drake and Travis Scott together arrived as a surprise drop on Friday, Billboard reports, with Loe Shimmy handling the chorus and Sexyy Red adding ad-libs behind Drake. Rolling Stone says the distorted, bass-heavy opening could score the start of a battle sequence, and Future calls the whole crew the Avengers in his Instagram caption. Billboard reads it as a sign that the friction rumored after the 2024 Drake and Kendrick Lamar battle is over, and notes that Drake takes aim at one of his rap opps: “Your album ain’t gettin’ no better, it’s done, so submit it.” It’s Future’s first release since The Real Me, and he’s teasing another album (our report).

Ya Hit (feat. Drake, Travis Scott & Loe Shimmy)FutureListen on Apple Music

JENNIE, “Someone to Hold”

The BLACKPINK star’s first song for an animated film, recorded with producer Justin Tranter for Netflix’s Steps, a musical comedy that reimagines Cinderella from the stepsisters’ side, is an ode to sibling love, Rolling Stone reports. Billboard says its inviting, disco-colored intro neither sounds like a typical JENNIE song nor a Disney princess, “and that’s what makes it magic,” and that it shows a more playful, vibrant side than her solo debut. “It was really fun making my first song for an animated film!” she said. Steps streams on Netflix on Nov. 20. (Our report.)

Someone to HoldJENNIEListen on Apple Music

Dove Cameron, Final Girl

More than a decade after launching her career in Disney TV and film, Dove Cameron has a debut full-length at last, and Billboard says it was well worth the wait: a dramatic, soaring album that ranges from the pop ballad “Silver Screen Baby” and the raw “Immortalized” to the uptempo dance-pop single “When In Rome” and the haunting, heavy “Skin On Bone.”

FINAL GIRLDove CameronListen on Apple Music

Jack Harlow, Sweet Action II

Eight months after the neo-soul detour of Monica, the Louisville rapper stays on the R&B side with a seven-track sequel to his 2020 Sweet Action EP, the one with “What’s Poppin.” Babyface appears on lead single “Too Soon,” and the samples and interpolations nod to Marques Houston, Lalah Hathaway, Tank and others, Billboard reports. The press release says the EP “finds Jack exploring the messy contradictions of modern romance, from new attraction and old attachments to jealousy and commitment.”

Sweet Action IIJack HarlowListen on Apple Music

Kings of Leon, O My Beloved

The Followills’ 10th album is the first they’ve ever self-produced, and Billboard hears a gorgeous marriage of thoughtful production and deeply personal storytelling about the members’ families and upbringings, billed as a “love letter” to the road. Pitchfork goes further, calling it a largely impressive reinvention: a spacious, warm variant of country-rock across 13 songs, and the loosest the band has sounded in decades.

O My BelovedKings of LeonListen on Apple Music

Twisted Teens, The Holy Cross Tigers

The New Orleans band’s third full-length of 2026 is named for the neighborhood where frontman Caspian Hollywell lives and the local school team whose sticker is on his door, Pitchfork reports. Pitchfork’s review hears the songs seep into your bloodstream instead of punching you in the gut, with Hollywell’s sandpapery rasp set against RJ Santos’ honey-dipped steel guitar. A band that was virtually unknown a year ago is now on Sub Pop, playing big rooms with the Breeders and getting covered by Jeff Tweedy. The secret, Hollywell says, is simple: “Turns out if you just make a catchy song, you can play anything and people will like it.”

The Holy Cross TigersTwisted TeensListen on Apple Music

Bassvictim, PEACE + WAR

The duo of Polish vocalist Maria Manow and producer Ike Clateman return with their second album of the year, led by “White Flag,” Pitchfork reports. Its Nov. 6 guide says their electroclash brings a lopsided genre to a new audience with “all of the mess and less of the sex,” and its review calls PEACE + WAR a sprawling record that doesn’t always know where it’ll end up, but still loves it when Manow whittles complexity into a simple declaration: “I want the good weather/I wanna take my clothes off.”

PEACE + WARBassvictimListen on Apple Music

Shygirl, SWALLOW!

Three years after Nymph, the London club veteran’s second album documents falling in love, with a lush ’90s-electronica bliss on “Lucky[Hymn]” and “Mantra,” Billboard says. Pitchfork hears a sweet spot between dancefloor deliverance and dream-pop catharsis, with Karma Kid and Oklou’s right-hand man Casey MQ in the room. She told The FADER that love is well-worn territory: “Love in itself is a cliché, you know?” (Our report on the album announcement.)

SWALLOW!ShygirlListen on Apple Music

Also on our radar

Boys Noize’s 7LLVSION, his first solo studio album in five years, is “ferocious and unrelenting,” per Billboard. Rex Orange County’s Dream Fatigue includes “Elvis” with Turnstile’s Brendan Yates. Slayyyter’s frenetic “Hey Boyyy” leads into her Dec. 4 album wor$t man in america, a companion to her earlier single. Daine’s In Endless Awe & Agony is a debut with no Auto-Tune, and Sufjan Stevens’ Worst Christmas Ever! gathers his holiday songs and adds a new one.