What we’re listening to this week at The Shift

September is here and while the temperature gets a little cooler, the new music continues to roll in with the same heat. This time around, we’ve got singles by Lil Baby and Freddie Gibbs featuring Moneybagg Yo, as well as albums by Pi’erre Bourne and... Serge Ibaka?

As always, do yourself a favour and tune into the official THE SHIFT playlist on Spotify to listen to what our team is listening to. We only listen to the good stuff.

Lil Baby - “Detox”

It’s been a busy, busy time for Lil Baby. Most recently, Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby, an Amazon Prime Video documentary on the Atlanta rapper’s meteoric rise to fame released last week. Baby was also featured on DJ Khaled’s album God Did, alongside Drake in “Staying Alive” and with Travis Scott on Nav’s “Don’t Sleep.”

And now, Lil Baby’s finally focused on delivering his music. Today, he dropped “Detox,” a track about moving forward, hustling and staying focused. The accompanying music video, produced by Nick Papz, sees Baby in a chaotic Wall Street boiler room-type scene with a whiteboard that says “Wolf of $parks $t.,” a nod to The Wolf of Wall Street, as well as teaching in a yoga studio and sparring in a boxing ring.

It’s a track that’s believed to be featured on It’s Only Me, the rapper’s highly-anticipated, upcoming studio album and follow-up to 2020’s My Turn, just freshly announced on his Instagram. The album drops on October 14.

Freddie Gibbs ft. Moneybagg Yo - “Too Much”

Freddie Gibbs links up with Memphis rap star Moneybagg Yo on a hard and commanding trap song. The new single sees the duo going on a run at a casino as Gibbs spits with his fast and laser-precise flow.

The single dropping also brings forth the announcement of his upcoming album, titled $oul $old $eparately. The record will be Gibbs’ fifth solo studio album but interestingly enough, despite him being around the rap scene for a while now, it’s his first project with a major label, Warner Records. All of his previous solo projects have been put out by him solely, either independently or on his own label, so it’ll be interesting to see what he cooks up in his new chapter of releases.

Pi’erre Bourne - Good Movie

Fans have been waiting for a while for the Grammy-winning artist/producer Pi’erre Bourne to drop his latest album, and after a long wait, Good Movie is here.

The 23-track LP sees Bourne linking up with only a few collaborators in Don Toliver and Young Nudy. It’s a self-produced project that the beat maker teased last month with an actual film trailer on his Instagram, along with a track list that resembles film credits. Good Movie's release comes just over a month after Pi'erre teamed up with Juicy J for their joint album, Space Age Pimpin', as the 28-year old producer readies for yet another world tour beginning this month.

Serge Ibaka - ART

Nope, you didn’t read that wrong. 

2019 NBA Champion. Renowned cooking show star. Now, Serge Ibaka can add “world-renowned music artist” to his resume as well.

Now in the latter stage of his career, the Mafuzzy Chef’s latest Afrobeats album is currently doing some insane number across streaming platforms. While he made history with the Raptors, being an integral part of their first ever championship victory, Ibaka’s making history with his new album as well. At the time of this writing, Ibaka has hit over 35,000,000 plays (!!!) on Spotify for his track, “Champion,” with French rapper, Ninho. Per Boardroom, that’s the most-ever active listens among an active NBA player, topping Damian Lillard (otherwise known as Dame Dolla)’s “Money Ball” track.

And you know what, it’s actually very fitting. Ibaka himself has gone on record to describe what he does is not drip, or swag. It’s art!