From Kanye To Rita: Here Are The Urban Albums Set To Soundtrack Your Summer

The year is coming to a close but, even after successive R&B and hip hop blockbusters (who legit expected Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V?), a few key international albums are yet to appear. Not all of the joints anticipated before Christmas have release dates – and some may now drop in 2019.

That elusive soul-popster Zayn Malik (or ZAYN) has issued back-to-back singles since 2017's Sia duet Dusk Till Dawn – the latest the delicate beat ballad Fingers. However, Sony still hasn't scheduled Z2, Malik's as-yet-untitled sequel to 2016's alt-R&B statement Mind Of Mine. And, while Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, ruled the charts with May's standalone single This Is America, there's no sign of what will ostensibly be his final album. The MC/singer was forced to postpone his Australian tour because of a broken foot, which could afford him extra studio time. Lastly, Solange Knowles was the star of Sydney's Vivid LIVE. The singer, songwriter and multimedia creative recently suggested to The New York Times Style Magazine that she'll follow her zeitgeist A Seat At The Table this year (the US autumn, which goes into December). But one local Sony insider is doubtful. Sad face.

So what urban albums (and EPs) will be soundtracking the Antipodean summer? Here are OG Flavas' picks.

1. Anderson .Paak, Oxnard

The Californian rapper, singer, producer, musician and all-rounder Anderson .Paak was involved in several tracks on Dr Dre's Compton. He inevitably signed to Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. Come 16 November, Paak will present his label debut, Oxnard, named for his West Coast hometown. The funky lead single, Tints, featuring Kendrick Lamar, proves that Paak is the new Pharrell Williams. The album's guest list is impressive, with the likes of Q-Tip, Pusha-T and J Cole. Dre is on board as a producer, as is Madlib from Malibu. Paak tours so solidly with his band, The Free Nationals, that it's a wonder he finds any time for the studio. But he notably contributed to the Lamar-curated Black Panther The Album, appearing alongside Ab-Soul and James Blake on Bloody Waters. After rocking the crowds at Laneway last summer, he's back for Falls.

2. Neneh Cherry, Broken Politics 

The Swedish icon Neneh Cherry has been making variations of avant-garde music since the '80s, presaging artists as divergent as a post-Sugarcubes Bjork, Lauryn Hill, FKA twigs, and even her own daughter Mabel. 

Cherry started as a punk chick in the UK band Rip Rig + Panic. In 1989, she debuted as a solo artist with Raw Like Sushi – a conscious hip hop soul album encompassing the B-girl anthem Buffalo Stance. The singer, rapper and poet would go on to cut trip hop and indie. Cherry memorably duetted with the Senegalese artist Youssou N'Dour on the hit 7 Seconds. 

In 2014 Cherry, having connected with cult IDM producer Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden, unveiled her first individual LP in 18 years, Blank Project – raw, ruminative and ruined techno-jazz. It featured Out Of The Black with Cherry's compatriot Robyn – once an R&B chart prodigy. And Cherry finally toured Australia. 

Now Cherry is back with Broken Politics, again co-produced by Four Tet. Title aside, the album isn't so much as didactic as probing – Cherry bringing nuance, and poetic perspective, to political discussions amid global volatility. The single Kong (with input from Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja, aka 3D) has the sweeping melodicism of 7 Seconds. The brutally topical Shot Gun Shack, all metallic broken beats, grapples with gun violence. Plus, Cherry actually has an experimental number called… Deep Vein Thrombosis. She's returning here over summer for the Sydney Festival and other dates.

3. NAO, Saturn

The Brit soulstress NAO premiered in 2016 with For All We Know, describing her retro-nuevo R&B as "wonky funk". The project saw her team with AK Paul, brother of the mythic R&B-type Jai (they'd previously cut the single So Good). NAO has since recorded with the prolific Nile Rodgers, cameoing on Chic's LP, It's About Time. She has resurfaced, too, with Saturn – led by the subtly Auto-Tuned Another Lifetime, which GRADES and STINT co-produced. The album, which thematises astrological theories about Saturn's orbit and adulthood, has the charm of NAO's debut – but it's more ambitious. Evoking the '90s' sumptuous MOR soul, the title-track, with Kwabs, feels rare – down to its guitar solo (Daniel Caesar is co-writer). Yet Saturn also has bops, such as the Afro-beat Drive And Disconnect. Alas, the album omits a version of the Mura Masa-guided If You Ever with 6lack.

4. Lil Peep, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt 2

In November 2017, Lil Peep (Gustav Ahr), 21, died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl and Xanax while on tour. The emo rapper's passing felt all the more tragic as he was on the brink of a hard-won mainstream success. But Peep's influence is only growing. He dropped his first album, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt 1, in August 2017. Sony has now acquired the rights to the Long Islander's vaults and the label will release Pt 2 of Come Over… on 9 November. The lead single is the grungy Cry Alone, Peep shooting the video spontaneously earlier last year. COWYS2 doesn't list Peep's biggest chart hit, Falling Down – a polarising posthumous collab with his admirer XXXTentacion. It was facilitated by iLoveMakonnen (albeit aired with the blessing of the late rappers' mothers). 

5. Amerie, 4am Mulholland and After 4am

Amerie broke out back in 2002 with the luxe Why Don't We Fall In Love, helmed by Rich Harrison. She and Harrison partnered on the album All I Have, a 2000s quiet storm classic. Mind, Amerie's signature hit came later with 1 Thing – Harrison paying tribute to Washington DC's go-go scene, as he did on Beyonce's Crazy In Love. Amerie subsequently hired other producers, even cutting two songs with the Aussie M-Phazes for In Love & War. But, losing momentum due to label woes with Sony and then Def Jam, she largely withdrew from music. Indeed, Amerie recast herself as a lifestyle vlogger and young adult fantasy writer. Surprisingly, the independent auteur has now orchestrated an avant 'n' B double-album (or dual EPs) in 4AM MULHOLLAND and AFTER 4AM. Amerie contemporises the slinky vibes of All I Have by exploring abstract trap beats and hypnotic trance grooves. Fans of Tinashe's Aquarius will feel it. In the past Amerie has visited Oz for club gigs but, in February, she'll join RNB Vine Days with Nelly, Craig David and All Saints. Mood.

6. Mariah Carey, Caution

The super-diva Mariah Carey cancelled this month's Australian tour (already rescheduled from February) supposedly to complete her 15th (!) album, Caution – out 16 November. Carey's fans, known as her 'lambily' (lamb + family), are hoping for a comeback to match 2005's The Emancipation Of Mimi. In fact, Carey has savoured a defacto hit this year via Drake's Emotionless – it sampled her Emotions (as remixed by C+C Music Factory). 

The New Yorker typically oscillates between hip hop soul and power pop ballads – her greatest challenge circumventing formula. The initial Caution teaser, GTFO, indulges Carey's sly humour (remember when she aimed Obsessed at Eminem?). Produced by Nineteen85 – responsible for Drake's smashes Hold On, We're Going Home, Hotline Bling and One Dance – it flips Porter Robinson's complextro paean Goodbye To A World. The official lead single, With You, is a piano-laden groove ballad DJ Mustard supervised – with a lil' sheen from Carey's Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace. Her latest track, The Distance, featuring a Drizzy-esque Ty Dolla $ign, is an '80s boogie throwback. Given that Carey's albums traditionally reveal sublime deep cuts, Caution should be worthwhile.

7. Little Simz, TBC

North London's Little Simz is surely the most avant artist to emerge from the UK grime movement – to the extent that she's transcended it. Simz' albums have become both increasingly experimental and conceptual – the rapper, singer and musician following 2015's gothic A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons with the trippy Stillness In Wonderland. Lately, Simz has embraced collabs: MCing on Gorillaz' Garage Palace and Mahalia's vintage soul Proud Of Me. But this year she's likewise shared the solo singles Offence, industrial hip hop, and Boss (synced for HBO's Insecure). An album is tipped for early 2019.

8. Rita Ora, Phoenix

Trolls boringly ask "who?" when Rita Ora's name comes up on social media. The Londoner has been successful in the UK, Australia and, well, everywhere – just not the US. Ora generated buzz on signing to Jay-Z's Roc Nation, debuting with 2012's Ora. Unfortunately, the relationship soured and Ora sued for contractual release. The star has sustained her career by way of acting roles (she portrayed Mia Grey in the Fifty Shades Of Grey franchise), TV gigs and endorsements. Oh, and she sang on Prince's Hit n Run Phase One. (Yes, Prince was a Ritabot!) Now Ora, on Atlantic's roster, is at last issuing her sophomore, Phoenix, on 23 November – the same day as Kanye West's Yandhi. The album takes in her recent run of breezy hits, from Your Song through to Let You Love Me. But listeners will also get Ora's fated Avicii song, Lonely Together, and For You, a Hollywood duet with Liam Payne. Ora has consistently bridged pop, EDM and R&B and among Phoenix's unaired numbers is a collab with Rudimental, Summer Love. She's touring here in March.

9. Jessie Reyez, Being Human In Public

The Colombian-Canadian divette Jessie Reyez has been incrementally building her profile with singles and collabs. She's also an in-demand songwriter, credited on Calvin Harris' One Kiss, featuring Dua Lipa. This year Reyez reached a whole new audience by guesting twice on Eminem's stealth album Kamikaze (hear her on Nice Guy and Good Guy). She has just released her second EP, Being Human In Public – home to singles like Apple Juice. Reyez is comparable to Alanis Morissette, Amy Winehouse and Bebe Rexha (she has a song titled Fuck Being Friends). Her range is unusual. Sola is Latin acoustica, while Dear Yessie erupts into trap rock as Reyez protests President Trump's xenophobia.

10. Kanye West, Yandhi

It's been an eventful year for Kanye West, aka Ye, in terms of music, cultural debate and Twitter trending. From May, the GOOD Music mogul directed the month-long release of five micro-albums from his Wyoming Sessions – beginning with Pusha-T's DAYTONA. West himself proffered ye, examining his mental health experiences, and, with KiD CuDi, the psychedelic KIDS SEE GHOSTS. The Chi-towner then hooked up with Miami's Lil Pump for the chunky I Love It, its video one giant meme. West persuaded the world that an album, Yandhi, would drop at the end of September – it didn't. Yandhi will now come out 23 November – Black Friday Stateside. Possibly. West has since travelled to Africa to record, setting up a studio in Uganda. Speculation is that Yandhi will hark back to the punk Yeezus, primarily because of its similar artwork. Who is attached to the project? Everyone from the problematic 6ix9ine to Rihanna. But will the wider hip hop community forgive West for supporting President Trump and wearing MAGA headwear, despite his apparent change of heart this week?