@Carter Dorda

When you want to take the club with you.

Clipse and Tyler, The Creator want you to see things from their “P.O.V.” Listen in Spatial Audio.

The old school is the best school.

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

As soon as hip-hop went mainstream, the avant-garde was there to subvert it. Emerging in the late '80s, the quirky samples, bohemian clothes, and introspective lyrics of the Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul would be the enduring landmarks of a hip-hop "alternative." The rise of the Fugees, The Pharcyde, and The Roots in the ’90s coincided with alternative rock's ascent. The '00s independent label boom boosted lateral thinkers like Madlib, El-P, Aesop Rock, J. Dilla, and MF Doom. And artists like Earl Sweatshirt, Kid Cudi, and Childish Gambino continue that trailblazing tradition today, changing style and sound from release to release.

New-school hip-hop gems to get you on your way.

The most played tracks of 2025 across Apple Music and Fitness+. Find your motivation for the next year and beyond, turn resolutions into routines, and quit quitting every fitness goal.

Atlanta rap has evolved from trunk-rattling regional scene to avant-garde pop sensation to the new sound of hip-hop America. Though A-town’s bass has been rumbling in cars and clubs since the late ’80s, it became one of hip-hop’s biggest creative forces in the ’90s and 2000s thanks to the lateral-minded boom of Outkast, the pop production of Jermaine Dupri, and the high-octane crunk of Lil Jon. Eventually spawning trap and new forms of vocal calligraphy, Atlanta became perhaps the most influential city on hip-hop’s map. Time and time again, the South has had something to say.

Here's one for the heads. From new drops by emerging voices to regional hits on their way up to just-released bangers from the game's biggest stars, this playlist collects hip-hop that's just inches from the spotlight: Not just what's good, but what's next. Our editors update these picks regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.