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August 28, 2026 · This Week in Hip-Hop
Erykah Badu & The Alchemist – Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment
It is out. 16 tracks, Westside Gunn, Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat, Steve Lacy, DRAM, Kamasi Washington. Everything started with Mobb Deep's "The Realest" and 18 months later this is what it became. More on that later.
CZARFACE Meets Frankie Pulitzer – Raw Forever ft. Busta Rhymes
The CZARFACE "Meets" series — which previously produced collaborations with MF DOOM and Ghostface Killah — completes its latest chapter today with Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer, out now on Silver Age Records. Frankie Pulitzer, also known as FacePuller, is the rap alias of Tom Hardy. The widontplay radar flagged "Brothers Grimm," the lead single with Inspectah Deck and Esoteric, back in CW 26. The full 15-track album confirms what that single suggested: Hardy holds his own in the context Inspectah Deck provides, and the production stays in classic CZARFACE territory — dusty drums, cinematic soundscapes, comic-book mythology as operating framework. "Raw Forever" featuring Busta Rhymes is track four. Method Man appears on "Mad Technology," El-P on "Dragon Cannon," Kendra Morris on "Frankie." The full cast earns the album more than just novelty status.
Rakim x Kurupt x Masta Killa – The Godbody LP
This is the other massive release of the day and it deserves equal time. DPG Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang DPG — The Godbody LP brings Rakim, Kurupt, and Masta Killa together for a project that maps exactly onto the widontplay orbit. Produced by Rakim himself and Nick Wiz, the album carries 15 tracks and a feature list that reads like a comprehensive audit of the East Coast and West Coast underground: Snoop Dogg, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Daz Dillinger, KRS-One, Kool G Rap, Buckshot, Kokane, and more. There is also a special interlude featuring Eminem and Jay-Z — their first track together in 25 years. The title, DPG Wu-Tang, is not a casual label. It is a literal merger of two of hip-hop's most significant collectives, documented in 15 tracks of production built around Rakim's own beatmaking alongside Nick Wiz. Rakim's "A Different Kind" single was covered in CW 30. The Godbody LP is the full statement.
Jay Worthy, George Clinton & LNDN DRGS – Generation P
The Game – The Documentary III
The Game's Documentary series closes out today on Numinati / FTS Global Management LLC. Produced by Tommy Brown, "The Life" is the lead single and official music video — a West Coast reflection on legacy, survival, and where the career arc lands from here. The Documentary was 2005. The Documentary III is 2026. That is a 21-year thread.
Dave East & Harry Fraud ft. Benny The Butcher – Everything Is Up (Official Video)
paco in action – Dead Air
And one from right here. Dead Air is a 78 BPM Boldy James Type Beat — dusty, grimy, built for words. Already up on widontplay as a standalone post.
Conductor Williams & Bart Oatmeal – GOH
Bart Oatmeal is Baron Davis — the 2x NBA All-Star, the man who dunked over Andrei Kirilenko in the 2007 playoffs for the Golden State Warriors, one of the most immediately recognizable plays in recent NBA history. Davis has been building his rap alias steadily and without compromise. His own words on the character: "Bart will say anything. Nothing is off limits. He's funnier, edgier and more thought-provoking than me. The character gives me an open book to create."
Conductor Williams is from Kansas City, MO — a producer whose output connects directly to the street rap and Griselda-adjacent orbit this blog covers. His collaborative track record includes Rome Streetz and Conway the Machine, which locates "GOH" exactly where it should be. The widontplay DNA here is the intersection this blog has always occupied: basketball culture and underground hip-hop, in the same record, made by people who understand both from the inside.
Baron Davis as Bart Oatmeal. Conductor Williams behind the boards. The official music video is out — check Conductor Williams' YouTube channel for the link as it indexes.
Albany Lou ft. 38 Spesh – From The Rock To The Born
The video dropped yesterday, August 27. Albany Lou is from Albany, NY. 38 Spesh is from Rochester. Two Upstate New York cities that rarely get named together in hip-hop geography — but the framing is exactly right: two cities that claim their own Upstate identity, one that neither copies New York City nor relies on Buffalo's Griselda shadow. The title runs that same geographic logic: The Rock as Alcatraz-coded metaphor for confinement, The Born as slang for birthright and origin. No elaborate staging in the visual — just environment, presence, and the immediate chemistry of two credible voices sharing a track. 38 Spesh has been on the widontplay radar consistently in 2026 — 8 Shots in CW 28, Price of Pain in CW 29 and CW 31. This is his lane.
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