6 min read what's good

What's Good (Week of 1/4/26)

An acryilic painting of Vic Spencer with six eyes, covering the lower half of his face with his arm. 'Six' written on the forearm and 6 in hash marks is written over his sholder.

Welcome to 2026, friends. It hasn't exactly been an auspicious start, but we've made it to the first weekend outside of the holidays, so it's time for the first What's Good of the year. This week we've got:

New Albums

  • Bbymutha
  • Bugseed
  • Fashawn & Sir Veterano
  • Q No Rap Name
  • Recognize Ali & D-Styles
  • Vic Spencer & August Fanon

New Singles

  • Blackwater Holylight
  • cropscropscrops & vaygrnt
  • Equipto & Brycon
  • Ghais Guevara
  • RJD2 & Supastition
  • Robyn

And a whole lot more. If it's your first time rocking with me, What's Good is my weekly new music blog, broken down into the following sections:

  • Playlists: YouTube and TIDAL playlist containing every song featured in the week's blog.
  • Bonus Beats: Good music writing, live performances, and other interesting ephemera from around the web.
  • Music: Just what it says on the tin. Music videos of new joints from the week, with links to purchase, stream, or preorder the albums and singles.

To make sure you don't miss out on the dopeness each week (along with anything else I write for the blog, including the occasional email only posts) subscribe to get it delivered straight to your inbox as soon as I hit the publish button.

Speaking of email only posts, if you're already subscribed you got details about how to take an extra copy of Mercy off my hands. I've decided to open it up since responses have been slow, and I wanna start the year off doing some good.

A packaged vinyl record with Backwoodz Studioz packing tape. The 'Ship To' address has been redacted with black bars.
This copy could be yours.

The details? Make a charitable donation to either:

  • Trans Youth Emergency Project: A project from the Campaign for Southern Equality, offering logistical and financial support to families affected by laws restricting or banning care for transgender children across the United States
  • Al Otro Lado: An organization providing legal and humanitarian aid for immigrant communities in the U.S. and Mexico, with litigation services, family reunification, and a number of other programs.

Then fill out this Google form with proof of your donation. I'll close out the form on 1/30/26, then I'll contact a randomly selected one of you for an address to send the record to.

Alright, without any further delay, let's get into this week's joints.

Playlists

TIDAL

TIDAL: What's Good Playlist - Week of 1/4/26

YouTube

Bonus Beats

Mask On
On rap’s ongoing lineage of creative identity concealment, featuring Action Figure 973, 067Red, and Mondo Slade.
CABBAGESGary Suarez

Gary Suarez brought us up to speed on the latest crop of masked MCs for the latest edition of the CABBAGES newsletter, like Action Figure 973:

Still, there are others in the independent and underground rap ecosystem right now adopting masked personas in a tradition closer to that of MF DOOM than Pooh Shiesty. Representing Belleville, a northeastern New Jersey township with a considerable Latino population, Action Figure 973 draws upon pro-wrestling for his identity influence. On a surface level, his Lucha Libre-inspired choice of headgear seemingly diverges from the Griselda set's WWE/WCW/AEW/ECW preferences, though he's a professed fan from the Attitude era on, and the Rey Mysterio parallels are willfully overt. His unabashed love for the sport bleeds into his lyrics, delivered energetically and adeptly. While a producer in his own right, this rather prolific Puerto Rican rapper has dropped projects with beatmakers like Machacha, Circa 97, and Wulverine, the most recent being the Mach-Hommy referencing Luchador Body Odor.

10 years after his viral Boiler Room appearance, Kaytranada hits up Elevator Music for a set with plenty of dancing and shenanigans. Shout out to the first appearance of a baby on the blog for 2026.

Music

Vic Spencer & August Fanon - Free Dumb (From Psychological Cheat Sheet 6, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

THERAVADA - Day By Day By Day (From THE YEARS WE HAVE, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Wiki - Grande/Bori's in Ireland feat. Starker LTD (A two-pack in collaboration with Brigade.)

Blackwater Holylight - Bodies (From Not Here Not Gone, out on 1/30/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Vinyl via Suicide Squeeze | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Larry June - Who Coppin' (Out not. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

cropscropscrops & vaygrnt - anatomy angels feat. E L U C I D (From We've Been After Each Other, out on 1/15/26. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

0:00
/0:39

Roy Rutto - Small Town (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Parlor Greens - Eat Your Greens (From Emeralds, out on 5/27/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Qobuz | Physicals, digital, and merch bundles via Colemine Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

child support, by BIGMUTHA
from the album read the room
BIGMUTHAlookingatnewfaces

BbyMutha - child support (From Read The Room, out now. Purchase/Stream: Bandcamp)

Recognize Ali & D-Styles - Bad Mon (From All Shall Perish, out now (DSPs later). Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream "Bad Mon": Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Robyn - Talk To Me (From Sexistential, out on 3/27/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Physicals and merch via Robyn's store | Physicals via Young, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Bugseed - Ronin (From Fly Cat Beat Tape, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple)

HOA, by q no rap name
from the album DESK CHRONICLES PT 1: MPC 2000XL
q no rap name

q no rap name - HOA (From Desk Chronicles Pt. 1: MPC 2000XL, out now. Purchase/Stream: Bandcamp)

Equipto & Brycon - The Promise of Len Bias (From Flowers for Len Bias, out on 1/11/26. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

RJD2 & Supastition - Machines Like Us (From According To…, out on 2/27/26. Preorder: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Moonchild - Up From Here feat. Robert Glasper & D Smoke (From Waves, out on 2/20/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Vinyl and merch from Hello Merch, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Fabiano do Nascimento - Sping Theme (From Vila, out on 2/27/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Phyiscals and digital via Far Out Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Paul Wall & Dj.Fresh - Same OL P (From The Tonite Show, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

YL - Fall Down (Out now. YouTube loosie for the new year, it appears.)

Fashawn & Sir Veterano - LMTMS2 (From All Hail The King 2, out now. Purchase: Physicals, digital and merch via Fresh Yard Records | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Milc, Illa J, & Calvin Valentine - Live In London (Out now Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)

ANTI-HERO, by Ghais Guevara
from the album 2MANYKNIGHTS/ANTI-HERO
Ghais GuevaraBandcamp New & Notable Nov 4, 2023

Ghais Guevara - ANTI-HERO (From 2MANYKNIGHTS/ANTI-HERO, out now. Purchase/Stream: Bandcamp)

That does it for this week, thank you for reading. One last time please consider donating to either the Trans Youth Emergency Project or Al Otro Lado, and I'll ship my extra copy of Mercy to one of you as a token of my appreciation. Stay safe outside, enjoy your weekend, fuck ICE, and make good choices.

DJ Regular

DJ Regular

Game and Music Lover. Writer. Unfortunate optimist. "Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx."
SF Bay Area