And that’s a wrap on awards season!
On Sunday night (March 15), the incomprehensibly lengthy 2025-26 awards cycle officially came to a close with the 98th Academy Awards. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another — which stars R&B powerhouse Teyana Taylor and 2010s queer rap scene standout Junglepussy — took home best picture, alongside five additional wins, including best adapted screenplay, best director and the inaugural best casting award.
Longtime collaborators and box office titans Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan won their first Oscars for Sinners, their masterful, horror-infused ode to the Mississippi Delta and 1920s blues music. Coogler won best original screenplay, and Jordan brought the Dolby Theater to its feet with his win for best actor in a leading role. Just as impressive was DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s triumph as the first woman and first Black person to win best cinematography. As if four wins weren’t already enough to weep happy tears over — Ludwig Göranssson also won best original score — the cast of Sinners brought the film’s instantly iconic juke joint scene to the Oscars stage.
Led by cast members Miles Caton, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Buddy Guy and Jack O’Connell, the “I Lied to You” medley also featured Sinners soundtrack contributors Brittany Howard and Alice Smith, Grammy-winning country star Shaboozey, best original song nominee Raphael Saadiq, Grammy-nominated blues rock guitarist Eric Gales, Grammy-winning blues artist Bobby Rush, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and boundary-breaking Black ballerina Misty Copeland.
Beyond the convergence of film and music, this weekend also delivered several albums that plunged social media timelines into bottomless discourses — namely, Jack Harlow’s Monica. On his new set, the Louisville rapper trades bars for neo-soul-adjacent crooning, which naturally turned him into both a lightning rod for cultural debates and the Internet’s favorite joke of the weekend.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from a sunny Leven Kali alum cut to another Samara Cyn banger. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
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Freshest Find: Leven Kali, “Raining Sun”
Fresh off his contributions to Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning Renaissance and Cowboy Carter albums — he co-penned a total of five songs between the two projects, including “Alien Superstar” and “Bodyguard” — Dutch-born R&B musician Leven Kali has dropped his new LK99 album. Lyrically intimate and infused with funk at every level, LK99 is an exhilarating listen that culminates in “Raining Sun,” the album’s penultimate track. “Ay, yeah, bad news keep on breaking/ Tell me something good, I can’t take it/ Evеn if you have to lie/ Ah, now we’re beaming, ultra violet,” he sings in the second verse over a thumping, guitar-anchored soundscape, clawing for a sliver of optimisim and hope in a world that seems to try its best to hide the sunshine. — KYLE DENIS
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Rosco P. Coldchain & Nicholas Craven, “Benz Sprinter”
The Philly rapper whose budding career was cut short due to a 14-year prison sentence after scene-stealing verses on songs like the Clipse’s “Hot Damn” has been home for a couple of years now. And while he’s released a couple of tapes, none has been anticipated as much as this project with Canadian producer Nicholas Craven, which is set to drop in April. Here’s Coldchain on the project’s lead single, rapping like he never left over Craven’s signature loops. — ANGEL DIAZ
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Samara Cyn, “Oooshxt!”
If you’re looking for a rapper to buy stock in, Samara Cyn is her. Cyn established herself as one of the exciting emerging artists last year, and she’s not resting on her laurels. The Tennessee native is heading full-throttle into her Detour project, arriving on Friday (March 20), and gave fans a tasty appetizer with the braggadocious “oooshxt!” The 27-year-old oozes with confidence over production that mixes the futurism of Missy Elliott and the tongue-clicking percussion of “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” “Got a problem being cocky, that’s my ego,” she admits. — MICHAEL SAPONARA
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Jordan Adetunji, “Who Is It”
Jordan Adetunji has been on a quiet hot streak dating back to his breakthrough hit “Kehlani,” and his new single, “Who Is It,” proves he isn’t letting up anytime soon. The Grammy-nominated Belfast singer-rapper teamed up with Take a Daytrip to produce the new track, which finds Adetunji desperately questioning who has his lover’s heart and mind, if not him. “I can’t go out this easy, I gotta crash out from my soul/ Man, I tried to block you, but I never did/ I used my finsta for your Insta’ pics/ ‘Cause I need to see you, girl,” he sings in the first verse, perfectly capturing the cold distance social media disguises as instant contact. With its fuzzy synths and spacious mix, “Who Is It” recalls Drake’s Views days, and Adetunji rises to the occasion with a tender vocal that nicely complements his heart-baring lyrics. — K.D.
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Starlito & Bandplay feat. Bryant Taylorr, “Not the Country You Know”
Starlito dropped a double disc alongside producer Bandplay this past Friday, and he’s still kickin’ that fly s–t. Check out the video for the project’s title track for country rap bars like, “The bitch told me, ‘It’s all yours,’ and she got that hawk-tuah/ Just got a million dollars’ worth a game walkin’ on a golf course.” — A.D.
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Kurious feat. Lord Sear, “Walk Like a Duck”
RIP Lord Sear. Check him out at the end of this Kurious song and music video from back in the days when they were just starting out with the big ’fro picked out, singing in a Jamaican accent. Sear is one of many underrated legends in hip-hop, and is a rap radio pioneer from his time on WKCR, and more recently on Sirius XM’s Shade 45. — A.D.
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