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A signee to DJ Khaled’s We the Best/Def Jam imprint, Ace Hood is riding the shockwaves from the success of “Overtime” with a brand-new single, “Loco Wit the Cake.” Ace Hood shows off his flamboyant lifestyle (“Spend 30 in the mall/Five cars sitting tall”) over a treacherous Schife beat. “Loco Wit the Cake” reveals that the cards are in Ace Hood’s favor. If you like the track, check out the album.

Group Therapy is the project of Crooked I and King Tech, who work together (the former on the mic, the latter on production) honing skills and verses over claustrophobic live beats dotted with heavy synths and guitar arpeggios. Crooked I rallies against hip-hop’s current state, decrying the auto-tune (“unless it’s T-Pain”) and ringtone jams. But this cut is more than a “back in the day” ode to old-school. Group Therapy takes things forward with its dark minimalism and righteous anger.

Long Beach and Compton command attention as West Coast rap epicenters, but Jay Rock is here to put Watts on the map. The rapper caught fire through underground mixtapes and the Lift Me Up EP before blowing up with “All My Life in the Ghetto.” It’s a biographical tale of Jay Rock’s come-up inside and outside his native Nickerson Gardens projects. Backed by sweet strings and a sung hook, “All My Life” stacks up nicely against Biggie’s “Juicy” and the Game’s “Hate It or Love It,” but with an upgrade: Lil Wayne drops a sick, 16-bar cosign.

The cascading synths remind us of Kraftwerk, while the slow-paced drums exude hip-hop swagger. Paper Route’s MCs do their part, too — spitting clever braggadocio between choruses that call to mind Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em (“Ohhh!”). The result is something you can lean and rock with. If you like the track, check out a capella version.

SLO-O skates over a classic Dr. Dre-style production with his crisp, laid-back flow. The San Francisco newcomer’s hazy tale about grinding on sleepless streets takes on added drama thanks to strings that sweep across a hypnotic keyboard riff. The song’s title references Eldridge Cleaver’s collection of essays and SLO-O proves he too has literary flare: “I walk with my soul on ice, on gasoline blocks, matchbook ready to strike, I’m trying to weave out.”

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The Cool Kids flex a new rap language, inciting both new and old hip-hop heads to exclaim, “They don’t make songs like this anymore.” With all its golden age signifiers – the knocking beats, the “yes yes y’all” chants, the guitar stabs – the Cool Kids show immense affection for rap’s magical year of 1988. “88″ makes the old school futuristic with Mikey and Chuck going sick over cyborg drum breaks, which brings up the question: “Are they indeed rapping about 1988 or reporting from the future and reflecting back on 2088? Decide for yourself.

Kardinal Offishall comes to use straight out of Canada and this cut is a slick, bouncy club favorite that has been all over the charts up north. It wouldn’t be a chart-topper without an Akon appearance. The Senegalese vocalist with the Midas touch adds a few verses and some production duties on this synth-heavy track.

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