New York based, Oakland raised rapstress Gita delivers an attitude fuelled debut single produced by British producer Darq E Freaker. Freaker’s hyperactive production coupled with Gita’s fierce flow captures the rapid-fire sound that’ll very easily appeal directly to her fast-growing fanbase; Many of whom have been with her since her ‘Let That’ and ‘Hood Rich’ days.

The xx are among the hundreds of performers taking part in this years Coachella music and arts festival in California. The celebrated British band took to the stage last night and played material from their new album Co-exist, as well as music off their ’09 debut. During the hour-long set the band invited singer Solange on to the stage to perform a couple tracks, including cover of Aaliyah’s 1997 classic ‘Hot Like Fire’ (around the 20 minute mark). But this isn’t the first time these lot have got together to cover an R&B classic – you’ll remember in January Oliver xx and Solange performed a dope rendition of Nicole Wray’s ‘Make It Hot’.

Watch The xx’s entire Coachella set up top.

So, this happened.

The internet is a buzz with the surprise appearance of a ‘some type of’ Jai Paul release that made it’s way onto bandcamp early this morning. While there’s no official word on what exactly this is, there a few cryptic messages and tweets floating around that suggests that this obscure release (discovered and dissected by CiTR) is an official release i.e. was uploaded by or on behalf of the elusive Rayners Lane singer/producer.

None of the 16 tracks (including a cover of Jennifer Paige’s ‘Crush’ and a few tracks that you’ll already have heard floating around) are labelled and many sound unfinished or in demo form, but for fans who have been waiting for anything from this guy – this is a huge moment. ‘BTSTU’ (track 16) dropped back in ’07 and ‘Jasmine’ (track 9) was uploaded to soundcloud in 2012 – since then, we’ve all been in an unnerving state of limbo. We even tried harassing some friends of ours who are close to the project – their answer: “when Jai Paul decides to release something, he’ll release something, but until then we’ll be waiting just like you”… So this type of ‘random’ release fits his MO and at this stage no one is claiming it to be a fake or an illegal upload – including his record company XL Recordings.

I suggest you listen and buy whatever this is (we’ll call it the Holy Grail tape for now) before it disappears forever and digest what looks to be an album/mixtape that for many of us has been over six years in the making.

Update: Jai Paul has released a statement on twitter stating that the untitled project that hit the web yesterday was an unauthorised leak and not an official release. Taking to his until-now-dorment twitter account the reclusive singer said “To confirm: demos on bandcamp were not uploaded by me, this is not my debut album. Please don’t buy”. The 16 track upload has since been pulled from to bandcamp and customers who purchased the release have begun receiving refunds.

… A sceptic might say this all a feels a bit suspect, but hey – who really knows. Lets just hope this guy releases something soon.

Since the release of her debut album in 2006, Cassie has become a bit of a mythological creature in the world of R&B. Her journey has been far from easy and she remains one of the most divisive characters in the game. Some deify her as some type of cult-princess, (many) others vilify her for her somewhat awkward relationship with Diddy and that relentless “f*cks for tracks” reputation she’s acquired over the years. I’m still hung up on the way she mugged off R-Les back in the day, but whatever – I got love for Cassie.

Having failed to release any sort of full length follow up to her self-titled debut six years ago, Cassie finally returns this week with a new 13-track mixtape titled Rocka By Baby. Featuring guest appearances from Rick Ross, Pusha T, Too $hort and Jeremih and produced by Young Chop and Mike Will Made It - her latest may surprise a fair few naysayers. Surprisingly (and thankfully) she avoids any reference to the euro-dance/EDM epidemic many expected her to come with and instead serves up a mixtape full of fiercely produced R&B bangers. The trap-inspired beats that make up most of Rocka Bye Baby sees Cassie making the most of her limited vocal range by turning up that cold-but-sexy-breathy thing she’s become a master of. It even has her spitting bars.

Listen up, she goes in on this.

Download: Cassie – Rocka By Baby

It’s been obvious for a months now that Prince has been busy working on some type of a new release. His website 3rdeyegirl.com has been steadily releasing new music & videos for the past few weeks and he’s reportedly set to debut new music on his West Coast Tour which kicks off next week. Now a new video has surfaced on vimeo featuring Prince jamming with his all new, all-girl band (3rdeyegirl) with the words Plectrum Electrum hinting at a possible album title.

… Plectrum Electrum. 

Frank Ocean’s split screen video for his lastest single features footage of him traveling the world over the course of the last year in support of his Grammy award winning debut album channel ORANGE. Watch up top.

‘Blood and Form’ is the industrial new single from Mount Kimbie’s upcoming sophomore album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth (May 27th). Featuring vocals from the duo themselves and assistance from the unmistakable presence of young Archy Marshall (King Krule), the single steps away from from their 2010 debut and reaches for a bolder, more aggressive aesthetic.

Man like Ghostpoet comes through with a typically London looking video for his new single ‘Meltdown’ featuring two young couples on very different (bus) journeys. The new single comes off Obaro’s forthcoming album Some Say I So I Say Light, due out May 6th and as it always does – sounds like nothing else around.

Fantasia’s new single ‘Without Me’ featuring Kelly Rowland and Missy Elliott is quite possibly the single best piece of music she’s ever released. Aside from a few scattered album tracks over the years, musically speaking Fantasia has never really pushed the boat too far out from the middle lane. Her singles often felt more like placards produced chiefly to promote raw and often overbearing vocal performances as apposed to showing any real foresight… This track changes that.

Put quite simply this is… cold-as-f*ck. At it’s core ‘Without Me’ is a low-down-dirty-south slow jam with cavernous basslines, scattered hi-hats and a killer set of verses from Barrino, Rowland and Elliott. For the first time in a long time Fantasia has captured something really promising here and for the time being at least, she’s doing something rather exciting. Here’s to hoping there’s more of this on her new album Side Effects Of You (April 23rd).

Sidenote: Missy Elliott’s efforts as an R&B producer is often overshadowed by her more colourful productions, but her #deepalbumcut on Da Real World featuring a then rising Beyonce is a prime example of her many noteworthy contributions over the years. 

Ask and you shall receive. Having endured her absence for far too long, Janelle Monae finally announces the follow up to her 2010 debut The ArchAndroid. Titled The Electric Lady Monae fell short of declaring a release date but did reveal specific information of the albums first single. Scheduled to be released on April 22nd at precisely 7:54pm EST a new single featuring Erykah Badu aptly titled ‘Q.U.E.E.N’ will be released to the world… After which the universe will probably implode.

Let that sink in.