Haleek Maul – “Lobo” (stream)

The recently resurfaced, always showstopping English producer Forest Swords turned in a huge, dubbed-out, ferocious lurker of a beat that trumps anything from 2012’s Haleek Maul/Supreme Cuts collaborative LP, the superb Chrome Lips, so Maul naturally stepped his game up in response. He offers to be “the cure for your myopia,” boasts that he “black[s] out on these vixens like [he’s] livin’ in ellipses,” and while “ashes to ashes / you actin’ / get blasted” doesn’t read as exceptional on paper, it certainly sounds mean in a hook. The beat remains the undeniable star here, but Maul sounds so natural over it that an extended collab à la Chrome Lips seems only natural at this point.