The Lead Sheet ~ 12/16/25

The Lead Sheet is your guide to this week’s new music - taking a look at newly released albums, who made them, and how listeners are responding.

This week, hip-hop legends Nas and DJ Premier released their highly anticipated and long-teased collaborative album, Light Years, to immediate critical acclaim. Both artists have made significant contributions to the genre; Nas is perhaps best known for his 1994 album Illmatic, which is often credited as a high point in rap-lyricism, and DJ Premier pioneered the “Boom-Bap” sound alongside icons like Snoop Dogg and Jay Z. Light-Years is decades in the making, going back to a 2006 interview with Scratch magazine in which the duo playfully hinted at a joint album. The new project is well received by fans and critics, who praise its balance between nostalgia and modernity. Light-Years honors the original New York Boom-Bap style with classic hip-hop drum loops and samples, but feels exceptionally polished with clean, contemporary mixing, and even some experimental, cinematic sounds. Nas’ flow is in top form, driving home lyrical ideas with distinguished, laid back confidence. Light-Years concludes the label Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It… series, an anthology of albums dedicated to the early hip-hop scene, which includes contributions from trailblazers like Ghostface Killah and Slick Rick.

Nate Amos’ solo project This is Lorelai, released a curated collection of songs from 2014-2021 titled Holo Boy. The album’s songs were re-recorded and updated by Amos in May of 2025, to create a roadmap for new listeners to explore his deep discography.  The ten track album features new takes on old singles, with new vocal choices and instrumentation. Some of the original singles were roughly mixed and uploaded to bandcamp in the artist’s formative years, and Holo Boy sees them re-recorded with better equipment, clarity, and re-worked musicality, utilizing his access to a wider array of sounds. “I Can’t Fall” sees Amos take the vocal melody an octave down, adds a swelling orchestra, while slowing the tempo to create a more emotionally evocative song. While the track “But You Just Woke Me Up” demonstrates the songwriter’s growth and confidence, adding powerful guitar riffs and stronger vocals. Critics appreciate getting to hear more technically proficient mastering of the original rough recordings, as the artist intended, and fans appreciate seeing how far Amos has come as a musician. This is Lorelai will tour from December 2025-May of 2026. 

21 Savage dropped a surprise album “What Happened to the Streets” on Friday to pretty mixed reviews. Despite being called a “return to form”, and featuring an exciting lineup of guest artists, including Drake, GloRilla, and Metro Boomin, “What Happened to the Streets” is being received somewhat poorly. Critics note that the new album stays too much in Savage’s comfort zone, and doesn’t break any new ground for the artist. The project’s safe, formulaic approach to trap music is not lost on fans, who are also puzzled at the choice to sample R. Kelly on the album’s final track, which Clash magazine called a “misfire”. Additionally, the collaboration tracks feel disjointed and stale; featured artists struggle to find the right tone and clash with Savage’s delivery. Overall, What Happened to the Streets isn’t terrible, but a missed opportunity. 

Detroit based singer-songwriter and rapper Rozey, debuted a one-off side project under the alias “Sugar Cherry”, titled Land of Pine. Land of Pine will be the first and final album under the moniker, and reception is generally positive. The album’s sound is predominantly shoegaze and indie-folk, with some bedroom pop sprinkled in. Rozey’s typical wheelhouse is darker, emo-trap metal and goth rock, but the shift towards softer sounds is welcomed by fans and critics, and Land of Pine doesn’t feel like a first attempt, but has all the polish of a well-established musician in the genre. Listeners also praise the album for its poignancy and emotional depth, as well as profound lyricism, against a backdrop of many layers and textures that flesh out a massive wall of sound. Many find it bittersweet that Land of Pine is both the beginning and end of Sugar Cherry, but perhaps Rozey will dabble more in the genre, based on how well the side project has been faring. 

Alt-rock veteran Juliana Hatfield’s new album Lightning Might Strike is getting great reviews this week, and is reminiscent of the singer’s 90s era. The album was inspired by a recent difficult time in Hatfield's life, following the tragic loss of a close friend, a pet, and a difficult cancer diagnosis in the family. The artist has always found a balance between darkness and levity, and the melancholy Lightning Might Strike is no different, straddling brutal honesty with catchy, upbeat melodies. Despite the tragic influence of the album, its message is ultimately hopeful. Fans and critics appreciate Hatfield’s lyrical authenticity and cathartic releases, and agree “Ashes” is the album’s most notable track, summarizing the main themes of loss and grief beautifully. No official news yet as to whether the artist intends to tour the album, but it seems likely based on her 2024 tour which celebrated the 30 year anniversary of Become What You Are, and Hatfield has performed a few smaller, intimate shows featuring Lighting Might Strike’s more notable tracks. 

Nas and DJ Premier - Light-Years

December 12, 2025

Mass Appeal 

This is Lorelai - Holo Boy

December 12, 2025

Double Double Whammy Records

21 Savage - What Happened to the Streets?

December 12, 2025

Epic Records

Sugar Cherry - Land of Pine

December 10, 2025

X8 Records

Juliana Hatfield - Lightning Might Strike

December 12, 2025

American Laundromat