August 2016 Rap Releases: 6 New Albums To Watch For, Including Rae Sremmurd And French Montana

There’s only a few weeks of summer 2016 left and just a handful of new rap albums to enjoy before September hits.

Whether it’s the West Coast MC’s Atmosphere’s album “Fishing Blues,” slated for an Aug. 12 release, or whether it’s David Banner’s “The God Box” LP, which comes out on Aug. 19, hip-hop fans should definitely be excited about what’s in store.

And out of those albums, there’s about six releases that seem to be more anticipated than the others, at least based on some of the social media chatter:

1. Rae Sremmurd — “SremmLife 2" (Aug. 12)

After taking the rap world by storm with their brand of youthful party songs, a lot of eyes will be on Rae Sremmurd’s sophomore release “SremmLife 2.” The deluxe version of the album has 14 tracks in all and guest features include Kodak Black, Juicy J, Lil Jon and everyone’s favorite rapper of the moment Gucci Mane on the song “Black Beatles.” You can also expect some production from group member Swae Lee, who said he’s working a lot more behind the scenes these days.

“SremmLife 2” can now be preordered on iTunes.

2. Troy Ave — “Roland Collins” (Aug. 12)

Fresh out of jail for his involvement in a shooting at a T.I. concert in New York’s Irving Plaza, Troy Ave is still keeping busy and will deliver his “Roland Collins” album in just three days. Based on an Instagram post, the actual cover of the album is a photo of Troy Ave sitting in a wheelchair while in court, presumably taken shortly after he was arrested and charged with attempted murder and weapons possession.

Despite the album coming out later this week, Troy Ave hasn’t released the tracklist yet or the names of the producers or guest features, so it’s possible he’ll roll that out within the next couple of days.

3. French Montana — “MC4” (Aug. 19)

French Montana could be considered one of the hardest working artists in rap, because whether he’s releasing a single, appearing on someone else’s song or hanging out on TV with the Kardashians, the Bronx MC seems to be everywhere at once.

On his “MC4” album, French has gathered a who’s-who of artists to appear on cuts including Miguel, A$AP Rocky, Nas, Kanye West and Drake, on the newly released single “No Shopping.” You can preorder the release here on iTunes.

4. Tory Lanez — "I Told You" (Aug. 19)

Still riding the wave of his mixtape “The New Toronto,” it’ll be interesting to see if Tory Lanez can maintain that same momentum on his follow-up album “I Told You.”

Surprisingly, the 24-year-old decided not to have any features on the 14-track release, which includes songs like “Friends with Benefits,” “Loners Blvd” and the first single “Flex,” which you might have heard already.

5. De La Soul — “And the Anonymous Nobody" (Aug. 26)

The New York trio is back with their eighth studio album, which is a 17-track release that includes features from Snoop Dogg, 2 Chainz, Jill Scott and Estelle just to name a few. Although De La Soul has been known to go against the hip-hop grain, on this album they simply wanted to add to the music that’s currently out there, as opposed to challenging it by making something left of center.

“This album is about lending to the scape of music in 2016, trying to give something, not for the sake of we want to balance what’s going on or fix hip-hop,” said group member Dave. “We just want to say something to the creative aspects of music.”

You can preorder the album here.

6. Lil Bibby —“FC3 the Epilogue” (Aug. 26)

After numerous delays, Lil Bibby will deliver his “FC3 Epilogue” album later this month, and it can now be preordered on iTunes. There’s not much known about the release, aside that it will contain 11 tracks with song titles like “Sleeping on the Floor,” featuring G Herbo, “Aww Man,” featuring Future, as well as the tune “Rider.”

In an interview with VladTV earlier this year, the Chicago rhymer explained why the album has been so delayed, and it’s because he wanted to change the overall sound and feeling of it.

“Because I’m in a different type of mode right now,” said Lil Bibby. “I’m feeling different, so I wanted to put different type of s--- on there. I’m in street mode. I’ve been in Chicago for a little minute, so I’m back on that vibe. That’s how I want it to sound.”