DROPPED THIS WEEK: WEEK 21 - MAY 24th
Australian hip hop is deep in rollout season right now. Across the country, artists are building toward major project releases while others continue delivering on their one release a month promises. The volume and quality of Australian rap releases this week points to something bigger happening across the culture.
Veterans and rookies alike are pushing in completely different directions stylistically, but the hunger underneath it all feels the same. Melbourne continues setting the pace this week. CV’s run into his debut album keeps building. Producers are becoming increasingly central to how records are shaping up sonically and visually. But the bigger takeaway from DTW2621 is simpler than that.
Artists are no longer creating just to stay visible.
They’re building bodies of work that actually matter.
Across Brisbane drill, Melbourne rap, Adelaide boom bap, and emotionally driven underground releases, the common thread is consistency, quality, and confidence. The baseline across Australian hip hop has shifted upwards. Different sounds. Different cities. Different generations. Same level of craft.
Weekly Signals
Weekly MVP: CV
Best Positioning: Dondrino - WADZ
Best Rollout Moment: ChillinIT — “Out In The Sunshine”
Breakout Artist: Choppaz Rightz
must listen tracks of the week
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must listen tracks of the week 🌐
CV — “Active” ft. Moses
Melbourne drill artist CV has released “Active,” his second single from forthcoming debut album For The Streets (June 19), pairing him with Moses over production that sits somewhere between hoodtrap and drill without fully settling into either sound.
The foundation is deceptively simple. A piano melody establishes tone before the 808s and kicks arrive with an almost chant like heaviness underneath. What makes it work is how controlled everything feels. The engineering, handled by Mixed By Daniel, never feels overcrowded. The mix gives both artists room to move while the low end keeps the track constantly bouncing underneath them. It’s production that understands its role and sticks to it.
This is where CV starts looking genuinely dangerous as a full project artist. Earlier releases showed flashes of potential, but “Active” reveals somebody sharpening technically in real time. His cadence shifts into something smoother, almost gliding across the beat. The wordplay lands cleaner. The delivery feels more controlled. Lyrically, he moves through money, women, and crime with understated confidence that never needs to force itself into the foreground.
When Moses enters for the second verse, he matches that energy immediately without disrupting momentum. He mirrors CV’s opening bar before shifting into his own influences and flows. Moses brings similar technical weight to the track, with similes and layered bars doing the heavy lifting, but leans further into the women and street themes while still fitting naturally into the same pocket.
What’s striking is how naturally both artists operate here. There’s no visible strain and no point where either artist feels outmatched. The chemistry works because both artists understand exactly where they fit on the record and trust the production to hold everything together.
ZacoBro’s visual direction reinforces something worth paying attention to about Melbourne’s current creative standards. The warehouse setting mirrors the cold atmosphere of the track. Performance shots dominate the visual while constant movement keeps the frame restless. The b roll selection adds weight to the overall mood, and the scene choices show why ZacoBro continues operating at the level he does.
Culturally, “Active” matters because it reflects connectivity at a time when many city based hip hop scenes feel fragmented. This is Melbourne talking to itself, and the result doesn’t sound local in the way Australian rap once did. It sounds like a city building its own production standards, visual language, and internal creative pressure.
Melbourne drill has spent the last eighteen months building real momentum, and records like “Active” show how far the city’s sound has evolved.
For The Streets is starting to feel bigger than a debut. If “Active” is any indication of what’s coming, CV looks completely ready for the spotlight.
Heat Rating: 10/10
Dondrino — “WADZ”
Brisbane drill artist Dondrino has released “WADZ,” a track produced by Sneezy and Dondrino that continues a strong upward run for the Brisbane drill artist. The single arrives after months of social media teasers and snippets that steadily built anticipation across his Instagram presence.
The production sits firmly within Brisbane drill territory. Cold piano melodies and dark tones establish the atmosphere early, while the percussion slowly builds pressure before the 808s fully land and the track settles into its mood. The structure gives the record space to breathe instead of forcing intensity from the opening seconds.
Dondrino takes a different approach to drill delivery. Where the genre often leans on clipped and aggressive performances, he takes a more conversational approach. His lyrics revolve around legal pressure, crime, hustle, and the tension surrounding all of it, while the hook feels like a direct response to the struggles detailed throughout the verses.
The writing stays layered throughout the track. There’s wordplay, layered rhyme patterns, and subtle syllable work that keeps everything moving naturally.
The accompanying video, directed by Grechie, matches the tone of the production closely. The grading feels cinematic, while the locations look selected with purpose rather than used as generic performance backdrops. Each setting feels distinctly Brisbane and grounded in lived experience. Dondrino’s performance keeps the visuals engaging throughout, with more focus placed on his personality and presence in frame.
What stands out most is how much cleaner every release has become. The production choices feel sharper. The visuals feel more focused. The overall execution keeps improving release by release.
His recent use of samples and remix driven ideas also shows awareness of wider music and social media trends without losing the local identity behind the releases.
That ability to connect international sounds with Brisbane culture gives the music broader reach than most local drill artists have traditionally managed.
Brisbane drill continues expanding in 2026, and Dondrino is becoming one of the clearest examples of that progression.
The profile he’s built throughout the year has pushed his name further than ever before, and “WADZ” feels like another major step forward.
Heat Rating: 9/10
ChillinIT — “Out In The Sunshine”
Melbourne legend ChillinIT has released “Out In The Sunshine,” his second single ahead of final album Wisdom, Weed & Wordplay, a track that sounds like a man taking stock of his career.
The production moves in phases. It opens with a vintage sample threaded beneath female vocals and elegant strings. There’s tension in the arrangement, a darker undertone built from a piano bassline that sits just off enough to linger. Then the drums enter and everything changes. Booming 808s anchor the low end while the strings and vocals hold the top together, pushing the record into more traditional sample driven territory.
Another shift arrives moments later. The beat brightens. The energy softens. The track uncovers something soulful underneath the hype. That constant movement gives the record its emotional core.
ChillinIT sounds like somebody looking back. His opening verse stacks accolades. It feels less introspective than reflective, a man running through everything he’s built over the last decade. He moves into more versatile flows, pivots toward storytelling, and keeps the familiar focus on women while delivering it with a maturity that wasn’t always present in earlier releases.
There’s ambition threaded through the writing, but it lands differently here. Less hungry. More resolved. More like vindication than pursuit.
None of this sounds like somebody still chasing validation.
The JAEN collective video leans heavily into that reading. Performance footage sits beside throwback clips, viral moments, fan interactions, and scenes from shows across different stages of his career. A “Last Supper” themed dinner table becomes the visual centrepiece, making the retirement angle impossible to ignore. Workout footage, smoke filled rooms, backstage moments, sold out stages. The video balances grind and glamour equally.
Context matters here. ChillinIT announced his retirement on Instagram the same week he released this track. His final album Wisdom, Weed & Wordplay arrives June 19, while the “Last Leg” tour begins in Brisbane on July 25 before closing out his run entirely.
That timing transforms “Out In The Sunshine” into something bigger than another rollout single. The soulful production and reflective writing give the record a weight that feels impossible to separate from the retirement announcement.
For Australian hip hop, moments like this rarely happen in real time.
For the broader culture, the moment feels bigger than one artist stepping away. One of its defining and most influential voices exiting the space feels like a cultural punctuation mark more than a simple retirement announcement.
Heat Rating: 8/10
Ay Huncho — “Test My Gangster”
Sydney drill artist Ay Huncho has released “Test My Gangster,” a new single arriving alongside a major legal development after a 23 year old woman was recently arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder the rapper. The lyric video surfaced publicly this week, signalling the beginning of what appears to be a larger rollout surrounding the release.
The timing changes how the record lands immediately. Any listen to “Test My Gangster” happens against the backdrop of an active legal situation surrounding the artist, adding obvious weight to the writing and atmosphere of the track.
The production leans heavily into dark, cinematic territory. Synths and strings anchor the arrangement while booming 808s and trap driven percussion keep everything moving underneath. Church bells cut through sections of the instrumental, adding tension without overwhelming the record. The layered production gives the track scale while still keeping enough restraint to stop it from becoming chaotic.
Ay Huncho matches that energy vocally. His delivery shifts between slower pockets and faster runs that mirror the movement of the beat itself, while the hook lands with strong cadence and urgency. Lyrically, the track centres around pressure, status, street life, and dominance without softening any of its themes.
What makes the release work is the control behind it. Despite the intensity of both the themes and surrounding circumstances, the production never becomes overloaded. That balance places “Test My Gangster” inside the direction modern Sydney drill has increasingly been moving toward over the last two years: darker music with sharper structure, cleaner engineering, and more refined execution.
The rollout itself also feels deliberate. Releasing a lyric video before the streaming push suggests bigger plans surrounding the release, while BIORDI’s continued expansion and LOWKEE’s growing role in rollout strategy continue strengthening the infrastructure surrounding Sydney drill.
Ay Huncho remains central to that conversation. Regardless of controversy, people still pay attention when he drops.
Heat Rating: 7/10
Choppaz Rightz — “Sin City” ft. Oejayy
Brisbane rapper Choppaz Rightz has released “Sin City,” featuring Oejayy and produced by Sneezy, a five minute track in a short form era that pushes directly against the modern expectation to keep everything instantly consumable.
The track sits in old school territory without sounding retrospective. Sneezy’s production builds around ambient strings and a walking bass melody, anchored by boom bap drums that keep one foot in nostalgia. There’s a restless quality to it. Glitchy synths cut through the warmth, distorted and deliberately off balance, creating textural tension that unfolds gradually instead of announcing itself immediately.
The production refuses to sit comfortably in one lane. It’s layered enough that each listen reveals something new in the arrangement.
Choppaz Rightz uses the space efficiently. His approach is conversational, built on a bouncy pocket that keeps his cadence moving naturally. The track is framed as conceptual storytelling about his experiences in Kempsey, and the bars stay rooted in visual detail rather than abstraction.
Oejayy’s entry provides contrast. His tone sits differently in the mix, while his delivery adds an almost melodic quality to his verse. He doesn’t just occupy space. He extends the visual storytelling Choppaz established.
Where the track becomes genuinely surprising is the final third. Just when the structure suggests an ending, another verse appears. Then, without warning, Choppaz Rightz and Oejayy move bar for bar in a call and response exchange that could have easily felt forced. Instead, it lands naturally as an escalation of what the track had already built.
The five minute runtime feels earned rather than padded. Nothing here exists for its own sake, and nothing has been trimmed down to fit algorithmic preference.
That’s notable because it suggests a clear choice about what hip hop can still be in 2026.
This release also sits within a larger run. “Sin City” is Choppaz Rightz’s fourth single this year, following the Cheech & Chong collaborative EP with Crofty at the beginning of 2026. He’s part of a small group of Brisbane artists committed to monthly releases, the kind of consistency the local scene has wanted for years.
It’s not flashy. Just work.
But that kind of consistency eventually becomes impossible to ignore.
Heat Rating: 7/10
Crofty — “2AM”
Singleton artist Crofty has released “2AM,” his fourth instalment of the monthly single cycle this year, continuing one of the most disciplined release runs in Australian hip hop right now.
Produced by YookaBeats, the track separates itself from earlier releases through a softer, more textured direction that blends jazz influenced R&B with contemporary hoodtrap production.
The production establishes itself through warmth. Piano melodies rooted in soft jazz sit alongside subtle saxophone lines, while bass guitar gives the record vintage weight throughout. Midway through, the instrumental shifts from boom bap leaning rhythms into more synthetic hoodtrap textures. The transition feels smooth rather than forced, with the drums moving from acoustic ambience into trap percussion without losing the soulful core of the record.
Crofty keeps the energy moving. Lyrically, he moves through familiar territory centred around hustle, elevation, and the pressure that comes with visibility. What stands out most is how naturally the delivery flows across the track. There’s a loose, almost one take quality to the performance, especially in the way his verses connect directly back into the hook without obvious breaks in momentum.
What becomes clearer with every release is Crofty’s range as an artist. Across four months, he has worked through boom bap, grime, and now jazz infused hoodtrap without losing consistency in writing or delivery.
It doesn’t feel like trend chasing. It feels like an artist confident enough in his own voice to move between different production styles while keeping his identity intact.
There are still eight months remaining in Crofty’s current release cycle, but each instalment has gradually expanded the scope of what he’s capable of.
For now, “2AM” stands as another example of how consistency doesn’t need to come at the expense of quality.
Four releases into the year, Crofty continues sharpening his sound while quietly building one of the more reliable independent runs in Australian hip hop right now.
Heat Rating: 7/10
Retz — “Tragic Beauty”
Central Coast artist Retz, in partnership with FithStudios, has released “Tragic Beauty,” their fifth collaboration, a track built on understated production and emotional honesty.
FithStudios keeps the production sparse and heavy. A slow, minor key guitar melody carries the opening moments before Retz enters the record. When the drums arrive, they settle into a sparse trap structure sitting somewhere between rap and R&B, allowing atmosphere to shape the mood as much as the instrumentation itself.
The guitar remains present the entire way through, giving the track a constant emotional pull underneath everything else.
The production gives the atmosphere room.
Nothing feels overcrowded.
Retz leans fully into emotional directness. His delivery stays emotionally raw, prioritising feeling over technical performance. The sadness in the track comes less from obvious lyrical moments and more from the way he approaches cadence and phrasing throughout the record.
The melodic shape of his performance mirrors the emotion sitting underneath the production itself.
“Tragic Beauty” sits inside the pain instead of escaping it. The title itself reveals the core of the track. Not interested in redemption or closure. Instead, the record focuses on the uncomfortable reality that pain and meaning can often exist in the same place at the same time.
Rather than trying to resolve that tension, Retz allows the emotions to remain unresolved.
The visual from FithStudios carries the same emotional tone forward. Cooler colour grading, muted lighting, and restrained framing reinforce the atmosphere without relying on heavy handed symbolism or dramatic visual tricks.
There is confidence in the simplicity of it all.
Across five releases, a clearer picture is emerging around what Retz and FithStudios are building together.
At this point, the partnership feels fully locked in.
A new release is already scheduled for June 5, continuing a rollout structure that keeps momentum moving without oversaturating listeners.
Heat Rating: 6/10
ArryJayy n KaeDill — “Ready To Fly” ft. ALLCAPITAL
Adelaide’s ArryJayy and KaeDill have built momentum throughout 2026 on a straightforward idea: technical hip hop rooted in boom bap fundamentals still has space in a streaming landscape dominated by trend chasing.
Their new single “Ready To Fly,” featuring fellow Adelaide artist ALLCAPITAL and producer JayNae, reinforces that idea without turning it into a statement piece.
The track sits comfortably inside traditional hip hop production grammar. Boom bap drums anchor the groove while G funk influenced synths add texture around the edges. An electric guitar melody drifts across the mix with enough abstraction to feel slightly uneasy, ambient without losing pocket.
JayNae stacks these elements carefully. Every layer pushes the old school direction forward while still carrying enough polish to stop the track from sounding trapped in nostalgia.
KaeDill sets the tone early, opening with the hook framed around ambition and elevation. He transitions into the opening verse with more pace, settling naturally into the beat instead of overpowering it.
That balance becomes one of the release’s strongest qualities.
The performance never feels like it’s trying to prove itself.
ALLCAPITAL enters after the second chorus with a noticeably different vocal texture. His voice cuts through immediately. He doesn’t just step into the track. He changes the atmosphere.
Lyrically, “Ready To Fly” values clarity over density. There are no overloaded rhyme schemes competing for attention and no unnecessary lyrical clutter. ArryJayy, KaeDill, and ALLCAPITAL make their impact through pacing, delivery, and clean writing rather than trying to force complexity into every bar.
The visual stays understated and raw, capturing the ambitious energy running through the record itself. The clip centres heavily around performance, with locations pulled directly from both artists’ environments. Studio sessions. Booth recordings. Graffiti covered hallways. Night exteriors. Stripped back performance shots.
Adelaide has always had a unique relationship with technically focused hip hop. That lineage isn’t invisible on releases like “Ready To Fly,” though ArryJayy and KaeDill clearly belong to a different generation.
The difference is that they don’t seem interested in defending old school hip hop’s relevance.
They simply exist inside it naturally.
Heat Rating: 5/10
X2Yappy — “GBGz Freestyle”
North Melbourne rapper X2Yappy has released his third single in as many months, arriving alongside a music video from DownUnder Cyphers. “GBGz Freestyle” lands roughly a year after his release from prison, marking a steady return to music.
The track sits in a particular pocket of contemporary trap production, atmospheric and spacious rather than aggressive. Latin influenced strings open the record before giving way to hi hat focused percussion and supporting flute melodies.
It’s the kind of beat that creates space rather than overwhelming the performance, which matters when the focus is delivery and writing instead of fighting against production.
Lyrically, X2Yappy moves through familiar territory. Survival. Hustle. The street environment shaping his immediate world. There is no oversized statement here, and no redemption story being performed for an audience.
The verse feels less like an outward message and more like an internal conversation.
The flexing and frustration sit side by side, which is where the track finds most of its weight. It feels direct without turning theatrical.
DownUnder Cyphers continues documenting Melbourne’s current movement. The video follows a straightforward progression from home to the trap to the streets to inevitable arrest. The framing stays understated throughout. No unnecessary aesthetic excess. No forced hyper realism. The execution stays clean and professional enough that nothing feels underfunded.
What stands out about X2Yappy’s output over the past year isn’t necessarily the individual quality of each release, although “GBGz Freestyle” holds up comfortably.
It’s the consistency.
Three singles in as many months. Two music videos. Visible growth.
This is the work rate of an artist taking the process seriously.
Melbourne’s hip hop and R&B infrastructure has shifted noticeably over the past eighteen months. Multiple artists from the city gained traction throughout last year, while collectives like DownUnder Cyphers continue documenting emerging voices visually.
X2Yappy isn’t arriving into chaos anymore.
He’s arriving into structure.
Heat Rating: 4/10
What DTW2621 Really Says
Artists across Australian hip hop are focusing less on trends and more on identity, craft, and long term growth. The difference is becoming obvious.
The sheer volume of quality releases this week says a lot on its own. Brisbane. Melbourne. Adelaide. The Central Coast. Different sounds kept arriving from completely different corners of the country, but the overall standard rarely dropped.
That wasn’t always the case.
The quality floor across Australian rap has shifted upward. What once felt exceptional now feels expected.
Veteran artists are helping drive that change. ChillinIT stepping away with a reflective final rollout. CV building genuine anticipation around his debut album. Choppaz Rightz committing to long form storytelling and monthly consistency. Crofty moving comfortably between genres. Dondrino sharpening Brisbane drill into something with broader reach.
The newer generation is following the same path. Better visuals. Stronger engineering. Smarter releases. More structure.
The infrastructure is becoming visible now.
Producers are building identifiable sounds. Visual creatives are becoming recurring names across cities. Rollouts are lasting longer. Artists are collaborating more naturally. The Australian hip hop landscape finally feels connected in a way it struggled to for years.
Weeks like DTW2621 make that impossible to ignore.
This no longer feels like a culture trying to prove it exists.
It feels like an industry learning how to scale.
