Hip-Hop Wired Presents: CRT FRSH (Certified Fresh) Playlist 1.3.25

CRT FRSH, Hip-Hop Wired’s playlist where we attempt to showcase music we believe is “Certified Fresh,” is back again for 2025! Now that we’re nearing the end of the year, we’re trimming down the CRT FRSH playlist and updating the concept with our latest drop which we hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer:

The CRT FRSH playlist is a labor of love. We don’t take payments nor do we do favors. We only add joints to our playlist that fit the theme and vision we’re going for and don’t seek to waste the listener’s time. Further, we don’t stick to one lane of Hip-Hop. We believe that all aspects of the music should get some light, whether it’s young lions in the trenches or those hoping for that one shot to blow up to grizzled veterans puffing out their chests with lots more to say.

I want to explain how I approach curating the CRT FRSH playlist. Most importantly, I don’t segregate my Hip-Hop. Every form of music from the main cultural tree deserves a listen and a look. When I construct the playlist, I want to include all regions across the States and, when applicable, across the globe. I also want to entertain every fan of Hip-Hop, not just those who enjoy one segment of it. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get to it. — D.L. Chandler

Happy New Year, Hip-Hop Wired Nation! I’m glad to be back to curating what’s about to be your new favorite Hip-Hop music playlist! Since the year is new, we’ll be featuring quite a bit of music we missed over the past year.

Opening the playlist this weekend is Lil Baby’s “Outfit” from the Atlanta rapper’s new WHAM album, and he invited 21 Savage along for the ride with a verse that some believe was in support of frequent collaborator, Drake. We follow that up with Redman’s “Dynomite” from his fantastic new album, Muddy Waters Too with Sheek Looch of The Lox on the feature.

Offset’s “Swing My Way” sees the Migos artist back in top form. Smoke DZA, one of our favorite rappers, delivered a couple of projects in 2024 and his You’re All Welcome deluxe drop with DJ RELLYRELL had several standouts, including “Another Full Tank In The Bronco” featuring Westside Gunn and Stove God Cooks.

We’re still enjoying CHROMAKOPIA, one of our top albums of 2024, and the track “Thought I Was Dead” featuring ScHoolboy Q and Santigold. That’s followed by Mike Shabb’s “Free Jesus” from the Montreal artist’s Sewaside III album featuring the talented Navy Blue. We slept on that one, our fault.

We want to salute all of the entrants on this week’s playlist and thank you for your contributions to the art.

We’ll be updating this playlist in two weeks, so live with these songs a bit and stay tuned.

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Photo: Getty