Hit-Boy has made waves crash at maximum volume for years now. Amid being crowned countless GRAMMY wins alongside Nas for their joint album series King’s Disease, the prolific producer-rapper is finally letting his range shine in the limelight.
Staying afloat with his new album SURF OR DROWN, Hit-Boy recruits a trove of legends to accompany him on his first solo effort since 2020. Released on Friday (March 24), Alchemist, Nas, James Fauntleroy, Curren$y, DOM KENNEDY and more lend bars to the 22-track LP, which features a B-side of instrumentals. Hit shared “The Tide” with Nas on Wednesday (March 22), seeing the tandem rap bar-for-bar in preparation of King’s Disease 4.
Hit confirmed the record in an interview with Rap Radar’s Elliot Wilson on Twitter Spaces on March 16, initially announcing SURF OR DROWN in a conversation with Home Grown Media Group. “Some of the vibes on there I feel like people are gonna rock with,” he said. “It’s not all soul chops and shit… it’s modern sounds, it’s everything. It’s a world to come into.”
“In different interviews and stuff I’ve been doing, I’ve been talking about how I went through some real stuff and I had to really figure out my place back in the game and just understand my personal power in this shit… I could’ve drowned in this shit, so it’s like, Surf or Drown.”
Hit-Boy on ‘SURF OR DROWN’ to Elliot Wilson
“They thought they knew my sound, I leveled up, I’m highly blessed,” Hit tears off on the head-turning “Slipping Into Darkness” with Alchemist, displaying both producers’ poignant talent in the booth with a pair of silky smooth verses. “Hit-Boy over an Alchemist beat, Alchemist over a Hit-Boy beat,” and it’s a bucket from the parking lot — dropping jaws of those unaware of Al and Hit’s lyrical capabilities. Along with Al and Nas, tracks with DOM KENNEDY (“CORSA)”, Curren$y (“Tony Fontana III”) and Avelino (“2 Certified”) were available to stream ahead of the album.
The Surf Club label boss has been on an absolute tear since 2020. Not only earning multiple “Producer Of The Year” honors, SURF OR DROWN serves as Hit-Boy’s first solo album since The Chauncey Hollis Project (2020). This will be his second LP of the year following Victims & Villains with R&B legend Musiq Soulchild.
Previously tapping in with Big Sean (What You Expect), Benny The Butcher (Burden Of Proof) and others, Hit is eyeing another joint project with the Griselda mainstay later this year — tentatively titled Everybody Can’t Go — as well as the fourth installment of King’s Disease. Until then, Hit-Boy is surfing the waters that keep him on top on SURF OR DROWN.
This story will be updated.
Check out “SURF OR DROWN” below!
