Everything You Need to Know About TDE Appreciation Week
by: Jordan Rose
The era of rap supergroups has come and gone. Where there were once several rap teams fighting for Hip Hop supremacy—from the Odd Future’s to the A$AP Mobs—they have now all but dwindled away, except for the choice few. One of those factions who have been able to somewhat remain together and withstand the test of time is Top Dawg Entertainment, better known as TDE. Over the next two weeks up until May 4, TDE will be dropping new music from several members of their party every day in commemoration of TDE Appreciation Week. That has some heavy implications on the heavily anticipated music we might be hearing soon, so here’s everything you need to know going into TDE Appreciation Week.
When did it start?
TDE Appreciation Week started on co-founder Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith’s birthday this past Monday with the first song coming from the one-and-only Ab-Soul in “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle.” Top Dawg took to Instagram to share Ab’s latest track and said that it would be kicking off “TDE Appreciation Week.”
Who’s dropped songs already?
As of the posting of this piece, so far we’ve gotten “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” from Ab-Soul, “Edamame” and “This Woman’s Work” from Zacari, “Rapper Weed” from SiR featuring Boogie, “Why Worry” from Isaiah Rashad, and “Off The Leash” coming from TDE affiliate signee Kemba X. That leaves SZA, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Lance Skiiwalker, Reason, and of course Kendrick Lamar who we still might be getting music from over these next two weeks.
Why is it happening?
Top Dawg didn’t say who else was dropping or why they were suddenly doing this, but since we’ve already gotten music from Isaiah Rashad and Ab-Soul, two artists who haven’t dropped any solo music in over three years, it might be safe to assume that we could be hearing from other long-awaited artists to make a return as well.
What else should we expect?
Aside from the obvious, this could be when TDE fans finally get what they’ve been waiting for besides a new Kendrick song. A lot of the big pins out of the TDE camp have been relatively quiet. Hell, Reason delivered more bars for J. Cole during Revenge of the Dreamer III then he has in a while for TDE. This could be a time where TDE rookies like Zacari can shine without having to live in the larger artist's shadow. Long time TDE fans might also finally see more impressive performances from their label favorites in tandem over these next two weeks. And, of course, we might finally get a heavily anticipated Kendrick verse as well.
