Latest stories
Nothing found for your query. Try another search.
Albums, EPs & singles
Nothing found for your query.
Daily chart
Nothing found for your query.
Find what to listen to
Photo: Joshua Davis
AlbumBigXthaPlug releases "Better Over Time," an 18-track album with guest features from Ava Max, GloRilla, Leon Thomas, Lil Yachty and others. It arrives on Friday, October 30, through 600 Entertainment and UnitedMasters, the independent company he has worked with since his debut, and it is his fourth full-length studio album. It also marks his return to hip-hop after his previous album made major waves on the country charts, and he presents it as the story of his road from the football field to stages around the world.
He set up the campaign with a move fans caught before any announcement, quietly scrubbing his own face off the artwork of his earlier albums on streaming services. The new cover answers that gesture, built from the different faces of those previous projects. Billboards carrying the face of each guest went up in that artist's hometown first, across seven cities, from Atlanta and Memphis to Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Philadelphia and Detroit. He confirmed the full lineup afterwards on Instagram, with the guests popping up on a stack of TV screens.
The first single was "LITE" with Atlanta's Belly Gang Kushington, released in September with a video he directed alongside his longtime collaborator Jerry Morka. It moves from a hazy nightclub out into the night, with a stop at a gas station to meet friends. "BURN" with Ava Max followed in October, its video putting the two of them on trial after a betrayal, with the courtroom erupting into flames. Each of the two singles arrived with its own music video.
The rest of the guest list leans on rap and R&B. Lil Yachty and Detroit's Babyface Ray share "BELIEVE." Leon Thomas sings on "NO LIMIT," and GloRilla turns up with a verse of her own. Dallas rapper Ro$ama, Loe Shimmy and Philadelphia singer Fridayy also get a song each, and the album closes with "ONE," which he carries on his own.
The album comes with a companion short film, also called Better Over Time, which follows his life through his parents' eyes and ends on a cliffhanger. He screened it for hometown fans at a Cinemark in North Dallas on October 26, turning the night into a premiere with popcorn and drinks, and then surprised the room by showing up in person. The film also carries footage from his BigXthaPlug and Friends Birthday Bash in South Dallas in May, and after the applause the crowd asked for it to land on streaming services.
News, releases and the Top 50 — Fridays.