It's been a long time coming for Phonte Coleman's second solo album No News Is Good News. The North Carolina native, who first made his mark in the early aughts as a member of Little Brother, has an inclination toward group projects—he's also recorded collaborative works with Nicolay (as The Foreign Exchange), Zo! (Love the 80's) and singer Eric Roberson (Tigallerro). But Tay is the focus on his new work, which was first announced in February 2016 and slated for release in fall of that year. Now that the project has arrived, he reminds fans of why superstars like Drake and Kanye West have sung his praises. ("He knows he’s one of the biggest influences on my career," Drizzy told Village Voice of Phonte in 2011.)

“I didn’t want to write over the course of a year or two,” Phonte told WatchLoud in 2016 of the album. “This project will be a lot more immediate, with songs banged out in a short, concentrated burst.”

Phonte picks up where his 2011 solo debut Charity Starts At Home left off, addressing an array of topics that appeal to the average working-class family man grappling with the ups and downs of adulthood. With guest spots from Freddie Gibbs, Lute, Carmen Rodgers, Tamisha Waden, the 10-track No News Is Good News is a reminder of Phonte's status as one of the more insightful and cerebral artists in rap, with a style of artistry that has yet to lose its luster.

Having given No News Is Good News a few spins, XXL has handpicked 20 of the album's best lyrics and couplets that rank a cut above the rest.

  • "To The Rescue"

    Phonte Featuring Carmen Rodgers

    "Leap y'all feelings in a single bound/When this thing go down/You know the boy rap rings around/Anybody copying the sound it's/Tigallo to the rescue/Coming right back to these streets/Like a biscuit and tea wit the three-piece/But I'm here to ignore the hype all ya likes and retweets/Fuck readin ya thinkpiece, nigga" —Phonte

  • "So Help Me God"

    Phonte Featuring Lute

    "They say they want bars/But it's unfounded/Cuz when they get bars niggas be dumbfounded/My mind is clear and the vision is unclouded/Cap gun rappin where the fuck's the gunpowder?/Chuck D said 'My uzi weighs a ton' now it’s/Time to go the distance in a ring full of one-rounders" —Phonte

  • "So Help Me God"

    Phonte Featuring Lute

    "Look man we are not in concert/This is not a game nigga we are not in Contra/I'ma kill shit I'm a be a silent monster/That will shit to happen like he Tio Salamanca/Bogard ya whole shit like we in Casablanca/In the good times, they'll be quick to fall through/But in the bad times, no they don’t recall you/That’s why no one makes it out sane, this game’ll get all you" —Phonte

  • "Pastor Tigallo"

    Phonte Featuring Tamisha Waden

    "This is prosperity rap shit/For people who be dreaming of Saks Fifth/But pockets on CitiTrends/You wack niggas who deny y’all wackness/Is like Black niggas who deny they Blackness/And say wack shit/Like, 'I ain’t Black bitch my daddy Dominican'/Close your eyes and envision a flow that can’t be imprisoned, my shit’ll break outta any pen/I used to think these hoes fine, now these hoes mine and I’m singing to em like Rin and Tin" —Phonte

  • "Pastor Tigallo"

    Phonte Featuring Tamisha Waden

    "I'm a man I'm a black citizen/On a stand with a magnificent plan to act niggerish/To a tee, like a black Jack Nicklaus or EST the acknicklous/Do ya rap diligence/Do ya backpack, trap rap and ya Dilla shit/I'ma be a gentleman and show you sentimental niggas what the fundamentals is/And walk off with two white hoes like Black militants" —Phonte

  • "Pastor Tigallo"

    Phonte Featuring Tamisha Waden

    "Handily stayin' true to myself outta the concourse/Niggas is comedy shit is Flight of the Conchords/It was a late night and I was set/On a drive down 85 wondering why the best/Ideas only come to me when I'm alone or I'm depressed/Whatever happens to a rhyme deferred, four bars at a loss for words hoping that I find the rest" —Phonte

  • "Expensive Genes"

    Phonte

    "I wish that I could fit in these expensive genes/A waistline that will rip the seams/And pharmaceuticals that sit between ya heart medicine/Cough medicine, blood-thinners and anti-histamines" —Phonte

  • "Expensive Genes"

    Phonte

    "Our biggest fears was shots and armed robberies/Now the biggest fear is a clot in our oncology/Got a sleep app to tell you you got sleep Ap-/Nea, he all in ya' sheets with a C-Pap" —Phonte

  • "Cry No More"

    Phonte

    "He love his work and his woman built like a Clydesdale/Went to the city in search of supreme clientele/And back to the country, fronting like he missed the drive down/Just an illusion of rules, an old-wives tale/ When I was in the borough where the dope and the gun work/Had the whole hood smelling like Dunkirk" —Phonte

  • "Cry No More"

    Phonte

    "They ask me where I been, dog, I been rebuilding/With my wiz and children/Put my pops in the ground, they hit the repass and ate the same shit that killed him/Y'all habits didn't deviate, just thought you would appreciate/My moms used to say I was a whore just like you/So ma, I ran through even more just to spite you/And pop, my health is doing pretty good despite you/I try so I don't die at 54 just like you" —Phonte

  • "Such Is Life"

    Phonte

    "Fear of being erased/Another day at the race to the finish line where nothing significant awaits/My people say when they listen to me that all they hear is the greats/But I can't listen to it 'cause all I hear is mistakes" —Phonte

  • "Such Is Life"

    Phonte

    "Niggas walk in the club looking at broads/But walking out looking at three-to-five on a agg assault/Niggas is animal, they all dog-eat-dog, straight cannibal/Ox with a cold-vein catalog, dusted off the Xannies and the Adderalls/Destined to lead us all to the catacombs" —Phonte

  • "Change of Mind"

    Phonte Featuring Freddie Gibbs

    "You're a keeper and you know it, I'm lost in a bad dream/Heavy clouds, thunder rolling, cause we don't see the same things/So if you need to change your mind, if you need another way/Release you from this pain of mine and you can have a new day" —Phonte

  • "Change of Mind"

    Phonte Featuring Freddie Gibbs

    "Sorta like a nigga raised up, we raised up/Nothing better than when you stayed down and came up/Knew some niggas out the bay cuz, Jamaicans/She ain't never slowed her pitch down or changed up/Baby girl I can ice your wrists, I can ice your fingers/You a life investment, you a life decision" —Freddie Gibbs

  • "Sweet You"

    Phonte

    "Mic check, is this thing on?/I ain't even know if I would rap or just sing on/It took me awhile but now I'm getting my swing on/Icarus in increments sometimes I put wings on" —Phonte

  • "Sweet You"

    Phonte

    "How did we get here?/Started with a kiss then another kiss then another kiss/Then a covered dish with white rice, greens, and smothered fish/I'm lying, it was just chicken, niggas was thugging it/Now we got a covenant it's on, a bond for life/In all of my years this was the easiest song to write" —Phonte

  • "Sweet You"

    Phonte

    "Swore I wouldn't do it again/My man said that'll change/First time is all about working through your baggage/The second time around it's all about the baggage claim/Thank your maker, stack your paper/We're the real one, major key, clairvoyant/Leave them other hoes on read like clarinets" —Phonte

  • "Find That Love Again"

    Phonte Featuring Eric Roberson

    "Truth be told, I don't even know if I'm there yet the higher I go, all I'm seeing is stair steps/I never end the cycle if you ain't aware yet/I'm like slow your roll/My capacity's at an overload I know my lane, I know the ledge, I know the role/That other bullshit's kinda low on the totem pole" —Phonte

  • "Euphorium (Back to the Light)"

    Phonte

    "Back to the light/Back to the track with a knack for your type/Flashback to my black bachelor life/That I left in the past with the passion of Christ/I mastered pizzazz so I'm faster than Ashton on ice/Fuck your feelings we ain't talking about fear/And know my niggas not talking about beer when they say that they got a taste for a Natural Light" —Phonte

  • "Euphorium (Back to the Light)"

    Phonte

    "Don't let your impulse make you a slave/Don't let it take you away/To a place with an ace and a spade/Where you for the sake, making in a year what they make in a day/Locked in a cage with pure generational rage/Hate generates renegades/Showing their ass to the crowds, cause they can't kick it to the stage" —Phonte

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