"Electric and acoustic guitar sounds have spread onto more hip-hop records, through an assortment of production techniques, including an increased employment of loops and loop makers, who create short melodies for producers to build beats around" - Vice points out the new trend in hip-hop production. "On the Polo G’s latest album, 'Hall of Fame', nearly half of the 20 songs include a guitar sound in the beat. On H.E.R.'s 'Find a Way' the R&B artist H.E.R. uses a crystalline electric guitar as a canvas for her voice. On J. Cole's 'Pride is the Devil', a simple and somber guitar riff carries the beat"...

After reaching the top 10 on Billboard 200 chart three times, Polo G lands his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 this week as 'Hall of Fame' opens atop the tally, earning 143,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending June 17, Billboard reports. Migos’ 'Culture III' starts at No. 2, TWICE’s 'Taste of Love' debuts at No. 6, Bo Burnham’s 'Inside (The Songs)' jumps 116-7 after its first full tracking week of activity, and Maroon 5’s 'Jordi' bows at No. 8.

XXL magazine revealed their Freshman Class list for this year with 12 rappers to watch: "NLE Choppa calls home to Memphis while Polo G and Calboy represent Chicago. Lil Tjay and Fivio Foreign hold it down for New York. Baby Keem rests his head in Las Vegas. Jack Harlow is a proud Louisville, Ky. native. Rod Wave hails from the bottom of the map in St. Petersburg, Fla. Down South gets love from Chika in Montgomery, Ala., and both Mulatto and Lil Keed are hot in the streets of Atlanta. San Francisco rapper 24kGoldn earned the most fan votes to land the title of the Freshman 10th spot winner".

Rolling Stone presents eight US cities where big things are going on, this time around it's Chicago. Makaya McCraven, Angel Bat Dawid, and Nicole Mitchell are leading a major jazz renaissance - they're connecting Chicago’s long history of avant-garde innovation with inspirations ranging from hip-hop beats to Nineties post-rock. On the other side, there are hip-hop up-and-comers like Calboy, Polo G, and Lil Zay Osama, who have softened some of drill’s hard edges, pairing deeply honest lyrics with delicate melodies over lilting beats.

"He is careful and meticulous, malleable and introspective. His sound totters between drill and pop, sometimes hard, sometimes smooth. Eventually, he blurs the lines between them. All of this is on full display on his brutal, powerful debut, 'Die a Legend'" - Pitchfork says about it's latest Best New Music choice, Chicago rapper Polo G's album.