LL Cool J is back with a new album, The FORCE, produced by Q-Tip.

Chris Parsons/Courtesy of the artist

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Chris Parsons/Courtesy of the artist

LL Cool J is back with a new album, The FORCE, produced by Q-Tip.

Chris Parsons/Courtesy of the artist

NPR Music’s Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Ann Powers take you on a tour of the most exciting albums out Friday, Sept. 6, including a album-length collaboration (don’t call it a comeback) between rapper LL Cool J and producer Q-Tip. Among the week’s other new releases, there’s a potential breakthrough record by MJ Lenderman, who has built anticipation in the indie world based on his own tilted, shambolic songs as well as his guitar playing in the band Wednesday and his collaborations with Waxahatchee.

Plus, Ann and Daoud dig into how up-and-coming musicians get to the point where people start to think of them as the “next big thing,” and what the title can mean for an artists.

Featured albums:
• LL Cool J, The FORCE
• MJ Lenderman, Manning Fireworks
• Nala Sinephro, Endlessness
• The Dare, What’s Wrong with New York?
• Toro Y Moi, Hole Erth

Other albums out Sept. 6:
• Farida Amadou, When It Rains It Pours
• Beth Anderson, I Can’t Stand It
• Arsenal Mikebe, Drum Machine
• Ashe, Willson
• Basic, THIS IS BASIC
• Bleachers, A Stranger Desired
• Danielle Bradbery, Danielle
• Bremer/McCoy, Kosmos
• Callahan & Witscher, Think Differently
• Alejandro Cohen, Chamber of Tears
• The Crane Wives, Beyond Beyond Beyond
• Jackson Dean, On the Back
• The Deslondes, Roll It Out
• Dummy, Free Energy
• Fat Dog, WOOF
• Fcukers, Baggy$$
• Fred Again.., ten days
• Claude Fontaine, La Mer
• G Herbo, Big Swerv
• David Gilmour, Luck and Strange
• Laura Jane Grace & The Mississippi Medicals, Give An Inch EP
• The Heavy Heavy, One Of A Kind
• Paris Hilton, Infinite Icon
• Hinds, Viva Hinds
• Ishmael Ensemble, Rituals
• Jhayco, Le Clique: Vida Rockstar (X)
• Corey Kent, Black Bandana
• Sarah Kinsley, Escaper
• Isik Kural, Moon in Gemini
• La Doña, Los Altos de la Soledad
• Laila!, Gap Year
• Dusty Leigh and Bubba Sparxxx, Impolite Gentlemen
• Ernesto Longobardi + Demetrio Cecchitelli, Maloviento
• Luke Sanger, Dew Point Harmonics
• Heiko Maile and Julian Demarre, NEOSTALGIA
• Man or Astro-Man?, ROYGBIV (Recordings From The BBC)
• Mercury Rev, Born Horses
• Midwife, No Depression in Heaven
• Molchat Doma, Belaya Polosa
• Monolake, Studio
• Jessie Murph, That Ain’t No Man That’s The Devil
• Nexcyia, Exodus
• Nicky Jam, INSOMNIO
• Okay Kaya, Oh My God – That’s So Me
• Party Dozen, Crime In Australia
• Laurence Pike, The Undreamt-of Centre
• Jenna Paulette, Horseback
• Payfone, Wild Butterfly EP
• Ransom, Conway the Machine and V Don, Chaos is My Ladder 2
• Rex Orange County, The Alexander Technique
• Max Richter, In A Landscape
• Shovels & Rope, Something Is Working Up Above My Head
• SleazyWorld Go, More Than A Shooter
• Laetitia Sonami / Éliane Radigue, A Song For Two Mothers / OCCAM IX
• George Strait, Cowboys and Dreamers
• Suuns, The Breaks
• The The, Ensoulment
• Pat Thomas, The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir
• Three Quarter Skies, Fade In
• Gavin Turek, Diva Of The People
• V/A, Kompakt: Total 24