DeLuca’s 5 Picks: A rising North Philly rapper, Patti LaBelle on ‘Drink Champs,’ and Carly Rae Jepsen’s summer single

1. LGP QUA, freestyle rap on Instagram and TikTok. “Philly, Philly, Philly, that’s the place that I was born at,” LGP QUA raps, pointing to broken streetlights above his head, “on the North side, where the lights was never on at.”

North Philly’s LGP QUA — the first three letters stand for “Let’s get paid” — isn’t brand-new on the scene. Back in 2020, he had an eye-opening freestyle showcase with the influential DJ Funkmaster Flex on New York’s Hot 97.

Now, the rapper born Qidere Johnson is turning heads again with an attention-grabbing clip that led online commentators to compare him to a young Meek Mill and herald him as an up-and-coming master of streets-of-Philadelphia “pain rap.”

In two hard-charging minutes, Qua spits fire with unstinting clarity, painting pictures with haunting imagery, such as a mother who still makes her son’s favorite breakfast every morning, though he’s been shot dead in the streets.

The rapper who also uses the acronym VOTY — “Voice of the youth” — recalls playing freeze tag as a boy, and compares it to the perils that surround him in a city plagued by gun violence, where “if you get tagged, you ain’t never gonna be ‘it’ again.” Without question, a Philly rapper to watch.

2. Patti LaBelle on Drink Champs. On the new episode of Drink Champs, the podcast hosted by rapper N.O.R.E. (formerly Noreaga) and DJ EFN in which guests and hosts are free to imbibe libations of their choice, Patti LaBelle reigns supreme.

Sipping red wine out of a champagne flute she brought for the occasion, she grants her hosts permission to “smoke reefer” if they wish (they don’t, out of respect) and tells stories from her six-decade career.

In the two-hour interview viewable on YouTube, the 78-year-old R&B diva clears the air about her relationship with the late Aretha Franklin and shows love for Jazmine Sullivan, her heir apparent as the Queen of Philly Soul.

She recalls meeting a then-unknown Luther Vandross when he showed up at a gig with free dresses for her and other members of Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles. “I think he stole them,” she says. And she remembers being mad at Elton John for not returning her Tupperware when she cooked for him, until he repaid her with a diamond ring. The whole show is a blast.

3. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, “Edge of the Edge.” Noah Lennox is Panda Bear, one quarter of the Baltimore experimental pop band Animal Collective. (Though he also has a Philly connection: He went to high school in Phoenixville.) Sonic Boom is Pete Kember, a British producer who’s worked with MGMT and Beach House and has worked with Panda Bear before, though never as a fully credited collaborator.

Now, the duo — who currently both live in Portugal — have a new joint album called Reset, which comes out on the Domino label Friday. “Edge of the Edge,” the album’s second single, is built on a looped sample of the doo-wop band Randy & the Rainbows’ 1963 hit “Denise.” That, and Panda Bear’s knack for layering his vocals in Beach Boys-inspired harmonies, gives this sweet psychedelic nugget the taste of something familiar and strange.

4. Carly Rae Jepsen, “Beach House.” Speaking of Beach House, that Baltimore dream-pop band may or may not have been part of the inspiration for Carly Rae Jepsen’s late-breaking summer single.

The Canadian singer, of course, has Song of the Summer experience: Despite carving out a successful career as a thinking-person’s alt-pop heroine in the years since, Jepsen is still best known to many for “Call Me Maybe,” her then-ubiquitous hit that topped the charts back in 2012.

“Beach House” is the latest single from Jepsen’s album The Loneliest Time, which is due in October. The song is summery and extremely catchy but also contains a touch of malice as the singer navigates the dating-app minefield: “I’ve got a beach house in Malibu,” she sings, “and I’ll probably hurt your feelings.”

5. John Moreland, Birds in the Ceiling. When I saw Oklahoma songwriter John Moreland at the Newport Folk Festival last month, he introduced a song as “a cover of one of my favorite songwriters.” Considering his reputation as a descendant of such downcast country-adjacent artists as James McMurtry and Townes Van Zandt, it was a nice surprise that the song turned out to be Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough.”

That signaled Moreland’s good taste but also hinted he’s moving in a new direction. His new album, Birds in the Ceiling, still displays the telling details that Moreland has become known for as he sings the “epidemic blues” on “Neon Middle June” or examines his bloodline in “Generational Dust.” But along with his gently soulful, rumbling voice and rootsy guitar, Birds gurgles and chirps with surprising electronic textures well-suited to his patient, startlingly good story songs.