The first posthumous Fred The Godson album has been released to mark the late rapper’s birthday – listen to it below.

Fred, who was named as one of the XXL Freshman class in 2011 alongside the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill and Mac Miller, died last April after contracting the coronavirus.

A prominent figure on the New York rap scene, Fred made his breakthrough in 2010 thanks to his ‘Armageddon’ mixtape, which featured guest spots from Cam’ron, Busta Rhymes, Waka Flocka Flame, Styles P, and others.

He would go on to collaborate with Diddy, Meek Mill, and Pusha-T among others, and earlier this year he dropped ‘Training Day’, a collaborative project with Saturday Night Live alum Jay Pharoah.

Listen to ‘Ascension’ below:

The release of ‘Ascension’ also coincides with the naming ceremony for Frederick “Fred The Godson” Thomas Avenue in the South Bronx. Dipset rapper Jim Jones was among those present at the street sign unveiling.

“They gave Fred his own block which was his old black in th BX very dope,” he captioned a video of him at the ceremony. “Wish u could email me a record to get on from heaven love u bro.”

Others present at the unveiling were rapper Fat Joe and radio host Sway Calloway, both of whom shared words about Fred to the gathered crowd.

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Meanwhile, a new song from A Tribe Called Quest‘s Phife Dawg has been released posthumously, titled ‘Nutshell Pt.2’ and featuring verses from Busta Rhymes and Redman.

It’s the first cut from Phife Dawg’s – real name Malik Izaak Taylor – forthcoming posthumous album ‘Forever’, which is set to arrive later this year via AWAL/Smokin’ Needles.

The gritty track is something of a reimagining of his final single ‘Nutshell’ which was released in 2016, shortly after his death. In this new version of the song, Redman and Busta Rhymes add their own bars while retaining Taylor’s original hook “that’s just me in a nutshell“.