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A lot of people who aren’t familiar with Chicago’s very own Lucki might hear people describe his music as conscious rap and automatically group him in a lane with artists like J. Cole or Kendrick, yet he is in a lane of his own, and listeners wouldn’t understand that until tuning in for themselves. He is just so ethereal that his songs seem to naturally ooze out of him as his deepest and darkest thoughts come to life through his nonchalant, almost sleepy delivery that caught me off guard almost a decade ago and kept me coming back for more with every new release he put out. Late last night, he decided to surprise listeners once again with a brand-new two-track EP that came out of nowhere, yet I couldn’t be more thankful. The first song is called “LifestyleBrazy” and features production from one of my all-time favorite producers Brent Rambo. Here, Brent uses some almost worrisome, momentous piano keys underneath some sinister and piercing hats, poignant synths, and minimalistic drums that provide the perfect underworld sound for Lucki to absolutely demolish. As I’ve grown familiar with Lucki, I’ve learned to love his stylistic choice of starting sentences in a …

As I find myself falling deeper and deeper down the wormhole that is Hyperpop, I find myself getting more and more interested in weirder sounds. While I say weird, I should clarify that I’ve been partial to interesting, innovative, and creative sounds that might come off as weird to the average listener, yet it might be normal to anyone else who has familiarized themselves with the Hyperpop scene. While midwxst has been stating his claim as to why he’s legitimately one of the best up and coming artists in the genre, he never seems to slow down and that’s part of the reason why I’ve become enthralled in the sonic landscape he has painted for himself and admirers all over the world. As I familiarize myself more and more with the subgenre as well, it appears as if there is a group of artists that stick together and collaborate more than any other genre, so this is something I admire more than anything else. Most recently, midwxst teamed up with fellow Helix Tears member/founder blackwinterwells for a track entitled “hate me”. wells handled the production on this hit, bringing a dexterous, lively beat to life with some strange yet playful …

Although it took a friend of mine to put me onto Lovsky’s music a few months back, I have had the privilege of getting to know her personally over social media ever since, and I must say that she has some exciting things coming in the near future. While she often posts covers of songs that include her own unique flair and shows off her diverse talents that are honestly unbelievable in my own opinion, her original records are a bit harder to come by. While they might be few and far between, Lovsky doesn’t take her music lightly at all and she’s one of the few artists left that truly takes a real-life experience, good or bad, and uses that as fuel for her songs. Although it’s been a few months since her last original release, the wait for her latest song “Masks” was well worth it to say the least, and now that it’s in our hands to take in and indulge, I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you as well. Mike Snell and Mosaic Music produced this track beginning with some slow, almost somber piano keys that play out for a good majority of …

While the idea of rap groups as a whole may be slowly disappearing in the rap game, we have been seeing tons of cliques and rap labels that may have tons of solo artists, but appear to have that group-like demeanor. As of late, we have seen Quality Control–home of rap acts lie Migos, Lil Yachty, Lil Baby, and more. Griselda Records consists of Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine & Benny the Butcher. Last but not least, we have seen YSL flourish in the rap game since Young Thug took the scene by storm. If you do a bit of digging, you will see Young Thug interacting with tons of members of YSL before they were famous as he built them up to become the stars they are today. Gunna used to appear in Thugger’s music videos before signing to his label, and a young and determined Lil Keed played his music for Thug before the fame and he ultimately ended up signing with Thug as well. Here we are today and Young Thug is here to showcase his latest body of work alongside his star-studded YSL crew, Slime Language 2. With the original Slime Language project dropping in 2018, it was met …

Virginia artist Reece was one of my favorite artists that I came across during quarantine and today he’s back with another song that is worth your listen. Instead of writing a regular article, I thought it was only fitting to sit down and talk to the talent about life and music! Continue scrolling to read this conversation with Reece. — Sam: Now that I know that you’re from my home state of Virginia, I’d love to hear about how you got into music, especially growing up in a place like Woodbridge. Reece: So, music for me was really a heavy part of my life growing up. My parents weren’t musical, but we listened to a lot of music, and I listened to a lot of weird shit as a child…and not weird, but just weird for a child to be listening to at the time. So I was introduced to a lot of different types of music and also I have a lot of older siblings and they would listen to some cool stuff too. Then 2012, I was in 10th grade and a lot of really cool music started coming out that year, like Channel Orange by Frank Ocean …

I know what you’re thinking, here goes Danny with another TyFontaine article… When’s he going to stop? The answer is never, or at least not until he stops making music which appears to be the same answer, so just strap in and get ready for another hit. Although the slight hiatus was only a short period of time, Ty is back with an incredible new single entitled “Pristine” and the title does an incredible job of explaining just how awesome the song is. Produced by hitmakers Cxdy and ThankYouWIll, we’re introduced right off the bat to some lighthearted piano keys and unique synths before simplistic yet rhythmic percussive elements enter the scene and provide an unbelievable basis for Ty to reintroduce himself to the world. In the hook, Ty constantly begins his sentences before interrupting himself with a scoff as if to say he doesn’t have to explain his drip, people already know what he’s rocking. Eventually, though, he finishes each phrase with such personality and enthusiasm, it’s impossible not to admire the rapidly rising star’s charisma. The instrumental simplifies slightly in the verse, giving Ty a virtually blank slate to switch up his deliveries and flows which he takes …

“I did everything that all the rappers used to do like writing real bars and real raps and it didn’t work. I just had to wait my turn. I watched everybody around me shine before I had my turn to shine.” -YN Jay Whether you love the platform or not, we can’t ignore the amount of impact that Tik Tok has had on the music industry as of late. The app that caught the most traction during quarantine became the home to the latest music trends and dances, and a lot of people found new artists there. The amount it time it takes for a Tik Tok sound to trend on the app seems like it gets shorter and shorter, and rap songs are leading the charge of most of the viral songs. One artist in particular who found his rise to stardom from the app would be the upcoming Flint Michigan rapper–YN Jay. Most recognizable for his bars about coochie, YN Jay has been one of the many artists from Flint Michigan to take off and show signs of a very promising future. His buzz began around March of 2020 when the country was completely shut down, and many …

If there’s one thing that I love about music, it’s the fact that it spans way further than any border or boundary could ever even dream of containing. We’ve got international superstars like The Kid LAROI, Skepta, and Slowthai, to name just a few, yet they’re setting examples for kids all over the world to chase their dreams and do anything they set their mind to as long as they have the work ethic and determination to get the job done. For Yung Gwopp, he moved from rural Australia to the big city of Brisbane at a young age. While growing up, he listened to bands like Green Day and Blink 182 before shifting his admiration in the direction of more hip-hop-forward music. Discovering music production at the early age of 12, he was able to test out a plethora of different sounds that would eventually go on to form the foundation of his music, and after checking out his latest song “Wait!”, all of these influences are fairly clear throughout even with his own unique spin on things. In the instrumental, we’re greeted with light, airy synths that sound almost Pi’erre Bourne-inspired prior to tapping hats and pithy 808s …

While some up-and-coming artists seem to be overnight successes that almost seem to be set up for victories before they’ve even taken a deep breath. Of the music industry, others have to grind day in and day out to be able to make a name for themselves. Although some rises to fame take longer than others, it’s clear that when someone has such a special talent, the world will eventually catch on and everyone will hear it. For rising star The China Blue, he just released his debut EP Written in my Head, From my Bedroom in January of 2020, so the bulk of his transformation as an artist over the last year took place in solitude during the pandemic, yet this seemed to truly help him hone in on his sound more than ever. As he ramps up the momentum to drop his second EP at some point this spring, he recently decided to drop off the project’s lead single “Nervous”, and while I had no clue what I should’ve anticipated, he blew any sort of expectations out of the water from the moment he began singing. Reading the press release, it even says that he wrote and self-produced …

There’s always a moment when you first discover a new artist where everything kind of just clicks. Was ecstatic to recently discover Heath240, an outstanding new artist out of Boston that is a prime example of how a strong vision is really all you need to evolve into an act listened to by the masses. Heath240 recently dropped a perfectly timed laid back summer song titled “LIVE” with some stellar visuals that are sure to turn any casual viewer into a fan. The hazy production matches perfectly with Heath’s melodic delivery, he is able to stay nimble throughout the whole track by using various cadences to keep listeners intrigued from the first line to the last. What really set’s this single apart is the self-directed visuals, which are as bright and sunny as the song is. With immaculate framing and color scheming it feels closer to a short film than your average music video. The underlying story plays out with Heath going about his day before getting kidnapped and well you’ll see how it ends. While Heath240 is still very much in the early days of his career, this is a strong indication that he’s somebody we’ll be seeing a …