Di$tinct’s “SLEEPWALKERS”: Bass Heavy, Eyes Open
What happens when the world feels like a fever dream and the only way out is to turn the volume up until the walls start talking back? Di$tinct’s...
Brogawd’s “Civilians Buildin’”: Boom Bap With a Blueprint
What happens when the underground stops talking about the work and starts laying bricks? Rochester, New York, meets Paris on “Civilians Buildin’,” the...
METAPHYSICAL’s “Hemp Poet” Is a Smoke-Filled Reintroduction to Conscious Hip-Hop
What happens when the haze clears and the person holding the mic has something to say? Some rappers want to sell you a fantasy. Others want to tell you a story. And then...
WOLFMAN JECKYLL Turns the 9-to-5 Grind Into “Blue Collar Blues”
When the paycheck barely covers the damage, what exactly are we working so hard for? There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that sleep can’t fix. It’s...
Matty Ice 1990’s “I Got Everything I Need” Is a Different Kind of Flex
When life has put you through the wringer, is having everything really about what you own—or what you’ve managed to survive? In a rap landscape where the...
Roisin Quinn’s Beauty From Ruins: Turning the Wreckage Into Art
What if the parts of your life you’re trying hardest to hide are the very things that make your art worth hearing? There’s a particular kind of honesty that...
Matty Ice 1990’s “Now I’m Motivated”: Turning Survival Into Sound
Can you turn the things that nearly broke you into the very reason you keep going? That’s the weight behind Matty Ice 1990’s “Now I’m...
J-Graze’s “Reminisce”: Old-School Hip-Hop, New Memories
When was the last time a rap song made you smile about the past instead of wishing you could change it? Nostalgia can get messy. Sometimes it feels like flipping through...
Drouss’ “All I Did”: Growth Sounds Different After the Storm
Can a rapper turn the mess of becoming somebody into a record that actually stays with you? Drouss is betting on it with “All I Did,” a release that puts...
METAPHYSICAL’s “Tricky Times” Is a Wake-Up Call
...