{"id":39089,"date":"2025-07-09T14:56:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/ovrkast-on-working-with-drake-dealing-with-success-and-his-supernatural-inspiration\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T14:56:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:56:36","slug":"ovrkast-on-working-with-drake-dealing-with-success-and-his-supernatural-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/ovrkast-on-working-with-drake-dealing-with-success-and-his-supernatural-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Ovrkast on Working With Drake, Dealing With Success, and His Supernatural Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tOvrkast is an accomplished producer and rapper who has laced tracks for everyone from Drake<\/a> to Earl Sweatshirt. But his calm demeanor belies his place in an indie rap<\/a> scene that\u2019s currently holding hip-hop on its back. When I speak with him at the Rolling Stone <\/em>office, he\u2019s getting ready to hit the road with Saba on The Big Picture t<\/em>our, which is currently stretching across the country. The Bay Area-born, New York-based artist is also on the heels of releasing his latest album, While The Iron Is Hot.<\/em> The 13-song project was first ideated to capitalize on the buzz of his \u201cRed Button\u201d and \u201cThe Shoe Fits\u201d beats made the deluxe version of Drake\u2019s For All The Dogs<\/em> album in 2023.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was supposed to be While The Iron Is Hot <\/em>right after the Drake shit,\u201d he says. \u201cThe goal was to do Kast Got Wings<\/em> which is a turnt album\u2026While The Iron Is Hot<\/em> is a more rap album. But Kast Got Wings<\/em> turned into a bunch of different shit.\u201d He realized the project with producer Cardo \u201cheld some weight,\u201d which encouraged him to take his time with his next solo album. And by last October he got the urge to start recording \u201cnonstop,\u201d crediting the solitude of the New York winter for his creative flurry. \u201cI was just in the studio every day,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe result is a cathartic project where he delves into his creative journey on warm songs like \u201cTruth\u201d and \u201cStumblin,\u2019\u201d as well as collaborations like \u201cStrange Ways\u201d with Vince Staples, \u201cSmall Talk\u201d with No Filller<\/em> alum Samara Cyn<\/a>, and \u201cMAVKAST,\u201d with his friend Mavi,<\/a> who he\u2019s known since they were both teens exploring their craft in Kik groupchats. Ovrkast says that his placement on Mavi and Earl Sweatshirt\u2019s \u201cEl Toro Combo Meal\u201d is what encouraged him to take his music career seriously and drop his 2020 debut Try Again<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFive projects later, Ovrkast says his latest work is the result of a more intentional writing process. But even though it\u2019s a vulnerable glimpse of his life and times, he says it\u2019s also a reflection of an alternate, supernatural universe. \u201c[It\u2019s me] as a character who moves to New York,\u201d he says. \u201cI do metalworking as a job and I also rap, but I\u2019m not famous. And then I get struck by lightning. I get powers and I got this Thor hammer, and now I\u2019m powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tHe says the supernatural storyline is \u201ckind of a metaphor\u201d for his real-life move across the country. \u201cI\u2019m moving to New York and all this cool shit is happening and then [I\u2019m] struck with inspiration and acting on it.\u201d He says, adding, \u201cthe story is me dealing with the ups and downs of this newfound success, dealing with people and staying true to the sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe paired the project with several music videos including \u201cI\u2019m On,\u201d where he dons white face while satirizing the life cycle of flavor-of-the-month white rappers. The videos came together alongside Mitch Ritter, who he appreciates for their kindred desire to control their entire operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wanted one person to shoot the whole thing. I didn\u2019t want to have to keep changing the visual landscape,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted niggas to get familiar with that style of imagery: the blue, the cool tones, the way Mitch\u2019s camera shakes and the way he zooms in on shit, the way he chops it up. Mitch shoots it, he directs it, he edits it, he does everything.I mix my own shit, produce my own shit, write to my own shit. I\u2019m involved in everything. So it was cool to meet Mitch and we were able to cook.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHow are you feeling so far about the reception to the project?\u00a0<\/strong>
It feels good, bro. I\u2019ll be reading certain blog posts or certain tweets and niggas pick up on shit that I didn\u2019t expect them to. But I think that\u2019s the thing with artists, you think you slick and then niggas is like, \u201cNah, I seen that.\u201d And it\u2019s kind of cool, but I\u2019m really surprised.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tWhat kind of things are they picking up on?\u00a0<\/strong>
Really all of it. I saw a blog post today and they were just saying that every feature is there on purpose, which is true. I made sure the features were carefully picked and everybody had their spot. And just touching on topics of how I structured it and how it\u2019s cinematic. [It\u2019s] stuff that I didn\u2019t think people would pick up on. People nowadays go to their favorite track or a certain track. But people actually sitting and listening to it\u2026I\u2019m like, damn, that\u2019s fire. My boy Sage told it\u2019s easy to just play. He said he played three or four times. It\u2019s 28 minutes, but it\u2019s a lot of shit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you go about adding the tags, vocal clips, and other elements to the project?<\/strong>
That\u2019s [being a] producer, literally. If you listen to a lot of the Beat Konducta <\/em>Madlib shit, the whole tape flows. Like one second it\u2019s a random intro. Then the beat comes in and it plays for 45 seconds and cuts to some other shit. There\u2019s shit happening every 30 seconds, but it all makes sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve said your first album Try Again <\/em>was your third time attempting to make an album.<\/strong>
Yeah, the first album I had, I hadn\u2019t even made it. I was just like, yeah, I\u2019m about to make an album. Then the second one was like, \u201cAlright, I\u2019m actually trying to make this thing,\u201d but I didn\u2019t have it in me yet. Try Again<\/em> was literally me [making] a bunch of songs and then got the Earl placement and I was like, \u201cAlright, it\u2019s time,\u201d and then that shit just went up. This is kind of the same thing, even though [the Drake placement] was a little while ago, it\u2019s another one of the things where it\u2019s like I got about keep going crazy. And I think that might be a recurring theme in my career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond the visibility, what do you think it was that you were missing that you gained in order to Try Again<\/em>?\u00a0<\/strong>
I just started seeing niggas tap in, bro. It was like Earl tapped in, Sage tapped in. I had been cool with Mavi for a little bit\u2026we\u2019ve been friends since kids, so it was like, why the fuck not? I know all these niggas personally, I might as well. And also I was getting better at my craft. I was really focused. I had a job at the library, my shift was seven hours, but I would spend 500 hours bullshitting, doing nothing. So I had my computer just making music and shit. Then I\u2019d get off, go to the studio. I remember it was days where Earl would come to Oakland on some random shit and me and my homie Deja would be like, \u201cI\u2019ll text him. You want to go to the studio?\u201d We going to get off work, run into the studio with all my shit and be there until 2:00 AM [or] later than that. That was how shit was, I think that was my first attempt at being serious. And even though it wasn\u2019t fully like how this album is, it was my first time giving niggas a whole album.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you meet Mavi?\u00a0<\/strong>
Bro, [we] met through a Kik group chat. I was like 17 years old making beats for the first time. This is my second month making beats and this nigga was just rapping. He hadn\u2019t recorded a song ever. This nigga Mavi had bread. Everybody was trying to buy beats, but nobody had bread. This nigga Mavi was like, \u201cHow much you want?\u201d I was like, \u201c$100.\u201d He was like, \u201cAlright bro.\u201d He paid for the beat, he rapped to it and from there he just always had a connection to my music and same with his. We never broke that bond.<\/p>\n

\n\tWere you very active in the online beat making community?<\/strong>
Hell yeah. I grew up on Knxwledge, Ohbliv, all that shit so it\u2019s in my DNA. My [previous] goal was to be like Madlib, be mysterious and put out vinyl releases every two years. But eventually I was like, you know what, I\u2019m just gonna do this rap shit because I fuck with it. And by that time it was 2017 or \u201818, the beat scene was now Lo-fi. The traces of it were kind of gone. Even Low End Theory stopped. It was like, all right, now niggas is rapping. MIKE came out, Mavi was turned up, the tide was shifting to rap so I\u2019m like, fuck it, I might as well just keep rapping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAt what point did you start taking rap more seriously?\u00a0<\/strong>
I had songs on SoundCloud that were blowin\u2019 up in like 2016. My beats were already circulating, so it was easy for me to put a rap in there and niggas not know who it was. So I had some rap songs, [with] 10-15,000 plays where I snuck \u2019em in, but no one knew who Ovrkast was. It was very underground. And then I took it seriously around 2019 when shit was getting serious. I was around real rappers like Earl Sweatshirt, so it made me take it more seriously.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did being in Kinfolk and Lo-Fiction sharpen your craft as well?\u00a0<\/strong>
It\u2019s imperative if you make music at a young age, you got to collaborate no matter what the corny ass group name is. Not to say [our] name [was] corny [but] you have to do that shit. I know everybody got videos and clips of them rapping with their homies back in the day. That\u2019s a ritual I feel like for a young nigga. You got to collaborate. That really showed me collaboration and also it sharpened my skills because there\u2019s other people rapping and producing next to me and it was a good motivation having that camaraderie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was recording this project like?\u00a0<\/strong>
It was wintertime. It was slow over there. Nobody really was coming in, so I had a lot of studio time and also I had a schedule. I had to write, I had to play beats, make beats, write this shit, listen to it and wait until I got the studio to record it. That helped me want to deliver on everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo how do you feel about East Coast winters being from the bay?<\/strong>
It\u2019s a bitch. That shit not fun, bro. That\u2019s how I stayed alive was making the music. If I didn\u2019t do that, I was going crazy. You have to have something bro. You got to be doing something in the wintertime. You going to go insane [otherwise]. I think this winter was one of the worst ones too. The terrain getting around everything is just much harder. But it\u2019s like I had more motivation to actually complete my [album]. Also I was having fun, [the] studio\u2019s warm and shit. I\u2019m chillin\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a rapper-producer, how do you differentiate when a beat is for you as opposed to just a general beat?<\/strong>
It\u2019s kind like having a closet full of clothes, right? You collect fire shit over time, right? But let\u2019s say something you thought you was going to wear, you, you don\u2019t wear it and your cousin pull up like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s hard, you can take it.\u201d That\u2019s how I feel it. I be having fired beats that I\u2019m like, \u201cActually I\u2019m not going to do this. You can have it.\u201d I think about it first though, every single time I\u2019m like, unless I\u2019m making a beat for somebody, then I\u2019m like, all right, I can cook in that mind state. But most of the time I\u2019m cooking, I want to impress myself first. Right now it\u2019s all just scrapbooking, really. I take this from here and put this from here. I\u2019m like, okay, I can use this sample and these drums between these two different beats and mix \u2019em together and make that song for that person.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIf somebody hit you and you\u2019re like, \u201cLet me piece something together,\u201d how far back would you go in your vault?\u00a0<\/strong>
I don\u2019t know because niggas say they want something but they don\u2019t really want [it]. They want the idea of an Ovrkast beat. It\u2019s like you just wanted the name, but maybe you\u2019re not the nigga for this beat. It depends, bro.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow do artists come to you when they ask you for a beat? How descriptive do they get?<\/strong>
The only nigga to ever give me an in-depth [request] was Vince Staples. He sent me some music to hear first. Then I sent him a beat and he was like, \u201cYeah, this is hard.\u201d And this nigga recorded a full verse on his iPhone and was like, \u201cThis is where I\u2019m going with this.\u201d And I went back in and I restructured, and he was like, \u201cOkay, that\u2019s cool, let\u2019s make this two bars instead of four.\u201d It was the most collaborative thing I\u2019ve ever did with anybody. That was really crazy for sure. But most of the time it\u2019s like, \u201cI need some beats. What you got?\u201d I hate when niggas is like, \u201cOh, so-and-so need a beat.\u201d I\u2019m like, where the nigga at?! Tell the nigga hit me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow resourceful are you when it comes to samples?<\/strong>
Right now I know how to find something a nigga not going to find. Probably the past three years I\u2019ve been able to find shit that niggas don\u2019t know where it is at, super tucked. There\u2019s one sample I can\u2019t even say. But now I avoid that, I try my best. I have people I work with\u2026Angelo Leroy and Fly Williams and this guy named Charlie P Production who make samples and I can be like, \u201cYo, can you do this for me?\u201d Because actual musicians know what I like and that\u2019s the name of the game. I think nowadays you got to have people who know your sound and are willing to work with you. Everything that I\u2019ve done with the guys that I\u2019ve worked with has done some crazy shit. Each one of them have a placement with somebody big. So it\u2019s pretty cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo how often do you rap? Are you the rapper who writes a lot of bars or are you more intentional about your songs?\u00a0<\/strong>
This album is when I became more writing-heavy. I can sit down and do a good 16 bars, but for the longest time it was hard because it was just difficult for me to focus and dig deep. Also, making the beat, it was hard for me to deliver on that for myself. Also, I don\u2019t wanna have filler. I don\u2019t want to say nothing that\u2019s just saying shit for saying shit. I hate that. I would deadass stop rapping if I can\u2019t think of nothing. And I was doing that for so long, but now I be thinking of more shit to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou said you felt like, process-wise, While The Iron Is Hot <\/em>is similar to Try Again<\/em>. In what ways do you feel like it thematically or otherwise differentiates?\u00a0<\/strong>
Try Again <\/em>was a little more shooting from the hip. I was just making music. I didn\u2019t have a name for the album, I had no cover art, I had no theme. Then the Earl placement happened and I was like, all right, I should think of this shit right now. So I spent a month to make cover art and sequence. I made this album a little bit different.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you think of Samara Cyn for \u201cSmall Talk?\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>
Everybody who heard this song was like, \u201c[Get] Samara.\u201d I sent it to her and she was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to get on this.\u201d And then she was busy as hell, [so] I had the homegirl come on and do a hook, but then Samara was like, \u201cI\u2019mma hop on it still.\u201d I had to swap out the homegirl, put her on \u201dStumble Ma,\u201d and then I met Samara in LA. She knocked it out super fast and it was easy.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s easy to hear her on that. It\u2019s just very floaty. It\u2019s real. It has that feeling to it. My beats are sometimes a playground for rappers. It is an open book for a skilled rapper to go crazy and I love that shit. I want niggas to go fucking crazy. Niggas was like, \u201cMan, Samara stole the show,\u201d I\u2019m like, good! That\u2019s fucking hard. Niggas are saying the features on album is better than him. I\u2019m like, good nigga, these niggas are crazy. Why would I want you niggas to be trash? Imagine if all the features was lackluster niggas.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was a line you said on one of the tracks, just the phrase, \u201cI still ain\u2019t done shit.\u201d What do you think would make you feel fulfilled?\u00a0<\/strong>
I want two or three more albums.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo once you get to five or six albums.\u00a0<\/strong>
Yeah. I want to be able to tour on my own album. I look up to Vince Staples and Saba, they have careers where they can put an album out [and] go. I want to be able to at least do that one time. I feel like I\u2019m still putting my time in. I was reading the blog post reviewing the album, [and] it was naming all this stuff I did in the past year. I did so much shit in the past two years but I feel like I haven\u2019t done anything yet. I made some noise with this one, but I haven\u2019t done my big one yet. This is right next to it for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCan you take me into ideating and crafting the \u201cI\u2019m On\u201d video? It seemed like a lot of fun.\u00a0<\/strong>
At the beginning of the song I said, \u201cI\u2019m on, I\u2019m I\u2019m on.\u201d He thought I was mocking Jorjiana\u2019s \u201cUh huh, uh huh,\u201d and I was like, \u201cNah.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cYou should play into that.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cDo white face?\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cYeah.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cFuck it, I\u2019m going to do white face.\u201d And he like, \u201cYeah, you should do the Atlanta YWA (Young White Avatar<\/a>) thing.\u201d So we sat down and scripted it out and wrote the shit. It was fun, bro. I like to be goofy for a few hours. I grew up in the era of Tyler and Childish Gambino and these niggas who do goofy shit just for the fuck of it. I like humor and I hate when it\u2019s all serious. And also niggas will sign white people left and right. If you white and you got an ounce of street or \u201cBlack,\u201d whatever, they\u2019ll sign you in a heartbeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe album sounded cohesive, but then there were also different vibes, kind of more uptempo, more mellow. How intentional were you about that balance?\u00a0<\/strong>
It took a little while to figure out how to sequence it because I hadn\u2019t made my cast yet. I had \u201cStumblin\u2019,\u201d \u201cSpike Lee\u201d and \u201cSix A,\u201d and those are all slower songs. So I\u2019m like, how do I break this up to where it\u2019s not slow in the middle? Then I made \u201cMAVKAST.\u201d I was like, all right, \u201cMAVKAST\u2019s\u201d got to go in the middle, like the focal point of the album. But I had to figure out how the songs related to each other. How does this song answer this song? I had to put \u201c6AM\u201d after Spike Lee. [\u201cSpike Lee\u2019s\u201d] prayer is really emotional, and the song after that opens you back up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI had to focus on how I felt playing the music and [what fit while] listening to the track list. One day I was rearranging it and I put \u201cStumblin\u2019,\u201d \u201cSkit,\u201d \u201cMAVKAST,\u201d \u201cSpike Lee,\u201d [and thought] \u201cthat\u2019s perfect.\u201d It flies by, and you\u2019re at the end in two seconds. I was like, Vince song come on at the end, \u201cIt\u2019s like damn what the fuck happened?\u201d But that was the goal.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid \u201cMAVKAST\u201d come after the bulk of the album?\u00a0<\/strong>
The last two features were \u201cMAVKAST\u201d and Vince Staples. That was the fourth quarter. MAVKAST,\u201d was one of the ones. He was in New York. I wanted him to be on the album. He wanted to be on the album. He pulled up to the studio, cut the loop on, started rapping. We did the song in 30 minutes. I went back later and added some shit, but it was pretty much finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow therapeutic is writing for you? I mean just listening to some of the things and some of the bars on the album, it seemed real cathartic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
It felt good, bro. I think it is different when you move from a far place and you still have connections to people\u2026I moved here and I didn\u2019t really have nobody.\u00a0 knew niggas like no niggas. And then I\u2019m too busy to [speak with] people I know back home. So it was like a lot of the bars with me venting just about how difficult that was. But also [telling] niggas like, \u201cYo niggas thriving. You could do it too,\u201d on \u201cOn Time!\u201d I said I still made it relative to the film. I\u2019m still famous. It\u2019s like they don\u2019t really know what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven on \u201ctruth?,\u201d I said if they didn\u2019t want you in the end \/ they didn\u2019t want you to turn shit out.\u201d Sometimes I think you feel like people not supporting you is the end of the road and it\u2019s not. People have their own lives, number one, and two, people don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on until a lot of noise [is] being made. I think waiting your turn and being humble and staying true to yourself is a lot of the message I was trying get across back home. Even on \u201cSpike Lee,\u201d \u201cit\u2019s hard in my city to make a scene,\u201d and I was just shouting out callbacks to my hometown and people there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you grapple with feeling supported or feeling like people aren\u2019t seeing what you\u2019re doing?<\/strong>
Yeah. I want people just to be inspired, bro. I think I just saw a post recently that showed all the Bay Area up and coming artists and it was cool because they were like, damn, this is them. It was an accurate list, but niggas don\u2019t really do an accurate list because there are a lot of fire Bay Area artists who are really good at music, but they don\u2019t get enough shine because they\u2019re in the bay. They got to go to LA for a little bit and come back, go to NY and then come back. I got lucky to be in the Bay and still blow up, but that\u2019s rare. What I did you haven\u2019t seen since Hieroglyphics and Souls of Mischief, where niggas stay in the hometown and still blow up. But I just wanted to encourage people to just do whatever. No, especially nowadays, bro. You don\u2019t have to do one thing. You don\u2019t got to just be a bad rapper. You ain\u2019t got to just be or whatever rapper. You can do a bunch of different things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow do you feel about the Bay Area hip-hop scene?<\/strong>
Right now it\u2019s starting to become homogeneous in a sense where different sounds are melting from each other. You got almost inspirational Hyphy music or positive Hyphy, or even the street soulful\u2026the worlds are starting to merge. Yu got 1100 himself. You got me, Snee, you got a bunch of rappers, you got my boy Nimsims who make shit. The Bay Area is becoming a place where you have the Bay sound, but it has different versions of it and that\u2019s what I think niggas need. We needed it to be like, this is our sound, but there\u2019s different [branches of it]. LA has a sound, but you can also give variety to that sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was another bar on the record, something like, \u201cniggas mad I didn\u2019t say shit about the Drake beef.\u201d Were people tagging you on Twitter?<\/strong>
Yeah. Whenever I mentioned something about the beef, niggas just tried to bait me. You know how niggas is, bro. I think I mentioned one of the GNX<\/em> bars and somebody was like, \u201cYou going to burn your bridge, bro.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cShut the fuck up. You don\u2019t know these people. I <\/em>don\u2019t know these people. Y\u2019all niggas are on the internet, bro.\u201d I think niggas was taking this too seriously with me, bro. I haven\u2019t even met this nigga in person. I just made gang a beat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNigga was coming up to me like, \u201cWhat do you think about the beef bro?\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201c[The] shit\u2019s funny. I don\u2019t know.\u201d Niggas think I had an OVO tat. I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s going on really. Shit just dropping [and] I was there with y\u2019all. I was seeing the shit play out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow are you handling higher visibility and more annoying fans, more good fans, just being famous in general?<\/strong>
Niggas are just dumb. People lack knowledge. Not even in a battle\u2026people just don\u2019t know what things are. They have no context sometimes. So they judge very quickly and harshly when it\u2019s like, \u201cY\u2019all don\u2019t even know what anything is.\u201d The worst thing I get is like, \u201cThe nigga think he Outkast.\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cNo, bro. I wasn\u2019t even thinking about Outkast.\u201d Mad Niggas do that shit. They read Ovrkast [as] Outkast. They\u2019re like, oh my God, I thought they said Outkast. And it\u2019s like, it don\u2019t, so\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tNew albums to check out<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tBruiser Wolf, <\/strong>Potluck<\/em>\u00a0
Hip-hop is in a comedy deficit. There are plenty of memable rappers (and unintentionally hilarious artists) but fewer who make it a point to have fun with their craft; too many artists take themselves a little too seriously. That\u2019s not the case with Bruiser Wolf, the Detroit rapper with a one-of-one penmanship and penchant for side-splitting bars. Bruiser Wolf is funny, but his skills are no joke. From his advanced diction to his technical precision, the Bruiser Wolf experience permeates his new album Potluck<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 14-track project shows Bruiser exploring a variety of vocal approaches and beats, but still sounding like himself throughout. He rhymes with a vocal inflection and cadence that feels somewhere in between preacher, pimp, and standup comedian; his lyrical content feels like a mesh of all three. Assonant jokes roll off the beat and float into the atmos, pondered by listeners until we\u2019re hit with the next couplet. On \u201cWrite or Wrong,\u201d he raps, \u201cBought Ritalin for my white-chocolate and vanilla friends\/Bucket hat like Gilligan, fuck cancer, stay away from carcinogens,\u201d and on \u201cAir Fryer,\u2019 he rhymes, \u201cMy bitch ignoring me\/I told her to do the same thing if questioned by the authorities.\u201d He\u2019s in such mastery of his craft that he\u2019s able to get slippery with his flow on \u201cFancy\u201d: \u201cI asked my bookie what\u2019s the odds if I b\u0435t on myself?\/\u2019Cause my past is dark, gothic\/Everything I say sound good, it\u2019s melodic,\u201d pausing on \u201ceverything\u201d to connect ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeven*<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tFor all of the superlatives and labels pervading rap discourse, Bruiser embodies one of the most special as the kind of MC you could listen to all day. But the proceedings aren\u2019t all random musings. \u201cOffer I Couldn\u2019t Refuse\u201d is a reflection on his past in the streets, while \u201cConfusing,\u201d is all about his travails about where he and his women \u201cbump heads like puberty.\u201d From the \u201cPee-wee Herman,\u201d where he samples the classic show theme, to the beat switching on \u201cAir Fryer\u201d and \u201cBaby you,\u201d Bruiser Wolf reaffirms that there\u2019s no kind of beat he can\u2019t get his bars \u2014 and jokes \u2014 off on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMcKinley Dixon, Magic, <\/em><\/strong>Alive!\u00a0<\/em>
McKinley Dixon\u2019s latest album is an excavation of magic\u2019s inarticulable vastness, as evident in the wonder of a disappearing trick as the static presence of the sky, which Dixon references on album standout \u201cWe\u2019re Outside, Rejoice.\u201d The project is based on the story of three friends mourning their deceased friend and pondering how to bring him back to life. Throughout the album, Dixon posits the magic all around us in community, resilience, and our environment. By the time he reaches the eponymous penultimate track, he theorizes death as the ultimate omnipresence. He belts, \u201cI\u2019ll make it so my niggas never die Maybe escape if we take to skies and fly\u201d on the sunny track.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the ending of the record while in some ways serving as the beginning for the character,\u201d he\u2019s said about \u201cMagic, Alive!,\u201d adding, \u201cJust because that tale is over, the sun is still there. At the end of the day, at the end of your story, do you feel the love? Do you feel the magic?\u201d It\u2019s hard not to feel it throughout Magic, Alive<\/em>, which is all happening on a soundbed crafted by instrumentalists who embody the magic of mastery. It\u2019s an album that begs to be played over big speakers (or better yet, heard live), exemplified by \u201cRecitatif\u2019s\u201d shift from a lush, sullen canvas into a surging production fusing rock and hip-hop elements.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDennis Larance*<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe project is shaped by so many disparate sounds, tones and lead instruments that it doesn\u2019t feel native to a particular region, feeding Dixon\u2019s fantastic vision. But as imaginative as things get, they don\u2019t veer too far from our current reality, with Dixon telling a range of stories about magic and joy as a balm for all-too-common grieving for Black communities. \u201cIt\u2019s so easy to write about death when none of y\u2019all niggas is really alive,\u201d he offers on album intro \u201cWatch My Hands,\u201d while also surmisng, \u201cBe as strong as the concrete\/But as fragile as when it and ya knees kiss.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDixon rhymes with a poetic flourish that requires multiple listens to unravel, but his engaging mic presence keeps you. Along the way, he\u2019s. You never knew how warm an ode to a mother\u2019s fighting skills could be until you hear IceColdBishop on \u201cAll The Loved Ones (What Would We Do???),\u201d which also features Pink Siifu. And on the Outro, LA rapper Blu lauds Dixon by rapping, \u201cyou showed me the importance of self-belief.\u201d There are likely thousands of Dixon fans who co-sign that admission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRocky Snyda, <\/strong>10\/10 Would Recommend<\/em>
Rocky Snyda\u2019s latest project has been out since April, but as the adage goes, there\u2019s no new or old music, just music you have and haven\u2019t heard. Unfamiliar listeners should consider tapping in with the up-and-coming artist, who\u2019s been rapping since at least 2020. Her Facebook page<\/a> notes, \u201cI\u2019m a musical theatre nerd who has always had a secret love for rap and the music industry.\u201d That passion is no longer private, as she\u2019s steadily built a buzz in her native New York as a confident, charismatic rapper who\u2019s trained to go over any kind of beat. That\u2019s the vibe throughout 10\/10 Would Recommend<\/em>, an electronic-tinged album where she self-proclaimed \u201cPrincess of Flatbush\u201d serves a little something for everybody.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSkylar Rochon*<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe project is a manifestation of her desire to display her musical versatility; she told Grownup Magazine<\/em> that, \u201cI\u2019ve got my rocker side, my hip-hop side, my femme side,\u201d which are all reflected on an album cover depicting her with five disparate looks. True to theme, she begins the album offering those different sides of her artistry on a song called, \u201cWho Am I,\u201d which primes the listener for the breadth of what to expect. The track starts with a haunting, synth-laden production where she switches her tone and inflection, rhyming in double-time before belting out her boasts in a more emphatic tone. The beat then switches to a more traditional house production where she crowns herself, \u201cMs. bodacious, Ms. don\u2019t take shit in all the right places.\u201d The winding track sets the tone for the rest of 10\/10 Would Recommend<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn \u201cGimme My 10s,\u201d she gets busy over a clever flip of Cheryl Lynn\u2019s \u201cEncore,\u201d where producer LLC4 masters the balance of homage vs. laziness. It\u2019s apparent enough to be recognizable, but not leaned on as a crutch. Tracks like \u201cSuperstar,\u201d \u201cWeekender,\u201d and \u201cRockyverse\u201d follow similar sonic vibes, with an overt house influence and danceable drum programming. But on \u201cSneaky\u201d she slows things down and delves into harmony, while she\u2019s \u201cflippin my hair, shakin\u2019 my ass\u201d on \u201cTarget Practice\u2019s\u201d sparse, bassheavy beat. No matter the beat she rhymes (or croons) over, Rocky\u2019s lyrical skill and Brooklyn charm is apparent throughout 10\/10<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLoosies<\/strong>: New songs to hear now<\/em><\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tGrea8Gawd, <\/strong>\u201cSins of the Father\u201d
Mozzy, YFN Lucci,<\/strong> \u201c23 and 1\u201d
Pink Siifu, Wifigawd, Flow Clark, <\/strong>\u201cFlexMan\u2019!\u201d
Reason, PJ Morton, <\/strong>\u201cReason\u201d
$ilkMoney,<\/strong> \u201cTHE JURY DUTY SEAFOOD BOIL BAG FROM THE LYFE JENNINGS PAPERWORK PARTY\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNo Filler<\/a>\u00a0is an indie-rap column by Andre Gee running monthly on\u00a0RollingStone.com<\/em>.\u00a0You can check out the No Filler playlist right here.<\/em><\/p>\n

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