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Cali Ave Lo delivered lyrical wit so sharp you will get whiplash in ‘Way I Feel’ ft. Monie$

The lyrical wit in Cali Ave Lo’s standout rap track, Way I Feel, is sharp enough to tear a hole in the airwaves, even if the blows of the Machiavellian bars are softened by the jazzy and groove-deep old-school instrumentals, which allow the single to drip in luxe magnetism. He wasn’t playing when he warned he is a beast that can’t be tamed.

The single, created in collaboration with Monie$, is just one of the fresh-with-innovation-and-intellect singles found on Cali Ave Lo’s latest album, Untitled. Uncut. 3, which is already going down a storm with the Chicago-hailing artist’s legion of fans which is growing by the day thanks to his commitment to being one of the most thought-provoking artists on the underground. If your playlists are already filled with hits from Kanye, DMX, Lil Wayne and Jay Z, you will want to make room for Cali Ave Lo.

Way I Feel dropped on September 27; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Remmorii is visionary in his fear and faith-mused alt-hip-hop release, Before I Drown

Toronto’s most captivatingly introspective artist, Remmorii, used faith and fear as a muse in his latest organically electrifying release, Before I Drown, which lets candour cascade around the multicultural synthesis of style.

The experimentalism which breathed visceral life into the single to juxtapose the ennui in the lyrical delivery ensured that no one has a stronger stake in the claim of being one of the most authentically dynamic artists on any scene.

Before I Drown is beyond genre boundaries; it transcends them through the depth of the exploration of personal struggles. To balance the dark with the light, Remmorii infused incandescent optimism around the soulful hip-hop and RnB layers by sonically paving a path towards providence and hope for better days when you’re not treading water for survival, you’re making major strides towards personal growth.

Before I Drown was officially released on September 29: stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chi Waller prescribed high-fire flavour in her alt-rap track, OutWest Players ft Wan00 & Mo Joe

For her latest single, OutWest Players, Chicago’s fieriest alt-rap trailblazer, Chi Waller, stepped into the studio with Wan00 and Mo Joe to deliver a soul-affirmingly flavourful hit of pure soulful ingenuity.

The rapid-fire rap bars from the powerhouse trio against the melodically mesmerising rhythms and smooth polyphonic synths is an intoxicating amalgamation; the juxtaposition between the soul and attitude makes the alchemy of OutWest Players infinitely sweeter.

If you can imagine a blend of Busta Rhymes and Macy Gray’s signature styles, you’ll have an idea of the kind of innovation that will greet you if you take a chance on this enlivening synthesis of soul, rap, funk and RnB.

OutWest Players dropped on September 20. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vengeance is sweet but Fake Boujee’s shot-firing melodic rap track, HeartBroken, is sweeter.

At 21 years old, the Massachusetts-born, Providence-based rapper, singer, and audio engineer Fake Boujee, already has a finely honed sound, a unique edge that will effortlessly ensnare fans of melodic rap and other niche subgenres and an arsenal of hits.

Their most popular track to date, More Smoke, has racked up 65k+ streams on Spotify alone, and their latest single to come from their professional-grade studio, HeartBroken, is going to place them at even greater heights.

Created in collaboration with Hooper James, HeartBroken, makes no bones about pulling all the lyrical punches over the colourfully wavey instrumentals. Regardless of what the majority of tracks on the airwaves attempt to prove, heartbreak isn’t pretty, it leaves us raw with hope for karmic justice; for anyone wanting their ex to meet their karma-driven retribution, HeartBroken is a caustically consoling earworm, which carries all the Lil Peep-esque conviction necessary for true authenticity.

HeartBroken was officially released on September 22; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

UK Flow Queen, TAYLOR-LEIGH, Lit Up the Airwaves with ‘Jig Up’

By bringing witty brutality to her bars and an infectious sense of playfulness to her beats, the UK flow queen TAYLOR-LEIGH lit up the airwaves with her latest lyrically lascivious track, Jig Up.

To assert the authenticity in her sonic signature, TAYLOR-LEIGH kept her vox in the grime and garage arena while the keys almost brought a neo-classic touch to the RnB-esque melodies to deliver a boundary-less track that breaks down sonic barriers while ticking every hip-hop box.

There’s also a strikingly clever duality within the lyrics; when TAYLOR-LEIGH isn’t running through with tongue-in-cheek antagonism, she’s demonstrating her emotional intelligence that will undoubtedly embolden any woman who encounters this seminal track.

Jig Up was officially released on September 4; stream it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Canadian rapper K-Mic is keeping on the grind in his hustler hip hop track, Money Money

With the intricate and intimate indie guitars melodiously meeting the smooth backbeat, the perfect platform was constructed for the Canadian rapper K-Mic’s rap bars in his latest hustler hip-hop track, Money Money.

Old school attitude meets modern production styles in the convictive hit that stands as a testament to how money is far more than currency; it is status, your ticket to freedom, an indicator of your worth, and an ever-pervasive thought that wraps around the psyche. All of this was nuancedly relayed in the track that will add fire to your vibe-out playlists.

K-Mic, has been honing his writing talent since the age of eight and has been on the rap scene since fifteen; in addition to reigning supreme on the airwaves, he’s gone down a storm in the live circuit with several high-profile gigs under his belt, including being one of the opening acts on the Baptized in Fire Tour in 2018.

Check out the official lyric video for Money Money on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

JoeJas scribed the ultimate sonic manifesto in how to be free with his high-vibe rap track, Escape

Speaking directly to the freaks, geeks, and losers, the latest single, Escape, from the high-vibe emissary, JoeJas, is the ultimate sonic manifesto on how to break down the walls that construct self-confidence-crushing prison bars around your psyche.

With punchy lines in the vein of “picked on but never picked me”, JoeJas and his relatable compassion proved that the vicious tendencies of schoolyard bullies and all their crucifying criticism shouldn’t be the blueprint for your self-worth.

The empowering lyricism is only matched by the euphorically jazzy retro hip-hop aesthetics that are strong enough to put you on a new plateau and shift your perception until you can see your own idiosyncrasies as something to embrace; authenticity is a currency that will never lose its market value.

By matching the vibrancy of the production with the youthfully bright colours in the music video, which dropped on September 9th, JoeJas delivered an infectiously upraising track with Escape; catch the self-worth fever by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bigg357 held up a sign of our late-stage capitalist times in his infectiously relatable trap track, Money on My Mind

Money on My Mind is the latest catchier-than-Covid trap track from Bigg357, who has consistently ticked all the right new wave trap boxes with his discography and amassed a staunch following in the process.

Rich or poor, no one can claim that money doesn’t dominate their consciousness, making Money on My Mind one of the most universally relatable hits to drop in 2023.

By keeping the wavy instrumentals simple yet hooky, there’s no denying that Bigg357 unleashed the ultimate urban earworm with this curve-transcending hit that is infectious enough to compel you to sink into the rest of his dynamic discography which brings in the future of trap with the force of an asteroid from space.

Money on My Mind dropped on September 5th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jah-Sun Collier futuristically reconfigured old-school boom bap in his latest single, RICH THOUGHTZ!

A blast of retro boom bap hit the airwaves when the latest satirically sharp rap track, RICH THOUGHTZ!, dropped as a courtesy of the ultimate urban antagonist, Jah-Sun Collier, who is also well-known as a popular YouTuber, actor, and video editor.

By futuristically reconfiguring the retro tones and adding a further lyrical trajectory to the evolution of hip-hop, the US rapper and record producer did far more than revisit vintage sounds with his tongue-in-cheek track that points out how contrived society has become through its obsession with capitalist gains.

He set the resilience to mercenary vanity bar transcendently high with the introspection-rich hit that proves that being rich in any real sense has no correlation to numbers on a screen, the brand names on your clothes or the car you drive.

RICH THOUGHTZ was officially released on September 1st. Stream it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

P wE$t pushed away pretence in his latest trap hit, This Side of Me

Since stepping onto the airwaves in 2020, the trap trailblazer, P wE$T, has run a successful campaign with his singles and debut LP, Permanent Timing. His latest single, This Side of Me, is an aphrodisiacal installation of exotic urban rhythmics, which delivers indie RnB guitars and Afrobeat flavours around his wavy with autotune rap bars that run evocatively hard.

Lyrically, This Side of Me strips away all sense of pretence to introduce the authentic P wE$T, free from facades and guises. The melancholic sting of the candour is potent, but with the intricately melodic Spanish classic guitar motifs, the blows are cushioned by the accordance.

This Side of Me dropped on September 7th; stream it on Spotify and join P wE$T’s 11.5k followers on Instagram to stay up to date with his new releases; there’s always something new in the artist’s dynamic pipeline.

Review by Amelia Vandergast