Welcome to Crack’s monthly rap colum

Rap music has never been more readily available. Whether it’s sold through conventional channels, buzzing on YouTube or increasingly pumped into free-to-download mixtape sites, the choice is overwhelming and your time is at a premium.

We feel your struggle, so each month we’ll be here to guide you through the albums, mixtapes and songs that stirred us the most. Our only remit is to cover what’s exciting – big or small – from platinum-selling stars right down to rappers hawking their tapes out the trunk.

Until next time, this is what’s been on rotation over the past month.

Young Thug / Kyng - Slime Season 3

Now three full years into Young Thug’s run, his place alongside the all-time great mixtape artists is secure. The full extent of his influence will be revealed over time, but in the meantime biters are multiplying by the day. In these growing ranks is Kyng, a New Orleans rapper whose transparent plagiarism goes as far as taking the title of Thug’s latest tape Slime Season 3. Naturally, you don’t have to look far to see where he got this troll marketing move (see Barter 6).

Loath as I am give this attention, the two tapes – released on the same day – tell a story of Thug’s influence. The Atlanta stylist is often celebrated for his eccentricities, but it’s his understanding of space as much as the vocal ‘weirdness’ in the foreground of his music that makes it special. Young Thug is a bad karaoke choice, but ultimately his legacy won’t be passed down in practiced yelps and squeals, but in the way his voice uniquely punctuates and coils itself around its surroundings. That’s been transferred to his New Atlanta peers, but also spread throughout Old Atlanta too – just listen to T.I.’s great recent single Money Talk, or the too-brief period when he and Wayne were on speaking terms.

As for Slime Season 3 – the real one – Thug still can’t lose. London on Da Track makes a welcome return to the fold, while the Allen Ritter-produced Drippin’ provides a masterclass in vocal performance.

Kamaiyah - A Good Night in the Ghetto

In the Bay Area, rap success stories have a history of being insular and slow-burning. The region’s biggest hitmakers are perpetually underrated, local legends don’t often get their dues, and Bay anthems can take months to filter through to the national stage. All credit to Oakland’s Kamaiyah, then, who scored a breakout hit in December with her video for How Does it Feel, and has been camping out in the studio since recording her debut tape.

The resulting A Good Night in the Ghetto is a lean collection of low-slung bass and sparkling 90s synths. From the retro R&B hooks of Come Back and One Love to the brick phone she carries around in her videos, Kamaiyah is clearly enamoured with an era she just missed out on (she’s still only 20 years old), but Good Night recaptures its energy without sounding rote. Out the Bottle is an early standout, but the tape really comes into its own during the lower-key and hook-heavy second half.

Fat Joe & Remy Ma - All The Way Up ft. French Montana, Infared

Even if you ignore the song’s obvious banger status, there are lots of reasons to love the video for All the Way Up. For starters, there’s the game of very-literal rap hand charades going on in an empty club. There’s relentless advertising for a vaping product, a dabbing Fat Joe in an ill-fitting coat and a short motivational sermon from DJ Khaled. If none of that does it for you, then you’re in the wrong place, but still you get to hear a show-stealing verse from Remy Ma. Standby for remixes until Christmas.

Alwasta by Oddisee

Oddisee - AlWasta

I’ve never met anybody with a bad word to say about Oddisee, but I’ll be the first to admit I’ve taken him for granted. As a solo artist and leader of Diamond District, the DC rapper-producer has been a mainstay of his local scene for more than a decade, releasing yearly projects without fail – sometimes several. Even more impressively, he’s carved out a space for thoughtful, passionate and measured rap music, even as trends move in the opposite direction.

New free EP AlWasta (roughly translated from Arabic as ‘The Plug’) finds the Sudanese-American artist writing the best songs of his career. Alongside contemporaries Black Milk and Flying Lotus, Oddisee is one of few hip hop producers working successfully with live instruments – his drums gorgeously organic, yet still retaining the required knock. He’s finding his voice as a lyricist too. On highlights Asked About You and Lifting Shadows, he explores his relationship with America, unravelling the country he loves despite its bloody history and broken politics. With instrumental and full length albums to follow this year, Oddisee is primed to have a landmark 2016.

1wayfrank - Young Hustla Reloaded

Florida isn’t somewhere you immediately associate with exciting young rap talent, but between Kodak Black, Denzel Curry and 1WayFrank it’s having something like a moment. The latter’s latest tape Young Hustla Reloaded keeps attention locked on the state, delivering 19 quietly effective earworms that will grow in stature throughout the year. 1WayFrank is a likeable presence, rapping always with a rare calm as he spills his guts over street struggles. Standout Jump Out the Porch might just be too low-key for mainstream recognition, but I wouldn’t bet against it becoming a sleeper hit.

Fidel Sun - Valley Sun

The product of both an underground rap party and a broken relationship, Valley Sun is a fractured, often paranoid listen. This 10-song album is a collaboration between DJ Sylo and rapper Fidel Sun, who started their $tuntloco night in Philadelphia three years ago and have since watched it take its twisted shape. Out-there instrumentals and despairing auto-tune are at the project’s core, which borrows stylistic cues from Kanye’s Yeezus and 808s and Heartbreak albums – if they had been made by introverts. Valley Sun veers closest to conventional on the smoky boom bap of Tommy Wright III, while syrupy layers and slurred vocals combine on Capricorn and Valley Man to make songs worth getting lost in.

Ezale - Day Ones

In the video for new single Day Ones, Ezale has found a beat so joyous he can’t seem to stop smiling. He might be mostly rapping about selling drugs, but this ode to popping wheelies with your best buds paints only in lighter colours. Ezale flows effortlessly over the track, set for inclusion on an EP in DJ Fresh’s Tonite Show series and produced by Fresh protégé Hawk Beatz. Joining the likes of Kamaiyah, Nef the Pharoah, Mozzy, Trill Youngins and local staples HBK Gang, the future’s looking bright in the Bay Area.

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