Milwaukee's rap scene has been in overdrive for the last couple of years, but we do our best to keep up with it. Once again we've rounded up our favorite singles, mixtapes, videos and odds and ends from the last few weeks.
KDS – "Know Bout Me"
Just after Christmas, Milwaukee rapper KDS released his debut album This Never Happened, and nearly two months later I’m still digesting it. It's dense and impressive, the kind of album that demands time to take in, and its fusion of jazzy, lyrical hip-hop and bottom-heavy contemporary rap often recalls another outstanding debut project from a Midwestern with passion to spare, Lil Herb’s Welcome to Fazoland—high praise he more than earns. You can stream the entire album here, and watch the video for its “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”-esque first single “Know Bout Me” below.
Arrested Development – “I Don’t See You At The Club”
What comes up must come down, and Arrested Development came down faster than most. In the early ’90s, Arrested Development went from Grammy-dominating critical favorites to yesterday’s news in less than a couple of years, yet they’ve stubbornly stuck around, churning out nine releases since reuniting in 2000 that it’s hard to imagine anybody buying. Even Milwaukee, a city quick to play up its ties to any semi-successful act, no matter how far in the past their success was, hasn’t wanted much to do with the group for the last two decades. So what a pleasant surprise it’s been to check in on the band and find out they still have a little life left in them. The group’s spirited new single “I Don’t See You At The Club” is the work of an older, crankier version of the famously positive alterna-hop group, and here they wear that age well, shouting out to the Black Lives Matter movement they were born to comment on and taking some pot shots at material-minded rappers that should feel tired and petty but somehow land. The group is probably pushing its luck by releasing not one but two new albums this year, Changing The Narrative and This Was Never Home, but at least in this small exposure it’s a joy seeing a band that always prized individuality above all else continuing to stand their ground.
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Shaun Flow ft. King Bravo – “Morning Time”
Sometimes it’s the rappers with the smoothest voices who rap the hardest. Baby-voiced Milwaukee rapper Shaun Flow reunites with producer T-Streetz for his latest single “Morning Time,” a slice of easy, throwback soul featuring an assist from King Bravo, who dials down his usual blustery delivery on the mellowed-out chorus.
King Smith - “Everywhere Pt. 2”
21-year-old Milwaukee expat King Smith is putting the final touches on his debut album Midnight Snack, which he describes as “the story of a naive 20 year old struggling to find his way in the world using lessons learned from Milwaukee while learning new ones in Texas.” If that sounds a little heavy, but the album’s lead single “Everywhere Pt. 2” is anything but—it’s an easy-rolling women-and-weed anthem with a stupid-catchy chorus.
Streetz-N-Young Deuces – The 8
Early in their career Streetz-N-Young Deuces carved out a niche for themselves as Milwaukee’s proudest crunk enthusiasts, at a time when crunk was just beginning to fall out of fashion. Over the last few years, however, they’ve adopted a wider palette, drawing as much from the hungry aesthetic of mid-’00s New York rap as the more danceable mindset of Southern rap. I’ve never heard them do something as overtly boom-bappy, though, as “The Rush,” the Mammyth-produced highlight from their latest mixtape The 8, the group’s pre-retirement tribute to Kobe Bryant. Clips of Kobe interviews are interspersed across the 10-track tape, which you can stream below.
Lean Beatz – “Too Legit”
Milwaukee still doesn’t have much of a track record of success with trap music, but producer/rapper Lean Beatz is trying to change that. Last year he produced one of the city’s best trap singles in ages, the Tap-A-Holics-assisted “Too Legit,” and he’s continued pumping out solid new material in the months since, including his Apparently 2 EP, both of which are embedded below.
IshDARR – “ALPHA”
At this point, IshDARR is so locked in, so connected to his audience and so in tune with what they want to hear, that it’s almost guaranteed every new track he drops will be a banger. And sure enough, “ALPHA” is another banger, all rubbery bass and spazzed-out flow. Not in much of a partying mood? Stick around for the soulful beat flip around the three-minute mark. “Nickle for my thoughts? Fuck that, I need a bank roll,” he raps. Like just about every track IshDARR drops now, “ALPHA” cracked the 10,000-spins mark in just a matter of hours; it’ll be fun to see how fast that play count ticks up over the next couple of days.
