Solowke
Milwaukee's rap scene has been in overdrive for the last few years, but we do our best to keep up with it. Once again we've rounded up our favorite recent singles, mixtapes, videos and odds and ends for our periodic Milwaukee Hip-Hop Round-Up.
Solowke ft. Ian Goku - "Word Ona Street"
Few Milwaukee rappers command quite as much respect from their peers as Solowke, as the recent outpouring of support and goodwill for him during his incarceration has underscored. Solowke is a rapper's rapper, and he's got a frantic delivery unlike anybody else's: I've never heard a guy this naturally quiet rap this loud. It's a killer juxtaposition, and he puts it to use on this slapper. I was unfamiliar with Ian Goku before this track, but he's a presence himself, and he's got a commanding voice that makes me imagine Common doing a Swizz Beatz impression. It works for him.
Bankhead x WeUpNexxt Fresh x WeUpNexxt Great - "McMuffin"
This is a video you've got to watch at least twice—once to marvel at the sheer ingenuity of it all, and a second time just to take in the stunned and delighted faces of everybody in the background who can't believe this is happening. To write anything more would be to spoil it if you haven't seen it yet; just know that it has all the good humor and ridiculous dancing you'd expect given the talent involved. (The customer dancing along at the counter is my favorite part.)
Lil Saucy - Slime Love
When you name your album Slime Love you're going to invite comparisons to Young Thug, but Lil Saucy is ready for them. Although his flow periodically touches on Thug's wilder deliveries (especially on "Slimin"), his style draws even more from Thug's smoother, more melodic material, a sound that Saucy personalizes with some very moving bars and a powerful falsetto he's not timid about using. The whole album is very much inspired by Atlanta, which is just about the most crowded lane in rap right now, but Saucy has the craft and the poise to back it up, and the entire project is just an absolute pleasure on the ears.
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[Lil Saucy will play a release show at Cactus Club with WeUpNexxt, MT Twins and OuttaHereDrae on Tuesday, April 9, at 9 p.m.]
MT Twins ft. Jigg - "Northside Testimony"
Speaking of MT Twins: Another month, another heartbreaker from the city's melodic masters. They followed up last month's vulnerable Voice of the Youth EP with another single that builds on the mournful spirit of that material, and guest Jigg acquaints himself to the duo's confessional sound beautifully.
Mudy - "FaceTime"
Mudy isn't the first rapper to go long on an online hookup, but few have done it with the attention to detail, mischievous humor or love for the thrill of the hunt that she does on this earworm. Her storytelling is fantastic, but it's her blasé, don't give a fuck attitude that sells it. "Act like you've been there before," the old adage goes, and Mudy makes it clear on every verse that she's been here many, many times.
#AllRacksChallenge
Looney Babie and Gwapo Chapo's "All Racks" was one of last year's biggest Milwaukee rap tracks, and it's proven to have very long legs. It's one of the too-few local tracks that gets some airplay on the city's rap station, V100, and now the artists behind it are sponsoring this challenge, inviting rappers to throw their own verse over the instrumental. The winner gets $1000 and a chance for a spot on the remix (second and third place finishers get $500 and $230, respectively—not bad). You can follow the #AllRacksChallenge hashtag on Instagram to see the submissions, and quite a few of them are great. These two below are my favorite so far. I don't know who the second one is from, but the first is from the Milwaukee artist K'Moni.
K'Moni - "Drawing Symbols"
Looking for more K'Moni after that knockout "All Racks" verse? Here's her latest single from December. On the slow-burning "Drawing Symbols" she calls out a guy who isn't worth the headaches, as well as a city that hasn't done much to support her. "Milwaukee don't show me love or show me no real support," she laments. Hopefully that'll start to change.
3hirtyK - "Extortion"
If you're a Milwaukee rapper titling your track "Extortion" you've got some big shoes to fill, but 3hirtyK has never been intimidated by sacred cows. The South Sider is one of the city's coldest, most suspenseful storytellers, and "Extortion" is filled with his usual pulse-quickening prose. TeeGlazedIt complements the track with a flashy rooftop shoot.
Zed Kenzo - Baby Swag EP
We've been posting teaser singles from Zed Kenzo's highly anticipated debut EP all year, but this week it finally dropped, and it's as creative, expansive and untamed as you'd expect given what we've heard before. It grows more unpredictable with each track, as Kenzo moves beyond sweet pop tunes and indulges her more confrontational whims. I don't think anybody expected her to go full nu-metal on "Immortal."
Rob Hicks - "Vogue"
We keep these round-ups pretty narrowly focused on Milwaukee, but Milwaukee isn't the only Wisconsin city that's seen its rap scene level up the last few years. Racine also has some talent, and the artist down there who's most captured our ear is Rob Hicks. He released his new single "Vogue" this morning, and it pairs his serpentine flow with a flatteringly slinky electronic beat and an audacious flip of Sisqo's "Thong Song." Not a lot of rappers could pull that off. Hicks does.
Eli Cash - The Drone Age
Boom-bap enthusiast Eli Cash left his ambitions untamed on his latest album, The Drone Age, a hyper-ambitious record inspired by the dystopian high-concept albums of the early '00s, particularly projects like Deltron 3030, Mr. Lif's I Phantom or basically anything Aesop Rock touched. Like those records it packs one dense narrative on top of the next, while leaning into whimsy with an array of soulful beat flips and instrumental switch-ups, including a couple of forays into dub reggae. The pace is as kinetic as Cash's flow.
Hakeem Paragon - No Heaven for Heathens
Hakeem Paragon reminds me a little bit of Isaiah Rashad; both are restless thinkers with no off-switch. On his densely packed new 21-minute album No Heaven for Heathens, he lets the music wander along with his stream of thought. Like a more intimate shadow of Travis Scott's Astroworld, the music expands and contracts in unpredictable ways, taking on hues of lush soul and artsy trap. The woozy, off-balance "Side Do It" is a highlight.
Mike Regal - "Nuvos Ordo"
Mike Regal has spent much of the last half decade or so making other people sound good. He's been one of the city's most prolific producers, providing beats for seemingly everybody in the more hip-hop-oriented side of the Milwaukee rap scene. But here he claims a track as his own and just locks in, spitting an unflinching stream of thought over a purposeful, blunted beat. He owns this lane.
In Case You Missed It
I interviewed Velle Vell, a Milwaukee rapper with an important perspective on the city. I also joined DJ Jerry on a recent episode of his Mixtape Trappers Radio podcast to chat about Milwaukee rap. It was a wide-ranging conversation.
Bonus Track: Gwapo Chapo and MT - "10 AM"
Just as I was about to publish this post, this loose track popped up online: Gwapo Chapo and MT spitting straight bars over a "Gin and Juice"-inspired flip. Enjoy.
