There’s a surplus of talent bubbling in the Milwaukee rap scene right now, including probably about a dozen or so truly deserving rappers all trying to position themselves for a big break. Wave Chapelle has a leg up over all of them. After moving to Memphis for school about a year ago, Chapelle caught the ear of local star Yo Gotti, who signed the Milwaukee native to his CMG label. And while a partnership with a second-tier rapper like Gotti is hardly a guaranteed ticket to fame, it does come with its advantages. Ads teasing Chapelle’s new mixtape Only The Beginning were splashed all over the popular mixtape hub Livemixtapes.com last week, and this week the tape is parked comfortably near the top of the page. There’s some money behind this guy.
So who, exactly, is Wave Chapelle? He’s a competent enough, fairly likable, mostly undistinguished rapper who, to judge from his latest tape, is willing to be anything you want him to be. Only The Beginning dabbles in a little bit of everything, from the inspirational pop of the opener “Ready To Fly,” to the Kendrick Lamar-styled substance rap of “North Side Blues,” the trap-pop of “Like I’m Trappin’" and the Rico Love-assisted “Deez’,” the achy Drakewave of “I Want It All,” and the Chicago soul of “Capital Drive,” a tribute to Milwaukee’s North Side thoroughfare. The boyishly voiced Chapelle is clearly an attentive student of hip-hop, versed in both its past and its present, but he hasn’t settled on a major yet, and he’s unable to commit to any given sound for more than a few tracks. Rap is already overcrowded with these kinds of chameleons, rappers that are good enough at blending in but too cautious to commit to any particular color.
So why is it Chapelle’s tape that’s plastered all over the top of Livemixtapes, instead of much more realized recent releases from Milwaukee rappers like—to name just a few—Jae Ace, Bliss & Alice, IshDARR, Yo-Dot, Pizzle or El-Shareef? Because Chapelle moved to Memphis, and Memphis has a Yo Gotti while Milwaukee doesn’t. Until the city’s rap scene produces its own real star, Milwaukee’s young class will always be working at a disadvantage.
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You can stream Wave Chapelle’s Only The Beginning below.
