Erick The Architect Steps Into A New World On 'I’ve Never Been Here Before'

Rapper/producer Erick The Architect is no stranger to reinvention. 

The Brooklyn-bred MC cut his teeth over alt-East Coast beats as Erick Arc Elliot before forming psychedelic rap trio Flatbush Zombies with childhood friends Meechy Darko and Zombie Juice. But after multiple mixtapes and two albums with the group, Erick is returning to solo form and venturing into new creative ground. 

Following 2021’s Future Proof EP, Erick is embarking on new musical travels with the release of his official debut album, I’ve Never Been Here Before. Out Feb. 23, the double album explores Erick’s flowy instrumentation, poeticism, and artistry at full scale. The project is fueled by singles "Shook Up" featuring FARR and Joey Bada$$, "Ezekiel’s Wheel" with funk forefather George Clinton, and the breezy "Instincts" with Westside Boogie.

Erick says I’ve Never Been Here Before is more than a collection of catchy introspections, melodic monologues, and '90s-inspired jams. It’s the shedding of one persona — and sound — and the beginning of a new: the Mandevillain. 

"This album is an identity of a new person," Erick the Architect tells GRAMMY.com, noting that the moniker is an ode to his father’s hometown of Mandeville, Jamaica. "A lot of people may have thought there was a ceiling to what I’m capable of, but I think this album will showcase a brand new artist and identity, which is really hard to do when people think they already know you. But I really think this is unique." 

The switch isn’t just in name — he’s taken on a new approach to music, too. For the first time in years, Erick says he’s prioritizing himself and his specific musical world. "It’s the first time I have created with the headspace that I’m free," he says. "I find that other artists don’t listen to other people’s music when they’re in a creative space, but this is the most locked off I’ve been from things."

As much as I’ve Never Been Here Before signals new creative ground for Erick to fertilize, it also represents his collective efforts to limit distractions and break free of any barriers — personally and sonically. 

While it was difficult to stay so focused and inward-looking while creating his debut album, turning to some of his legendary collaborators provided some clarity. After having conversations with James Blake, George Clinton, and other artists as part of the project, Erick no longer feels forced to fit a mold or address outside criticism. 

"This album is about sacrifice, and I’ve Never Been Here Before is me being okay with losing things," he says. "I think that losing has always a negative connotation because nobody wants to lose, everybody wants to win. But it's the first time I'm losing stuff and it’s better being lost. Whether it's a habit or a person in your life, you don't need to hold everything."

I’ve Never Been Here Before lives up to its title in both theme and creation. Where Erick previously wrote songs in moments of vulnerability, the rapper says he "doesn’t feel that way anymore." 

Citing the work of Keith Haring, Miles Davis and Pablo Picasso as inspiration, Erick says he was driven to write more high-spirited songs, rather than ones tethered to struggle and hardship. As a result, the album is more accessible than some of his previous work.

"I’m tired of writing from a perspective of just being like, 'I’m sad today, bro,'" he says. "I haven’t made a project that I feel like you can just put that joint on and just play it, don’t even think about anything else because it’s commanding an energy that we all need." 

In transforming the project, the "Die 4 U" artist pieced together a blend of new and older songs he recorded five years ago. And while a double album is a "death sentence" in the eyes of most rap fans, Erick says he’s prepared for both heaps of praise and hurls of "he’s overrated" from listeners. He would feel more anxiety only if the music never came out.

"I’ve always believed that I had another special part of me that I think people didn’t witness because I didn’t put it out in the forefront," he says.

While getting a new release across the finish line can be a heavy weight to bear, Erick says he’s determined to prove his doubters wrong and own his legitimacy as a solo act. "I didn’t get lucky or sneak in here and steal beats from somebody’s laptop," Erick says. "This project is great to defeat people who have perceptions about me that are incorrect."

With the momentum of I’ve Never Been Here Before, Erick is set to test his new music and moniker on the road during his upcoming Mandevillain Tour, which kicks off in Austin on March 25.

Now that he’s fulfilling his ambitions as a solo act, the artist has a few more mediums he plans to explore – TV and film. After being a rapper/producer for more than a decade, Erick says he’s ready to take grander creative leaps.  "I’m just trying to take this to the highest caliber," he says.

– Grammy.com

Inside The Metro-Verse: How Metro Boomin Went From Behind-The-Scenes Mastermind To Rap's Most In-Demand Producer

Metro Boomin isn’t your ordinary hero. Instead of scaling walls and flying over cityscapes, he possesses the rare ability to generate hits across a myriad of genres while remaining true to form. Like heroes in the Marvel and DC universes, the often withdrawn producer has played a not-so-quiet role in hip-hop for a decade.

For his superpowers, Metro has become one of the most in-demand sonic architects in the game. His collaborations with Future, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, Big Sean, and other big-name artists defied convention, turning Southern trap into high-performance art. Despite his reserved demeanor, Metro Boomin has been behind the board of more than 100 Billboard Hot 100 songs, including top 10 hits like the Migos’ "Bad and Boujee" and 21 Savage’s "Mr. Right Now" with Drake. 

Metro spread his heroics even further last year. He produced standout tracks on Young Thug’s Business is Business ("Oh U Went), Lil Durk’s Almost Healed (War Bout It") and other major releases, while cranking out his own viral hits – "Am I Dreaming" featuring A$AP Rocky and Roisee and "Superhero" with Chris Brown and Future. His contributions led to his nomination for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 2024 GRAMMYs, and showcased his versatility as an artist. 

Thanks to Metro, and his unmistakable calling card — "If young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you" — trap's appeal has grown outside of the rap community, influencing pop and R&B. And his string of hits with the likes of The Weeknd, James Blake and Solange further proves Metro's musical wizardry. 

But on his second album, Heroes & Villains, which is nominated for Best Rap Album at the 66th GRAMMY Awards, the St. Louis native proves that he's as strong a solo act as he is an engineer of others' hits. Driven by lead single "Creepin’" featuring  21 Savage and The Weeknd, the 2022 album topped  the Billboard 200 charts and became Metro’s third project to land at No. 1 

It’s the second installment of an ongoing album trilogy, which follows 2018’s Not All Heroes Wear Capes. 

Boasting features from John Legend, Future, Chris Brown, Travis Scott, Don Toliver, and Young Thug, Heroes & Villains is the second installment of an ongoing album trilogy, which follows 2018’s Not All Heroes Wear Capes.  

According to Luminate, Heroes & Villains netted Metro his biggest opening week to date, with an estimated 185,000 equivalent albums sold in the U.S. "I didn’t see that coming," Metro told DJ Drama in January 2023. "A lot of times my stuff will grow slowly because I’ll put my time into it and people will realize, Oh, this is dope. I thought it was going to be one of those usual things … But it definitely caught me off guard." 

In a recent renaissance of soundtrack projects, the multi-platinum producer also created the soundtrack to the animated blockbuster Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Metro flexed his versatility on the 13-song project, which combined sonorous trap beats, reggaeton and Afrobeat-inspired jams, and lush pop ballads. 

Metro's success and recent GRAMMY nominations have been the result of years of Herculean feats.  Never content to follow a single sonic thread, Metro has continually expanded his reach to other genres and mediums. He’s dabbled in film and TV, producing songs for the short-lived and The Weeknd-starring HBO series "The Idol," and embraced live orchestration both in song and performance. On songs like "On Time" with John Legend, the producer amplified the grandiose record with stringed instruments, then performed the song with a live orchestra at the Dolby Theater for the Red Bull Symphonic back in November 2023.

Despite his vast production credits, Metro says he’s been unfairly labeled a "trap producer." He’s conjured pop and R&B hits, too. "I love R&B music, I love making this, love making that," he told GQ in 2022. "Why would I wanna do something that I did?" Along with producing The Weeknd’s No. 1 song "Heartless," Metro laid his hands to tracks on James Blake’s Assume Form and Solange’s When I Get Home, then later produced Coldplay’s "Let Somebody Go" featuring Selena Gomez in 2019.

Metro’s venture into solo stardom shouldn’t be a surprise either; the 30-year-old producer told Billboard he wanted to be a rapper as a teenager. "In order to do that, I needed some beats, so I started to make my own beats." At age 13, Metro took notice of artists like Soulja Boy, who also made his own beats. "It was like … it’s possible." 

Now, after years of playing the background, the man behind the blistering trap beats and rattling hi-hats is finally unmasked and fully embracing his solo artistry. There were flashes of his genre-bending genius on Not All Heroes Wear Capes, with the Offset, WizKid, and J Balvin-assisted "Only You" melding trap, Afrobeats, and reggaeton in euphoric form, but Across the Spider-Verse fully showcases Metro's musical dexterity both behind the board and in front of the mic. 

On the film’s soundtrack, the roaring orchestral sounds of "Am I Dreaming" form a transcendent exchange between A$AP Rocky and eclectic vocalist Roisee. Songs like "Hummingbird" see Metro return to his trap roots, but James Blake’s harmonious croons breathe mists of pop magic into the track. 

The hip-swaying "Silk & Cologne" and "Link Up" fuse reggaeton and Afrobeats, but "Nas Morales" is a complete step in unfamiliar territory for Metro. The unlikely collaboration between him and Nas closes out the 13-song project — Metro’s most experimental to date. 

The album Heroes & Villains is more in line with Metro’s roots, with songs like "Superhero (Heroes & Villains)" and "Niagra Falls" highlighting the producer’s darker, more mystifying trap wizardry. He also, for the first time, conjured a rollout for the project. 

Before the album’s release, Metro dropped a short film that featured cameos from Gunna, Young Thug, and actors LaKeith Stanfield and Morgan Freeman. The video, directed by Gibson Hazard, shows TV journalists (Gunna and Thug) reporting on a firetruck driver (Stanfield) setting flames to a city’s streets. Metro, overlooking the destruction alongside Morgan Freeman, decides to take action and stop the arsonist. 

Last year was a big one for Metro, but the producer isn't driven by accolades.  He wants fans to know that no amount of fame or hardware can take him away from his calling. "More than any accolades, sales, and everything, I just want people to know at the end that I cared the whole time. Every ounce of effort that I possibly could put into the art, I did," Metro told Complex.  

With a new year in full swing, Metro has already hinted at a possible hat trick in 2024. While interacting with a fan on X, formerly known as Twitter, Metro wrote, "2023 was great but just watch what I do 2024!!!!!." The fan then asked how many albums to expect, with Metro responding, "3 at the very least." 

– GRAMMY.com

Benny The Butcher Is Ready To Rise On 'Everybody Can’t Go'

Benny The Butcher is prepared to spar with the biggest names in rap music to prove he’s one of the most prolific MCs in the industry. 

"My confidence comes from my talent, and my talent comes from my preparation," Benny tells GRAMMY.com. 

For the uninitiated, the East Buffalo rapper's brash delivery and unshakeable confidence could be perceived as arrogance. But for Benny and long-time fans of the Montana Avenue vet, he’s more than earned the distinction. 

"If you see these dudes, they’re not confident because they’re not prepared to talk that talk. We stand behind this music, man," he continues. "I’m only on this interview with you because I rap good. I’m not on this interview with you because I’m dating an R&B chick, or because I have a Rihanna feature.”

Benny The Butcher is just days ahead of releasing Everybody Can’t Go, his debut album with Def Jam Recordings. Out Jan. 26, Everybody is Benny's major label launch but it's far from his first foray.

Off the heels of his critically acclaimed album Tana Talk 4 in 2022 — which boasted the viral hit "Johnny P’s Caddy" featuring J. Cole — Benny has kept a steady hand on the pulse of the rap game. Since then, he’s been heard on DJ Drama’s "Forever," G Herbo’s "Real Rap" and memorialized a Buffalo legend on the BSF project Long Live DJ Shay.  

In that time, Benny, born Jeremie Pennick, has fashioned himself as the proprietor of "caviar drug rap," and he’s not afraid to remind you, either. He’s confident the release of Everybody Can’t Go will showcase his evolution as an artist.

"I’m on a higher level than I was. Everybody gets to watch my career elevate and it’s right in front of me," he says. "From the mixtapes, from the freestyles, featuring on Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine’s s–, and people share that journey with me. It’s high-level drug rap."

After switching his moniker from "Benny" to "Benny The Butcher," he veered away from rapping over other artists’ beats and started working with in-house Griselda producers like Daringer to round out his nostalgic, boom-bap sound that’s become synonymous with the Griselda imprint. 

If the album’s lead singles "Bron," "Big Dog," and the title track are any indication, Benny isn’t deviating from the sound that made him. Tales of his past exploits are coated in Hit-Boy and Alchemist beats, with features from Griselda and BSF collaborators Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, 38 Spesh, Lil Wayne, and others. But the method behind the music, Benny says, was all the same. 

"I didn’t take no new approach, I just wanted to deliver some dope music and make sure I sounded how I felt," the 39-year-old MC says. "I feel like my sound is more refined and I switched my flow up."

To casual connoisseurs, Benny is a burgeoning star who’s aiming for wider success and acclaim. But for fans of the "Trade It All" lyricist, who saw his rise as the younger cousin of Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine on Griselda, he’s earned the right to share his vivid tales and signature brand of mafioso rap on a larger scale. And he’s already made good use of the label’s platform.

He’s rubbed shoulders with artists like J. Cole, connected with legends like Snoop Dogg for his Def Jam signing, and now has his sights on more R&B-oriented records. Benny wants to work with the "Queens of R&B and hip-hop," naming legends including SZA, Teyana Taylor, Coco Jones, Summer Walker, and others at the top of his list.  

With his ascension, Benny is continuing to discover the perils of fame. He admits it’s challenging to deal with trolls and faceless critics on X (formerly known as Twitter). "You have to remind yourself it’s only a fraction of the people. Their voice is so loud on social media that it tricks the artist into thinking that’s the general population that feels like that, but it’s not," Benny says.

He’s also accepted the fact that not everyone is meant to be a part of his journey. The sentiment inspired the new album title and is reflective of his new attitude: Whether friend or family, hindering his growth is too hefty a price tag. As his career continues to take flight, others will be left at the terminal. 

"Everybody Can’t Go is me realizing, Wow, it’s not for everybody even though I got this far to help provide opportunities," he said. "You could make someone the president or an A&R at Def Jam, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for it. A lot of people don’t want to work, they just want what comes with the work —  the lifestyle, the fame, and the money."

After the project’s release, Benny intends to expand as a legitimate businessman and do more executive production, starting with his roster of BSF talent, which includes Rick Hyde, Heem B$F, ElCamino, LoveBoat Luciano, and other members. 

With Griselda, Benny already has his two cousins as counterparts, but Benny talked about having his daughter by his side during the album’s press run. He was impressed with her vocal ability and is open to exploring her musical side. "This is a family business," he says. "I encourage everybody to get into music because it’s therapeutic, it keeps you out of the way, and it’s lucrative if you do it right."

Of his growth as a solo artist, Benny says, "It feels like I’m on pace to keep doing great things." In the near-future, he's already making plans to dive into the film industry and drop another project to close out yet another big year in music. 

– GRAMMY.com

Boi-1da, The Free-Spirit Super Producer, In His Grammy Moment

Boi-1da isn’t one for repetition — he’s an explorer of sound. Throughout his run as a top-booking producer, he’s fused his love of hip-hop, reggae, dancehall, R&B, and other genres in pursuit of the next sonic wave, and he’s done it by refusing to limit his creative ambitions.

“I don't like to just do the same thing,” Boi-1da said. “I'll get bored and just feel like doing something completely outside of the box just to challenge myself or push myself. And it's good for the mind. You sit there and make a million rap songs, beats, ideas, and whatnot. But then sometimes I just want to do something different and just get outside of my box and comfort zone.”

From the days he spent obsessing over FruityLoops beats as a teen to the years he’s been cranking out platinum-selling hits like “Headlines” and “Work,” the Kingston-born and Toronto-raised producer has harnessed his artistic powers to spearhead the industry’s biggest musical trends and established himself as one of the top producers in the last 15 years. Between collaborations with heavy hitters like Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, and fellow Canadian superstar Drake, along with a slew of platinum plaques to his name, Boi-1da, born Matthew Jehu Samuels, has the hardware to back up the claims.

As the Grammy winner’s star has grown brighter, he’s kept his profile low and his goals in frame. And his approach to life and music has led to a second Grammy nod this year for Producer of the Year in the Non-Classic field, with songs like Jack Harlow’s “Churchill Downs,” Kendrick’s “Silent Hill,” and Beyoncé’s “Heated” helping him score a nomination. “It's always a deep honor to get any sort of nomination from the Academy. So to have this again, it almost feels surreal,” the 36-year-old producer said. “It's hard to even muster up a feeling. This is stuff I dreamed about as a kid.”

With the momentum of Drake’s “God’s Plan” setting the industry ablaze, Boi-1da was nominated for producer of the year for the first time back in 2019. That year, the title was granted to Pharrell Williams, an artist he said inspired him to make music. This year, Boi-1da is joined by pop juggernaut Jack Antonoff; Steve Lacy and SZA producer DJ Dahi; The Black Keys guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach; and Oscar-winning producer Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II.

While the relatively laidback and humble producer attributes his success to his family and talented friends in the industry, he’s beginning to embrace his own greatness in full — a feeling that’s grown as he’s reflected on his accomplishments. This year’s Grammy nod would have been a “surprise” in past years, but the recognition came right on time.

“I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't say I was surprised this year,” Boi-1da shared. “I did a lot of big songs. I was on some of the biggest albums this year. It is one of those things where you don't expect it but you expect it, you know?”

Boi-1da’s success in 2022 — like all years — is tied to his uniquely aimless approach to music-making, which is about as boundless and free-flowing as the strokes of an abstract painting. Admittedly, he doesn’t always know what songs will climb the Billboard charts, or which artists will hop on which beat. Most times, he said those things come together naturally, and he’s at his best when his mind is transfixed on other things, like video games and movies like the Brazilian crime flick City of God.

“I still watch a lot of movies and play a lot of games because there will be those times when you just don't feel like making music,” Boi-1da noted. “For me, I’ll watch a good movie and be like, ‘Wow, I really like that movie,’ and it’ll make me want to get in the studio for some reason. Or, I’ll play a game and I’m like, ‘I want to make music now.’ It’s always important for me to keep my mind occupied on other stuff because it just leads me back to music every single time.”

Over time, Boi-1da has learned to let the music happen and have fun in the process, and collaborations with friends like Harlow on “Churchill Downs” breed those kinds of moments. Boi-1da and the Louisville rapper came together seamlessly for the song’s concept, and the Drake-assisted track later turned into one of the biggest songs of Harlow’s career and a standout on his debut album, Come Home the Kids Miss You.

“Working with Jack is just so effortless and so easy,” he said. “It's like two homies just get in the studio, we crack some jokes and we just figure it out.”

His collab with Kendrick was much of the same magic. The two superstars have worked together for years on album cuts like “The Blacker The Berry,” so putting their minds together to notch out tracks for the Grammy-nominated Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was like another day in the studio. “Anytime I’m in L.A., I always got to tap in with Dot,” he said. “So we were just having fun and cooking up some ideas in the studio. He’s a mastermind. He took everything we did and just went into his hut, master-crafted it, and put it all together. But it’s always effortless working with Dot. He’s one of my favorite people to work with.”

On his discovery of untapped sounds that turn to trends, Boi-1da has mastered the ability to bend the familiar and make it nuanced. Whether he’s working on stadium anthems like “N95,” soulful, sample-driven hits like Drake’s “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2” or fierce, dancehall-infused tracks like Beyoncé’s “Heated,” his appetite for experimentation has reached towering heights. And working with artists like Beyoncé brings his Frankenstein-like production to life.

“It's always a pleasure working with Beyoncé,” he said. “That's the queen, man. Whatever she does, whatever she stamps, or whatever idea she has, it's just always a goal. She just doesn't miss and it's just a pleasure working with her.”

As he charts his path forward, the super producer is chasing another “dream” of his: a compilation album. He shied away from revealing a release date, but he said fans can expect “everybody’s favorite artists” on the project. “I'm taking my time with it and making sure it's the best quality of music that I've ever done,” he said. “That's just my dream — to do something I haven't done yet. I can't wait for everybody to hear it.”

In fulfilling his dream, Boi-1da said he will continue to roam freely as a creative and drift toward whatever inspires his path of musical exploration.

“I'm just a free spirit with music,” he said, “I just go wherever the wind takes me, so I couldn't even predict what I'm going to get into. It's just going to happen. You're just going to hear about it. I go where the wind takes, where life blows me.”

– MTV News

The Ascent Of Baby Keem From Underground Rapper To Grammy-Winning Artist

Once obscure from the bright lights of mainstream rap, the name and profile of Baby Keem has risen the past year with the release of his debut album, The Melodic Blue, elevating him from an underground treasure to one of the genre’s most promising young stars.

Off the heels of sleeper-hit “Orange Soda” in 2019, the 21-year-old artist has scaled the Billboard charts with songs like “Range Brothers” and “Family Ties,” both assisted by his Pullitzer Prize-winning cousin Kendrick Lamar. His freshman album drew critical praise and some hardware to show for his musical ascension.

The Vegas-raised artist, born Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., was named Billboard’s first 2021 R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Year and received three nods for the 64th Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. He didn’t take home that coveted award — bested by Olivia Rodrigo — but was still able to take the Grammys stage for a win in the Best Rap Performance category.

Keem, the once faceless artist who hid behind palette-styled cover arts early in his career, has stepped firmly into his place as a transcendent musical talent, expanding from his enigmatic underground status to a known product of today’s sound. But even before his freshman debut and his signing to Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang media company, Keem started rapping at age 13, eventually honing his skittish flow and charismatic delivery over a cheap microphone.

“When I really started, I was 13 and I had Apple studio sh*t on my computer,” Keem said in an interview with Lamar for the 40th Anniversary Issue of i-D Magazine. “I had borrowed $300 from my grandma and I got my stuff on Craigslist. I was probably 15. I got a mic for $50. It was sh*t but it worked. So, I just started learning on that. I made it work.”

From the point his music developed, he landed a few production credits on Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther soundtrack and the albums of Top Dawg Entertainment associates Jay Rock and ScHoolBoy Q. Keem gained some traction from his first mixtape The Sound Of Bad Habit in 2018, which set the stage for his stop-and-go flow to shine, rapping “Dare I say it / B*tch, I’m Baby Keem, I don’t have time for trends” on the opener “Wolves.”

His name flashed to the masses with Die For My B*tch a vivacious and stylishly moodish project, with the standout track “Orange Soda” becoming a platinum-certified hit because of the song’s pulsating beat, hilariously cheeky lyrics, and outward brashness. Despite the buzz from Keem’s first two mixtapes, much about him was still a mystery.

Back then, an image or interview with the California-born artist could barely be found. But things changed once rumors about Keem’s affiliation with Lamar began to swirl, and soon, the cloak of invisibility surrounding him would shed as their kinship was revealed. As an artist, Keem didn’t lean on their relationship at first. Instead, he revealed in an interview with The Rap Pack that he worked on his music without the “Alright” artist knowing. That way, he could come into form on his own and leave any thoughts of nepotism to the wayside. “He didn’t even know I made music for a while,” Keem said. “He was on some, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Man, I just want to go to college, bro. I’m going to figure it out.’ I wasn’t even 100 percent sure I was even good at music.”

Keem later added: “If I wasn’t ready to like do what I’m doing now, then it wouldn’t be happening, you know what I’m saying? Even in the process […] I wouldn’t even ask for anything. I didn’t send him my music until later, later. I just wanted to make sure it was from me personally; I wanted to make sure it was owned.”

That was then, but now, Keem has doubled down on his relationship with Lamar and squared his focus on refining his creative process and broadening his sound. As Keem highlighted in an interview with Ebro Darden in October, everything he does is in service of the music. No matter the occasion, he’s always searching for things that spark inspiration and lead to his evolution as an artist, songwriter, and record producer:

“I don’t really leave that mold. I feel like when I go home, everything I do is for the sake of the music. If I watch a movie, or if a play a video game, I’m studying something. There’s something in there I can use, especially a movie for sure. If I watch Netflix right now, I’m watching the way it’s shot because I want to shoot a music video, or I’m looking at the actors and studying them in their gestures because I might want to mimic or take inspiration from it.

I try to have my moment, but I be bored. Like, people go on vacations and things like that and I’m not there yet. I don’t know how to go on vacation yet.”

From his first project to this year’s Grammy, Keem has carved out a lane all his own, using his frenetic and experimental sound to pierce through the guards of hip-hop circles. Once overlooked, he’s now recognized as one of the industry’s young musical supernovas. On “Trademark USA,” he declares his placement in rap, “I took the torch / I quit being nice.”

His Grammy win only serves as affirmation for his current spot, and the one he’ll be in the future. But for now, he’ll enjoy the ride, and in time, learn to take the proper vacation he deserves.

– UPROXX