Today’s artist, Shy Goon, hails from Fairfield, Connecticut, bringing a unique take on the trap production usually associated with drug dealing rappers. Specifically, his latest single, DIOR XTREM, embodies a futuristic trap beat, which reminds me of March Madness by Future, but with subject matter more applicable to the average young adult.

This week’s artist is definitely a curve ball when it comes to the types of artists talked about on this blog. For one, the artist doesn’t exist physically within our reality, and second, the music created by this artist is an anomaly, an audio contradiction. The artist in question is a new one called BOMBEI.exe and her debut single is here.

This week’s artist hails from Bristol, United Kingdom and is a budding international rapper in the hip hop scene. I am referring to Phxllz by way of the group Alwayz On Point, who just released a project called Q0Q featuring artists Avasi, Finesse and Danky. The sonic brand displayed by these up and coming artists is versatile with an emphasis on melody, especially Phxllz, who stands out on multiple tracks on the project including Trust and Signs of Life, as well as a collab record with Danky, the certified banger, Paper.

This week’s artist is definitely a switch up from the type of music that I listen to and write about. It is a rock artist that goes by Bob Pepek, but the difference in genre doesn’t affect my ears when listening to him, especially with his latest single being We Can Work It Out, a cover of The Beatles of the same name. The Connecticut singer/songwriter is a veteran when it comes to releasing music, with his first official release to streaming being the 2009 EP, From The Let Go, and dropping consistently between then and now with the single Down Here in 2015, the album Pratfalls and Curtain Calls in 2017 and his 2021 single Silver Lining.

There is a roughness around the edges aspect to Cabus’ music that is blended well with great mixing and production that not only makes it feel organic, but reachable to the masses in a way that mainstream artists can’t duplicate. Being primarily focused on hip hop, when listening to Cabus, I’m reminded of the grittiness of an underground rapper but with the polished attributes of a pop star. The song that I discovered encompasses everything that I’ve described so far.

This post will be highlighting his first single from the album, All A Dream. With this release he is the most ambitious that I’ve ever heard from him. Where it is ambitious is in the sample and, or interpolation. It is a west coast sounding version of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Juicy, you know, the classic that starts with “It was all a dream, I used to read word up magazine.” While it is ambitious because the song is a classic, it is also a smart move, because as soon as you turn the song on, you can’t help but feel reminiscent, whether it be from being outside at the time, or from your parents playing it in the house. With that being said, it will also attract older listeners, so every generation can enjoy All A Dream at the cookout.

Today’s artist discovery article is about the up and coming artist, Joey Souls. I don’t know anything about him except that he has a powerful voice that I discovered while looking up R&B/Soul songs. After doing a bit of research, I found out that he’s fairly new to releasing music on streaming, but that doesn’t mean he sacrifices on quality. He started releasing music during the pandemic with his 2020 hit So Right, and followed it up with a 2021 single, and his highest streamed song, Ooh. In 2022, Souls picked up the pace releasing two singles, his latest, Chocolate, and the song that I discovered on my new music binge, Her. Her currently stands as his most popular song on Spotify and for good reason. It is a not so subtle melodic banger that is perfect summer music, and the formula for accumulating fans from both the elder and current generation of listeners.

The name “Son Of Age” is an allusion to the duality of life, specifically when it comes to the Malaysian rapper. The moniker represents the relative nature of roles we find ourselves in; everyone plays the teacher and the student, the child and parent, the elder and the junior. He channels this philosophy into his critically acclaimed music, blending themes of passion, strength, brutal honesty into his art.

The song features a nocturnal trap beat with booming 808s and subtle, rattling high hats. The production leaves plenty of space for the group to flow and adlib to their hearts desire. That’s exactly what they did. To begin, the hook plays a host a punchy staccato flow from a piercing voice exclaiming why he has “no time to chat”, including getting cash and flexing what he can buy with that cash. The first verse has a more deliberate flow and vocal delivery, explaining to a girl why Last of the 80s is so dope, with potent lines like “mix the green with the red, it's christmas.” Not to be out done, the second verse claims its stake on the track transitioning from a husky voice exuding presence to the same voice on the hook, with the pleasant to the ears voice that pierces through the mix. It’s the same content, different voice and the duo culminates in a contrast that emits chemistry.

MONKEYMAN is an up and coming artist with a diverse style that, while being inspired by artists such as Juice WRLD, XXXTENTACION, Ski Mask The Slump God, A Day to Remember and more, is uniquely him and ear pleasing at the same time. He officially started releasing music during the pandemic in 2021, with his single, Do not speak on my name (b*tch), but the song I want to talk about is his 2021 single, sometimes life’s hard.

We’re back with another artist discovery post and this time, it’s about the up and coming artist hailing from Orlando, SY. I’m not going to lie, I immediately updated my rotation after finding his music. The key to his appeal, and what peaked my interest, is his versatility, showcased throughout his catalog but I want to specifically focus on three songs: Set My Mind Free, Andale, and Late Night in the Goon.

Killing Every Verse, which I assume is a play off of the name Kev, is an artist from Knoxville, Tennessee. His artistic career stretches back to the mid 2000’s, although as part of a group, but his solo career began in 2022 with his first solo album, Unsealed Vault. Although a great album, this blog post will be about his latest project released on June 14, 2022, Crypto, about the highs and lows of relationships (similar to the nature of cryptocurrency, hence the name) and dealing with the aftermath of moving on from said relationship.

Corey Yanks is an artist hailing from Spokane, Washington by way of Southern California, who started his musical journey in 2016. He has been releasing consistently since the start of the year with Be Me being his latest single. He draws inspiration from many places, as well as artists, including XXXTENTACION and Travis Scott, even though I don’t hear those influences in Be Me in particular, more on that later. Not that it matters, but Corey is white, and with his ethnicity as a rapper comes stigmas about who he actually is and how he lives his life as compared to his artistic output, that’s where Be Me comes into play.

Found another artist while perusing Spotify, this time it’s a producer from Somerset, United Kingdom by the name of Beats By Kobra. I ran into two songs that caught my ear, his most popular song, How Many Times featuring Aaron Ak and Mic Righteous, and his latest single Already Know also featuring Aaron Ak and Dpart.

While perusing spotify, I found an artist not typically in the genres I listen to, but that has caught my ear nonetheless. The artist in question, hailing from Australia, is Derek Lee Goodreid and he has delivered a folk-rock blues song that is emotionally intoxicating. Goodreid’s Born to Raise Hell & Sing the Blues, is a testament to pure emotion manifesting itself through a voice. His delivery of the song comes from the diaphragm, but it feels like he’s throat singing because of the raspy nature of his voice. It is easy to hear the honesty and passion in his voice.

Generally, Spotify is looking for songs with potential to blow up, so that they could receive more listeners from it. When an artist pitches a song, Spotify asks them how they plan on marketing it. This is because they don’t want to spend money, or resources promoting artists, especially without a guaranteed return. All in all, if an artist utilizes the first two types of playlists, as well as generates buzz around the song outside of Spotify, then the work is already done and the editorial playlists are just icing on the cake.

Franklin Stone is back with another single called Say Less and it is a banger. The song features a blend of rhythm and melody over an infectious beat reminiscent of Kanye. While it could have sonically fit on Stone’s last project, Legacy, the track sticks out as a stand alone statement.

With 2.2 Billion users, YouTube is the largest streaming platform by far and can help jumpstart your career by getting you the most exposure, and eventually a decent paycheck. Building a following for free on YouTube takes a lot of work and time on your part. While the YouTube algorithm helps the discovery of new creators and videos, you have to put in the initial work of making your videos discoverable to the algorithm. This can take time but if you take the steps listed below, and your content is worth watching, then you are guaranteed to pick up steam.

We’re back with another song review, and this time it’s from an up and coming artist from Detroit, and his name is WaveyBoy. He recently released the single, Lust & Love featuring Trae Rixx, but I discovered him from the single before that, Ambition featuring JBadge. I previously reviewed JBadge’s independently released Statements, and have been listening to his music ever since. While on his artist page, I decided to check out his featured on section and found Ambition.

Franklin Stone is back with another EP, Legacy. His sophomore EP is different from his debut Seasons in almost every way. The lone similarity between the two projects is the use of acoustic guitars within the production, and how he uses them. Besides that, the differences stood out to me immediately.