The goal, though, is to convert that support into listens on paid streaming sites. Spotify is the best site in which to convert potential listeners. It allows you to create your own playlists and pitch your song to someone else’s. Playlists should be one of your most important tools, because playlist curation allows you to bring many artists together. Each artist that supports your playlist is another listener added to your stats.

I don’t want this article to seem like a review, especially of one song, but I think explaining my first impression as I did is the only way to capture the essence of how I felt, and what you could expect from Bua. He has a style and he is true to it, dense rapping over dense, but silky production.

The Mississippi native must have known that I discovered his music, because I feel like as soon as I finished exploring his catalogue, wanting more, he drops another song. The Motions doesn’t have the same deep south feel as AWMOS, taking a melodic and rhythmic approach playing host to D. Saint’s singing voice while he effortlessly blends melody with his verses and hook. This is the type of song that could reach less hardcore hip hop fans, allowing him to expand his reach.

This new sound brought to life by songs such as: Glass Hearts, Avenues, Here we Go Again, and finally, Sadboi, is an infusion of all of his previous work. It balances the upbeat and poppy with content that paints a picture of humility and pain. It serves a pleasant juxtaposition, while not sounding too dissonant. All of the cover art follows a theme of bubbly blue, I’d like to think the color is a visual cue of the ‘Sadboi’, though I don’t hear any Blues references in the music. This leads me to another trait of Teeyago that I appreciate, his aesthetic detail.

OCEAN’s latest project BUOY carries the same aggression that's in Tetherless Remix, throughout the whole mixtape. If there is one thing I can say about him is that he has flow. His flows are the most standout part of his music and can set him apart from his peers and maybe even the greats. It is not easy to convey the emotion he does at this early in someone’s career, and the only thing that can stop his rise to the top is himself. Check out his youtube and soundcloud, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The last time I wrote about Franklin Stone, I promised that I would be back with a review, unbiased of course, and here it is! I didn’t speak on it in my preview, but the cover art stood out to me as soon as I saw it, especially when I made the connection: Benjamin Franklin and Franklin Stone. The two Franklins, if you will, is a motif that I hope he follows, not only because of the shared name, but also there is a depth of content he could explore, just on money alone, let alone Benjamin Franklin’s life and influence. I didn’t get that in To be Frank though.

I recently discovered Alex Michèll while looking for new R&B/Soul artists to listen to and I was definitely not disappointed. On his soundcloud he features only two songs, but the impact is felt immediately. The song I want to focus on is VBN featuring Kevin Brown.