The Rap-Up: New World Order

Anthony Seaman breaks down new tracks from Slayr, Estee Nack & Mike Shabb, and more, plus the rap world essential new festival.

Jul 25, 2026

Young World 5

While most of New York City was paying an arm and a leg to watch Jay-Z mutate his narrative from cutthroat capitalist to the All-American Dreamer, MIKE was showcasing the power of collectivism with his fifth Young World Festival.

Young World has over the years become a pilgrimage for rap fans, one where we follow MIKE like the Pied Piper down whatever musical rabbit holes he holds dear at a given time. The free concert has featured performances from Earl Sweatshirt, skaiwater, Slick Rick, Tisakorean, and Jay Critch, all under the banner of New York City’s SummerStage event series. Though last year the show did not go on, cancelled by MIKE and co. in solidarity with Kehlani and Noname after their shows were cancelled at the last minute due to “security concerns” thanks then Mayor Eric Adams and groups agitated by the artists’ pro-Palestinan views. Watching the dichotomy of MIKE, an artist willing to interrupt a growing brand for a greater cause while billionaire Jay-Z tisks at “Twitter activists” critiquing his alignments with the NFL, Target, and Brooklyn gentrification projects is another reminder of how rare it is to see an artist who won’t sellout to the highest bidder have full control of their destiny.

Now with more eyes on them than ever, a handful of 10k Global members came together alongside Max B, and a surprise Yasiin Bey appearance to touch the people and rock the park like it was the 1975.

Slayr, “Promise”

All art is in some way a copy of a copy, “No Idea’s Original”, etc. etc. and access to the Internet Archive has made stacking reference points easier than ever. Blatant ripoffs claiming homage litter all corners of the entertainment industry. So many ideas have already been explored on the page or screen to the point it’s hard to find anything that can even simulate freshness, making young people’s points of view more vital than ever. Slayr may appear to just be another kid soul-tied to his laptop, but he’s putting together masterpiece mosaics with elements we’ve taken for granted.

Dressed like ‘06 Pharrell, rapping like ‘16 Lil Uzi, but mashing genres together like ‘09 DJ AM, the 19-year-old has topped my personal best rapper-producer rankings with a comfortable lead on the other teenaged challengers. With help from pop music futurist underscores and longtime co-producer Chris Marek, “Promise” collides grungy guitars with EDM drops and hyper speed vocal chops akin to Kanye’s greatest gift to Rick Ross, “Live Fast, Die Young.” He’s just as mixed up emotionally as he is musically, oscillating between yearning for his crush to play his songs and cutting them off out of exhaustion.

Estee Nack & Mike Shabb, “ESTUPIDO”

Somewhere along the way rap lost most of the Jamaican influences it was created with. The days of Busta Rhymes’s patois or Lauryn’s shouts to Zion have gone with the wind. Estee Nack isn’t ditching his Dominican heritage for the black, green, and gold quite yet, but producer Mike Shabb has unlocked a haze of delays that stretch horn stabs from here to The Black Arc. Shabb is the perfect producer to take the task of melting reality around Nack’s delirious autofiction.

WoochieWobbler, “#SMUT”

WoochieWobbler’s newest mixtape, That’s So Libra Of You, is spilling over with naked truths about the neanderthal desires of men and women alike with woozying melodies and pugnacious Lex Luger type beats that’ll plop into a Magic City Monday. Its intro track, “#SMUT,” works as the perfect primer for all the observations and anecdotes she goes on to tell the world. While twerking the night away from the comfort of a mid-budget hotel room, the Atlanta Starlet turned bratty rap crooner distills the lizard-brained impulses of the male existence into nine simple words; “he don’t wanna good girl/he want a slut.” She’s also hellbent on outperforming her new man’s ex’s in bed and turned on by “dracos with the monkey nuts” so if this is the person you want to trust with psychosexual breakdowns of an entire gender, Godspeed.