EBK Jaaybo - "F*ck Everybody (Free Maxx)"

Can you imagine how cathartic it would be to make a song where the chorus is just a gigantic fuck you to every enemy you’ve ever encountered? It’s a list that’s unceremoniously long for EBK Jaaybo (the EBK standing for “Everybody Killer.”) The young Stockton startup has plenty of reason to feel angry. His father, an aspiring rapper in his own right, was killed in 2015. According to local news, an 11-year-old EBK had been robbed of his shoes and other items at a nearby park. When his father found out, he left the house to get his son's items back. He was killed in his Porsche not long after, and his son's his life in the streets began shortly thereafter. He’s been in and out of juvie and jail ever since.

EBK is the purveyor of what I like to call “haunting choir drill.” A song like “F*ck Everybody” is an almost transcendent auditory experience, from the haunting ensemble in the background to the ever-present bass to the snake-like way EBK creeps on his vocals. He and the late great Young Slo-Be don’t get enough credit for their ability to convey through music just how terrible some of the conditions are in certain parts of Stockton, a city often voted shittiest in the country by various measures. It’s a soundtrack to a city forgotten and left behind. And apparently what that sounds like is a war cry from a near-institutionalized young man who will hopefully still be free and/or alive by the time this publishes.

G Perico & DJ Drama - "Commas"

G Perico restores that summertime feeling with “Commas,” a song complete with DJ Drama drops and a saxophone riff that somehow evokes G-Funk nostalgia and mid-film montages from old gangster flicks. His cadence and bending voice could come from nowhere but South Central, LA, and same goes for his jheri curl and lowrider. G Perico is like LA’s version of Curren$y, an always underrated artist who has always stayed consistent, never wavering or second-guessing his position in the game. Someone who is respected in the streets and on YouTube without having to partake in the carousel of humiliation rituals his local rap peers engage with on podcast platforms or even their own Instagram lives. He's proof that keeping it real and focusing on music will take you further than internet clout games.

X4 & Lefty Gunplay - "Screw up"

It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for Lefty Gunplay. First, he was arrested for weed possession in Dallas. Then, he was picked up last week on an outstanding warrant from a 2023 gun possession case on his way to the stage at Rolling Loud in LA. His mugshot shows a jubilant Lefty, with a goofy, diamond-encrusted grin. He remains in jail for now. Which is a shame, because each Lefty feature released in the past few months has gotten better and better. He even handles chorus duty on “Screw Up,” featuring X4, which is perhaps the best and most interesting part of the song. It’s an interpolation of an old Biggie line, “I grew up a fucking screw up,” which I’m sure both Lefty and X4 have no trouble relating too. At the moment, it’s hard to imagine two street rappers in LA with more motion. The staggered chorus, stellar production, and X4’s trademark vitriol, turn this from an average street banger to a major step up for both gangbanging rappers.

Chuckyy - "N***a Poetry"

There’s a subdued energy bubbling just under the surface in most of Chicago rapper Chuckyy’s songs. It’s as if the young man wants to scream with pain but can’t because his mouth is wired shut or he hasn’t had his coffee yet. His latest track possesses a simmering intensity that reminds me of Meek Mills’ slow-burning megahit, “Dreams & Nightmares.” It shows a breathless Chuckyy rapping passionately over a beat that never seems to actually drop. It’s a brilliant manuever that builds suspense within the song, as Chuckky slowly becomes unglued from his stupor, speeding up his verse and bemoaning the struggles of being a “rich fucking child.” There’s an emotional heft, an almost confessional quality to “Poetry,” that feels hard to shake after repeat listens.

Icewear Vezzo - "Worth Something" (feat. Big Sean & Peezy)

Big Sean is about five years too late to earn cool points for jumping on a track with Detroit mainstays Icewear Vezzo and Peezy, but late is better then never. Surprisingly, Sean Don actually holds his own against the lean-sipping aficionados on “Worth Something,” saying “asking if I still got it is like asking Vezzo’ if he still got pints.” However, it’s Peezy who comes in last with the show-stealing verse, making me wonder if they allowed him to write his verse last. “Three, four thousand going down the drain as soon as I get dressed,” he says. In recent years, post-prison Peezy has mastered the art of rich guy raps perhaps even more so than lifestyle impresarios Larry June and Action Bronson.

The Rap-Up: Week of March 24, 2025