In a year of bountiful free mixtapes, highlights including Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap, Joey Bada$$’ Summer Knights and Vince Staples’ Stolen Youth, New Yorker Le1f’s Fly Zone shone brightest.
Roping in Spank Rock, Haleek Maul and Kitty on an all-star guestlist, and with expertly varied beats coming from a cavalcade of production talents, Fly Zone singled Le1f out as one of the left-field’s hottest emerging rappers.
Previewing his next offering Tree House with ‘Damn Son’ last week, the New Yorker pilfers that slightly dopey ‘damn son, where’d you find this?’ sample from the Trap-A-Holics mixtape series, and gurgles it around with his gravelly flow. While Shy Guy’s trippy synth progressions and machinegun hi-hats provide grease for Le1f’s manic rasping about spliffs, Egyptian cotton and chiffon. Damn son, indeed.
Tree House is out 10 September via Camp & Street.
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