5 On It: Around the Block and Back

5 On It is a feature that looks at five of the best under-the-radar rap findings from the past two weeks, highlighting new or recently discovered artists.

Image via Corbin Butler

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Image via Corbin Butler

Image via Corbin Butler

5 On It is a feature that looks at five of the best under-the-radar rap findings from the past two weeks, highlighting new or recently discovered artists, or interesting obscurities.


Two years ago while Jacob and Constant Gardner were in Austin for SXSW, they let me try something new.

I had been dealing with personal and professional chaos. Uncertainty undercut my consistency as a contributor. I took a step back to reassess what I could contribute to the team on a regular basis. The result: 5 On It, a then weekly now bi-weekly look at my favorite recent under-the-radar discoveries.

Over the ensuing two years, 5 On It has turned into a ritual for meā€”a steady, insatiable hunt for the new and strange, the emotive, the catchy, the trunk-rattling, and, in the best cases, some combination of all the elements. Two years certainly isnā€™t five years or ten yearsā€”thereā€™s still much work to do and much more music to discover, but it does provide cause to pop a (cheap) bottle and tip the hat to another round of under the radar artists doing dope shit.


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Image via Corbin Butler

Image via Corbin Butler

Corbin Butler ā€“ Is It Safe To Sayā€¦

Corbin Butler was one of 2015ā€™s best surprises and an easy standout from last yearā€™s editions 5 On It. A rapper, singer, and producer with an eclectic palette that seemingly stretched from Outkast to Blink-182 and all sorts of unexpected destinations in between, Butler collided his ability and taste into the fascinating and entertainingly messy Rolling Ridge. Butlerā€™s personality, smart introspection, and knack for weaving a few recurring sounds and textures throughout the project held Rolling Ridge together while pointing to ample room for growth.

New mixtape Is It Safe To Sayā€¦ doesnā€™t jump lightyears ahead, but it does showcase Butler rapping with increased sharpness and the same cleverness that gave life to self-deprecating songs like ā€œ23.ā€ Project standouts ā€œSidelines,ā€ ā€œMYLOVE,ā€ and ā€œWONTDIEā€ display the diversity that made Rolling Ridge exhilarating, narrowing the focus without losing the sonic ambition and uniqueness now codifying as Butlerā€™s signatures.

(Credit goes to producer AygsB as well, who co-produced much of Rolling Ridge with Butler and returns here on production and co-production duties).

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Image via Fidel Sun

Image via Fidel Sun

Fidel Sun ā€“ Valley Sun

PhiladelphiaĀ rapper Fidel Sun draws from a wide range of sounds, with new projectĀ Valley Sun sounding like the spawn of a postĀ 808s and Heartbreak world in which pain is best served in auto-tune, rap songs donā€™t need drums, grunge is fair game as inspiration, Wu Tang might still exist as an echo in the ether, and emotion transmitted through texture takes precedence over pure technical rapping and even, on occasion, intelligibility. Valley Sun serves up a current vision of hip-hop, at times not even resembling hip-hop at all (ā€œMageā€ is basically echoey, incoherentĀ singing over ambient noise), seemingly more concernedĀ with the creation of complete mood than anything else. Itā€™s an intriguing project in its collision of influences, feeling entirely of the moment (particularly and coincidentally in the wake of The Life of Pablo careening, fractious vision of hip-hop)Ā and yet as if it might have been sitting around on a secret Tumblr somewhere since 2011, waiting for an intrepid internet traveler.

Basically, wait until 4AM, smoke some weed, turn out the lights, turn on Valley Sun, and stare at the static of your television screen.

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Image via The Samo D

Image via The Samo D

The Samo D ā€“ ā€œCreepinā€

I heard Massachusetts rapper The Samo Dā€™s aptly titled ā€œCreepinā€ at an appropriate time: 2:07AM, alone in my apartment. Trawling Twitter for informationā€”new music, new humor, new videos, new anything to satiate the modern hunger that demands more for the sake of moreā€”I came across a link to ā€œCreepin.ā€ Finding precious little evidence in the YouTube description, a bit of quick googling brought me to a defunct Twitter page, a Soundcloud with two year old songs on it, and ultimately an active Twitter account proving I hadnā€™t jumped into a deep, dark internet dead end (like I did with one of my favorite 5 On It entrants ever, Hot Boy Majorā€”who, as it turns out, appears to be a part of Kevin Gatesā€™ Bread Winners Association).

That search wouldnā€™t have happened had ā€œCreepinā€ not been the excellent, unsettling slice of drug-fueled aquatic rap. Though brief and largely unstructured, it succeeds on Samo Dā€™s limber raps and an eerie, plinking beat.

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Image via Denham

Image via Denham

Denham ft. Marty Khan and Home Movies ā€“ ā€œS.P.L.U.R.G.E.ā€

San Clemente, California singer Denhamā€™s ā€œS.P.L.U.R.G.E.ā€ incorporates rap like pieces of a hallucinogenic collage, building an atmospheric dirge for drinkers and smokers that sounds like celebration inside an abyss (its title is an acronym for ā€œSpending Paper Like U Really Got Everything,ā€ which is as grim as it is seemingly indulgent, since it implies that you do not, indeed, really got everything). Tone set by producer (and former Kendrick Lamar collaborator) Axlfolie and Denhamā€™s pained vocals, ā€œS.P.L.U.R.G.E.ā€ feels like it earns its of-the-moment bleakness, rather than wearing dark sonics as grim fashion.

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Image via M Nat

Image via M Nat

M Nat / Ricky Flamez ā€“ ā€œ15ā€

Hey Jon I actually have a confession to make

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a rapper named Ricky Flamez.

ā€œIā€™m a new artist from Milwaukee getting ready to launch my career,ā€ the email read. Inauspicious and par for the course.

Click play. Polished production. Solid rapping. Not the most original content or approach, but it felt clever enough to engender repeat listens.

I asked Ricky when he was planning to release ā€œ15ā€ and told him Iā€™d be down to feature it in an upcoming edition of 5 On It. My plans conjured an unexpected response:

ā€œHey Jon I actually have a confession to make. My name is M-Nat and I had to use this alias of Ricky Flamez in order to rid the stigma of some underwhelming records Iā€™ve sent to you in the past. I was afraid that if I sent this record to you as M-Nat it may have gotten overlookedā€“which is totally understandable. Iā€™m just an artist hungry to improve and eager to show you Iā€™ve been listening to the advice youā€™ve been giving me. I apologize if I went about it the wrong way.ā€

I recognized the name M-Nat almost immediately from past submissionsā€”submissions I admittedly didnā€™t love. I did, however, love being tricked like thisā€”remindedĀ almost immediately of a far more outrageous story that led to similar results on a much grander scale (involving Rihanna, a lie about a porn star, and a producer from Virginia). Taken for a ride, I liked the song even moreā€”it felt now like a calculated broadcast from someone trying to pierce what must have seemed an impenetrable wall.

I gave M-Nat his kudos and here we are.

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