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Image via 21 on Soundcloud
19 year-old Memphis rapper 21 popped up on our radar last month with a slew of freestyles, strewing conversational verses over a beats like Kendrick Lamar’s “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” with a sort of relaxed precision similar to that exhibited by Andre 3000 and, fittingly, Kendrick Lamar.
With “Smoker’s Redemption,” his first original work, 21 grabs a beat that samples the Weeknd effectively to create a hazy atmosphere to set the stage for his world-weariness, clever wordplay, and a command that allows him to weave in and out of the beat with a languid cool, rap with a heavy influence of spoken word. There’s still room for growth as he explores the boundaries of his style, but “Smoker’s Redemption” is a promising next step in 21’s development.
