This Kid From Alabama Is The Future Of Rap
Or at least to me, right now, he sounds fresher than anyone else out.
OMB Peezy is from Mobile, Alabama, a port town on the Gulf Coast that celebrated Carnival before any other place in the United States and got hit badly by Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. These days Peezy, 20, lives in Sacramento, where he moved recently with his family, and where folks are already rocking with him.
Like a handful of great rap writers have already pointed out, Peezy’s new songs mix Louisiana singsong with Detroit reality raps and thicc Bay Area slap. “Lay Down” is pristinely vindictive. And like Tee Grizzley’s “First Day Out” before it, “When I Was Down” morphs from scattered piano to full mob about a minute in. They’re not playing this on the radio in California yet, but they could.
Peezy's been freestyling for years. He holds up a cappella over barely-there production, and classic Cash Money beats. If all your favorite rappers are wearing Hot Boys shirts right now, he’s someone who might actually carry that torch back in.
His stuff calls to mind all the great things coming out of Baton Rouge right now, but there are less guns in the videos, which is nice. (Salute the director, Keith Welch Jr.) I heard there’s a full tape on the way; just wait on it!