If you’re looking for a rappers mixtape to blast on repeat for the next few days whilst you study, work, exercise or vibe to then Nick Rose’s VERY COOL! Vol.2 is going to be right up your street. Killer lyrics that are fired at you in rapid fire succession, a slick production that goes from smoky jazz room brass section to bombastic beats you’d expect to hear on an early 2000’s Kanye track and a fervent flow that seamlessly ties it all together. The 21 year old more than rose to the occasion with all of that and more featuring in this off the wall project. However there was one single that took me by surprise and became an instant favourite of mine.

$EX & COFFEE is a perfect blend of quick paced lyrical dialogue that filters in-between the minimal, spaced out production and alluring sing-rapping that breaks the number up into beautifully digestible pieces of sonic wonder. It’s hard not to find yourself becoming slowly rapped up in the storytelling on display, it’s like a visual novel where you can see every individual element so vividly that emotion becomes all the more palpable. Then you’ve Rose’s expressive vocal performance, having this subtle cry to his voice that makes each word he utters have an evocative undertone that’s hard to ignore. Stellar stuff from this rising Connecticut artist.