Image via T9ine/Instagram
If you crash out, Donald Morrison says you better break the backboard.
Nino Paid is the latest rapper to express annoyance at the all-consuming media circus, the infamous Kendrick vs Drake battle of 2024. “Bitch, I got real life problems, so why would I ever be worried about Kendrick and Drake?,” he says over a simple piano loop and skittering snares. The idea seems absurd when Paid considers the real-life conditions that led him to begin making music in the first place: the ability to make his father proud and the never-ending search for monetary independence and financial stability. The Maryland-born rapper has an innate ability to distill complex cultural theory into brief and scathing critiques, all communicated through music more personal than it is boilerplate. Like the rest of us, he is exhausted with the tit-for-tat nature of internet beef and petty rap drama.
ALLBLACK is practically an honorary member of the Stinc Team at this point. The Oakland-raised rapper can rap over a wide array of production and bend his voice in myriad ways, depending on his mood. The double-time flow on his hit song, “304,” sounds completely foreign to the flow he uses on “Moe Beasley,” a slower, and more menacing collab with Ralfy The Plug.
With the late Drakeo The Ruler, ALLBLACK made some of his best music, and the trend continues in 2025 with “Moe Beasley,” which finds ALLBLACK paying homage to Drakeo by employing an all-familiar mumbled and hilariously unenthused flow. Ralfy comes in with a slightly more energized presence, saying, “them ain’t diamonds in your chain, that’s CBD, you ain’t a boss, your baby momma’s on EBT.”
Dody6 brings the best out of the minimalist X4. What makes Dody6 and X4 so good is ability to hone a truly regional and hyper-specific sound. There are no compromises towards something that might translate to the masses east of Vegas. And it’s better for it. “Pose to do” is one of their best collaborations yet, with X4 remaining predictably unphased in the face of a truly insane beat.
You’ll never forget where you were the first time you saw “They Left Me With A Gun,” a new video by Paris Texas that features a sentient gun and a bunch of other shit I won’t try and explain. The video appears to be a few songs in one and is accompanied by an EP of the same name. It’s one of the most creative and confounding things I’ve ever seen on YouTube, which is saying something. There’s a frenetic, and whimsical nature to the video that’s extremely refreshing amidst the doom and gloom surrounding most modern American bullshit.
Everything T9ine touches becomes sleek, inventive, and effortless. His latest, the breezy “Superbowl,” clocks in at just under two minutes. “When you hit for bands and you dead broke, that shit have you feeling like you won the Superbowl,” he says, illuminating the fact that even small wins can feel monumental. It’s a perspective only given to those unfortunate enough to know what it’s like to scrape by.
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