For New York rapper 27Delly, creativity is a birthright. After attending the prestigious Harlem School of the Arts at a young age, he became an outspoken player in New York creative circles, fostering a reputation as sturdy as the beats he lays down today. His father, the late Darold ‘D-Ferg’ Ferguson, was a key figure on the 90s Harlem scene, designing logos for Bad Boy Entertainment and Uptown Records – but despite these family ties, Delly’s talent stands all on its own. If 2021’s debut project Fly Since Birth proved that he was a dab hand at compiling an album of the freshest, hook-laden hip-hop, new six-track EP Wake Up only cements these talents further.

Lead single “Gimmie That” introduces an infectious Caribbean flow, while “Wait A Minute” also deals in the same flavour, a paean to the early 2000’s R&B of the rapper’s childhood (“Wait a minute/I need a minute with you”, Delly coos over a mellifluous steel pan refrain). The Travi-assisted “Lambo on Fire” returns to the bombastic sensibilities of Delly’s earlier work, before the complete sonic 180 of “Wicked Games”. It’s a dulcet, unlucky-in-love anthem that demonstrates Delly is unafraid to bare his soul, much like on tape closer “High Road”, where the rapper declares “I had to put my whole heart on these songs and turn my struggles into sentences” over thundering 808s.

Elsewhere, Jamaican dancehall legend Popcaan returns with the aptly titled Great Is He, New York singer-songwriter Samia delivers a record she “wrote with a magic pen God gave her as a baby”, while Crosslegged confronts her demons on Another Blue. Plus, the hyperpop compilation album RIFT Two from Swedish record label YEAR001, and Let’s Start Here, the new record from Lil Yachty.

27DELLY, WAKE UP

SAMIA, HONEY

CROSSLEGGED, ANOTHER BLUE

POPCAAN, GREAT IS HE

YEAR0001, RIFT TWO

LIL YACHTY, LET'S START HERE.

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