Proclamations of rap’s death have been circulating for a while now. And while this discourse overlooks the gargantuan influence rap and hip-hop artists have had on mainstream music as a whole, it’s true that many of the genres’ biggest stars today have increasingly strayed from straightforward lyricism in favour of more melodic, genre-diffuse sounds. Perhaps the biggest exception to this trend, however, is Liverpudlian duo EsDeeKid and Rico Ace, who became two of 2025’s breakout stars by doing one thing above all: rapping.

This is particularly true of Rico Ace, whose success – unlike EsDeeKid’s – wasn’t boosted by rampant speculation about his identity or by Americans discovering the Scouse accent for the first time. Instead, much of Ace’s appeal has come from the way he folds familiar rap wordplay and storytelling techniques into the new UK Ug world of distortion and time-warping drum patterns. This played a crucial role on EsDeeKid’s explosive debut album, Rebel, last year, grounding the masked rapper’s abrasive vocals and producer Wraith9’s Drain Gang-descended soundscapes in a structure older heads could latch onto. But on Ace’s debut album, Blackjack, that same familiarity takes centre stage, and ultimately feels slightly less interesting because of it.

The last two decades of rap loom large over Blackjack. Its central EsDeeKid-featuring single, “Dope Boyz” – which looks set to be the project’s most enduring cut – samples the chorus of Soulja Boy’s 2007 classic “I’m So Dope Boy”, while other tracks sound like a collision of 2016 Chief Keef, 2018 Skepta and 2026’s distorted 808s. Ace is steady throughout, delivering tightly rapped tales of jetting to and partying at fashion shows around the world. It might not have the same impact that Rebel had last year, but it’s nonetheless a powerful reminder of the rich talent that the UK Ug still has to offer.

Below, we explore the rise of new-gen rapper Rico Ace in five tracks.

“EVISU JEANS”

Despite being released less than three years ago, Rico Ace sounds virtually unrecognisable on “Evisu Jeans”. With its bouncy synths and crisp mix, the track harks back to the upbeat alt-rap scene that was making waves in the UK around the pandemic – and couldn’t sound further from the dystopian UK Ug style Ace would later surf to virality. It was a different time: Ace’s next single, “Him Again feat. Dualspines”, released in April 2024, has since become Exhibit A in the many conspiracy theories surrounding EsDeeKid’s previous musical alias. On it, Ace trades bars with a white rapper with a thick accent. Sound familiar?

“SKATTI” 

It’s here that the Rico Ace listeners now know begins to take shape. Sporting a Union Jack beanie in the track’s music video – basically part of the UK Ug starter pack at this point – “Skatti” introduces the murky distortion and jerk drum patterns that would soon become staples of his sound. The track’s artwork, meanwhile, pays homage to Stay Peckish, the Liverpudlian rap collective that helped facilitate both Ace’s and EsDeeKid’s emergence before they moved to London.

“PALACES” – ESDEEKID FEAT. RICO ACE

This track was instrumental in the rise of both Rico and EsDeeKid. As the first collaboration between the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the UK underground, “Palaces” contains many of the elements that would define Rebel’s later success: EsDeeKid’s violent Scouse fricatives, Rico Ace’s rapid-fire delivery, and an alternative synth line that feels decidedly left-field within an otherwise familiar UK rap track. Then came “LV Sandals”, and the rest is history.

Ace’s verse here, however, is particularly notable for being an eye-wateringly graphic description of him sleeping with a taken woman. “Mid-sex man enters the room, she’s telling me ‘shh’ so I tell her don’t panic,” goes one of the track’s more family-friendly lines.

“CHILLI” – SINN6R FEAT. RICO ACE

While he hasn’t yet replicated the same level of virality, London-born, US drill-flipping rapper Sinn6r is closely associated with the rise of Rico Ace and EsDeeKid. Across the latter half of 2024 and 2025, the trio appeared on many of the same AuxLDN live line-ups and, together, came to represent the more dystopian end of UK Ug sonics. Released as one of the lead singles from Sinn6r’s Federal album, “Chilli” arrived at the height of EsDeeKid’s rise, but the track remains defiantly underground.

On it, Rico Ace and Sinn6r trade X-rated lyrics about doing copious amounts of drugs over an instrumental that collides a sample from 2021 UK drill hit “Body” by Russ and Tion Wayne (the one that led Brighton rapper Arrrdee to stardom) with the violent OG US drill sonics of Chief Keef. Herein lies a time-warping blend that is distinctive to Rico Ace and Sinn6r’s generation: fusing the pill-addled subject matter of Juice Wrld’s emo rap with the aggressive delivery of drill music. “You take X, I take worse, pop pills ‘till I can’t converse,” raps Ace on the track. 

“DOPE BOYZ” – RICO ACE FEAT. ESDEEKID 

Given the foundational role Rico played on EsDeeKid’s Rebel last year, it’s only natural that EsDee returns the favour on today’s Blackjack, appearing on three of the album’s ten tracks. Most notable is standout single “Dope Boyz”, which, in characteristic UK Ug fashion, flirts with nostalgia by sampling the chorus of Soulja Boy’s 2007 hit “I’m So Dope Boy”.

It might not offer anything particularly new from either Ace or EsDee, but it does deliver exactly what anyone wanted from the album in the first place: speaker-shattering production and fresh material from the UK underground’s star duo. The fact that the track also arrives with a new music video is just the cherry on top, with the Liverpudlian pair smoking a spliff so huge they have to ash it into a baking tray, alongside grain-saturated shots of EsDeeKid for fans to scour for clues about his real identity. Spoiler: his face is more obscured than ever.