The elegant hip-hop beats that dominated the tracks of 50 Cent’s 2003 breakout album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ feel like a relic of olden days. The splendor of those beats was in their concentration of funky bass lines, R&B buffs, and kickdrums that popped alongside the velvety verses that laid on the track. It is the smoothly-layered words of NYC’s Akinyemi—alongside his tribute to those beats—that make the artist a standout in the current crowded hip hop market. In his song "Fleece" (streaming) the young MC suggests protection from the elements: he references the frigidness of greed, the heat of competition, the winds of change. Akinyemi says, "the weather isn’t bigger," and the more you listen to his track, the more you feel inclined to believe him. The Queens Village rapper is ready to bring his message to Zone One, Elsewhere on May 25th, loud and clear. – Rene Cobar
