Mobb Deep or Outkast? These are the kind of retard questions that dominate The Discourse over this past & painful decade. Any real head is building out brackets in the opposite direction, exploring, not re-ranking the same hundred names, again. It’s a mighty big world and there are always new artists to check out.
That same journey brought me to JZAC, heralded as the next Instagram-friendly rapper to blow up out of New England. Curiously, both times I got this pitch, Joyner Lucas was referenced as the current Kendrick Lamar of the Northeast Coast. Props to him & his team for staying visible like that; being everywhere is expensive but it’s also hard work.
JZAC recently got some buzz from one of those “freestyle in front of the mic” shows that rappers do to get some buzz. It’s nice that still works. That live moment remains the foundation of the artform, so these platforms are vital culture. Even if, in practice, they’re mostly meat grinders where mediocre studio artists with VST plugin flows go to die on camera. Thank you for your service.
JZAC is a rappin’-ass rapper, though, and he did aight. He always does aight, he is very consistently aight. I think it is possible that JZAC is on the verge of a hugely successful 2026, but I do not believe he’ll be able to connect with a fanbase the same way that Joyner Lucas does.
That is not altogether a diss: Lucas fans are a fucking cult, man. This is bigger than business! Then again, even on the business front, Twenty Nine Music Group does crazy numbers, especially for an independent. Lucas is getting millions of listeners on Spotify on an off month, and they’re moving CDs and vinyl, too.
JZAC is an earnest everyman rapper with an underdog ethos. Like so many others in that lane, his flow is competent but his bars are dookie. He writes tight rhyme schemes and he communicates clearly, it’s all just boring. He himself looks bored with it throughout most of this music video, so I don’t think I’m breaking any news here.
As a video, “2026” is a strong product, exactly what it needs to be this for audacious-ass juncture of his career. I respect an artist calling his shot and then taking it. Refusing to be worn down by a decade of indie rap hustle getting underwhelming results, he’s doubling down: “type of self-belief I have, you couldn’t buy enough.”
Facts indeed. Approaching the five month mark, it’s hard to call whether or not 2026 will indeed be JZAC’s year. He’s been running up some big boy numbers over on the Spotify plantation and already dropped an album, EUREKA!, so fate may yet favor a humble lad from Derry, New Hampshire.
I do not. This cat is doing everything right except the writing itself. Still, righteous is the man who stays true to his roots, and it’s clear this cat just plain loves to rap. I wish him the best. Clean single, crispy video, and cheers to making something special out of 2026. Three Dickies.
