Algorithmic fishbowls make it harder every year to actually discover new music. Recommendation engines only offer up more of the same sad slop. In fact, Youtube remains so baffled by my spectrum of interests it mostly offers me videos I’ve already seen; an implosion into total defeat. I have to put in real work to find a novel signal in 2026.
As with most of my discoveries, I knew nothing about this artist going in: I just pressed play. Fortune favored me. Kaicrewsade is an interesting & talented young Chicago artist with a bright, full-band sound that embodies “Acid Rap” better than anything Chance The Rapper ever gave us. (Then again, that kid was always more DNC than LSD.)
As the afterthought-ass title implies, “#ggs/#headahh” is just some quick shots from the hip, but if you see fit to put something online, I am here to judge you for it. While the songs might be little more than lush sketches, this video is superb & professional work. Huge props to director Noah Cape. Both segements look fantastic and very different.
My sole complaint would the young muppet trying to embouchure-sync a trumpet solo I assume he didn’t actually play in the studio or learn for the shoot, but I could be wrong. Perhaps he nailed it in the room and it just didn’t get synced up right in post, but either way, this is the kind of technical detail 95% of the audience will never catch. The point of the video is communicating vibes & energy, and that job got done right here.
Which brings us back around to the “lush sketches.” When the beats are sizzling, jazzy heaters and the vocals takes are this loose & fun, what more studio polish does this really need? Would I even complain about a LP full of 15 more tracks just like this one? Probably, yeah. I’d urge him to try harder on the raps because he’s clearly got the talent to excel under pressure. I would also acknowledge he doesn’t have to: this is a winning recipe that would slay on any stage.
Old heads who prioritize lyricism should not be part of the A&R process for any young artist trying to make it big in 2026. The audience you need to capture is kids your age, not nerds who know Large Professor and Lakim Shabazz. They’ll come around eventually. I’m betting we both know a whole regiment worth of boom bap fundamentalists who celebrate Ludacris these days but sneered at his pop, sellout bullshit Kindergarten-ass raps back when he was first touring & moving units.*
Kaicrewsade is equally melodic, but his ear is more Q-Tip than Dr. Dre. I would bet USD that this young man will drop an actual pop hit in the next few years, and do it by happy accident, too. I’m not saying he’ll sell out, just that he will bottle the right lightning. He’s got the juice and the right recipe. Chicago, as ever, stays killing it. Four Dickies.
*For the record: they were wrong then & they’re right now. Luda was always dope.