Chicago producer Bugg is locking in with the hardest rappers

This feels like the definitive Chuckyy and Bugg song. Though it’s not as big as the sonically-similar “FREE SMURK ONFG,” “Poetry” is one of Chuckyy’s tightest songs as a rapper and lyricist, diving deep into the grimy details of his rise to rap stardom.

When I interviewed Che last May in the middle of recording REST IN BASS, the Atlanta rapper told me “Hiccup” was his favorite Chuckyy song at the moment. Chuckyy would subsequently feature on Che’s song “NEVER TOO YOUNG TO DIE,” but I understand why “Hiccup” might have particularly appealed to the Atlanta rapper. The track’s pizzicato strings and brash horn stabs feel like a trap beat that Gucci Mane might have chosen 15 years ago. That’s an especially nice springboard for some of Chuckyy’s most dynamic raps to date.

The 808s on this song sound like they were beamed in from Mars or some other alien planet. Yet the instrumental for “Look Up” has tons of negative space for a sawtooth synth line to reverberate against: the beat kind of sounds like an enormous cricket at different points. Babychief’s raps are slightly calmer than usual, at least in style if not subject matter – the teen phenom’s bars seem to trickle across the instrumental like water.

Atlanta rapper Luhh Dyl is a favorite in The FADER office for his unflinching raps, candid and unvarnished whether he’s feeling stoic or vulnerable. On “What’s All The Commotion,” Bugg provides him a soul flip stacked with propulsive hi-hats and thumping 808s; the harder instrumental pushes Dyl into flossier territory, flexing his current wins in contrast to his more typical hustle raps.

I’ve been rapping this song word for word every day since I heard it. Maybe it’s a song of the summer?

This single with fast-rising Atlanta rapper Bby Kell has a spacey, off-kilter vibe. Kell rips through the instrumental with ease, her raspy voice barrelling through stop-start bars. In the simple and silly Bugg-directed video, she tries on sunglasses, hits a money spread, and rides around in a shopping cart.

This Nino Paid collab feels pretty distinct from most of bugg’s discography, with an unusually warm organ line over shimmering chords. Nino’s flow is as perfect as ever, but this single made me especially excited for whatever project Bugg might have in the works for the summer: clearly he’s been saving the best studio cuts for himself.