Lil Mosey

Lil Mosey can seemingly churn out a hit at will. Even in a summer eclipsed by a pandemic, he reigned supreme with 2020’s “Blueberry Faygo”, a song that sounds like swimming pools and sunshine with its bouncy flows and effervescent chords. What makes that bop and its author special isn’t one single style or skill. Mosey bucked trends by going viral even while sticking to a practically traditional formula: a strong ear for sublime hooks, flows that lodge deep in your brain, catchy yet frills-free writing (peppered with women, money and street violence) and a selection of beats both timely and transcendent. The sum of those pieces shapeshifts on two of the breakout cuts from his 2018 debut, Northsbest: “Pull Up” and “Kamikaze”. The former is synthetic and propulsive, the latter floats under a soul sample, yet they’re tied together by Mosey’s grasp of the fundamentals, which he’s been honing since middle school. Born Lathan Moses Stanley Echols in Seattle in 2002, Mosey began remaking songs by his favourite rappers in eighth grade, including the late Speaker Knockerz, another artist known for tight, unfiltered writing. While he was in secondary school, “Pull Up” took off, and Mosey dropped out to pursue a career in Los Angeles. Since, his wavy hits have resonated worldwide, and his albums are of equal merit. They showcase the apparently endless range of bangers the MC is capable of: fast and slow, retrofitted and futuristic, of the terrestrial world and beamed in from another planet.