Kyle Rapps just missed the deadline for our list of the 13 Best Under-The-Radar Projects of 2013 So Far, but hopefully he won’t be under the radar for long. With punchlines galore, a heavy voice, and solid production varying from the bouncy bass of “Get It In”, featuring Action Bronson, to ominous drone of “Black Suburbs”, Kyle Rapps has a sweet tape on his hands. Be sure to check out “Bodies In The Trunk”, where Kyle goes absolutely off: “I make my enemies move like Bernie…I’m hung like a jury”. There are a few duds on here, mostly when Kyle reaches too far for a different style–the clunky “Super Glue”–but when Kyle sticks to talking his (creative) shit, he’s golden. Download below and stay posted on this up-and-comer. Other features include Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Murs, Aaron Cohen, and Spaceman.

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The latest batch of artists confirmed to perform at next month’s absolutely stacked Downtown Music Festival have just been released. The newcomers are Andrew Wyatt (of Miike Snow), Autre Ne Veut, Ryan Hemsworth, Kilo Kish, Ratking, Kingdom feat. Kelela, Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, Va$htie, and Fat Tony, with even more acts promised before the month is up. If you were wondering, these acts join the already-cemented Black Hippy, Purity Ring, Earl Sweatshirt, Sky Ferreira, DIIV, Palma Violets, Trash Talk, Beach Fossils, Teengirl Fantasy, Inc., Ducktails, Royal Teeth, and Black Dave. Today on RESPECT. we have the premier of Ryan Hemsworth’s mix. Stream it here and get hyped for the festival.

This festival is huge, and will be blasting within the walls of the Mercury Lounge, Bowery Ballroom, Angel Orensanz, Pianos, Cake Shop, Tammany Hall, Element, Capitale, Rockwood Music Hall and more. Starting in NY, the Festival will be hitting up Phiadelphia, Toronto, Boston, Los Angeles, Denver and Las Vegas, with specialized lineups for each unique city. Two-day tickets are all sold out, but one-day tickets are still purchaseable for $75. Here’s the NY Downtown Festival’s day-by-day lineup:

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Photography By Jamel Shabazz

If anyone knows about the nature of a fast come-up through the net, it’s Mr. MFN Exquire. He intruded on the scene last year with his gruesomely awesome song and visual, “Huzzah,” following which he quickly signed a lucrative deal with Universal Republic in early 2012. After going on the six month In The Wild tour with Killer Mike, Despot and EL-P, the Brooklyn based emcee is out to say something with his latest EP, Power & Passion. Since the deal, he’s abbrieviated his name, but ain’t too much else changed.

The production palette features notable producers that have had an affect on both major and underground culture as of late. The likes of SpaceGhostPurrp, Harry Fraud, and Dot Da Genius. While they’ve had major success with other emcees, the music sounds surprisingly innovative with Exquire. It almost seems like the record deal never happened.

It’s not the most thrillingly lyrical project but it offers a crisp originality that’s rare. Exquire manages to captivate listeners, bringing his culture of cheap whores and champagne to the table, while also spreading a noble message of passion. It seems like a casual hipster-friendly music at first, but If you listen closely you might just hear something uplifting. It’s clear on the Gucci Mane assisted “Telephuck” where the hook goes something like, “I got a bitch named Telephuck. She fuck whoever I tell her fuck.” But later in the song he spits,  “Money is the devil, the root of all lies. Who you think you know who could really be the devil in disguise.” There’s a method to his nastiness. Toward the middle of the EP there’s a minute long “Supa Interlude” that spreads the “Passion” message while dropping some jewels and new slang along the way. Mr. MFN Exquire remains efficient in the way of hearkening true school aesthetics into new school formats. Hopefully, he’ll follow through with the album.

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Alphabet City was not ready for what went down on Tuesday night, when the London party Boiler Room hosted Universal Republic’s newest contribution to rap, Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire, at a small nightclub and underground performance hall called STAY. The bar’s secret basement venue, accessed only through a camouflaged revolving door (made entirely of recylced Corona boxes), was turned into a tightly packed, intensely amplified show room where Mr. Exquire — “don’t forget the ‘Muthafuckin,’ without that, it’s nothin'” — turned the crowd upside down.

Since the small, dimly lit basement space lacked a physical stage, Exquire entertained from within the masses, standing right in the middle of the floor. “Straight shots of vodka, straight shots of vodka,” Exquire spit into the mic as overzealous fans circled around the Brooklyn MC.  Loving the intimate space and high energy,  Exquire took a time out to bring up some of his talented hypemen, as well as Despot — looking out of place as always — who rocked the mic with a 24-bar acapella freestyle. The crowd ate it up.

Eventually, it was impossible to discern between Exquire, his hypemen, and the crowd, for soon enough the audience, which included Exquire’s opening act Children of the Night and Flatbush Zombies, turned into a mosh pit — the second one of the night. Earlier, Children of the Night (featuring a surprise apperance by A$AP Ant) had set off the show with an equally hype introduction to their newest music, which, setting a trend for the night’s event, had turned into sweaty frenzy of fans and performers jumping one another. “I fucks with y’alls energy,” Remy Banks, the youngest member of the trio, told the mobbing crowd . As one mosh lead to another, Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire had to agree. Sweat dripped, Nikes collided, and it was clear that the basement was absolutely too tiny to hold both Exquire’s energy and the crowd’s enthusiasm at the same time. Yet,by some miraculous blessing from the gods of hip-hop, Mr. Exquire and his 100+ fans were able to finish the show and escape the secret storeroom alive. Well done, Mr. Exquire, well done.

Don’t believe the hype? Check out more photos from the entire night, taken by Raven Varona.

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“I spit Lebron James pressure at the end of the game / Benetton sweaters, Cazals with the octagon frames. Walabee’s suede.” — Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – “Position Of Passion”

There’s something about Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire. His music is raw. He raps about lewd sex, obsessive drinking and lots of other hoodlum things, yet still comes off as one of the nicest individuals in the world. “My name is all about balance. The Muthafuckin’ represents all the crazy shit I wanna say, but eXquire (esquire) comes from prestige, and being noble…” The 23 year old from Crown Heights Brooklyn definitely isn’t shy about his taste, and that’s what makes him stand apart. His nostalgic style matched with his ’96 flow all come together like the right wine for the right occasion, or maybe Georgie Vodka in his case. Whatever it is, his love of Cazal shades, funky hats and multiple wooden chains has got the game in a frenzy. After his electric performance, at New York’s Irving Plaza, for the In The Wild Tour, we caught up with the fresh new comer. Watch us break down his budding career and style in RESPECT. The Fresh.

Huzzah & Happiness

I don’t really drink too much anymore. I used to drink everyday because I was depressed. “Huzzah” is such a great song to me because it’s about being depressed. “It must suck to be him. It must suck to be him,” it’s about drinking to deal with your issues. [Huzzah] means celebration. Mishka had a jacket back in the days, that said Huzzah on it. It had the eyeball patch on it. I didn’t know what it meant and I looked it up and it meant celebration, and I was like, I’m going to do a song called “Huzzah.” Then when I did the song and brought it to them, they did my mixtape. I sent ’em a 40 0z, I drew titties on it, I said enjoy the music, fuck you, cherish your day and they loved it. The rest is history.

A Humble Brother from Crown Heights

My father’s Jamaican and my mom is from Brooklyn. I’m from Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It’s like a melting pot. There’s all types of cultures. I’m from the projects, but I’m not a hood guy. I went to two different colleges for journalism. It just so happens that the rap took off. I still ride the train. I rode the train today and people were taking pictures. They love me in Brooklyn.

Biggie and ODB made me want to rap. Coincidentally, I get compared to them more than anyone else. Fuck it, I’m going to run with it.

Passion & Power EP

We pushed it back because I wanted to get the right cover art. I’m really big into those things because everything has a meaning. It all represents you and what you want to say. I can’t really speak on the album just yet, but it does have some production from EL-P. We just did a crazy joint, with a person I know people will be really happy about. I got a joint with Spaceghostpurrp on there.

Fashion Sense

I’m really big on ’80s fashion. Fuck those throwback kids or whatever their name is. They’re not doing it right. They didn’t dress like that in the ’80s. I’m into what Rich Porter and those guys were doing. For black people, style is everything we have. You might see a rich white nigga in dirty ass shoes, but as black people, style means everything to us. I started dressing like this because of the book “A Time Before Crack” by Jamel Shabazz. He’s a friend of mine now. We just did a photoshoot.

Getting Dressed

I approach the music by saying the wildest shit I can think of. So I don’t approach fashion and music the same. The style shit is based off how I feel that day.

Right now, I’m all about one color.  If I’m wearing green, I’m wearing all green. Right now I’m wearing this piece by Mishka that they gave me. These shoes are Margiela, but it’s not about the brand. It’s more about them being a nice simple sneaker. I like the fact that they have the gum bottoms on the sole. I was dressing like this when I was poor. I was fly when I didn’t have money.

Favorite Accessories

Cazal glasses: I love these. Have you seen the ostrich ones? I’m working on getting those. they’re like $1,500.

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Photo by Far Fetched Future (@MrFarFetched)

It was almost 12:24 am before  Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire decided to take a leap of faith. A jump that – even with SouthPaw packed to capacity for its last show after 10 years of dutiful service to the Brooklyn borough – truly demanded belief in the deities of hip hop. Exquomania is no small fellow. Weighing in somewhere between the Diabolical Biz Markie and a truckload of 40s, the Мишка-affiliated MC needed the help of all 2,200 hands to support his stage diving ambitions. As he stepped to the stage edge to jump all the eyes in the front row bulged like Manningham before a superbowl catch and every arm flexed overhead in precaution and excitement. eXquire looked back before the Last Huzzah! and signaled to Meka to keep the record spinning. Then he took one step back, gripped his fistful of chains and leapt.

Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire
SouthPaw
February, 2012

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