A handful of local rappers decided to celebrate Independence Day by releasing new music: Hurt Everybody dropped their debut self-titled EP (which is actually longer than most albums), GLC put out By Ism Means Necessary, and King Louie brought the world Tony. I’ve been thinking about Louie with greater frequency lately. He’s occupied a peculiar position since drill broke out nationally in 2012. The rapper is very much a forefather to that specific Chicago scene, but he’s got a lyrical prowess and fluid flow that doesn’t quite jibe with the rudimentary and all-too-familiar definition of drill—that it’s an apocalyptic mutation of trap filled with hollow, uncreative, and unrepentantly violent lyrics.
Throughout it all Louie’s been working on releasing music at a steady pace, even though the album covers bearing his name are only available on free mixtape sites instead of on CD racks in big-box stores. Which isn’t a bad thing, because he’s generally able to pack each mixtape with tunes worth storing on your computer’s hard drive (though I’m not too fond of those moments on Tony when Louie busts out his version of the Migos flow).
