untiljapan
Art-obsessed Atlanta rapper untiljapan built an ornate world on last summer’s trompe l’oeil, rapping about his fashion and feelings alike with an unusually intense verve. Plenty of rappers aspire to the prestige album heights of Travis Scott and Kanye West, but it’s rare to find an artist trying to match not only the stylistic polish, but the thematic depth of those artists’ best work. We ALL will be getting our life to “KISS N TELL” and “PYRAMIDZ.”
Karrahbooo
After a year and change in limbo under a deal with Lil Yachty, Karrahbooo is back to regularly releasing music under her own steam. She stayed busy during that time, collaborating with skaiwater, Bb trickz, and of course, close friend Anycia; but since dropping her October single “FREE BOOO!,” Karrah has been on a crazy tear, as if to make up for every moment spent in label purgatory.
Prettifun
Prettifun notched The FADER’s #5 album of the year with 2025’s Funhouse Deluxe, an abundantly earnest spin on the nu-digicore wave spearheaded by pretti and friends/collaborators like Slayr, ezcodylee, Egobreak, and Lucy Bedroque. When I caught prettifun at Summer Smash last June, I was blown away by how preternaturally poised the North Carolina producer-rapper was on stage. Lately, pretti’s been on a wild streak of loosies and features produced by the usual suspects – Misogi, Jay Trench, Outtatown, Ginseng, Hitec – plus teasing a new project, Pretti Luvs U 2. Revisit The FADER’s profile of prettifun from last summer.
