What happened to Piece? (Part 2)

"You can find me on your side of town, ridin' with a 30 on the front seat
Windows down bumpin' Juve or some Pimp C
He's just a stand up n***a 'til he's 6 feet"

Gzus Piece ft. Mic Terror - Shyt
(From Gzus Saves album; 2026)

Get Ya Roll On is my jam right there from Gzus Piece's first new album, and Shyt is my joint right here from Gzus Piece's second new album. Gzus & Mic Terror on the same track is invariably Martorialist catnip, and the song is a good example of how Gzus & Mic's music is a stew of different influences: the beat sounds like it's straight outta Queensbridge, while the chorus features shout outs to Juvenile and Pimp C. Forget No Ceilings, Rap music should have No Walls.

What happened to Piece?

"Feel this shit up in your chest just like a Mossberg
This shit'll blow you away and leave yo' heart stirred
These the last days, how could you not purge?
Ima get mine, make sure you got yours"

Gzus Piece - Get Ya Roll On
(From 3 For Da Dub album; 2026)

We've had some new Mic Terror, so here's some new Gzus Piece from the first of his two new albums. An understated jam which has been creepin' on ah come up in my rotation. A different type of Chicago "drive slow, homie"-core to Mic's OJ Simpson, but the overall effect is the same: Rap music to take a quiet, leisurely cruise around your neighbourhood to.

Step Up Late

Mic Terror ft. Easy O'Hare - Rent Money
(From The Terror Files album; 2026)

Video for one of my favourite songs from the Mic Terror album. Good timing too because I recently found another Mic loosie single from a few years ago that I missed when it first dropped. Call me Gab Gotcha the way I bless the M.I.C.

Mic Terror - Step On
(From Step On single; 2023)

Late pass!

"Ain't no talkin' in my area
My n****s keep quiet like librarians
That pork and that beef is for barbarians
You see me, I'm more of a pescatarian
Beef with me will have you floatin' in an aquarium"

Mic Terror - Viagra Triangle
(From Viagra Triangle single; 2024)

Mic Terror & his m8s dropped so many loosies throughout 2024 that I managed to miss this one. It's another gem which mixes the ignorance with the elegance on some Chicago "drive slow, homie"-core. If I were gonna collate an album out of Mic's 2024 loosies, I'd use Juicenan Freestyle as the first track and Viagra Triangle here as the final track. Maybe that should be my next playlist? For now tho, here's a list of my top 10 favourite non-2026 Rap songs I've discovered this year.

Run-D.M.C - Jam-Master Jammin' (Rick Rubin remix) (1985)
Biggie Smalls - Biggie Got The Hype Shit (1991)
Me & My Cousin - My Day (1996)
Ma$e ft. Puffy - I'm No Killa (O.G version) (1998)
Rev Run - I Used To Think I Was Run (2005)
Bavgate ft. LJ - Keep It Gangsta (2005)
J-Diggs - Diggs Dance (2005)
Mic Terror - Viagra Triangle (2024)
The Egyptian Lover - Vocoder Jam (2025)
Sir Michael Rocks - Talkin' Legit (2025)

Surf youts with attitude, kinda groovy

BabyChiefDoIt - Ghetto Love Story
(From R.A.M.B.O album; 2026)

Nowadays you have to look for that Charlie Rambo waviness in places other than Max B's music. What a pleasant surprise to find it in a song by a teenage Chicago Drill rapper which sounds it could be on a new So So Def Bass All-Stars compilation. In fact, this is the most So So Def Bass All-Stars soundin' track since Freak Like Me by Slimeroni. Anyhoo, I'd call Ghetto Love Story my Song of The Summer™, but England is experiencing another 30+ degree heatwave and I'm ready for autumn already.

Everybody eats, T

"What you been through? What you got to rap about?
Besides what your brodie did, and you the type to rat him out"

Mic Terror ft. Easy O'Hare - Rent Money
(From The Terror Files album; 2026)

Bloggin' ain't a game, Gawd! Call me Emma Radacanu because I don't play! Here's another fave cut from the new Mic Terror LP. That beat is like half Kamikaze, half Deliverance: a midwedternplayalisticcountryrapchoon. As for the werdz, Terror does Terror for the first verse and chorus before his pal Easy O'Hare slides in for the second verse. The LP ain't no fun if ur m8s can't get none, and it's been that way since El Shabazz.

Real Talk

"Sometimes negative is good like a aids test
The answer is negative if it pays less
I want positive answers, you better say YES!
Couldn't tell when I was hurtin' 'cause I stay fresh"

Mic Terror - Lyrical Shit
(From The Terror Files album; 2026)

I'm starting a new The Blog Era podcast where it's me shouting "MIC TERROR HAS MORE JAMS AND MORE LONGEVITY THAN ANY OF THOSE TRENDY RAPPERS PEOPLE WERE SWEATIN'!" as I play Mic T songs from 2007 to the present day. Here's another favourite cut from his new album where Problematic Papi Mic expresses opinionz which would make Pimp C proud. Like Mic said on his latest single, mix the ignorance with elegance.

I been survivin' on my own like The Revenant

"In this world you either buyin' or you sellin' it
I'm in my bag like yo' grandmama's peppermints"

Mic Terror - A Year Ago
(From The Terror Files album; 2026)

#MicTerrorHive assemble. Problematic Papi dropped a new album today and this is the second single after Nothin' Can Stop. R. Kelly at a high school game ain't as hard as this.

Legit by name, Legit by nature

Sir Michael Rocks - Talkin' Legit
(From the internet; 2025/Rock, Paper, Scissors: Choices album; 2026)

Ur boi has been on an early Cool Kids binge recently, so it's the perfect time to check out Sir Michael Rocks' recent solo dolo shit. Was expecting 500k would be the jam 4 me since it's a DJ Fresh production. Joke's on me like Kid Capri because Talkin' Legit is my #actual choon of choice. The kid Rocks is taking the Michael on this one and it gives me the po pimpish adrenaline rush of some modern day Legit Ballaz type shit.

The Micgic Number

"These hoes look me in my eyes and call me beautiful
I say you right, baby, but bitch you still delusional
Moral is, two things can be right at the same time
Bitch-ass n***as done wrote some of the most insane lines"

Bruus ft. Mic Terror & Gzus Piece - All I Do
(From All I Do single; 2026)

Nothin' Can Stop had me open for another Bruus & Mic Terror track. Throw Gzus Piece into the mix and I'm a happy camper like Bruce Springsteen's sister in Sleepaway Camp II. That clickity-clackity beat on this one has got real #MicTerrorHive members firing up Chief Sampson right after.

You don't wanna lose me like new I.D

Cool Kids ft. Lil' Wayne - Gettin' It
(From the internet; 2008)

tfs · The Cool Kids Ft Lil Wayne- Gettin It (320 Kbps)

I'm stickin' to the script like java when I say that Gettin' It still sounds hotter than lava. A very necessary rearrangement of Jam-Master Jay after Nas stunk the original beat up with his nauseating sex rhymes when he jacked it for You Know My Style. Gettin' It is such a message in a bottle from the Blog Era™ innit? The Cool Kids did their thing for 2 16s before Lil' Wayne came through and gaffled the song with 3 verses. Gettin' It was a loosie which was never released to retail and has still never made it to DSPs, but the MP3 went platinum on Hulkshare.

My favourite Cool Kids memory: Will High being absolutely disgusted by Mikey Rocks' skinny jeans in the Black Mags video. Absolute fury from a bloke who hadn't even listened to music made by blk ppl since 1999. My other favourite Cool Kids nemory: Mikey Rocks blowing my mind and my laptop speakers at the SAME DAMN TIME when I first heard it on MySpace in 2007. It was, to paraphrase Jason Fox, new school Rap with an old school steelo.

Cool Kids - Mikey Rocks
(From the internet; 2007/The Bake Sale album; 2008)

Smvrk · The Cool Kids - Mikey Rocks

Even more importantly than that, the Cool Kids MySpace page led me to discover future Martorialist favourite/Chicago's best kept secret Mic Terror via Cold As Hell and Juke Them Hoes. Shout out to Tom Anderson, the only tech-bloke social media entrepreneur who made the world a better place and then dipped with that Murdoch money.

Nas was a gun, Larry Heard is like buses

Mr. Fingers - Replicate
(From Leev Ur Mynd album; 2026)

First 2026 gave us new Larry Heard in the form of The IT. Now 2026 gives us more new Larry Heard in the form of Mr. Fingers. Replicate is the track I'm currently gravitating towards on the new Fingers LP because it sounds like the score for a sci-fi movie. Not just any old sci-fi movie tho - this shit sounds like it was precision designed to soundtrack Predator. Every time I press play on this track my third eye catches crazy visionz of Arnie in the jungle creepin' on ah come up as he's hunted by a vulva-faced alien.

What is up with that album title tho? Leev Ur Mynd is the House musik album title equivalent of Public Enemy's New Whirl Odor. Fair play to Public Enemy tho because I didn't think they'd ever come up with an even worse album title than Muse Sick-n-Hour Message.

Our House

The IT - Mr Gone (Fingers Edit)
(From Larry Heard's Vault Sessions 3 EP; 2026)


Chicago House musik alert. Specifically, unreleased Larry Heard alert. Or rather, unreleased Larry Heard and Harry Dennis alert. 41 years after Larry & Harry first released Donnie together in 1985 they return with this gem under their original moniker. When Larry works his fingers while Harry flaps his lips, elite Chicago House invariably happens. This is musik for hard dance floors which sounds like it came from above the clouds. While you stannin' for EDHDM, we taxi for take-off. Keep your lugs peeled for an unexpected Ric Flair homage.

Ice Terror

"You Rap n*ggas like a Disney movie
You either a rat, a duck or a f**kin' goofy"

Bruus & Mic Terror - Nothin' Can Stop
(From YouTube; 2026)


Calling Jmil: it's time for #MicTerrorHive to reassemble. Mic T and his m8 Bruus goin' line for line like Brian Harvey & Daniella Westbrook over some warbly Blaxploitation shit. The lads got excellent chemistry like those scientists in The Andromeda Strain.

Bonus beats: because Mic Terror is a big Ice-T fan here's the best video from the O.G: The Original Gangster VHS tape. It's a song about the trials and tribulations of touring, and the video is like The Fresh Prince gone L.A Gangster-Rap complete with multiple foils and even a fake airplane interior.

Ice-T - Lifestyles Of The Rich And Infamous
(From O.G: The Original Gangster VHS tape; 1991)

Bark The 45 King

"You lookin' like you lost, need direction
I'm lookin' like a boss, need affection"

TREE & Parallel Thought - Hang Out
(From Hang Out single; 2025)


More than ever, I appreciate TREE's music for never sounding like anyone else, even when he has other producers in the boiler room. Gotta have it in ya heart, gotta know yous makin' art, when you start with this music gotta know just who you are. Give it up for MC TREE G AKA Ziggly Twiggly AKA Oak K Player AKA Roots Riley.

Juke Them, Hoes (part 2)

Lil' M.U. - Top Of Cars
(From Handful maxi EP thingy; 2025)


You already know Lil' M.U's Top Of Cars is one of ur host's favourite 2025 Rap singles. But why did the original video get wiped from the internet and get replaced with a new video which is nowhere near as good? M.U let her own footwork do most of the talking in the original video, but here she mostly leaves it to her m8s to get on their good foot. Worse still, nobody even dances on top of a car second time around. Word up, the enshittification is real.

There's a From The Block performance of Top Of Cars where people in the comments are like "this beat sux!" And that is precisely why Hip-Hop kulcha is such a joke now: the audience mostly consists of dry-eared box-brains with terrible taste in music.

Juke Them, Hoes

Lil' M.U. - Top of Cars
(From Handful maxi EP thingy; 2025)


Johnny The Boxxx ain't even a Rap blogger and yet he posts better Rap songs than most Rap bloggers. So, Lil' M.U heard Move by Mello Buckzz and thought "I can use flip some of those lines into my own Juke-Rap song!" R. Kelly once asked "Can I get a toot-toot? Can I get a beep-beep?" and Lil' M.U has given him a whole next level interpreptation for an answer. Honk if you horny! If someone ever paid me to a Chicago Rap DJ set then I'd play Top of Cars inbetween Next To It by Lupe Fiasco & Ty Dolla $ign and the aforementioned Move by Mello Buckzz.

**EDIT** why did the video get deleted?

Don't Get Caught

Babyf×ce E ft. Mello Buckzz - Tweakers
(From Tweakers single; 2025)


On one hand, this is tuff and I have a crush on Mello Buckzz. On the other hand, Babyf×ce E has shamelessly 'borrowed' lyrics from 70th Street Carlos' Government Shutdown and thought nobody would notice. It's not just me who clocked it either because various people in the YouTube comments have picked up on it. Should have tried to disguise your plagiarism with a different flow, m8. You can drop your song, kid, and it don't matter that it's hot, there's still one rule, playa - don't get caught.

Mello Music Group (part 3)

"Flame a n*gga up and grill his ass, barbecue
Paid to fuck, don't ask me if I'm eatin', bitch, I barely chew
Always front for Instagram, n*gga you barely you
How the f*ck you tryna score a point and n*ggas barely shoot?"

Mello Buckzz - Barely Chew
(From YouTube; 2025)


Colder than the temperature in one of Putin's penal colonies. However, this shit needed a second verse IMHO. Thus, rather than consider it an A-side, I'm gonna use this shit as the B-side to Move Pt. 2.

Props to Mello for lookin' sexy while dressed like 2003 era Juelz Santana while wearing some Deidre Barlow lookin'-ass glasses. Ain't naan a bird looked that good in a pair of Cazals since Isabelle Adjani in The Tenant.

Shorty K Back

Robb Bank$ ft. Sir Michael Rocks, Shorty K & Boldy James - Top Shottas 2K25
(From the internet; 2025)


Top notch posse cut belonging to Shaggy's son Robb Bank$. Everybody did their thing and sounded cognizant of each other’s presence over a beat which is effervescently effective. Personally, I'm pretending this is a sequel to Too $hort Back which was recorded for Boldy James' first album.