Folks, we are entering a new rap generation where the average age of the next hip-hop superstar will be at the oldest 18 years old and at youngest eight — actually, four-year-old wunderkind ZaZa just told us to hold her bottle on that last stat. Similar to YNW Melly's 12-year-old rapping brother YNW BSlime, 15-year-old emcee Street Bud is the latest budding star to make it on the scene. With Quavo and his Huncho Records imprint backing the kid up, it looks like we may have yet another Bieber in the making.
With Back 2 The Lab, his debut project on Quality Control, Street Bud displays an innocence that definitely shows his age while also giving off a musical maturity for someone about 15 years older. For starters, his sample game includes tracks from R&B queens of the past, including Ashanti's 2003 hit single "Rain On Me" on the appropriately-titled "Rain" and the title of Aaliyah's 1994 debut album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number for Bud's own innocent number "Ain’t Nuthin." Then there's the "top down, screaming loud, money ain't a thang" line on "What’s The Move" that many of us remember fondly from Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri's 1998 hit collaboration — Street Bud ironically enough won Season 4 of Dupri's Lifetime series The Rap Game when he was only 12 years old. Being that Street Bud wasn't even around in '94, '98 or '03 for that matter — he was born on July 30, 2004 — it goes without saying that he has some pretty seasoned writers on his team that helped stitch this project together. With that said, Back 2 The Lab is a great start to a promising career, featuring appearances from current superstars like Sheck Wes and Quavo amongst others. Keep cooking up the hits, young blood!
Listen to Back 2 The Lab by Street Bud in its entirety below:
Tracklist:
1. "Open House" (feat. Quavo)
2. "Rain"
3. "Get It"
3. "Beach House"
4. "Ain’t Nuthin"
5. "What’s The Move"
6. "Goat"
7. "Rock It" (feat. Sheck Wes)
8. "Whole Gang"
9. "I Like U" (feat. Lil Donald)
10. "Of Course"
11. "Cool Kids"
12. "Love" (feat. DAYYTONA FOX)
13. "Good Die Young" (feat. Doonk)