Kenny Mason is a 29-year-old MC from West Atlanta who has made quite a splash in the last few years with his experimental blend of low-key trap and rugged pop-punk. The young rapper is gearing up to drop his latest effort on streaming services on March 14. Fans across social media are already voicing their excitement for the project. The new Kenny Mason album is simply titled 9, and is said to have nine tracks, including two singles, "Jumping In" and "Us," which were just released.
9 serves as a follow-up to Kenny's last LP 6, which released in June of 2023. Though 6 had some major highs, some fans felt that there were elements missing from the project which could have made it even stronger. With over 2 million monthly Spotify listeners to please, Kenny Mason may be on track to deliver his first certified classic with 9. Here are five things fans want from the upcoming album.
5. A Full-Length Run-Time
Like many young artists coming up in the TikTok era, Kenny Mason has been known to produce incredibly brief songs in the past. With 9 already confirmed to have only nine songs, fans are hoping the album's run-time will be sufficiently longer than 15-18 minutes. Though neither of the two leading single tracks released this week have run-times that reach 3 minutes, fans are holding out hope that the album won't be very short to appeal to young, easily distracted fans across social media. While nobody is asking Kenny Mason to create an 8-minute-long power ballad with an extended guitar solo outro, it would surely please fans to hear a few tracks that last long enough to fully flesh out their themes and ideas.
4. Variety In Production
Kenny Mason is known to produce much of his own material, and 9 will undoubtedly contain at least a handful of self-produced songs from the prolific Atlanta artist. However, fans would surely appreciate Kenny's impressive vocal range and ability to innovate even more if he took the opportunity to work with some well-known producers. Beat-makers like Hit-Boy, the Alchemist, and JID collaborator Christo would all be excellent picks for a Kenny Mason collab. Of course, Kenny could also use 9 as a means to highlight some other young up-and-comers from West Atlanta by working with underground producers from his neighborhood.
3. Some Well-Placed Vocal Guests
Throughout his career, Kenny has had the opportunity to work with a wide array of excellent vocalists. He has previously collaborated with artists such as Denzel Curry and Freddie Gibbs and even appeared across multiple tracks with JID. His songs with the latter include cuts like "Dance Now" and "Just In Time" with Lil Wayne from JID's critically acclaimed album The Forever Story. While Kenny Mason is certainly capable of carrying his album with no features a la J. Cole, it would surely please fans to see inclusions from some of his contemporaries on 9. Appearances from the likes of Isaiah Rashad, EarthGang, or SZA could really put the record over the top.
2. Genre-Blending Bangers
As stated, Kenny's work is known for its genre-blending, with tracks often switching between a laid-back smoke session vibe and a hard mosh pit setting complete with shredding guitars. This sonic mixture has become something of a trademark for Kenny Mason, which many fans hope to see continued on 9. Perhaps the young rapper can even blend a few new styles into his music, with notes of jazz funk like Denzel Curry on Melt My Eyez See Your Future or harsh noise-core samples like JPEGMAFIA's latest effort Scaring The Hoes. Either way, Mason's high-energy output often features surprising left-field musical choices that blend seamlessly with his lyrical style, making the artist one to look out for on this year's 'best of' lists.
1. Kenny Mason At His Best
No matter what sonic styles and lyrical one-two punches Kenny Mason delivers on 9, fans are looking forward to the artist putting out his best body of work yet. Kenny has continued to elevate his sound and production quality through each release so far, making 9 a culmination of all his greatest efforts thus far. Based on the leading singles to the album, it's clear that Kenny is hungry and passionate, with recent social media posts from the up-and-comer confirming that this project will serve as some of his finest material yet.