Fifty years down the line from its humble block party origins, we can officially classify hip-hop as a legacy genre. And although there are plenty of genre stalwarts who themselves are “over the hill” and still cranking out quality material, there’s no denying rap is a young man’s game. In terms of the latter, it’s especially impactful when the radical energy shared by so much youth gets even more invigorated over a fire beat.

With that, Free Hamze enters the frame. This Lebanese-born Austin-based rapper’s always relished in the exotic Eastern-meets-Western intersection made popular at the turn of the millennium by The Neptunes. And that ethnic-meets-urban international sound is alive and well on Free Hamze’s next record: FREETAPE 4: Renegade Rap – produced entirely by fellow Austinite YoursTruuly, who at just nineteen years old also makes a couple vocal contributions on FT4:RR under their handle Locuust.

Safe to say, it’s a combination that demands to be seen live. And we’re in luck with two opportunities leading up to the weekend; you can catch Hamze and YoursTruuly tomorrow night at DAWA HQ and again 7-9PM this Friday for the EP pop-up release show at the Airport Blvd location of Abe’s Smoke Shop. So to give you a taste of Renegade Rap, turn up the volume on “Two $idez”, which perfectly encapsulates The Alchemist-meets-Benny the Butcher energy of The Plugs I Met that permeates through all of FT4‘s six chambers, and is a tough contender for the hardest thing you’ll hear all week.

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