One-2 - Cold Blood

It’s been just four short years since One-2 stepped onto the scene with his debut mixtape, but the Booth newcomer’s already well-acquainted with success’ darker side; on unreleased cut Cold Blood, the Los Angeles-based emcee laments how quickly one’s closest allies can turn traitor when cash comes into the equation.  Though it’s lyrical ground that’s been trod by countless emcees before him, the Armenian-American up-and-comer taps into a timeless vein of heartfelt underground lyricism, and Komplex (producer of Knoc Turn’al‘s Sorry I Left You, featured yesterday) provides some tension-fraught boardwork to match; his pensive instrumental, which mixes melancholy piano with sweeping choral synths, invests One’s ever-so-slightly frantic rhymes with impassioned force.  Listeners who hold lyrical realness in high priority—a sizable portion of DJBooth regulars, by my reckoning—will doubtless find a lot to like here; if you fall into that category, be sure to pick up a copy of the rapper’s recently-released Uno Vol. 3 mixtape, as well as keeping it locked to our front page for all his latest tunes.