Song You Need: Valee, Harry Fraud, Saba, and MAVI are going on a road trip

thefader.com:

The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.

Valee’s career started with a sonic boom. The Chicago rapper crash landed into the public eye with “Shell” in 2016, quickly gaining looks for a slick, understated flow best exemplified on his early Z-Money collab “Two 16’s,” where he raps straight eighth notes for 16 bars with out breaking a sweat. (Younger rappers have been attempting to replicate his style ad infinitum ever since.) He caught the attention of his city’s since-disgraced native son, Kanye West, who signed him to his ill-fated label G.O.O.D.

Music, where Valee dropped one of the best projects of 2018. But, as for so many other talented artists, G.O.O.D. proved to be more of a stumbling block than a boon.

Read Next: Song You Need: 38 Spesh and Harry Fraud bring on heavy hitters to honor the dead Valee left the label in 2019 and started quietly self-releasing killer mixtapes that went largely unnoticed, and an excellent album (December 2022’s VOCABULAREE) that didn’t get the flowers it deserved.