With regards to the latter especially, вЂњthe struggleвЂќ carries a certain cachet when centered in Compton or, once upon a time, Brooklyn that simply doesnвЂ™t carry over to Nashville. StarlitoвЂ™s stories are truths inconvenient for the nouveau Nashville resident, but theyвЂ™re never anchored exclusively in glamorization or poverty fetishism, the narrative binary of which todayвЂ™s rap public favors the extremes.

ItвЂ™s not that StarlitoвЂ™s music lacks compelling facets rather, they are rarely so black-and-white as to make for convenient summarization. Consider Future, from whom we now wish to hear only a single type of song consider XXXtentacion, who has proven so irredeemable by critical facelift that his enormous success is scarcely reportedВ upon. Those who achieve both critical and commercial success rarely find the former first just as a deplorable chef might claim to have elevated, say, hot chicken, thereвЂ™s a dangerous tendency to raise up rap specifically in the face of its perceived objectionability, projecting upon it a proprietary blend of 11 herbs and repentance narratives by which the visiting listener might render its themes acceptable. The grand intersection of rap and pop has made a conversational awareness of the former something of a necessity, which is a great victory for critics and a great loss for artists. ThereвЂ™s a lot of talk about gentrification on Hot Chicken, most directly in what could be the albumвЂ™s mantra: вЂњTheyвЂ™re trying to gentrify rap.вЂќ ItвЂ™s true.

As much as we pay lip service to rapвЂ™s supposed post-regionalism, there remain formidable, if archaic, barriers to nationwide stardom (how New York rap radio managed to outlive New York rap, IвЂ™ll neverВ know). The Mid-South is the last bastion of truly regional rap superstardom perhaps its native sons feel the need to leave their mark upon the city, or perhaps the city leaves it mark upon them. Not that StarlitoвЂ™s going anywhere - as far as IвЂ™m concerned, heвЂ™s achieved a statuesque permanence in the cityвЂ™s landscape.

Starlito new album