Over the last few years, Berkeley, CA rapper/singer Rexx Life Raj has steadily built up his discography, dropping project after project with the hunger and consistency of an underground artist. His best-known work, Father Figure garnered attention from critics and media outlets, notably with Vice running a feature attesting to it being wholly, “good music”.

On Thursday, October 12, 2017, Raj dropped “2 Free”, the latest single off upcoming album Father Figure 2: Flourish. Produced by fellow NorCal native Mikos Da Gawd, Raj brings out his soothing and pensive vocals that teeter between rap and song as he flaunts the grown man aura that he crafted on Father Figure in 2015. Where some artist that blend rap and song play up their bouncy exuberance for their rap bars while completely liquidizing their vocals for a glitzy sung hook, the effortlessness with which Raj slips in and out of song wholly complements Mikos’ flickering production.

Though the track begins by building expectations of another cut with a “be yourself” mantra, Raj quickly injects his flavor of lyricism, jumping between praising his unstoppable Adderall-driven persona with a bar or two of football references that add to the track’s thoughtful presentation. “I run the game ain’t no audible/ Nima look at me like I was a pot of gold/ Wrap up a pack it was fat as a body bag/ hit like a body blow/ I never scored a touchdown playing on o-lines/ But I’ve been checking these goals off I was good on the goal line,” stands out as one of Raj’s most interesting sequences, though the entirety of the track saunters with elegance, indicative of his personal and musical growth.

Father Figure 2: Flourish drops November 17, 2017. Pre-order today on Apple Music.