The shortlist of young Milwaukee rappers preparing to make a mark on the scene is a whole lot less short than it was just a couple of years ago, thanks to a fresh crop of local rappers taking all the right cues from contemporaries like Kendrick Lamar, Isaiah Rashad and Vince Staples. One burgeoning local very much worth following is El-Shareef (sometimes credited as EL, E.L, Elvisionaire or El-Shareef in either all caps or all lower case letters—he hasn't been very consistent with how he bills himself), who this spring released an overlooked, creatively restless mixtape called Retrospective 2: Freeworld that found him wrestling with, and ultimately rejecting, the conscious rap tag. He's not the fiercest rapper, and his casual flow sometimes undersells how sharp his wordplay is, but don't let his easy presence fool you: He can spit, and he has an acute understanding of when to fall into a beat and when to cut against it.
This weekend he released the video for his latest single, "Still Trippin," a woozy head-nodder that's as blissfully mellow as a two-beer buzz. It's the first taste of El-Shareef's upcoming (and aptly titled) Nonchalant EP, due out later this fall, and you can stream it below.
