A relative newcomer to the Milwaukee rap scene, Jae Ace perked ears earlier this month with his single "Quota," a hardened slab of street rap that banged with unspoken menace. As it turns out, that song was something of a red herring. Ace's new mixtape NOON is less interested in chest-beating bluster than it is in warm, openhearted confessions. With its lush, pillowy production and relationship-minded raps, it often suggests the same safe place as Drake's Nothing Was The Same, where good intentions and worst behavior aren't mutually exclusive. This is a hard sound to pull off (much harder, in many ways, than the straightforward street rap of "Quota"), but Ace pulls it off beautifully. He's not the flashiest rapper, but he rhymes with insight, wisdom and candor—a little like Wale, if Wale weren't such a ham and had a better singing voice. This is one of the most satisfying Milwaukee mixtapes of the year.
Stream Noon below.
