Balancing dark atmospheric and melodic lyrical introspection, Warming Up: Rogue Freestyles enamors in its heady hip-hop sound — representing another success from Toronto-based artist Rayhan. Catching our ears in recent months with the High Noon EP and standout album uLove: Rayhan’s Version, Rayhan continues to impress with six memorable tracks here.
Warming Up: Rogue Freestyles is precisely what its title indicates — a showcase of raw and inventive freestyling that serves as a warm-up to this fall’s release of uDOPE, which represents the second installment in Rayhan’s Untitled Trilogy. “Warming Up is the calm before the storm,” Rayhan says. “It’s me getting messy, free, and honest before uDOPE hits. No polish — just me, in motion.”
Opening the EP, “Gaffer Freestyle” stirs with a hazy, glitchy pop lushness in its backing beat — while the vocals exude a confident tonal prowess that reminds fondly of Das Racist. The hook grounds the track in solidarity with hustlers and strivers, celebrating grit and personal confidence — nodding both to “my homies in the field with the tweakers,” and “my baddies with degrees doing research.”
The subsequent “Missions on My Ones” struts a more rock-ready charisma, fusing anxiety and a sense of detachment — “I’m running out of time / I do not feel alive,” — with multi-vocal introspection. The guitar distortion pairs with an enthralling lyrical flow for a vibe reminiscent of JPEGMAFIA. The EP successfully explores rock, punk, boom-bap, trap, and beyond — and the dynamic excellence shows from the rock edge here to the late-night soulfulness within “530,” where twinkling piano and a collaboration with Ke-Lo result in a strikingly atmospheric listening experience.
Warming Up: Rogue Freestyles is another excellent showing from Rayhan — succeeding across nocturnal, ominous old-school hip-hop productions like “Never Miss Freestyle” to the melding of funky soulfulness and glistening orchestral beauty within “COLDEST BREATHING/Love U Still.” Further propelled by recent successes and an upcoming campaign launch with Unknown Creatives, Rayhan continues to be on a clear ascent.
