While Atlanta continues its stranglehold on airwaves in Portland and Maine and Omaha and Madison, there are artists who are only stars within the city limits--at least for now. Key! has been one to ferry those acts from promising all the way to the verge of stardom, even as he himself tries to build a national profile. Two-9, the group that was a local favorite even before they signed with Mike WiLL Made It's Ear Drummers Entertainment, was founded over a half-decade ago...by Key!. No longer a member of that or any other collective, the MC has made a name for himself by impressing his carefully-crafted aesthetic on listeners and, as evidenced here, on shrewdly-selected collaborators.

This week, Key! teams up with ManMan Savage for Give Em Hell 2, a seven-song mixtape that features two solo cuts from the latter. The short tape is a sequel to last year's Give Em Hell, which paired Key! with OG Maco, who proved to be a breakout star with their "U Guessed It" and his subsequent stream of solo material, which he parlayed into a major label deal. Instead of hopping on coattails, however, Key! went back to the drawing board, trying to better formulate a sound that would elevate his career on its own merit. This installment is decidedly grittier, and comes complete with turns by Keith Ape and Tuck. Stream the tape in its entirety below, courtesy of HotNewHipHop.


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