Tow-9's Key! has just dropped off "Work Ya Risk," his newest single and first offering since late last year. Key! must have poor hearing--there isn't much room in the Atlantan's music for subtlety, because subtlety doesn't register with him. It's all low end and unmistakable tics. "Work Ya Risk" is Exhibit A in this case, built around pounding drums and distorted Juicy J ad-libs. It's the perfect palate for someone as uninhibited as Key!, who uses the instrumental to assert his presence and his rap sheet. It's no coincidence that "risk" comes out sounding almost exactly like "wrist."

"Ever since they took my brother, it powered me up," Key! raps, resolved as anyone could be given a loss. In his feature for XXL's The Break Presents, he posited himself as the no-frills trapper to end all discussions; when asked what people might not know about him, the upstart said "That I watch Teen Mom every day and that all my raps are facts." That same sense of veracity comes through here.

'The thinking man's OG Maco' sounds like damning someone with faint praise, but it may be the best appraisal to be had of Key! "I ain't just singing/ Pistols really ringing" is less empty boast than sober promise. Key!'s music carries with it a sense of consequence that colors its undeniable fun, but doesn't detract from it. Striking that balance is both elusively difficult and one of the keys to melding the more blunt styles of rap into mainstream America. If "Work Ya Risk" is any indication, Key! is well on his way.

Listen to "Work Ya Wrist" below:

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