Maybe it’s a reaction to a few years of militarized blare in rap beats; maybe it’s the result of Soundcloud becoming ground zero for releasing new music. But rap has been getting... quieter lately. The loaded pause, the sly mutter, the half-chuckle to yourself; you can hear these ideas reintroducing themselves at the margins. Traditionalists like Earl Sweatshirt and Ka mumble from their journals, Long Beach upstart Boogie giggles at his timeline, and rap listeners everywhere are gently reacquainted with leaning forward to listen.

Add to this list Kweku Collins, a rapper/singer/producer who does all three to his heart’s content without a discernible trace of interest whether you are there. He is light-footed and musical in everything; on “Stupid Rose,” a standout from his excellent album Nat Love, he yawns and stretches over a sticky flip of D'Angelo, his drowsy voice rising from the track without separating from it. He sounds bemused and fully alert, testing language like an inquisitive soul who is giving your facile clichés more thought than you did: “If I’m a rapper, then she’s a bad bitch,” he says on the chorus, and you can almost picture him sketching out the logic proof on paper to make sure the equation checks out. The song paints a portrait of love, weed, or love of weed, but it’s mostly about the feeling—like peanut butter you can't quite clear from the roof of your mouth, it’s tactile and patient and completely contented.