Right now, there's probably no one that could endear themselves more to music fans than a one-time meme-rapper who can outlast the tide of virality and wind up safely ashore. On his Beyoncé-endorsed winter hit "Cha Cha", D.R.A.M. hinted that he was weird and funky enough to follow in the melodically outré footsteps of fellow Virginians Timbaland and Pharrell. That Drake's team—emerging as savvy, and sometimes savage, scavengers of "found" sound—saw enough in the rococo energy and chugging presets of "Cha Cha" to channel them into the Toronto rapper's latest single, "Hotline Bling", shows D.R.A.M. holding weight.

And he finesses that auteur status with "$", from March's #1EpicEP, deviating from the flamboyant "Cha Cha" for a delicate, plaintive, Jon Brion-type piano ballad. The song just got an update; a luminous halo of brass courtesy of Donnie Trumpet, which gives the hustler's story a triumphant twist. D.R.A.M., which stands for "Does Real Ass Music," parses the emotional highs and lows of the new industry model in his tender baritone: "To me when you run and hide, that's music suicide/ This be that shit that make a n*gga get off his ass and get money." Self-aware enough to take on the co-signs for collabs that make sense, D.R.A.M. is one of music's bravest new voices.