Stream OG Maco's New EP, 'Live Life 2'

On the last line of the Rolling Stone post premiering Atlanta up-and-comer OG Maco‘s new EP project, Live Life 2, writer Christopher Weingarten asks if the Quality Control signee will “prove to be the Death Grips of the Dirty South.” While the get-up-and-throw-fists aggression of songs like his breakout hit “U Guessed It” might recall Death Grips at their most riotous, Maco can’t exactly be lumped in with the now-disbanded trio of militants.

OG Maco’s current style can best be decribed as meeting point between early Pastor Troy and the modern Atlanta spearheaded by the likes of Migos, Two-9, and Young Thug and pioneered by Waka Flocka and Lex Luger. He may be able to crank up the level of audio violence to 11, but he is beginning to prove that he can mix and match other techniques as well — especially on this new release’s latter half. On one of the concluding CardoGotWings-produced cuts on Live Life 2, Maco even sounds like’s he’s closing in on being as calm as Currensy when he flows over similar backdrops. Though several of the tracks here are the type of songs that pretty much define what a modern rap “banger” is, what stands out here is how well the Atlanta spitter has synthesized all sorts of sounds permeating the airwaves dominated by his hometown. Maco has many of his rap game bases covered on this seven-track project.

As we stand just a little over a couple months before a new year, OG Maco’s new releases are serving as the perfect mix of stylings for a public that enjoys the autotuned melodies of iLoveMannonen, Lil Durk and Key! and wants to mosh to everything with an 808 trap beat. In a shorter frame of time than it takes full-length mixtapes from many others to play out, Maco’s new EP showcases a well-rounded, evolving artist with the ability to rap through a gamut of moods. Plus, it has a song called “Unleash The Kraken.” You can take probably take an accurate guess at how that one sounds before listening to it.

You can listen to the project below, and can download it over at LiveMixtapes.