Ab-Soul Returns With "Dangerookipawaa Freestyle"

After surfacing for Reason‘s “Trapped In” single, Ab-Soul is back with an unexpected single. “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” is a nearly-four-minute riff over bouncy sampled production, demonstrating the MC’s inherent talent on the mic.

Last year, Ab-Soul confirmed while performing at the Day N Vegas festival that he had a new album in the works, set to launch in 2020. However, “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” isn’t likely offering a taste of the forthcoming release: April 20, the day the freestyle premiered, is the birthday of Top Dawg Entertainment founder Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith. This suggests that the track is less of an album teaser and more of a birthday treat for Tiffith and fans alike, but it’s welcome either way.

Atop a pair of rumbling retro beats, Ab-Soul proves that his lyrical skill and flow are both as sharp as ever, dishing out one-liners (“You ain’t up to par with me/nor are we on the golf course”) and smooth transitions at a moment’s notice. Along with a hat-tip for the dearly-departed Mac Miller, Soulo offers up plenty of self-aggrandizing bars (“Raw backwards on all you rappers, you heard it before/The rawest rapper on the planet’s name is Herbert the Fourth”) as the soul-inflected production shifts to guitar-led boom-bap after two minutes.

Stream the freestyle in full above or on a streaming platform of choice and cross your fingers for news of Ab-Soul’s next LP.

Meanwhile, TDE is serving up more headline-worthy tracks and music videos, including SiR’s recent “You Can’t Save Me.”