By Gary Suarez in Interviews — Aug 11, 2026

'89 The Brainchild Is Ready For The Strobelight

The New Jersey native speaks on his latest project. +reviews of U.G.L.Y Boy Modeling; Rick Hyde

Photo courtesy of Fused Arrow Records

'89 The Brainchild may be unknown to some, but he's definitely not new to the rap game.

Sitting across from the New Jersey native at Fort Greene, Brooklyn's NOLA-nodding seafood restaurant Strange Delight, it soon becomes apparent that he's earned his share of scars in this industry. "I've had some fucking dirty deals back when I was a young, young, young, young boy," he says, "people taking advantage of artists and shit."

Thankfully, things started changing for the better in his world about two years ago, when Steel Tipped Dove released 89's mixtape Night Lives on his Fused Arrow Records label. Linking with the indie hip-hop engineer by way of Fatboi Sharif, the avant-rap phenom he's been friends with since high school, he garnered fresh attention for the 2024 project's credibly club-oriented production, perfectly encapsulated in its anthemic yet left field single "Get A Bag."

"That was my first one really within anything of that type of structure," he says in a satisfied tone of working with the label that also put out Sharif's Duncecap-produced Psychedelics Wrote the Bible EP that very same summer. "Seeing how their dynamic was made me very comfortable; it made me kind of consider [that] maybe I need more structure."

Copping to his own disorganization over a basket of hush puppies, 89 clearly knew he had to approach his next release with a newfound sense of professionalism. "I wasn't going for it the way that people say they're going for it or should go for it," he admits. "So to have Dove there, seeing what he had accomplished in the past and what things Fatboi was bringing forth, I was like, let me not half-ass this shit."

And so, when his Night Lives follow-up Not Who I Thought I Was: the evil who brought us joy dropped via Fused Arrow this spring, that intentional pivot came with a formidable vibe shift. That it happened by surrounding himself with people he knows well, artists whose work and hustle he respects deeply, makes the album even more of a triumph.

"This album is an ensemble piece," he explains. "It paints a full picture of what our community is." Close friends and associates like DRIVEBY, Kohai, and Subjxct 5 played key roles in helping 89's vision come alive, to say nothing of contributions from admired artists like DJ Haram and RaFia as well as undisputed rap veterans Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire and the late Gangsta Boo. "The webs are crossing, and it just feels so right."

Obviously, NWITIW took time and effort to get it to its final form, an improbably cohesive yet thrillingly eclectic endeavor with 89 at its sweaty center. Some of the tracks, such as "Drug r bad" and "FOUND <3," existed in considerably different forms, tested on audiences public and private at various times. "That was the first record I wrote after my dad died," he says of the latter, choosing it for the album's somewhat unlikely closer on the advice of Sharif. "For me, that's the credits at the end of the movie while there's still a scene going."

As for 89's lyrics and themes, he wields his pen with purpose, practically weaponizing it to address concerns on both micro and macro levels. Ethics come wrapped in woozy, hypnotic pads and screwed up delivery on "1st Rule of Boxing," addressing sexual assault affecting members of his community. On "No Man," which also features the aforementioned eXquire, his words writhe above its rhythms, soundtracking the dance floor with his own relationship struggles. "It's like, I can't fucking catch a break because these motherfuckers are ruining the party for me," he says. "I got to navigate that shit without stepping on toes–just like my existence sometimes can be stepping on toes."

Throughout the album, he's trying–and succeeding–to speak on what might be socially unspeakable or otherwise inconvenient. "I've seen this shit turn people ugly," he says. "I've seen people get big-headed and having their head up their ass turned them into like, whoa, how are we maneuvering? Wait, what are we enabling? Wait, who did what to you? Wait, time out."

Things can get messy when 89 directs the questions at himself. Take "Father's Day," an acid jazz freakout that conjures residual trauma surrounding a period of time in his early adulthood when he dated someone whose dad had been largely absent from her upbringing due to incarceration. "I think I lean more into the personal aspect than relying on the skill of rapping, which is not even an insult to those that do have that skill," he says of his approach. "I'm nice; I would never deny that. But I got this kind of perspective that no one else is fulfilling."

Still, 89 finds space for positivity on NWITIW too, as on the Nick Hook co-produced "Venues." And you can almost share in his elation when Gangsta Boo shows up for the profane bassbin decimator "Fuck U Like," her suitably hardcore and femme-forward verse capturing everything Three 6 Mafia fans love her for. Her participation in the project not only validates his gender-inclusive aims, but allowed her to share a lived-in perspective of sex positivity that he couldn't have conveyed so well.

"There are a lot of women out there that feel like they may not be able to be fully themselves, because of the world," he says, crediting Boo with helping to break down stigmas with her music. "I sat there and watched her for maybe 15, 20 minutes or so. When she got it, to me it was like a show of support from the heavens."

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U.G.L.Y. Boy Modeling & Chris Crack, Prettier Than Advertised

(buy it / stream it)

Keeping up with prolific rapper Chris Crack isn't easy. Just this year alone, he's already dropped two solo projects, Don't Go In The Women's Bathroom and Too Late To Start Following The Rules Now, with an imminently arriving collaborative EP with Michael Christmas and Girl Talk on deck. Amidst all that, he flexes his production muscles for a full-on team-up with U.G.L.Y. Boy Modeling, an outspoken and irreverent Chicago rapper whose prior features on Crack's own projects never disappoint. Prettier Than Advertised plays to the oft lascivious lyricist's core strengths, profanely self-aware on "Irresponsibility Ain't No Coincidence" and smoking with carefree abandon on "5 Heads On A Joint Is Drug Abuse." Carnal bravado and venereal braggadocio reaches Kool-Keith-circa-Sex Style levels on cuts like "Russia's Fake Moon Landing Was Better Than Our Fake Moon Landing." Indeed, if Bruiser Wolf is modern rap's Rudy Ray Moore then consider U.G.L.Y. its Martin "Runteldat" Lawrence, thanks to moments like the snappy, R&B-derived "Blind Sex Is Just A Glory Hole Essentially." Late in the game, Monsieur Crack steps in with a characteristically nonconformist verse on "Not Losing My Virginity Until I Win A Grammy."

Rick Hyde, H.Y.D.E.

(buy it / stream it)

Buffalo's Rick Hyde has proved a steady presence in Black Soprano Family, dropping solid if under-appreciated projects like LUPARA and Plates II for Benny The Butcher's label. His pragmatically streetwise lyricism and serviceable flows belie a history embedded in the Griselda fam with deep ties to the late DJ Shay, all of which intrinsically makes his latest effort H.Y.D.E. (Heard Yesterday Doesn’t Exist) a cut above those out there eagerly emulating the Western New York rap stars. Beginning with "NO REMORSE," a paradigmatically candid intro in which he seeks to distinguish himself from his better known associates, and culminating with the self-assured freestyle "BOOYAH," he demonstrates the earned artistic benefits of his long labor. His grindset come-up narrative feels gravely authentic on the restrained "ALL I WANTED," while his anecdote-laden "FACADES" leaves enough detail out to protect the guilty. The guest list comes together on the back half, with two ElCamino features–including on the vivid "MOTION"–and a reflective "NO ADVANCES" verse from B$F's Alaskan rep Duckman.