Despite being part of a legendary crew, releasing a classic major label debut, and participating in one of the world’s most famous rap battles, the rapper Casual has always felt a bit underrated.
Maybe it’s because his style sits at the center of so many overlapping circles in the Venn diagram of Bay Area rap: streetwise, intelligent, angular. Maybe it’s because his bars are tightly composed instead of elastic and pliable. None of these are impediments to quality, but in a trend-centered rap landscape, they can cause a fickle public to overlook a simple fact: Casual never fell off.
For proof, look no further than Starduster, a five-song EP released last November that shows the Hieroglyphics rapper in his most solid form. With sharp, inventive production by Albert Jenkins and a renewed fire in his pen, Casual isn’t stuck in the past. Over Jenkins’ futuristic production, he opens the EP with “The Design,” acknowledging modern concerns like commenting and blocking: “Rappers follow me ’cause rhymes from my catalog read like an intergalactic battle log,” he spits.