Dali

“Welcome to the other side/This is where you’ll find me,” Vancouver rapper Boslen announces at the top of his third album, and given that the statement arrives in a blast of fuzzy alt-rock, “the other side” he’s referring to could very well be the space beyond hip-hop itself. Boslen has always flaunted eclectic musical taste and cinematic vision, but in his social media posts announcing *Dali*’s release, he revealed that this album represents the closing chapter of his rap life before he moves on to explore different musical avenues. True to its titular inspiration, *Dali* presents a mixtape-like mosaic of sounds and moods that melt into one another to psychedelic effect, where tropical odes to sundazed decadence (“Dancing in Dubai”) coexist alongside grim portraits of Vancouver’s notorious East Hastings neighborhood framed by barbed-wire indie guitars. But if this is indeed Boslen’s rap retirement party, he’s going out with a bang: “Whitney” is a fierce declaration of independence hitched to the industrialized stomp of Kanye’s “Black Skinhead,” while “life of the man” is a gritty ’90s throwback track that doubles as Boslen’s farewell to the form. “I’ve been droppin’ every genre like I’m off-book,” he boasts, before leaving us with some educational advice: “Go read the papers/Your favorite rappers aren’t the ones that should be your teachers.”