PTSD

Back when he exploded onto the Chicago drill scene in 2012 with “Kill Shit” alongside frequent collaborator Lil Bibby, the baby-faced, grizzled-voiced Herbo established himself as one of its deftest pens. Seeking therapy years later, the hometown hero was diagnosed with PTSD, the subject to which he dedicated his fourth studio album, hoping to raise awareness among kids who grew up like he did. Herbo’s raps remain hard as ever, but *PTSD* is his most tender offering to date: “It ain’t nothing wrong with seeing gangstas cry,” he spits on the BJ the Chicago Kid collab “Gangstas Cry.” The most heart-wrenching moment is saved for the title track, whose chorus arrives via the late Juice WRLD, a close friend of Herbo’s; it’s hard not to get chills when Juice sings, “I got a war zone inside of my head/I made it on my own, they said I’d be in jail or dead.”

On his latest, the drill legend stays true to his core: tales of trauma and paranoia that feel like watching him argue with a therapist through a crack in the door.