Trapo

In 2001, Mexican cartel boss Joaquín \"El Chapo\" Guzmán famously escaped a maximum-security prison. Twenty years later, the rapper with a nickname (“Trapo”) inspired by Guzmán was looking for his own piece of freedom following his 2020 debut album *Street Side Effects*. “I was overthinking the music, the lyrics, the beats—I was in a bad way,” K-Trap tells Apple Music. “So I took some time. Now I’m back to doing whatever I want—and it’s working.” *Trapo* sees the South London MC return to his mixtape roots (a time known as his “masked era,” before abandoning the disguise in 2019), make use of some blistering drill cuts from the sound’s top architects (M1onthebeat, Ghosty), and lift up a pick of rising, hungry MCs—many also from the South London borough of Lambeth, which lays claim to birthing the UK’s drill sound. “For a long time, it wasn’t like this,” he says of rising up. “Here, it all seemed like a myth. But as soon as we started to see people from close to our reality make moves, like Krept & Konan and 67, that inspired a lot of talent here growing up. So I’m doing the same for those that I can.” Read on for K-Trap’s track-by-track guide to his fourth mixtape—and some of that blistering talent. **“Warm”** “This is \[British presenter and comedian\] Yung Filly speaking on the intro. It’s from a voice note that he sent me when I dropped this song—it’s his joint, so I felt like I had to have him here.” **“Pick ’n’ Mix”** “This is one of my favorites, and it’s maybe a bit of a different one for me. It is drill, just not as dark, but it’s all about the wordplay on this one.” **“Maths”** “DoRoad is my bro. He’s from Gipsy Hill, too. Although he’s been in and out of music, he’s now here to stay, trust me, he’ll go far, he’s a one of one. The hook on this, ‘Tell me if you really do road, tell me if you really do trap,’ I’ve had in mind for ages, waiting for this track.” **“Tape Night”** “I feel like I got in my bag here. It works well sometimes when there isn’t too much thinking, I’m just putting words together.” **“Ying”** “This is another linkup that my fans have been asking for. Look out for PR SAD—I think he’s cold, and he’s coming up quickly.” **“Elon Musk”** “This beat is by a young producer that hit me up on Twitter and I gave him a chance. I think it’s sick, it charged me up to write to it—and I guess during lockdown Elon Musk was always coming up, it’s like he was stuck in my head.” **“Billie Jean”** “I had a good time working with Lotto Ash on this one. At times, I find the music game weird and the rappers even weirder, but I really rate him. It was our first time meeting, and it was great. We bounced ideas and got straight to work on some hard \[M1onthebeat\] production.” **“Love It”** “I made two more songs the night I recorded this with \[UK producer\] Ghosty that didn’t end up making this project. It was late, and at this point, he’d already left the studio. So I hooked up the beat and recorded this right at the end of the sessions.” **“Addiction”** “We had to get creative on this one. The vocals under the beat might sound like a sample, but trust me, it’s not; we got a singer in to lay some vocals down. My managers, engineers, and the rest of the team, we all chip in and get it done—that’s just how we work.” **“Free C Roy”** “Firstly, C Roy is a serious man—he was my manager when I first started rapping. And similar to me, he didn’t know much about what he was doing, but he was *there*. He was supportive and he’s in all my early videos. I spoke to him the day I recorded this, and he thought I was lying when I mentioned the title. He’ll find out soon.” **“Intentions”** “This is another one of my favorites. I dunno, it’s like this beat takes me somewhere. Sometimes people only wanna hear one side of things, but you have to provide a more conscious side. It’s necessary.” **“She Wanna”** “This is one of the last songs made. At this point I knew I definitely needed a song for the ladies, but I know I wasn’t about to make a lovey song, and eventually I worked this concept—I know there’s girls out there that relate to this fully.” **“RRR”** “This one’s hard. I really like how DoRoad and Youngs Tef come in. We all bring our own unique styles, flows and deliveries to this.” **“Trending”** “With fashion, I’m only going to tell you about what I’m into. In the past, I’ve mentioned brands that you won’t see me wearing now, but it is what it is, you can’t rub it out, that’s part of the come-up.” **“Help”** “This track sums me up as an artist: As much as I’ll tell you about the crud and all of that stuff, I’ll tell you what it comes with. When you hear ‘Help,’ from anyone, it’ll make you stop and think more about life. This track is the story of so many others, and it started out as one line and grew and grew.” **“Fighting”** “This track is me getting a little bit more off my chest, to close the mixtape. Truthfully, I’m fighting a battle, man—but I’m understanding a key fact of life: It will carry on. No matter what. This game ain’t based on sympathy.”

The 25-year-old London returns, just nine months after his debut album, with an emotional mixtape lifted by its featured artists

Unable to shake the side effects of reality, K-Trap returns with street-inspired Trapo

Once a mysterious figure with his signature black balaclava, K-Trap has become a pioneering figure within Black British music with his unapologetic