Rap has a long history of teen stars — the creation of the genre is largely credited to a group of New York teenagers throwing house parties in the Bronx — and the latest just might be one of its biggest yet. Luh Tyler is just 17 years old and already signed a deal with Atlantic Records — a deal that has already produced one of the better-received projects of the year — and been dubbed the “coolest rapper/teenager in America/rap” by Pitchfork and Stereogum, the “most exciting rapper in Florida” by Complex, and the “feel-good story in rap” by GQ.
Hailing from Tallahassee, Tyler — not to be confused with the similarly-named Luh Kel — creates low-stakes but engaging music supported by breezy rhymes that don’t so much detail the circumstances of his upbringing as his immediate surroundings at any given moment. He makes the basics sound fly — like a teen Curren$y — but what sets him apart from his contemporaries from the sunshine state is his insistence on defining his existence by good times rather than trauma.
Perhaps no song better exemplifies this than “Back Flippin,” one of his standout tracks and the one that has become his calling card. Then, there’s “Law & Order,” his most successful track to date, built on a sample of the theme from the long-running procedural. Tyler built on the momentum from these two tracks on his debut My Vision with songs like “Stand On Biz” and following up with “First Show,” and if he can keep it up, he might just remain the coolest well beyond the next three years he’s still a teen.