This week, we're celebrating the rise of Brooklyn drill, an explosive subgenre of rap that has become the new sound of New York. The following story is part of a series of profiles on the scene's most important figures. Read more here.

“I think I’m antisocial,” says Smoove’L, sprawled out on a bed at the Maxwell hotel in Manhattan, hours before his packed show at S.O.B.’s. To his right are his publicist and two confidants, but Smoove’s gaze rarely leaves his own side of the room.