Every so often, a teenage rapper emerges out of nowhere with a forward-thinking sound that gets everyone talking about how they’re “next up.” Right now, that rapper is SoFaygo. 

If you ask him to explain how he’s earned all the buzz, he’ll attribute it to being a kid at heart. And that much is true. The 19-year-old Atlanta rapper has vivid memories of middle and high school, and just like anyone who was a toddler in 2004, he has some trouble recalling the title of Usher’s single “Yeah!” off the top of his head. Plus, he may or may not have slept past his alarm for our scheduled interview time, but you can’t blame someone who has watched their whole world shift in the past year.