It’s a Monday night in mid-June, and I’m sitting on a couch in a studio at The Cutting Room, a New York studio where Cardi B, Future, DJ Khaled, and other stars have recorded. But today, I’m here to see rising Atlanta rapper Ken Carson. 

He’s only 19 years old, but he’s already emerged as one of the leaders of a new generation of “underground” rappers, alongside artists like SoFaygo, SSGKobe, Yeat, and more. The movement took shape in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown, when a new wave of young artists put their own spin on the high-energy, moshpit-friendly sound that was first popularized by SoundCloud-era stars like Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and XXXTentacion in the mid-2010s.