International hip-hop collective
88rising issued their first compilation,
Head in the Clouds, in July 2018. Coinciding with a summer tour, the core crew --
Rich Brian,
Joji,
Higher Brothers,
August 08, NIKI, and
Keith Ape -- recruited contemporaries
Yung Bans,
03 Greedo,
BlocBoy JB,
Playboi Carti,
GoldLink, and others to join the party, which veers from hazy cloud rap to popping trap anthems. As
Higher Brothers flow in Mandarin and
Keith Ape spits in Korean,
88rising serve as a cultural bridge between Asia-adjacent artists and Western hip-hop production, a successful and much-needed union that features additional representation of Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, mainland China, and Korea. This multicultural mélange helped push the 17-track set to a debut position at number 76 on the Billboard 200 upon release. ~ Neil Z. Yeung