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Music

Yonas Michael's 'Blessed' Takes You Back to a Simpler Time, Like 2008

It's a reminder that rap can experiment with old tastes and patterns without being derivative.

Rapper Yonas Michael hit it semi-big in 2008 as "Y-O," part of the breakout duo U-N-I. He's since decided that acronyms aren't as cool as they were back then and has embarked on a solo career. Yonas did a track with Kendrick Lamar and one with Bun B, and now he's got a new self-released record coming out soon called Black Swan Theory.

This track, Blessed, harkens back to Michael's roots as Y-O, leaning on the Kanye staple of high-pitched vocal samples and organs. The song is a reminder that, like any other genre, rap can experiment with old tastes and patterns without being derivative.