Chicago rapper-producer Kilt Karter often unloads his terse verses in a salacious whisper, and many of his songs don’t even last two minutes—both of which should remind you of Valee, the idiosyncratic local MC and GOOD Music signee who’s also Karter’s older brother. In a July interview with Illanoize Radio, Karter said Valee has offered him advice and criticism, though at first he was too stubborn to take it to heart. Karter says that’s since changed: while he continues to share his brother’s charismatic nonchalance and knack for brevity, he’s also putting his own fingerprints on the family sound. He leans into the sinister side of his deep voice on November’s Kart’s Kabinet EP (self released), whose alternately terrifying and titillating tracks he’d originally planned to release on Halloween—producers Gold Haze, Finesse Fest, Glohan Beats, and TyMadeIt help him bundle together blown-out bass, needle-prick hi-hats, and clanging horror-movie synths. He busts through the sluggish percussion and foggy keys of “Hamana” with his speedy, burly bars, seeming to revel in the entropy he creates. His confidence never wavers, and he raps like he could stitch back together everything he destroys all on his own—and in his songs, he does. v
Chicago rapper-producer Kilt Karter can sow chaos in his songs—and undo it with a whisper
