Zaylevelten’s ascent from relative obscurity to rising Rap star has been one of the year’s most exciting and inspiring transitions to witness. Thanks to his active social media presence, there’s a litany of posts online that traces the Ikorodu rapper’s gradual come-up, from recording music with a makeshift, DIY setup–using his phone as a microphone and a nose mask as a pop filter–to having his self-titled EP taken down a little over a year ago due to copyright issues, Zaylevelten has clearly put in his ten thousand hours. 

After a whirlwind year that initially took off with the viral success of “watching me,” the rapper has been building up to the release of his highly anticipated mixtape ‘then 1t g0t crazy,’ which finally arrived a week ago. The mixtape was preceded by another viral single, “Maye,” which helped him garner widespread acclaim from his peers and superstars like Davido, as well as two other sturdy, self-produced singles, “Fly” and “Pawon.”

While the 12-track mixtape arrived with a host of other bangers that showcase Zaylevelten’s abundance of dizzying flows and his equally impressive production skills, it’s the perversely infectious “Zanku” that arguably stands out from the bunch. Like a few of his other releases, the rapper had teased a snippet of “Zanku” earlier in the year, and it received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from fans who couldn’t wait for the complete version. 

The full song finds a home four tracks into the mixtape, bookending a powerful opening sequence. The project gets off to a flier with a self-produced quartet of “Wenski,” the Afropop-influenced “Guide Pass,” and “Gbona,” both of which reveal an extra layer to his evolving artistry, before landing on “Zanku.”

At just under two minutes in runtime, the rapper stuffs the track with sticky ad-libs and a host of bars about his desire for guap, racks, and a host of other synonyms you could think of for money. “Legwork when dey press money for me I dey Zanku,” he raps enthusiastically over some eerie synths and Trap-influenced percussion. 

What’s most impressive about “Zanku,” and perhaps Zaylevelten’s artistry as a whole, is how effortlessly he’s able to weave multiple languages together while also burning through his infinite stack of flows. There’s an insane passage on the backend of the record where he raps in his native Igbo (“Mmadụ niile na-ekwu maka m, abụ m that good, Abụ m that good”) before fluidly switching flows again and back to English. Passages like this are not mere flourishes; they serve as cogent showcases of his innate talent and the distinctive flavor he brings with his relatable style.

Listen to ‘then 1t g0t crazy’ here.