Before Kimbra was dueting with Gotye, she guested with Wellington rapper Tom Young, better known as Tommy Ill. Quirky and self-deprecating, his tracks tap the cartoonish middle ground between Das Racist and Flight of the Conchords. When he's not too busy designing cute mobile games, Young raps about robots and cheap wine, samples Moby and Tame Impala, flexes a nerdy vocabulary and brandishes goofy puns to name his records (see: Fearless Bueller). However, beneath the kitschy indie-rock vibe lurks a breezily talented and brilliantly self-aware MC who takes darker turns.
