At the dawn of 2018, it was unlikely anyone would have considered Mobile, Alabama, to be a mecca in the hip-hop landscape, even among towns in the South. However, around this time a small group of young rappers began making waves with richly melodic trap songs full of autobiographical narratives and distinguished by soulful instrumental flourishes. Following the success of NoCap’s lonesome-sounding viral trap single “Legend,” the 19-year-old rose to the top of the heap of rap talent in his hometown. The song became the focal point of his unvarnished, folk-tinged debut mixtape, Neighborhood Hero. The nine-song project expands upon the themes and stylistic elements that made “Legend” a phenomenon, with Auto-Tune melodies that are as mournful as they are catchy, pensive or nostalgic chord changes, and lyrics contemplating mortality, misspent youth, betrayal, love, and substance abuse. NoCap often touches on all these tropes within a single verse, creating dizzying panoramas studded with one-liners that are just eccentric enough to stand out without undercutting the dramatic effect. See “Exercise,” where he sings, “Snakes all on my clothes, feel like Medusa/Hit your block, hang out the windows on neutral.” When Neighborhood Hero’s songs turn devastating, they are unsparing. Their concrete images of pain are coupled with an anguished delivery that reaches toward the top of Cap’s range, causing his Auto-Tune to rupture evocatively. NoCap followed Neighborhood Hero with Rogerville, a collaborative mixtape with fellow Mobile up-and-comer Rylo Rodriguez. Soon, increasing cosigns and a burgeoning viral track record led to a prominent feature with then-rising star Lil Baby on his track “Dreams 2 Reality.” From there, NoCap was headed to breakthrough stardom. Though his stylistic imprint would later come into sharper focus, the essential DNA was all in place on Neighborhood Hero, which includes some of his most penetrating verses.