Charlotte, North Carolina, MC Reuben Vincent wears his influences on his sleeve. It’s not hard to hear the origins of his sound, especially when he shouts out all-time greats like The Notorious B.I.G. and T.I. over a supremely funky, Outkast-indebted cut like Love Is War’s “Geechie Suede.” If Vincent is anything, he’s a man who buries his young life’s truths in increasingly complex couplets. “The teachers ain’t taught us nothing but add up in the psychics/Preachers teaching us peace, we ride around and conceal it” goes one from “Just Like a Dream.” When he was barely old enough to drive, Vincent signed to 9th Wonder’s Jamla Records. In addition to Jamla, he currently has the muscle of Roc Nation behind him. But those early years on Jamla are what fostered his development as an artist, and 9th’s signature contemporary boom-bap is all over Love Is War, even on songs he didn’t produce. Surely Vincent considers himself lucky to have honed his sound under the watchful eye of one of his home state’s foremost producers, but the other side of that coin—the one that 9th himself will attest to—is that few things align more with 9th Wonder’s aesthetic than an MC who has something to say.