We All Shine

Editors’ Notes Rappers are the new rock stars, they say, though few would have predicted that in 2019, Generation Z’s most cutting-edge rappers would sound like the scattered members of a Florida pop-punk band. YNW Melly’s a smiley-faced teen from an unincorporated Florida town who sings bright, Auto-Tuned lullabies about paranoia and murder. On We All Shine, tender melodies belie some seriously dark songs: The syrupy-sweet “Robbery” has Melly plotting a bit of light felony with the melisma of an R&B heartthrob. “Rolling Loud” is pure lighters-in-the-air emo-rap balladry, and on the boppy “Mixed Personalities,” Melly outshines Kanye West by singing like he just inhaled a helium balloon.