On 'KO,' NLE Choppa Channels the Grim Reaper of Rap

On his surprise single “KO,” NLE The Great , the Memphis rapper formerly known as NLE Choppa , delivers a scathing record that doubles as a gut-check for the culture. Built on a flip of 2Pac’s “Hit ’Em Up,” the track arrives amidst a larger conversation about hip-hop’s influence. This week that, for the first time in 35 years, there are currently no rap songs in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. NLE fashions himself a hip-hop Grim Reaper of sorts, sent to lay waste the current crop of rappers in order to push the culture forward. “Yahweh sent me to decease em, So I’m the reaper to greet em,” he raps.

NLE also mentions one the current era’s biggest acts , NBA YoungBoy, by name, rapping, “Youngboy what this the big boy league/Put one in the gut under the Jesus piece/Last thing th