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Music

PREMIERE: Stream Boogie's Moving New Cut "Make Me Over"

The Compton rapper delivers the second track from his upcoming album 'The Reach.'

Boogie covers a lot of territory on "Make Me Over." In under three minutes, the Compton rapper breezes through two highly quotable verses, an interlude from his five year old son, and a stark change of intensity via beat switch. The track is a moving meditation on gang violence; the Tiana mentioned in the second verse is Tiana Ricks, the daughter of a friend killed in a drive-by in 2013.

"Make Me Over" is the second track from the Compton rapper's forthcoming album The Reach, his follow-up to last year's well-received Thirst 48. The song is a counterpoint to the enormous, Jahlil Beats-produced "Oh My"; both bode well for the rapper's quest to establish himself among other plain-spoken documentarians of Los Angeles life such as Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples.

On a nuts and bolts level, Boogie is somewhat like Kendrick with less creative freedom. While K.Dot somehow turns mopey songs about alcoholism ("Swimming Pools") and P-Funk revivals ("King Kunta") into radio play, "Oh My" is like a thought experiment about what he might make had he needed to provide skeptical A&R's a more traditional single. And "Make Me Over" is ambitious and moving, but it's easy to imagine Kendrick stretching the song to nine healthy minutes and adding a sax solo (not that nine minutes of "Make Me Over" would be a bad thing.)

Regardless, The Reach drops June 24. Stream the premiere of "Make Me Over" below.