The Come Up's 'Lighter Fluid' EP, Produced by DJ Burn One, Is Like a Bonfire Party for Your Ears

The rap duo from Braddock, Pennsylvania, links with DJ Burn One for a hard-hitting, thoughtful EP.

July 29, 2014, 3:01pm

The Come Up are a rap duo made up of MCs Vinny Radio and Franchise. They are from Braddock, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb that you may know as having been featured in the occasional article about small town poverty and renewal (in part due to famously cool mayor) and also from a Levi's ad campaign that was all about how rugged its residents are. The Come Up are also familiar names on the Pittsburgh rap scene, with an emphatic co-sign from hometown hero Mac Miller.

They'd like to introduce all of this their own way, though, and they've linked up with a like-minded spirit in bridging urban and rural aesthetics, Southern rap production luminary DJ Burn One, to get the job done. The resulting project, Lighter Fluid, which Noisey is premiering below, is a killer statement highlighting the "genuine ties from Pittsburgh down to Atlanta." Over soulful, panoramic beats, the two MCs are funny, trenchant, and totally in the spirit of hip-hop classics even as they do away with any of the cloying self-seriousness that can plague such lyrically pointed projects. "Miss us with that amateur shit/treat us as elite," they rap at one point, and this project should help shore up that reputation. Vinny Radio and Franchise are talented, smart MCs, and this is a killer introduction that feels like hanging out with two particularly quick-witted friends. It's like a bonfire party for your ears.

The Lighter Fluid EP comes out through REMember Recordings on iTunes on August 5, but we have the whole thing streaming below (along with the tracklist, which features Scotty ATL and Will Brennan). Check it out and get familiar with Braddock before The Come Up make it wildly famous: