Produced and mixed by Drew Mantia and featuring rising star Saba, ‘Down’ is another example of the extraordinary hip hop talent coming out of Chicago. The track opens with angular piano chords, but before getting too comfortable Mantia chucks in a jarring, heavy bassline. Following this is a fiery guitar solo which screams and wails over the chorus, before Saba and Mantia return with some choice cuts. What connects these seemingly disparate elements, however, is the superb production from the duo which revels in ‘Down’’s disjointedness and pins it together – just – with the repeating piano chords and sparse, hi-hats and heavy drums. With tracks as exciting and boundary pushing as ‘Down’, 2017 is set to be another brilliant, explorative year for Chicago’s hip-hop scene. -HM