Premiere: Peezo's legacy lives on with the release of a posthumous album, Cheap Thrills

In the space of a few short years, Melbourne rapper Peezo seemed sure to be a dominant name of hip-hop's next generation. With a series of releases from 2015 through to around 2017, he carved promise and potential in his ability to take some of Australian hip-hop's most defining, trend-setting sounds and mix them with forward-thinking prowess to make a sound that's something of his own; one that's rich with nostalgia for the heavyweights behind him, but simultaneously the sounds that are sure to define not just his own future, but the future of homegrown hip-hop full-stop.

Until his tragic and unexpected passing in 2018, Peezo balanced the fine line between consistency and quality with a string of high-impact singles - each one better than the last - that cemented his name in the Australian hip-hop canon. The time since hasn't been quiet either, with some of the work he was building before his passing being released thanks to a Pozible campaign, which brought together the greater hip-hop community (and beyond) for funds to finish off the projects and support his family in a time of hardship.

Now, two years later, we premiere an incredibly special posthumous album titled Cheap Thrills, one that ensures his legacy lives on while setting free the last remaining pockets of his brilliance to the greater world. Produced alongside close friend and collaborator AGNUS in the lead-up to his passing, the record explores the Neptunes-like universe the pairing built together, all while continuing his voice into the future and providing snapshots of how he planned to further his sound and make a lasting imprint on homegrown hip-hop through his genre-moving combination of sounds.

A couple of friends pop up too - Travy P and Powloh, for example - to help bring the project to fruitition, donating their verses and production skills to encapsulate Peezo's energy. The end result is 11 tracks that weave between different facets of hip-hop, switching between all the styles that Peezo made his own while doubling down on pathways he was sure to visit in the future; Cheap Thrills being a packet of songs that capture Peezo at a newfound peak, and the talent that will always stand with him even in the years since his passing.

It's an incredibly powerful, rich and beautiful listen that allows you to celebrate someone that was taken from Australian hip-hop too early, so be sure to give it a listen below, ahead of its official release tomorrow, December 18th:

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