Tyte and Wizz Havinn Release “Ask Around”

Between the smoldering verses he’s throwing down and the moderate percussion filling the air behind him, Tyte is dealing with a lot of controlled chaos in his new single “Ask Around.” In what feels like a duel that hip-hop fans just can’t afford to miss this fall, the vocal and the beat go to war for our affections in “Ask Around” as the world’s fate depends on the outcome. The grinding grooves found in this track alone make it a worthwhile listen in 2023, but if you’ve been in the mood for something that challenges mainstream parameters but doesn’t trip into existential grounds that would be too alternative for most people to relate to, it’s an especially good find this October.

The instrumental side of this mix has an awesome depth to it that I certainly wasn’t expecting to find in an underground release right now. Utilizing elements that are often ignored by his closest rivals in and out of the underground, Tyte doesn’t shy away from trying to get the most out of anything here – a melody, a beat, even the bit of static created between an oversized bassline and the vocal’s iciness.

He doesn’t want us to walk away unaffected by any specific part of the music, and although some might be quick to say that he’s operating with more grandiosity in this capacity than he needs to be, I like the results that his current formula is producing in the studio.

When you’ve got a natural flow as good as Tyte’s is, you don’t need a synthetic-heavy finish in the master mix. Hence there aren’t a lot of blushing bass tones or ugly percussive interludes that would resemble a traditional club breakdown here; this artist doesn’t require any sort of a sonic crutch to get from point A to point B in “Ask Around.” While there’s a place for the lustrousness of modern-day pop, it’s not within the hip-hop underground, and Tyte knows it. He doesn’t waste our time trying to fill this track with a lot of cosmetic nonsense – he has an actual narrative to get across in this single, and his devotion to keeping things straight and clean is rather refreshing for today’s rap beat.

Those who can appreciate hip-hop at its most multi-angled and diverse in spirit really can’t go wrong with what “Ask Around” is offering listeners this fall. Defined more by its compositional strengths than it is any of the firecracker showmanship featured in the instrumental backdrop, this new single from Tyte and Wizz Havinn is a bar-raising effort for the rapper and likely a good segue for new fans to get introduced to his sound, and what kind of an artist he’s trying to be right now. He’s raw and real yet uninterested in overexploiting his emotionality, which, as unfortunate as it is for me to admit, makes both him and the music that he’s creating a couple of treasured rarities. He might be coming from a crowded Florida scene, but he’s making his way here.

Mindy McCall