• Artist: Donnie Vash
• Track: Time Is Now
• Feat. Shabaam Sahdeeq
• Producer: Majhor Gunz
• Album: NINETEEN

Is it just me, or has North Carolina been producing more than its fair share of talented up-and-comers lately? Whatever's in the water that J. Cole, Kooley High, A. Moss, and Tom Hardy (to name a few) have been sipping on seems to have found its way into the bloodstream of a Booth newcomer by the name of Donnie Vash. One-third of the Lazaretto Crew (which also includes recent reader favorite King Mez), the Raleigh-based rapper warns the game of his impending takeover on new mixtape leak Time Is Now. Here, Majhor Gunz' gritty, old-school samples set the stage for fittingly hard-hitting bars from DV and Brooklyn underground mainstay Shabaam Sahdeeq. Though S-Dubs' witty braggadocio (“I take out whole fams like Windstars and Caravans.”) has an immediate appeal, Vash's distinctively gruff flow can't be denied – I'll leave it to Booth readers to decide who came out on top. Fans can find plenty more high-impact jams straight outta the First in Flight State on the emcee's NINETEEN mixtape, released March 12, and available now online.