Cold Comfort LP

Cold Comfort pairs Topeka, Kansas rapper Stik Figa with producer Heather Grey, who built the entire sound here, soulful and grounded in Central Plains grit instead of any big-city scene. Asher Roth guests on "No Secrets," Blu on "Recollection," and the closer "Western Conference Finals" stacks Sleep Sinatra, Defcee, and Grvnola. It’s on Mello Music Group, the Tucson label built on exactly this kind of unglamorous, lyric-forward hip-hop.