The DMV’s street rap sound becomes more apocalyptic by the week. Possessed rappers like Skino, Slimegetem, and AC640 have turned the rapid, drill-inspired DMV flow into a seance; mad scientist producers—Trapmoneybiggie, ehuncho6, and Dolan Beatz, to name a few—wield avalanche drums that hit like they were made with Cam’ron’s Confessions of Fire sledgehammer. Well, scratch that. While damn near everyone else is soundtracking the end of days, KP Skywalka, one of the scene’s new-generation stars, is busy updating his sex diary. His Skinemax-worthy new tape, 4 Tha Freakas, is a hilariously vivid, nasty-as-hell collection of steamy boner raps.
Since breaking out less than two years ago, KP Skywalka, who is in his early twenties, has been a rapper of many modes. He can lay down wistful corner boy memories (2022’s Grandma House), act the loverboy (2023’s Southeast Love Story), or join in on the doomsday vibe so popular in his city (last year’s Free Car Pistol). But he’s a storyteller at heart, drawing easy-to-visualize scenes full of realistic characters without losing the loose, punched-in style of the shot-out-of-a-cannon DMV flow. It just so happens that on 4 Tha Freakas that meticulousness applies to tales of spit-swapping and wig-pulling. KP is so deep into his dirty flings that it’s basically novelistic. He notes what music is playing in the background (Drake, Ginuwine, Tink), where they get busy (on “On Her Face,” they go from the shower to the bed and end up knocking out on the couch), and how the post-coital argument started: “She tell me ‘It’s good and it’s sweet’/How we get on this?/She was goin’ through my phone in my sleep,” he raps on the conversational “Say My Grace.” There’s not a detail left to the imagination, though I could do with less cum splattering.
Despite KP’s X-rated player’s ball, 4 Tha Freakas gets an air of romance from the jiggy beats, almost all done by local producer Travagant (with help from Efosa Beloved and Profound Beats). They’re all groovy flips of tender ’90s R&B ballads, punched up by the stuttering, go-go-infused bounce. Standouts, like the synthy “Cracking Her Back” and dreamy “Feel Right,” turn KP’s horndogging into sensual lovemaking, like one of those softly erotic ’80s music videos with gentle touches and sweaty close-ups. It helps that the women he’s with feel like more than faceless conquests—they’re relationships with their own dynamics. There’s the one on “Morgan State,” who goes to the titular college and seems to be attracted to a guy with a past. There’s the 30-year-old ex-stripper on “Poppin the Pole” who’s just passing the time with him. On a short but funny interlude, he picks up a call from a girlfriend named Tay. She labels him a “weird ass” after hearing that his next mixtape is called 4 Tha Freakas. The moment ends with them exchanging “I love yous.”
But KP Skywalka is such a direct narrator that 12 tracks of “fucking” and “swallowing” and “eating” can get pretty repetitive. A few sex metaphors would go a long way! That doesn’t kill the fun of 4 Tha Freakas, though, which makes up for monotony with vignettes that feel alive: the woman sexting him while she’s at work, the woman that locks her legs around him because she wants a baby. When it’s done with this much attention to detail, there’s always room for a rapper on a Nice & Smooth-style filthy romp—even in the hell-raising DMV rap scene of 2025.