Ty Fontaine is a 21 year old rapper from Washington, D.C. breaking out in 2018 off the debut EP Do Not Disturb. His profile continued to grow from there, especially when Taz Taylor signed him to Internet Money Records last spring. But to build off the hype as a potential nominee for the 2021 XXL Freshman Class this summer, Ty has to decided to drop his long-awaited 3rd mixtape.
“Glowin’ Up” is a touching opener as Ty hops on a cloudy, drumless instrumental to address his continuous rise to fame whereas “RIP Whitney” is a beautiful tribute to the late Whitney Houston that heavily samples “I Have Nothing”. Meanwhile on “Dummy”, we have Supah Mario help go into an electronic-tinged direction with lyrics about going hard just before Cactus Jack Records’ latest signee SoFaygo tags along for the atmospheric banger “Run It Up”.
The song “Right My Wrongs” is a psychedelic cut about forever stuntin’ while the Richie Souf-produced “Nelly Furtado” is a short, dancier joint about his girl. I thought “Inhale” was a dope single leading up to the tape with it’s stripped back-production & Ty’s melodic delivery about smoking weed as was “Pristine”, which is a pillowy ode to Goyard.
“I Can’t Feel My Face” is a drug anthem that almost has a Neptunes influence in the beat while “White Girl Benjamins” is a tropical tune about choosing money over bitches. The track “Celebration” is a cavernous yet bassy theme to his newfound fortune while the penultimate song “Addicted” assures his lover that they ain’t gon’ lose everything they started without getting too sugary with it. The tape ends with the title track, which is Ty rapping over a glistening instrumental saying it’s only up from here & rightfully so.
This kid is one of my favorite mainstream artists on the come-up & I think Ascension is really gonna increase his chances of going places because it’s his best work yet in my opinion. The production choices are much more refined in comparison to Ty’s previous efforts & his performances are infectiously catchy.
Score: 3.5/5
Legends Will Never Die 