The 2nd surprise EP of 2026 & the 6th overall from Atlanta, Georgia recording artist che. Starting as a member of the 4ersona collective under the original moniker murkio before settling on cheRomani+ & later abbreviating it, it wasn’t until more recently where he decided to build a solo catalog for himself by putting out the debut EP 3 & followed it up in the form of X or the original version of his 3rd EP Closed Captions a few summers ago. Crueger that same Halloween showed more of a Chief Keef influence & sayso says was an acclaimed rage debut of it’s own, coming off the beloved Rest in Bass & Fully Loaded to unload an Empty Clip.

The self-produced “Like Lil Mexico” starts us off with a bassy instrumental talking about being tatted whereas “Tuesday” produced by CXO samples “I Don’t Sell Molly No More” by iLoveMakonnen to discuss women & drugs. “DMX” turns up the bass so he can pull out his Mr. Krabs voice & after “O.G. Ginobili” talks about knowing he’d play with guns since he was a kid, “Los Santos” runs it back with CXO for a rage-inducing outro.

Continuing to tease his upcoming 3rd studio LP set to drop sometime before the end of the year, this most recent extended play of che’s could likely be my favorite of the 2 that we’ve gotten from him within these last few months. Empty Clip’s production is predominantly hypertrap-oriented although there are some secondary influences of trap metal & experimental hip hop, basically refining what he was trying to do at the beginning of the spring in time for summer.

Score: 4/5

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