Artist of the Day: CyHi the Prynce

With the recent departure of Kid Cudi from GOOD Music, a new man has to take his place as the fourth biggest artist (behind Kanye, Big Sean and Pusha T) on the GOOD Music roster. Right now, that artist seems to be CyHi the Prynce, who made his first appearance on Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with a respectable verse on "So Appalled." He may not have showed up Yeezy or Jay-Z, but his flow was competent aside from his silly acknowledgment of a particularly fresh punchline. Bottom line, he had poise, and a whole lot of potential. However, over the past two years, few has been heard from CyHi. He threw down an underwhelming cameo on GOOD Music crew cut "The Morning" but stayed under the radar apart from this pop-up. His most notable release to date is his mixtape from earlier this year, Ivy League: Kick Back, which generated a little bit of excitement, but still showed that CyHi isn't necessarily ready to blow up yet.

So why is he the artist of the day? Honestly, because his association with Kanye is arguably more important than his talent. CyHi can certainly string a verse together, but he's not as clever as he thinks he is and too often gets shown up by his guest stars (see: Smoke DZA murdering him on "Mary Jane"). He's green, but that's ok. It took Big Sean four years of being on GOOD before he blew up, and many would argue that the still doesn't demonstrate the technical skills that Cy already has. Furthermore, his style is elastic, so he can flow over any beat. On Ivy League, he deftly spits over beats from producers as diverse as Lex Luger and The Audibles. It's also his flashes of brilliance, like the second verse of "Favorite Things," that make me think CyHi can fill Cudi's vacancy. He may not be as adept at dropping hooks as Cudi, but his rhymes can be vicious, his stories occasionally keenly interesting. The biggest problems right now with CyHi are his lack of material and inconsistency. His mixtapes are stuffed to the brim with filler and his rhymes get stale after a while. With a little refinement, don't be surprised if CyHi becomes a big name on the scene.

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Ivy League: The Kickback