Your Old Droog

Your Old Droog is rap's reigning master of slow-burner one-liners, labyrinthine internals, off-kilter references, and deeply technical braggadocio. Part Kool G Rap, part George Carlin, Droog is a wordsmith of the most absolute granular variety, his reflections, punchlines and even throwaways echoing across social media nonstop. If hip-hop quotables were a league competition, Droog's jersey is hanging in the rafters. Born in the Ukraine and emigrating to Brooklyn as a child, Droog took the angst of an outsider upbringing and turned it towards being a passionate writer, honing his skills in schoolyard battles and beyond. With a hip-hop education coming from listening to freestyles on the radio, and watching Rap City, Droog quickly turned a passion into an inescapable obsession. Dubbed 'Droog' by Ego Trip co-founder Sacha Jenkins, YOD's career began as a trial-and-error session, accepting meetings with various record labels in the early 2010s. However, success ultimately came on its own terms after the viral explosion of his self-titled 2014 SoundCloud EP. Droog promptly became a cult success, not only due to his absurdly technical bars, but due to a unique set of passions that pepper his lyrics: '80s stand-up, '90s alternative music, 20th century classical, basketball and the Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart axis of weirdo-rock. YOD has since become a beacon of underground rap, making fans out of heroes like MF Doom, Prodigy, Black Thought and Scarface. - Christopher R Weingarten