Andrew is an artist from Philadelphia who is relatively new to the scene, only starting to release music in 2019. Since that time, though, he’s caught a lot of different peoples’ ears, working with labels like Cold Rhymes, Three Dollar Pistol, and UDDTBA, and making full-length albums with the likes of Zilla Rocca and Jesse the Tree. Showing absolutely no signs of slowing down, he now hops over to Fused Arrow Records to make an album with steel tipped dove, the trumpet’s obviously been drinking.

steel tipped dove is a producer from New York who has been at this for a minute, but in recent years has dropped a great solo album, Call Me When You’re Outside, and collaborated on full-length albums with cunabear, Chaz Canairy, and Aloe Vera. Just last month, he teamed up with Alaska to drop The Structural Dynamics of Flow. The key to steel tipped dove is not necessarily a signature sound, although he is rooted in the underground hip hop of the East Coast, but it’s the way in which he both bends his production to an emcee but also pushes them in challenging directions. This in turn can really bring out the best in them. While andrew is clearly talented and has been recognized by more established artists already, steel tipped dove pushes him in this moody gray soundscape that encourages andrew to really look within and put the pen to pad and write it all out. Don’t get it twisted, though, andrew still has a sarcastic sense of humor and he can drop some pop culture references and talk some shit, but that side of him is dialed down just a little while andrew looks in the mirror, but also at society’s ills. Nowhere does this come together better than on “bad teeth,” featuring Rich Jones and Darko the Super, which features a chorus in which andrew laments about how his teeth are messed up, and that he needs to come into some money so that he can fix them. It finds the perfect balance between dealing with his own self-esteem issues and critiquing the fucked up health care system in this country. It’s this type of balance that really defines the album.

the trumpet has obviously been drinking is a great step in both artists’ careers. Right after working with a long-established artist in Alaska to deliver his best album in years, steel tipped dove turns right around and helps a fast-rising newer artist to make an album that sounds unlike anything else he’s done to this point.