If you’ve been following the Austin hip hop scene, you know how things have grown exponentially over the last ten years, and now there’s a diverse talent pool that can collaborate with each other. In the latest example, three artists, Rav, Kill Bill, and Scuare have joined forces to drop an EP called Skin.

While you might expect these three Austin-based artists to have met at a show or through mutual friends or something like that, it turns out the three actually met online about a decade ago on a website called Newgrounds. This in turn led to the formation of a collective called Exociety, which also includes Rekcahdam, Ashido Brown, datacat, and Airospace. Over the years, the artists have worked on all sorts of different projects, both within and outside of the collective. In fact, just last fall, Kill Bill and Rav released an EP together, Solar Flare. Now that Scaure is also in the mix, we really get a great cross section of all the different things that make this collective so interesting. Over the course of the EP, we get production from all three artists, along with additional production from driver and Gold Midas. The overall sound is a very modern mix of soul-sampling techniques and trap-inspired drums, which ends up sounding like driving through Texas on a beautiful sunny day. This provides an interesting contrast with the lyrical content of the EP, as all three artists open up about their fears and anxieties on tracks like “Worth,” “Breathing Underwater for Dummies,” and “Belong.” While they are incredibly honest about their emotions and their mental health, this isn’t just some gloomy record. There is definitely a sense of humor to the album as well, and with that balance, you also get a great sense of the chemistry between the artists. It also doesn’t hurt that they are really technically proficient on the mic, but also know how to balance that with a pop sensibility so that their message doesn’t get lost in the mix.

There is a whole lot going on in the seven tracks on Skin, and Rav, Kill Bill, and Scuare do a great job in working together and having fun while also giving us some hip hop with real depth to it. It’s an EP that you can listen to over and over and unpack something new each time.