Richmond, Virginia rapper McKinley Dixon broke out in 2021 with For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her, a lush collection of expansive jazz-rap tracks that made great use of his elastic flow. From bar to bar, he could shift gears from laconic and unbothered to tense and tetchy; the album’s improvisation-heavy production let Dixon stretch out and play, ducking and weaving through wandering upright bass and noodling horns.
