Reuben Vincent

Bio

Reuben Vincent makes intellectual, socially conscious, and lyrically dexterous rap that firmly plants him next in line among the lineage of North Carolina MCS who’ve left their mark on the genre. Though the Charlotte rapper/producer is only 22 years old, he’s already hustled hard in his home state, releasing records with 9th Wonder, touring with Rapsody, and creating songs full of wisdom well beyond his years. In his growing catalog, Vincent deftly balances incisive social commentary, mature introspection, and sharp, allusion-heavy wordplay tailored for rap scholars. The Roc Nation signee knows where the form has been, and now he’s pushing it forward.

Love Is War, Vincent’s first joint release with Jamla Records and Roc Nation, is a conceptual yet subtly constructed album that will put him at the forefront of debates about new rap greats. He unpacks relationships and romantic entanglements over warm, soulful beats from 9th Wonder, Young Guru, and other producers (himself included) whose work modernizes and morphs boom-bap. With polished and varied flows, he weighs the time spent on love against the hours necessary to pursue his art (“Feb13th”), examines our fascination with money (“Mon’e”), and finds the value of self-confidence (“Butterfly Doors”), a journey that he says is key to the record as a whole. “Instead of looking for love from others, I had to find the love within,” he says. No longer in school, Vincent has traded writing essays for composing the witty, poignant, and smooth verses on Love Is War. The accolades will surely come, but for now, he’s focused on being an example to his peers and, especially, representing fellow first-generation Americans.

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