Hip hop’s center of gravity tends to bounce across the States, usually between LA and NYC - but Atlanta’s been holding that position for a while now, and they may never give it up. For most of the last decade, Atlanta producers have set the sonic prototype for the rest of rap; icy in every sense of the word, deadened crawls that can be glassy and clear in Metro Boomin’s hands, or loopy and woozy in Pi’erre Bourne’s. As recently as 2019, the city has given us precocious pranksters like Lil Nas X who upend our perception of rap superstardom.