Shai Linne

Shai Linne came up in Brooklyn, where he started writing and freestyling as a teenager. He put out his first album, The Shai Linne LP, in 2009. The record had a track called 'In Adam All Die' that got some attention for how it handled heavy themes.

His songs like 'Faithful God' and 'Christ Crucified' show how he works with straightforward, declarative language over spare beats. He's kept to his own lane rather than chasing industry trends, which has meant his music stays pretty direct and unadorned.

You can hear that approach on something like 'Atonement Q and A', it's more like a catechism set to a beat than a conventional rap song. He doesn't really do hooks or choruses the way most hip-hop does, which gives his albums a particular, sermon-like flow.