East Atlanta, 18-year-old Destin Laurel saw the light early on—growing up a bit of a church baby not only kept him off the streets but instilled in him an avid love for music early on. Having played the drums for choir and later on, joining the school band, rhythm was never a stranger for the young savant.
I enjoy the varying elements he’s so inclusive of like utilizing his voice as an instrument, enchanting beats (to which he actually produces himself), and his intention with each song—they’re all well put together collectively. “Crazy” is a great example of all of this, in collaboration with kashglock & datboydionis. Laurel brings some of that ATL flare with his own signature towards hip-hop and other synonymous, emphatic sounds.
As always not to say he is emulating any of these artists, though I sense pieces of BabyKeem, Brent Faiyaz whom Destin actually annotated, as well as some SoFaygo. It’s all the more impressive he's only just turned 18 and has transcended into this star in the making, utilizing tales from his hood and upbringing to showcase his seamless skill.
“i suppose” is a dope, trap/house-enthused bop where I think Destin really flexes his talent. In this most recent track, he does a bit of trilling while rapping and toys with the beat; it’s a joyous interchanging of wavelengths. This title succeeds the crazy joint tape, AloneAtProm, with Dj JayDub from the beginning of summer. He saw a lot of gravitation derive from a TikTok he strategically dropped in accordance:
“This track started at school I was playing some chords on the piano in the band room around April…It sat on my hard drive for a couple weeks until I showed my lil bro khi/k4ci & he was like put this shii on TikTok now. We literally recorded the video that went viral that same night.“
As a result came the simple, yet impactful video shot out in beautiful Atlanta, directed by Eli Chandler. The video has surmounted 10k views in just the span of this month, while the song has become his most notable, compiling nearly 30,000 plays on Spotify.
With much of the road ahead for Destin Laurel, expect loads of music and experimentations to come the rest of this year. He hinted at the possibility of his first project, hopeful collaborations, and then some:
“So much music on the way but I’m gearing up to drop my first project before the end of the summer. I have a whole different world & stories to tell through the music. Very excited to share it. Some artists I would want to work with at the moment are Riovaz & Che, xlovclo was part of that list, but we’re already working! [“respect” out now!].”
Check out his latest single, “i suppose" down below!
Follow Destin:
IG: @destinlaurel
Twitter: @destinlaurel
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