OsamaSon could probably tell you. En route to the biggest release of his young career, the 21-year-old spitfire has been riding shotgun. The amount of his music that’s leaked in the past year forced several delays for his highly anticipated third album, Jump Out. Osama’s fans spent 2024 begging for official versions of songs meant to stay private, songs that could’ve gone on the album if only leakers hadn’t already released them. Last summer, Osama pulled up on Kick streamer BruceDropEmOff for a livestream and witnessed a song leak in real time. Just three weeks earlier, he’d had 400 songs leaked in one go. And it’s not for no reason: After breaking out with two back-to-back projects, 2023’s Osama Season and Flex Musix, the South Carolina rapper has become the figurehead of post-COVID SoundCloud—a high-octane, 808-driven destructionist. Songs like “Trenches” are the reason why iPhones come with headphone warnings; the onslaught of bass paired with OsamaSon’s strained, exigent punch-ins are a match made in hell (that’s a compliment).
Since emerging two summers ago, Osama’s not-so-discreet adulation for Playboi Carti has been a subject of scrutiny. The influence manifests in his music, in old visualizers, and cover art; some have even compared their ’fit pics. But in the same way that Cash Carti once used Chief Keef’s sound as a launchpad, Osama melds his favorite rapper’s early echoic staccato into something more corrosive. There’s a thin line between mimicry and reinvention, and OsamaSon has gradually nudged past the threshold. On Jump Out, his sound is as distinct as it’s ever been, resulting in some of his most bone-shattering work to date. At 18 tracks, the album can at times feel exhausting, but its torrential downpour of synths and 808s is ultimately rewarding.
Carnage propagates in every crevice of this record. The seismic jolt of “Fool,” the demented showmanship of “Round of Applause”; it’s all brazen by design. If the drums sound like they’re suffocating the mix, it’s because they’re supposed to. When the beats crackle on “GTFO the Room” or “Mufasa,” I feel like a kid in Florida again, watching SUVs slide by with speakers so loud you could feel the music more than you could hear it. Is it jarring? Sure, maybe. But all I remember thinking back then was, “What song was that guy playing?” A major architect behind this sound and Jump Out’s overall chaos is Charlotte-born beatsmith ok, the album’s executive producer, who’s credited on 15 tracks. Practically every rapper born after 9/11 has a song with that “ok is the hardest” tag on it (Glokk40spaz, xaviersobased, fakemink, YhapoJJ); last year, he executive-produced Nettspend’s BAD ASS F*CKING KID. Inevitable is an understatement. On lead single “The Whole World Is Free,” ok presents Osama with the brightest, most forward-thinking piece in his catalog: A feverish, polychromatic Skrillex flip completely submerged by volcanic percussion.
Amid all the turmoil, what makes Jump Out so fun is how smug Osama sounds as he runs amok. Clever punchlines have never been his strong suit, but there’s a boyish self-assurance in his bionic cadence that makes his one-liners feel volatile. He raps every bar on the intro like a bully dunking your head underwater, and, on “She Need a Ride,” he babbles and points his finger at you for smoking mid. “You had that check and fucked up? Huh, oh wow,” he taunts on “Waffle House,” the (ironically) sinister centerpiece of Jump Out’s best three-track run. This stretch, from “New Tune” to “I Got the Fye,” is where OsamaSon stakes his claim as leader of the new school: infectious melodies, abundant personality, and production firing on all cylinders. “First place, yeah, bitch, where my winnings?” sounds more like a demand than a question.
There was a moment before the album’s release when I worried whether the constant leaks might derail Jump Out altogether. The situation got so bad that Osama’s own team allegedly dropped a 10-song placeholder called Leaks Tape in an apparent attempt to sate his audience. Fortunately the delays proved fruitful. Jump Out is not a perfect album; the rapping on “Frontin” and “Room 156” feels catatonic compared to the rest of the tracklist. And while “GTFO the Room” is a fresh rendition of Uzi’s “Of Course We Ghetto Flowers,” the way “Insta” turns into a pastiche of an old Carti song is too heavy-handed. But there’s something about Jump Out that rewards close attention: As new quips and quirks reveal themselves beneath the murky surface, its peculiarities eventually feel like novelties. In spite of the obstacles, OsamaSon’s third album has raised the bar for the new SoundCloud scene. Maybe it was him in the driver’s seat this whole time.
