Pz’ spends much of his proper debut, No Turning Back, equally baffled by his good fortune and ready to fasten it to his side with a Gucci strap before anyone else can take it. “The numbers is goin’ so muhfuckin’ crazy!” he says on opener “Never Gon Home,” getting a touch giddy before regaining his composure with some wisecracks: “They playin’ my shit at the store/They playin’ my shit at your ho house.” The fashionista-to-rapper pipeline is well-trodden territory at this point, but the drama of the imagery—wielding Bazo boots and Dior Homme aesthetics like the poles and switches shuffling in and out of his wordplay—gives No Turning Back charisma to burn. Forward motion is exciting, and Pz’ raps are effortless without curdling into indifference.
None of this happened overnight. A child of Gambian and Senegalese parents, the Atlanta multihyphenate first gained steam in 2023 as a model, tearing up runways at London and Paris Fashion Week and geeking out over SahBabii and jailbroken PSPs. Dabbling in music proved irresistible, and from 2024, he jumped around from floaty pitch-shifted ballads to the post-Playboi Carti rage and plugg-adjacent music still currently dominating Atlanta. Then came the speedrun of accolades and cosigns: Carti reposted “Hedis Bussin,” its shit talk and triumphant, chest-puffing 808s hard enough to challenge Gus Fring’s. Shortly after, Tezzus brought Pz’ into the fold of his ØWAY collective, which includes Diamond* and pretty much every other top-seeded prospect for the next generation of Georgia rap. In their debut cypher, dropped on the first day of 2026, his mid-tempo slur and curt verses immediately mark him as a descendant of Carti and SahBabii. He may not have the ludicrous punchlines of King Squid, but lines about wining and dining Celine employees delivered in Just Don basketball shorts and a matching Adidas track jacket ooze style.
So many emergent stars play off sudden celebrity by acting above it, but No Turning Back is as eager as the title makes it sound: There’s hardly a moment when Pz’ isn’t pinching himself. That’s not to say he’s immune to boasts or threats, but they’re not loud enough to drown out his gratitude. Take “No Ceilings” and “X Tape,” two standouts produced by Luc1us; both are filled with racks of Saint Laurent and the smell of Byredo, but it’s the little moments that bubble to the top: buying his mother a Patek; the double mention of winning with his chosen family; an admission of “I don’t know how to feel… they dropped a bag on a real nigga.” While it can be a bit jarring for koans like these to grind up against talk of checks being spent on hits, it’s context for just how deeply the worlds of music, fashion, and crime have congealed for a new generation of hip-hop.
Pz’ also has a sharp ear for melody and beats that can bludgeon or float without sounding derivative. “Live Strong” and “X Tape” have a glitchy strut that plays like inside-out takes on Jump Out-era Osamason or nO idOls-era Diamond*. The two of them yelp over their beats, but Pz’ is content to glide through them like a needle in fabric. His composure gives his melodies a lilting feel, as opposed to the commanding presence of his influences. On “Fête Feeling,” producers Stickle and Ambezza offer up a beat that’s equal parts footwork, amapiano, and Afrobeats fitted with Zaytoven-like keys; it shifts and expands like a cartoon dust cloud, but Pz’ stabilizes it, all while bragging about (somehow) calling lovers on Skype in 2026.
For a debut, No Turning Back is strikingly polished and assured: just the right amount of thump to rattle headphones or speakers at a live show and just enough gloss to stand out if you were to hear it while strolling the aisles of Stone Island or Balmain. Pz’ isn’t the Atlanta underground’s next big thing just because he knows his way around a streetwear and designer blend or because he knows exactly which Bassvictim song to put in his Instagram post. It’s because he’s got the talent and drive to make something of what he has, and sounds excited to do it.
