ProfileEmily Orchard4 min read
Artist Spotlight: Kenny Mason is the Atlanta rapper for Carti and Tyler fans who also own a Deftones shirt
Kenny Mason rapped over distortion before it was a trend. His BULLDAWG album just got a 19-song Graveyard Shift edition, and here is where to start.
Artwork: Kenny Mason
Picture a Playboi Carti song with the bass swapped for a shoegaze guitar, then pushed through a Deftones amp. That is a decent shorthand for Kenny Mason, a rapper from Atlanta who has spent the better part of a decade making loud, strange, hook-heavy records that sit between hip-hop and the guitar bands he grew up on.
He was born Edwin Kenneth Green Jr. on 17 December 1994 and came up in Atlanta, starting out with the House 9 collective and a run of SoundCloud mixtapes. He has cited Title Fight, My Chemical Romance, the Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine and Deftones as influences, which tells you most of what you need to know before you press play.
If Tyler, the Creator's chaotic early records or Carti's mosh-pit energy are what keep your playlist moving, Mason is the artist you have probably scrolled past.
Start here
"Hit" (2019). The breakout single and the song most people mean when they say they know Kenny Mason. Start at the beginning.
"G.O.A.T" (2019). The song that was used in the first episode of Euphoria, so you may have heard it without knowing his name.
"Angelic Hoodrat". The title track of his 2020 debut album, and the name he has carried through the years since.
"Stick". Mason appears on the J. Cole and DJ Drama mixtape D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape (2022) alongside Sheck Wes. It is the quickest proof that rappers far bigger than him keep calling.
"HEAVY SPIRIT". A recent one, with an official visualizer on his YouTube channel.
Why now
On 6 November 2026 Mason released BULLDAWG: GRAVEYARD SHIFT, an expanded edition of his May 2026 album BULLDAWG. The original had 15 songs, and this version runs to 19 and just over an hour, adding "BULLKILLER", "JUNYARD FREESTYLE", "TEST ME" with JID and "MESMERIZED" with nomi. Dominic Fike also appears on the record, on a version of "FIND GOD".
You can stream the whole thing here:
It follows a run that includes the 2022 mixtape Ruffs (with Young Nudy and Jean Dawson), the EP 6 and the album 9 in 2024, plus tours supporting Denzel Curry and a stretch opening for Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA. He is headlining the American Bulldawg Tour in the US. His own site, kennymason.dog, lists the full catalogue, and you can find him on ADMC.
Where he fits
He is not a mainstream name outside the US yet, and that is exactly why he is worth finding now. Playlists in India and across South Asia lean heavily on Carti, Travis and Tyler, and Mason sits one step to the side of all three: melodic enough for the car, rowdy enough for a gig.
If you like him, try
- Denzel Curry: another rapper who treats punk and metal as part of the toolkit.
- Jean Dawson: Mason's Ruffs collaborator, with a bruised, indie-leaning take on the same mix.
- JID: the Atlanta rapper who shares a track with Mason on the new edition.
- Danny Brown: the weirdest pick on this list, and a fitting one for a fan of chaos.
Starting from the other end? Our If you like Tyler, the Creator list sits right next door.
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