Che’s Evolution Into New-Gen Rap’s Daredevil + REST IN BASS: ENCORE Review

Che was my most listened to artist in 2025. On the Mount Rushmore of new hyper-online rappers, the shapeshifting ghoul rockstar is flourishing inside of his newly renovated punk infused throne world. 

Che’s discography is flooded with eccentric imagery wedded to a kamikaze sound. Cruger, closed captions, Sayso Says, REST IN BASS, and its recent deluxe ENCORE, stand alone on posterized pedestals in the new generation rap landscape. Each release is a portal into Che’s mind, guarded by Che’s created vessels of expression, the murderous drugged out bunny, Sayso, and the manic headless goth punk star, Bass Killer. 

Originally under the alias, cheromani+, his breakout single, “agenda”, grew Che as a large pinging dot on the up next radar. Infused with punchy ear candy internet melodics and an offbeat flow, Che’s voice was unique, innocent, and cartoonish, but not enough to sustain a career. Following it up with a handful of other singles similar in style, (“The Final Agenda”, “Feel”, the “3” EP), Che was on his way to be boxed in and thrown out. 

With many artists, the breakout single can prove damaging for career sustainability. Without a backlog of previous tracks/albums to supplement the new listeners, the road to a meaningful career will shrink before you. And a panic to replicate that sound will leave you jailed in that niche with no key out. But Che trusted his relentless artistry to map out his escape. 

“ ‘My love for music is so dire. The sound, the speakers, no matter what, you hear it,’ Che says. ‘And I’ll die for the music…’ ” (Medithi, 2025).

However, Che did not blossom into rap’s daredevil through sheer talent and vision. The predetermined culture and rules of his chosen musical playground, the underground, played its part as well. An underbelly world of sound that encourages stealing, younger artists, and experimentation, Che found his imperfect but personal sandbox and kept building in it. 

CONSTRAINT CALLS FOR EVOLUTION

Music leaks in the world of rap are an extremely backhanded reality wrapped in a mirage of support. Your creative vision, still baking in the oven, is stolen right out before you and quickly fed to the celebrating rats at the doorstep. A relentless consumption of ideas before they have been realized is rightfully discouraging to the artist.

Che’s debut tape, closed captions (2023), leaked a couple months before release, forcing him to reimagine the sound completely. But for Che’s evolution as an artist, the leaks were a blessing in disguise, strengthening his early sound and reinforcing trust in his talent. Leading to the rapper spending even more hours hunching over an FL Studio lit up laptop screen with a mic in hand, meticulously placing his sound back together. 

Che took a negative and birthed a positive. A natural disaster in his musical world brought out a pure passion to create anew and present the most untouched vision to our ears. A sign in the young rapper’s career that pivot, adaptation, and commitment to the art is built into his psyche. As a result, we got the glittery, loud, thick, relentless, sunshine infused serum, and head pounding, closed captions.

To combat the feral fans, Che knew he had to feed them crumbs baked by his own hands. These last two years saw the rapper release a non-sequitur slew of standalone singles and snippets. My personal favorites, “Pose For The Pic”, “Pizza Time”, “Love (MKB)”, or “Miley Cyrus” were all uniquely textured lily pads in Che’s pond of sound. With a rotating mix of producers, CXO, PrettiFun, Legion, and others, this official pullback of the curtain displayed diverse experimentation and true growth –leaving fans on their toes for what’s next. 

When asked about album leaks in an interview with V magazine, Che spoke about leaks for his album, REST IN BASS, with a half glass full mentality.

“ ‘…yeah it was a little bit of a setback, but I wouldn’t really say it was a loss, or anything. It really just puts me in a different mindset. It started me into the next, what you were saying earlier, like evolving the style, and even the music. It definitely was a time for me to be like, Okay, I need to figure this out, because if they are hearing what I have that wasn’t even supposed to be shown yet, then I have to give them something completely new.’ ” (Norris 2025).

However, to the chagrin of the artist, there will always exist large libraries of leaks curated by third-party accounts outside of their control. For example, a fan-run account on Spotify named “Chechive” is filled with song leaks from Che’s musical limbo between albums Sayso Says and REST IN BASS. Sitting at almost 130,000 monthly listeners, these deliberately unchosen and disregarded mutations in Che’s universe of sound are bonemeal for our rotted taste buds.

From vocal inflections, flows, melodies, and even album covers, we secretly watch as new-gen rap’s Victor Frankenstein slowly assembles his mangled sculptures of sound. The songs are sentimental, unfiltered, and introspective with a rough 360p sounding mix. Some of my favorites are “Don’t Kill Yourself”, “Karma”. “HIT OR MISS”, “VOMIT v2” or “London”.  The blend of drug covered love lullabies and cheer you up anthems backed by ginseng’s abrasive but sparkling production, is a world of sound I want to be trapped in. 

“Who got your back? Yeah Sayso, Yeah Sayso…Don’t kill yourself, that mental hell, it’s in my head, but that’s what love is.” 

More selfishly, the songs are also just less known and there’s a feeling of ownership with an official release. Due to its hard-to-find nature, the song feels like it’s your own. 

But at the end of the day, Chechive is a fan run account, and I’m sure the means of getting access to this music isn’t very ethical. But hey. Don’t shoot the messenger. Regardless, in the underground, a slice of the musical world that thrives off the now, leaks accelerate innovation and evolution. A small silver lining in an otherwise deeply harmful creative reality. 

Another aspect to Che’s rapid sonic rise and evolution is his age. At only 19 years old, Che is aware that youth is a fleeting energy; allowed only to be lived through once.

“ ‘I gotta do something with my life before it’s over,’ Che tells me a few months later. ‘I want to be heard. I need to be heard, because I have a message I’m trying to get across.’ ” (Medithi, 2025).

Che’s most recent vessel of self-expression comes through his love for the punk world. 

Punk music is rebellious in conception and its appeal. You are not supposed to like it. It takes a trained ear in the opposite way. Indigestible and rugged at its core. The bubbling angst of passion and desire for expression is carved all into the punk mentality/aesthetic. Quoted as being influenced by bands such as Korn, Rob Zombie, Paramore, and Suicidal Tendencies, Che wants the fans to hear it in his music. 

Tracks like “FREAK NEEK”, “DOE DEER”, and “BLACK SWAN” Che is yelping, squawking, going ballistic. Screaming his heart out with sincerity. 

“IM A YOUNG STAR, I CAN’T GET OLD”.

Che marries worlds of trap with specifically extracted ounces of punkrock and heavy metal. Off the track “ROLLING STONE”, Che really wants us to know that 

“IM A P-U-N-K, YEAH, I TOLD MY MOMMA IM PUNK”.

Che’s transition into this world of expression works and feels real because age gives permission to the artist. This is just a phase for Che, a phase that all went through and he’s living it out. We as fans love to see youth escape all into art; selfishly living vicariously through it. It’s contagious. 

The rapper also utilizes alt-egos/personas to piecemeal himself into the sound. Sayso and Bass Killer are the two established characters in rapper’s radiant world. Sayso, an overly swagged out gun loving bunny, is full of party hard y2k energy that is ready to throw life away at any dopamine rush. Bass Killer, birthed from his most recent album, is a self-obsessed undead brash rockstar living out his days in the underworlds of distortion. These personas organize his interests; acting as personified way finders that mark his creative journey. Along with that, they offer a free trial into their respective realm without permanent self-commitment. 

The visual imagery that is supplemented towards the big-eyed digicore bloody bunny or the brash punk rock gangster Che’s music videos are unlike any other contemporary act. Taking the art of video to its extent; doing the most he can to give new life to the raging sounds inside Che’s world. The music videos for “I Rot, I Rot”, “DIRTY SPRITE”, “Miley Cyrus”, “MAKE OUT WITH MY CHOP” or “CUT OFF YOUR HANDS” are among my favorites and are iconic. 

Che’s music videos are quite simple in direction but ornamented and edited to bits; A VHS look with an MTV feel, mirroring the chaotic resonance of the music. An embodiment of visual eye candy. digital; energetic; colorful; A constant chew of sour candy. 

The videos are also never full of too much meaning- no greater story to tell. Feel first, think later. A large studded shiny smile; making more of with simple; less is more. Creating new experiences from simplicity; the fundamentals are kept but put through a cruncher. Changing shape but not content. 

(see figure 1).

REST IN BASS ENCORE REVIEW

His most recent release, REST IN BASS: ENCORE, is an amplification of his chase towards extremity in sound. The foggy red atmosphere concocted by Che is cranked up, blood redlining past the clipping threshold. 

Arriving on Christmas Day, REST IN BASS: ENCORE, is the highly anticipated deluxe to the Che’s REST IN BASS. Arriving five months after, the fourteen new tracks laced with production from gyro, rok, natecxo, legion, azure, warren hunter, and Che himself, ENCORE doesn’t reinvent the sound, it intensifies. Continuing the legacy of its attached sonic predecessor. 

ENCORE/REST IN BASS is yelling back at you. Homing in on the original sound, the tracks are heavier, more tuned in. The deluxe keeps sinister at the forefront and continues to expand the Bass Killers grim dark world. 

ENCORE is Che installing the furniture into his hellish, grimy, rugged, spike filled, gruesomely colored hideaway. The chairs, tables, lamps, carpets, clocks, laced with obsidian rock, bite back at touch. A direct contrast to the childish sinister playground of Sayso Says, the Bass Killer basalt castle is a rich volcano of vitriol. 

FAV TRACKS: all. Except for “UAV”, “WHIPPIN”, and “DIRTY SPRITE”. It could just be my ear getting tired from the sameness, they just didn’t hit. My ears need a break sometimes too. 

Songs on R.I.B: ENCORE flow one to the next quite flawlessly. There is an emphasis on song order and transition on the deluxe that wasn’t seen before. A small but impactful step in the listening experience. 

In love with the Sayso Says nods on the album but these tracks are even better. They are combining the autotune drenched emotional hinted anthems and the lucid ear popping basses. My absolute favorite track on the deluxe is “IM SORRY”. A track pouring out the Bass Killers tears of lava all over the mix. 

“I JUST WANTED THIS SAY THIS, IF I DID YOU WRONG IM SORRY” 

“THINK IM FALLING OUT LOVE” 

Desperate heartbreak. Che’s vocals on this track rave with passion. Make me want to cry. The beat is harmoniously rampaged by sincere apologies and last-ditch hope for forgiveness. Produced by rok and gryo, frustration is vented through the instrumental. The ear throbbing bass and chippy drums are protecting the synth arps dancing in and around. A safe room for all of our pain. 

Tracks such as this or “WHATS LOVE” or “DIE HARD” that live inside the Che pocket (melodic but harsh; impactful and filled with a bright smiling dopamine feel) is what keeps me coming back.

REST IN BASS: ENCORE shows us how true to himself he really is. The Che universe is being fully realized: Is this where he rests? Who does he metamorphize into next?

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Che is one of the most exciting acts in new gen rap; boundary breaking and creating with intention.  A showcase of evolution; breaking molds. The definition of fun and fresh. Another creation from this culture rap music that is anti-tradition and sound driven.

The underground is not about perfection; about mastering; it’s about evolution; a constant cycle of trying and applying what you learned before to what you are doing now. Being from Atlanta, this is an artist who takes his inspiration seriously, choosing to bathe in the wave of sounds before him and inherit them instead of simply biting them as his own. 

“ ‘I am inspired, so it can’t hurt my feelings when I know I’m true to myself,’ he says.” (Medithi, 2025).

Calling him a Playboi Carti clone is extremely lazy. The Whole Lotta Red legacy is being realized by Che. Not that he hasn’t crafted his own legacy and worlds to reside in, but one cannot deny remnants of “Rockstar Made” and “Stop Breathing” present in the vocals, the delivery, the feel.

Understanding that to break out of the labels and jaded critics, he must master what influences him. This is his sound now; he stole it, broke it, and rebuilt it all in his own way to create his underworld. There’s merit to that. A relentless pursuit to the top of the rage mountain that few artists can say they even climbed.

Che is perfectly indigestible and at the pinnacle of possibilities in his art. With so much more room to grow, I’m excited to see what’s next.