5.3.2024

Mixtape: Chicken P – *Hardest N**** Livin*

The Respected Milwaukee Street Rapper Shares His Latest Pack of Hustle-Hard Street Anthems, Including Recent Singles “Ain’t Runnin Out” and “Shark”

Watch “Da Money” ft. Baby Money on Chicken P’s YouTube

Critical Praise:

“One of the best rappers in the Midwest” – Pitchfork

There’s an argument that the artist of this current wave of Milwaukee street rap is Chicken P.” – Pitchfork

“A peer through his YouTube page reveals his versatility: He delivers remnants of Thug or Rich Homie Quan on the melodic ‘Money Counter,’ then excels at more straightforward rhyming on ‘Dawg Ass Chicken.'” – Rolling Stone

“Chicken P’s recording with blinders on—barreling forward at full speed without braking. His dope game raps come with the type of gritty and blunt detail that you can hear in songs from Milwaukee and all over Michigan. ‘Turn the music up, I’m tired of hearing the ringtone,’ he raps. It’s like a scene straight out of Snowfall.” – The FADER

“Arguably the most popular rapper living in Milwaukee for the past few years, Chicken P finally got the record deal he’s long deserved by partnering up with 10K Projects, the indie label behind Ice Spice and Trippie Redd. The latest mixtape in the “BussaBrick” series doesn’t mess with the raw beats and blunt punchlines formula, but “Rollin,” with its sticky chorus and survived-the-streets bravado, is definitely in the running for one of Chicken’s all-time best bangers.” – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

The Mixtape:

A no-nonsense spitter who helped put his city on the rap map, Milwaukee’s Chicken P makes hard-nosed money-making music. Feeling himself as he releases his second project of 2024, the 414 godfather shares Hardest N**** Livin, his new mixtape. Spanning 10 motivational tracks, the new mixtape is a testament to Chicken’s unbeatable work ethic, as he alternates between conversational rhymes and lilting auto-tuned melody to chronicle his hustle and flex the rewards of his hard work. The album comes alongside a brand new music video for “Da Money,” a collaboration with a fellow midwest hustler, Detroit’s Baby Money.

Chicken P spends Hardest N**** Livin ruthlessly attacking instrumentals that split the difference between the characteristic “lowend” of Milwaukee (defined by insistent handclaps and infectious keyboard melodies) with the percussive, blown-out 808s common in Detroit. Lyrically, the Milwaukee rap pioneer contemplates his life-changing success and how it might affect his community. On the new single, “Ain’t Runnin’ Out,” the rhymer stacks flex after flex, expressing gratitude that he’ll never return to the trenches he emerged from: “I’m really havin’, I don’t keep track of where I’m spendin’/Tell the ref, throw the towel, these n****s finished/I done run this pape up, ain’t runnin’ out,” he lilts. New highlight “Bandit” finds the rapper reconciling his former life with his current legitimacy, providing for a family and community who might once have counted him out: “I cook better than my Granny, richest n**** in my family/My momma ask how I got all these bands up, cause I’m a bandit.” Also home to recently-released highlight “Shark” (“Back to back, back to back, they know me in the bank/Great white, b*tch, I’m a shark, can’t put me in no tank”), Hardest N**** Livin is available everywhere via Really Rich Empire/10K Projects.

Over the past several years, Chicken P has established himself as one of the most respected rappers in the Midwest. Hardest N**** Livin is the proper follow-up to BussaBrick Vol. 3: ReallyRich4Eva and its accompanying deluxe, both of which placed in the Top 30 of Apple Music’s Hip-Hop Albums Chart (and in the Top 100 All-Genres Album Chart). Released in January, the Deluxe edition is home to “Venting,” which is gaining traction on short-form video platforms like TikTok and IG Reels (6.5k creations to date), and has racked up over 2.2 million views on its official music video in just two months.

First emerging in the late 2010s, the rapper then known as Lil Chicken made waves in Milwaukee with his raw, bass-boosted sound. Aided by video director TeeGlazedIt, one of the Milwaukee scene’s most respected tastemakers, Chicken P helped solidify the city’s reputation as a hip-hop hotbed, and established himself as its leading voice, with songs like 2021’s “Money Counter” (3.8 million views). The rapper found his stride with his three-volume BussaBrick series of mixtapes, home to fan-favorite singles like “Dawg Ass Chicken” (2.3 million views), “Rollin” (2.5 million views), and “Peoples’ Favorite” (1.8 million views on the visualizer).

Six months after emerging from a short stint in prison, Chicken P is drawing eyes from across the spectrum, racking up over 3 million streams on his catalog per week and earning co-signs from fellow rappers like Sexyy Red, Babyface Ray, Skilla Baby, Rylo Rodriguez, and Veeze, plus basketball players including Jalen Green and Rob Dillingham. With Hardest N**** Livin out now, Chicken P continues his run as Milwaukee rap’s most trusted ambassador.

Stream Hardest N**** Livin: https://chickenp.lnk.to/HNL

Watch “Da Money” ft. Baby Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLojhztSDGI

Watch “Ain’t Runnin’ Out”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSq4QougSeo

Watch “Shark”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCW2S6thths

Hardest N**** Livin tracklist: