Three years. That’s how long 24-year-old Kirko Bangz has been in the rap game, and the budding spitter so far has a résumé that other artists in the game haven’t accomplished in twice as long. With eight mixtapes under his belt, Bangz has now released the fourth installment of his Progression mixtape series, an unexpected move, as fans have been waiting for him to release his debut studio album.

Having been appointed to XXL Magazine’s 2013 Freshman Class, Kirko Bangz deviates from what is known as the typical Texas style of hip-hop. The style, pioneered by DJ Screw, is filled with bass-heavy, slow beats that many artists from the area emulated in subsequent years. Even though the beats from Texas may have evolved over the years, the Texas tradition flows deep in the veins of artists such as Mike Jones, Paul Wall and Slim Thug, whose deep, rhythmic voices add a unique flavor to their songs.

Kirko Bangz could be compared with Drake due to his hybrid of singing and rap flow; but he tackles this style with far more tonal variety than Drake. Bangz varies things up on a variety of tracks on Progression IV, from outright singles such as “Show Me” to guest-featured tracks such as “Hoe” with YG and Yo Gotti to  love-song territory (albeit slightly creepy) with “Love Rhianna.”

Progression IV is a good final hoo-rah for Bangz before releasing his premiere studio album. The young spitter still has rough edges to smooth out, including his (sometimes) heavy use of Auto-Tune and his lack of a core identity.

Regardless, at such an early point in his career, Kirko Bangz still has a long road ahead of him and is surely saving his top notch tracks for his upcoming album.

Stay tuned on this artists. Explore his small library that’s already attracted him a considerable amount of fans. Kirko Bangz is hot right now; he’s sure to catch on fire in the near future.