Vancouver-born rapper, singer, and producer Prado continues to be unapologetically brash and confident over a jam-packed six tracks on her long-awaited debut, PRADO MONROE EP. It’s easy to tell why her original moniker was AlienKanye; Prado often equals the famously boastful beatmaker in both hilariously outlandish flexes and experimental, mind-boggling production quirks. 

Prado compares herself to Mean Girls’ cinematic ice queen Regina George on standout track “GUCCI STORE,” and when she delivers a verse it feels like she shares the character’s belief that she draws all the attention in any room she steps into. With a melodic yet conversational flow, she over-enunciates her words like a monarch outlining her own law of the land to anyone who dares to question her greatness.

While it’s hard to top Prado’s emphatic raps in the excitement department, the consistently spellbinding production work comes close. It does a lot to keep listeners on their toes, often altering song structure at a moment’s notice and catering to the whims of every mood Prado catapults through. It’s often as if Prado builds layers of Inception­­­-style songs on top of songs from a wide array of genres, adding and removing them depending on whether she’s in a more emotional or egotistical mood. Bordering on hyperpop with whiplash tempos, she blazes through cheerleader-style gang vocals, tropical guitar loops, psychedelic soundscapes, and NY drill-influenced wobbly bass without warning. Smashing expectations with a megastar’s presence, Prado already knows that you love this project. 

Best Track: “GUCCI STORE”