Rich Kidd

Born to Win (the latest in Mississauga, ON-based producer-and-sometimes-MC Rich Kidd's We On Some Rich Kidd Shit mixtape series) is nothing short of stellar. Every one of Kidd's beats, from the funky "Good Girl Bad Girl" to the horns and boom-bap of "It's About Time" and the spacey, string-heavy "G's Up," is a rock-solid chunk of head-nodding gold. Every MC, whether domestic (Smash Brovaz, Maestro, Blake Carrington, Kidd himself) or imported (Redman, Rah Digga, Fashawn), goes in hard. What's more impressive is Kidd's growth as an MC. At this point, he's an established beat maker, but on tracks like "15 Bottles" and "Ain't That," he shows that he's also a legit rapper. This isn't a producer being self-indulgent by forcing his way onto his beats; Kidd has bars. If his next project isn't an all-Kidd album, with him both producing and rapping, then it should be.