The Philadelphia rapper and producer Lushlife has that classic sort of East Coast neck-snap rap delivery, but he also has fascinating ideas about how to put a track together. His album Ritualize is coming out early next year, and we’ve already heard the first single “Body Double,” as well as his non-album cover of Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without A Face.” But for a great example of Lushlife’s adventurousness, allow me to suggest the track below. “The Waking World” has dazed, crunched-out production from Lushlife and CSLSX, and it also has a soaring hook from the Swedish shoegaze group I Break Horses, not exactly the first people you expect to see in the guestlist of an indie-rap album. Lushlife raps the song from the perspective of Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon. It’s a weird and great song, and you can hear it and read some words about it from Lushlife below.

Lushlife says:

‘The Waking World’ is a surreal look at the mindset of Mark David Chapman on the morning he assassinates John Lennon. The frenetic quiet-then-loud production from CSLSX, and I Break Horses’ anthemic but melancholy chorus offered the perfect backdrop to zoom in and spit rhymes that explore my own relationship to depression, adolescent sensitivity, and obsession in the context of a single culture-altering moment.

Ritualize is out 2/19/16 on Western Vinyl. Pre-order it here.