Understatement alert: Queer spitter Mykki Blanco had a crazy 2015. He announced he wasn’t going to make music anymore, revealed that he was HIV positive, and dropped his Dogfood label’s C-ORE compilation. Blanco isn’t really retired, though, and he’s setting his sights on 2016 in a major way with the fiery, attitudinal one-off “Scales.”

From the outset it’s clear he’s not interested in sparing any feelings. After a menacing intro comes the opening bar: “I’m Solange in the elevator, better watch ya ass.” From there Blanco proceeds to spin inventive similes and metaphors, a myriad of pop-culture references, and raw confessions into a dizzying whirlwind of bravado. Jeremiah Meece’s beat is so grim and skulking, heavy on the low-end sounds. Blanco has a lot going on outside of the booth, but the bottom line is he can rap when he steps inside of it. It’s time people stop sleeping on him. Check it out below.

C-ORE is out now on Dogfood Music Group.