Hey, Valee’s back! In the middle of the last decade, the Chicago rapper emerged out of the Chicago underground with an idiosyncratic and almost fussy style. Valee came out of the drill era, but he sounded nothing like his peers. Instead, he rapped in a soft, quizzical mutter, finding sideways hooks and coming up with the kind of dizzy verbiage that only makes sense when you sit and think about it for a minute. He briefly looked like he would blow up, and then he disappeared. Now, he has returned.

Valee’s mixtapes and YouTube videos led to a deal with Kanye West’s GOOD Music, and he released the GOOD Job, You Found Me EP on that label in 2018. Valee also teamed up with Jeremih to released “Womp Womp,” one of the best singles of 2018. Before today, though, Valee hadn’t released anything since his 2019 EP Runnin Rich. Today, Valee has released a new album with the ridiculous title Vacabularee. Unless I’m forgetting something, it’s Valee’s first official full-length album. I was not expecting to finally get Valee’s debut album today, but that’s what’s happening.

Vacabularee is a short album just 35 minutes. It still crams in 15 tracks, since Valee songs tend to be crazy short. On first listen, Vacabularee is Valee working in his comfort zone, rapping weirdly over spacey beats. There are only a few guests on the album: Na-Kel Smith, Zeelooperz, producer Kilt Karter. I don’t know if there’s a “Womp Womp” on this album, but it’s sounding pretty great. Listen below.

Vacabularee is out now on Shell Company Records.