Long before he started to break out on the national scene, the consistently excellent rapper/producer Fly Anakin was known as the leader of the Richmond, Virginia rap collective Mutant Academy. Fly Anakin and his friend Henny L.O. founded Mutant Academy in 2014, and it grew into a whole collective of rappers and producers. Different configurations collaborated on tons of mixtapes and associated projects, as well as this year’s Talk Soon EP. Now, Mutant Academy are getting ready to release their first proper album as a group.

Today, Mutant Academy announce their official debut album Keep Holly Alive. It’s set to come out next month, and it’s produced entirely by the crew’s members. The duo Unlucky Bastards made the low-key, horn-heavy track for first single “Liberation,” and it’s got verses from Fly Anakin, Big Kahuna OG, Henny L.O., and one guest, the Brooklyn-via-Detroit underground great Quelle Chris. You can really hear the group’s chemistry on the track, and I love the sunny images of Richmond in the video. That’s a beautiful city. Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Peace God”
02 “Favoritism”
03 “Space Time Continuum”
04 “Straight Back Santiago”
05 “Paranoid”
06 “Check Ya Source”
07 “Rock, Paper, Scissors”
08 “Computer Blue”
09 “Too Accessible”
10 “Fate On My Side”
11 “Beam Me Up”
12 “Fatherless Flow”
13 “Start Prayin'”
14 “Scheme Sunday”
15 “Liberation” (Feat. Quelle Chris)
16 “Birthstone”
17 “Stay Forever”

Keep Holly Alive is out 9/20 on Equity Distribution.