After years of being maligned for its lack of elite rap prospects, New York City is now populated with an array of promising talent that have spent the past few years getting the world in tune with their style and sound, and The Underachievers are no exception. The duo, comprised of rappers AKTheSavior and Issa Gold, hail from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and have built a reputation for quality releases since dropping their debut project, Indigoism, in 2013.

They further raised their profile after finding kindred spirits in fellow Brooklyn reps Pro Era and the Flatbush Zombies, whom The Underachievers joined forces with to form their Beast Coast collective. Looking to restore the feeling many rap fans lament is missing in the New York rap scene once again through their art, which is built around layered lyricism and topical substance, The Underachievers continue to do just that with their latest offering, Renaissance.

The third studio album and first release from The Underachievers since their 2016 mixtape, It Happened In Flatbush, Renaissance is another collection of songs in the vein of the True-York stylings of yesteryear, with the two MCs delivering a copious amount of couplets that pay less regard to standard 16-bar formats and more to getting their point across. Despite being vocal opponents of what has been deemed mumble rap, AK and Issa Gold are not opposed to the occasional turn-up, sprinkling in energetic selections throughout Renaissance to balance out the proceedings, giving the album a best of both worlds feel.

With The Underachievers' latest LP hot off the press, we've given the album a thorough listen and have picked out 20 of the lyrics from Renaissance that stand out the most thus far.

  • "In My Zone"

    The Underachievers

    "Solace is solid gold, bullets sonic spirals/Legend since the zygote, poetic with the haikus/The young prince, the melanin (k)night skin/The lion of Zion who light saber strike lightning/The hood's a trap and the cheese is catching the rats/I maneuver through the rodents like Garfield the fucking cat" - Issa Gold

  • "Eyes Wide Open"

    The Underachievers

    "My mental cognitive, unite hemispheres in my consciousness/These niggas chasin' musical gold, but I'm chasin' monuments/You never catch me out with these niggas, I'm on some other shit/To move the masses and keep on churnin' to make my butter flip/I'm overconfident, still from products, don't get your helmet split/I move the continents, makin' niggas switch up to common sense" - Issa Gold

  • "Eyes Wide Open"

    The Underachievers

    "New age full of peter parkers/Soul asleep we need the progress, so beneath is where I started/Where we parted, my thoughts escape to places uncharted/This ain’t a race but I’m a tourist patience still on course/These inflated pawns lukewarm I bring the torch/Coupons won’t cut the cost, like you gone, another corpse" - AKTheSavior

  • "Saint Paul"

    The Underachievers Featuring Mello

    "Plan it in my layer, this my planet I'm the heir/Any challenge I prepare, turn my talent to a spear/Mark my calendar this year, I turn to cannibal beware/Yea, I turn to cannibal beware/Lose my sanity so casually, caries be full of casualties/Can it, if you cannot speak, nothing no less than masterpiece/I do not exist/Uh, I'm just the soul beneath the skin" - AKTheSavior

  • "Saint Paul"

    The Underachievers

    "What's the discrepancy, raising up the youth on command/Like open sesame, don't discriminate/I don't split up the people separately/Different flavors working together to make the recipe/That's how you blend the cultures/Going over Hazdur, assassin fly like a vulture/See me chasing bread, but I'm keeping my heart Kosher" - Issa Gold

  • "Gotham Nights"

    The Underachievers

    "I'm focus on packin' these shows and building infinite capital/Instead of thinkin' about catchin' hoes im figurin' out ways to wrap the globe around my fingers/Keep the god away from all these sinners/I'm a little different niggas be wonderin' why I'm distant/Cause the co-defendant be the one person that gon' be snitchin'/So I keep my eyes open and guard the circle of winners" - Issa Gold

  • "Crescendo"

    The Underachievers

    "I let the bass drop/hit that nigga straight up off the glass, yeah that’s a bankshot/Aaron Gordon soarin’ over niggas, you the mascot/Nigga hit my jack up for the tricks I brought the mask out/Jim Carrey with the mack out and spazz out" - Issa Gold

  • "Crescendo"

    The Underachievers

    "Take two hits I'm off the planet, fuck her raw, I'm all organic/Play my cards just like I'm Gambit, handicap ’em they can't stand it/This that flow that sunk Atlantis, the Titanic make 'em vanish/Like Saitama, I got no challenge, break your armor with an ad-lib" - AKTheSavior

  • "Super Potent"

    The Underachievers

    "High as fuck, I light it up, got pre-rolls for the whole month/She don't smoke but when I roll one, we shotgun the whole blunt/Hate when strangers ask to hit my shit, the answer's no son/Go and get yo' own bud, didn't spend my check for yo' lungs" - AKTheSavior

  • "How We Roll"

    The Underachievers

    "I don't need no fixin' man, my spliff already blown/What's ya fetish, so much lettuce your miss is a monsoon/Think I lost my mind I no longer think time's true/Fire burnin' higher learnin', don't let them define you/OG all I smoke that's facts/One inhale you're so relaxed/So her head might overlap/Titan to a mortal man" - AKTheSavior

  • "Kiss the Sky"

    The Underachievers

    "Livin' in the Matrix hard to feel awakened/Feelin' liberation travel through the wave lengths/Had to find a way my route was pen and paper/My hand full of aces not the one to play with/And Super Saiyan on some every day shit/With the Trump at the head I'm fearful for the nation/Pumped by a better case of infiltration/Eyes blood red but still I can't escape it" - AKTheSavior

  • "Phoenix Feathers"

    The Underachievers

    "My back was built up like gorilla fingers/I send it left, like a chick to end a night on Tinder/No contenders can step to me, I'm brutal like I'm Joe Frazier/Want no favors, niggas be handin' out poison I ain't gon' take it/We ain't no family nigga that means we not relatin'/Two displays from the society, limitation" - Issa Gold

  • "Any Day"

    The Underachievers"

    "My nigga I'm livin' dreams I'm feelin' lose/And my spirit is livin' freely like a Buddhist/My haters still got the tooly, Home Improvement/Bitch nigga we stuff the Gucci with the uzi/It's written you can't outdo me I'm the truest/Give me brain like Newton maybe I'll recruit you/But baby no I ain't tryna bride and groom you/When I say recruit you, I'm just tryna screw you" - AKTheSavior

  • "Any Day"

    The Underachievers

    "Crippin' I bet, see me, my flag on the left/Cruisin' I ride with the Tec/Wet up his set, hollow the tip with the lead/Burn up a sip of the meds/Duckin' the feds, vision on point like a lens/Aim out the coupe or the Benz/Get him, he dead, split up the ends with the set/All of my niggas get bread" - Issa Gold

  • "Different Worlds"

    The Underachievers

    "Movin' pieces on the board, My chess game killer, Bobby Fischer/Used to serve right out the building, smilin' while the feds take pictures/Birdman, rub my hands together
    Laughing 'cause they never get us/And they never did, like skimmin' through a book, I'm dodging sentences/They search us but the gunman had connects to get the weapon in/Now where the CIA? They need to kill another president/’Cause watchin' Donald Trump feel like a episode of wrestlin'" - Issa Gold

  • "Different Worlds"

    The Underachievers

    "Them new Ameri's on the way/My leather soft I feel like Wayne/Like Lara Croft no empty tank/I set it off like I'm the queen/Bring your boss, I'll strip his rank/Took some losses, but we blossomed from the bottom where we came/Different worlds we ain't the same" - AKTheSavior

  • "Break the System"

    The Underachievers Featuring Mello

    "'Till I have a billi', y'all will never see me yawn/You can clearly see the snakes when you organize your lawn/So I'ma scrape the rake and grind out ’til the break of dawn/They love to hate the greats until you won just like LeBron/I'm on one like McGrady, 30 seconds I go crazy/System got so many cracks, I should'a been born in the '80s" - AKTheSavior

  • "Cobra Clutch"

    The Underachievers

    "Niggas sleep, move quietly/Soon enough they admire me/Soon enough, get the Cobra Clutch/My career erupt, leads to higher me/Niggas at this, they should quit the rappin'/Yeah I really like to blame society/Kobe at this, niggas in the attic/We could get it crackin' if you trying me" - AKTheSavior

  • "Cobra Clutch"

    The Underachievers

    "I be on my high horse, I be on my God course/Separate the Don Darks from the living live courts/Laser eye like cyborg, Wizard like I'm John Wall/See the future, groundhog/Smoking dope, reclined up" - Issa Gold

  • "Head Right"

    The Underachievers

    "If your life's a rollercoaster ride that shit out never sober/Got the weight up on my shoulders/Play no games like no controllers/Got your bitch inside the Rover/Blowing dope she like mimosas/Say your prayers to my poster, on her knees and fat/We call that the Colin Kaep" - Issa Gold

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