Upcoming Artist Alert: twentythree Is Pulling Toronto Rap Back Toward the Rave

Coverage from Pitchfork and Complex describes the importance of his Greezy Gang circle and the networks surrounding Too Many Strikers. That matters because underground growth is rarely the work of one isolated upload. Friends appear in videos, producers exchange ideas across borders and local audiences test songs before a wider platform notices. Toronto is present through those relationships and locations, not simply through repeated references to the city’s established sound.

The DMV connection shows how scenes travel online

Collaboration with producers and artists connected to the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia underground demonstrates how regional styles now move before artists physically enter the same room. twentythree has developed US-facing connections despite travel restrictions discussed in his profile. The result is not a location-free internet genre. It is a network where specific Toronto, DMV, SoundCloud and rave influences remain audible while files and ideas cross borders quickly.

Visual roughness supports the music—for now

Lo-fi edits, vintage colour and jump-cut energy match songs designed to feel immediate and slightly unstable. That coherence is useful at an early stage because listeners can recognise the world before they remember every title. The risk is turning an aesthetic into a costume. As budgets and audiences grow, the visuals need to develop without losing the sense that the artist is directing the identity rather than following a preset underground filter.

What separates a prospect from a moment

Queen St and the response to 6ix Pop provide attention, not a finished career. The next test is range inside a recognisable identity: songs that work at different tempos, stronger hooks without forced pop structure, and a project sequence that reveals more than surface mood. Live performance will matter too, especially for music drawing from rave energy. If the recorded tension becomes physical in a room, the audience can deepen beyond short clips.

The final word

twentythree is compelling because the influences do not line up neatly. Toronto atmosphere, internet rap, rave culture and minimalist regional production pull in different directions, and he uses that friction rather than smoothing it away. The development to watch is not whether he becomes the city’s next version of an existing star. It is whether he can turn a specific underground language into several great projects without losing the loose, self-made energy that first made it noticeable.

Reporting notes

TheRapReporter prepared this article from the named reporting and primary material linked below. Release details, chart positions and tour dates describe the information available when the article was completed; they are not predictions. Critical observations are editorial analysis rather than statements from an artist or label.

That distinction is especially important when discussing posthumous work, emerging artists and career legacies. A streaming total cannot measure artistic value, a promotional announcement cannot answer every creative question, and a new interview represents the subject’s account rather than independent proof of every recollection. Readers can use the source list to examine the original material. If a material fact changes before publication, TheRapReporter’s correction and update process applies.