How Hip-Hop Up-And-Comer AZ Chike’s Debut LP ‘No Rest for the Wicked’ Survived a Leak and Scored Co-Signs From Kendrick Lamar & Tyler, the Creator

AZ Chike is done playing “Peekaboo.” The MC born Damaria Kayshawn Walker, 31, may have just wrapped an episode of LeBron James’ The Shop when we begin our conversation, but his mind is squarely on his major-label debut studio album No Rest for The Wicked , which arrived Sept.

18 via Warner Records.

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13 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and after a devastating leak and co-signs from some of hip-hop’s most acclaimed names, AZ Chike is finally ready to offer the world a formal introduction.

Featuring production contributions from the likes of Pharrell Williams, Sounwave, Terrace Martin, Hit-Boy and Tyler, the Creator , No Rest for The Wicked lands as a formidable entry into the storied lexicon of West Coast rap albums.

Across the 14-track set, Chike packs in the magnetic braggadocio of his independent work with a new level of introspection and vulnerability as he explores fractured familial relationships and the sinister underbelly of his relentless grind to the top.

“This is me carving my way into hip-hop history,” he says.

“West Coast and party music got me money, got me signed and showed me the ropes, so I’ll never discredit that s—t.

But I’m on some whole other s—t.

I’m in the f—king room with Kendrick [Lamar]; I cannot not be great! I’m in the f—king room with Tyler, [the Creator] and [ScHoolboy] Q.

I have to be phenomenal.

I have to get vulnerable and [use melody].

I have to give a piece of me.” Chike didn’t rush out an album to meet the immediate hype of “Peekaboo,” but every song he’s dropped since has always arrived alongside a music video.

“Look Like My Mama,” one of two Tyler, the Creator collaborations on the album, dropped with a music video spoofing classic movies like Napoleon Dynamite , Sinners , and Men in Black.