“To Pimp A Butterfly-era Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus en Slauson Malone”

Pretty much every phase in the musical career of Antwerp-based multidisciplinary artist Youniss Ahamad (BE) has brought with it a shift in sound. From his self-titled debut in 2020, full of cerebral dance, Youniss pivoted toward post-punk, hip-hop and noise on White Space (2023). 
White Space became an album that not only resonates with the spirit of his forebears, but also his roots, which extend from the Ivory Coast to Iraq, as well as his experience as a black man with an Arabic name in the West, still confronted with colonial patterns of thought. 
Enter: his album Good Effort!, due for release in the spring of 2026, with yet another shift in sound. This time toward jazz, or as he himself situates it: somewhere between To Pimp A Butterfly-era Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus and Slauson Malone. 
The advance single Gits Worse – featuring Petite Noir – was described by Clash as “avant-pop that refuses to obey genre lines”. Good Effort! features even more good folk, such as Dienne and an international top delegation that includes rappers Pink Siifu and Quelle Chris. BRDCST is a fan.