Andrew Veeder on December 18th, 2014

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Florida native Chester Watson released his first mixtape on his 15th birthday, and has been busy in the two years since. This year alone, the ballet dancer-turned-producer and rapper released a pair of EPs, “Guru Vol. 3” and “My Girlfriend Made Me Drop This,” and the five-act, 28-track album “Tin Wooki,” an impressive and sprawling collection of grimy, hazy and jazzy kick-snare beats and heady hip-hop that is lined with gold. Watson’s voice brings to mind Earl Sweatshirt or Guru in his even-keeled monotone flow and his raps bring to mind Joey Bada$$ or MF Doom in how cleverly they jump around the beat at different speeds, as on “Tin Wooki” tracks “Camels and Cranes” and “Film Noir.” New track “Fantastic” is another quick and dusty ditty with a flute harmony floating above a minimal boom-bap beat and the rap, “I’m from the future so I know you ain’t ahead of me / Strategically defeat as I triangulate trajectory / So you see why still no one is next to me, right? / Prolly in a league from beyond.”

||| Stream: “Camels and Cranes,” “Film Noir,” and “Fantastic”

||| Live: Chester Watson plays the Echo tonight with Jonwayne.