Queens MC Despot has been a bit of a hip-hop punchline for quite some time. Dude has flow for days, but he’s never put out an album. But that’s ok, cause as the title of this post says, I’m here to tell you that “It’s Not Too Late For Despot To Take Over The World.”

If today’s cool new video for “House of Bricks” is any indication, biding his time looks like it can work in his favor. Despot works in a strange corner of art/nerd rap and there’s a massive void in the post-Das Racist era of that sphere. He’s co-signed by some well-accomplished friends (El-P, Dev Hynes, Vampire Weekend) and if he continues to actually put out music, the formula is in place for when his album finally arrives, for it to be slapped with the coveted red BNM tag from Pitchfork. 

All music media projections aside, Despot is just a flat-out good rapper (Dev Hynes has said he’s “the best in New York”), with a unique style that works. Peep the video for “House of Bricks,” a track which Des frequently dropped when on tour with Run The Jewels (on both RTJ1 and RTJ2 tours), but now comes fully formed and wrapped in a sick beat produced by Ratatat’s E*Vax (whom Despot is currently on tour with). The video sees Despot chillin’ in his family’s Queens apartment with his brother, his pot smoking Mom, a falcon and the coolest ring that he actually wears everywhere he goes (I’ve seen it).

One love.