Amidst New York’s current run of Drill stars, don’t sleep on ABG Neal or his new track ‘Cuban Link’.

‘Cuban Link’ is the latest drop from ABG Neal, a name many may not know – yet. A New York native, Neal has that expected cadence but looks wise he is not your typical rapper. Whilst Rap is not exclusively black, it is predominantly, so whenever there is somebody of another ethnicity entering that ring they stand out. But beyond that face level, Neal is not super flashy or seemingly in love with designer or anything loud. This is interesting to contrast with the other two big stars that have recently come out of New York, Fivio Foreign and Pop Smoke.

The ‘Cuban Link’ rapper is a relative newcomer to the scene. In 2019 ABG Neal began to pick up steam and put out a stream of releases including a project Cocaine Cowboy. He has worked with another relatively big name in this current wave of New York Rap in the form of Sheff G, but he also frequently collaborated with the now incarcerated Krimelife Ca$$. He is still pretty underground but that’s not to say he doesn’t do views or streams. An early collaboration with Krimelife Ca$$ ‘Forrest Gump’ and its remix which features the aforementioned Sheff G have in total over 11 million views.

Visuals to ‘Cuban Link’ are kept relatively simple. There’s some nice editing and effects added, but the visuals don’t particularly add anything major to the track. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it would be nice to see some more interesting visuals going forward.

The production on the beat is spot on, DirtySosaBeats did a great job providing an easy canvas to work with. It has Oriental elements to it but also a trap bassline that makes for a surprisingly good pairing. On ‘Cuban Link’ Neal delivers an ode to his new success and everything that came with it from jets, frivolous women, and of course Cuban link jewellery. He also has one of the most amusing but pertinent lyrics of recent memory in saying “Ain’t see a opp at the bank yet”. It seems that the money and success will be enough to steer ABG away from trivial street issues, and he needs to keep that mentality to continue thriving.

You can stream ‘Cuban Link’ here.