Startup Cult Allday

With a wry, undulating smoothness, millennial rapper Allday (born Tom Gaynor) got his break with a pair of radio hits in his home country of Australia in 2014. "Right Now" and "You Always Know the DJ" were included on his debut album, Startup Cult, but by then, he had already dropped a number of mixtapes (and dropped out of art school and a punk band) and opened for Lily Allen. His lyrics -- a mix of genuine, bittersweet storytelling and youthful shenanigans -- flowed with a cadence reminiscent of '90s American East Coast rap. In 2015, he released the woozy Soft Grunge Love Rap mixtape and signed with Wind-Up Records. In 2017 Allday issued his much anticipated sophomore full-length, Speeding, which featured guest spots from fellow Aussies Japanese Wallpaper, Mallrat, and Nyne. ~ Neil Z. Yeung