Eddie Kaine might be the most Brooklyn MC working today. His high pitched, devious delivery and old school attitude give a gutter feel that is surprisingly singular from other boombap nostalgia bait; for example, this is the type of guy you’d expect to be working on the regular with Griselda, Trust, or any other New York collective, but Kaino has largely been doing his own thing with Trophy Boy Records.
While Eddie has been dropping multiple projects per year for awhile now, 2025 was a breakout for how carefully curated each album and collaboration was, while capitalizing on the momentum of each prior. His best work has always been when he fully leans into a concept and aesthetic – it hardly ever reinvents New York hip-hop, but frequent allusions and dope art, such as on Wonderful World of Kaino or his Big Ghost LTD collabs make for projects that feel highly intentional and elevated.
Here, we will discuss some 2025 highlights for Eddie Kaine (although I’m sure if you asked him, appearing on a Rakim album would be a career defining highlight).
Welcome to Stuyville (with RIM)
Welcome to Stuyville is the second collab album between Eddie Kaine and Brownsville MC RIM, after 2022’s META. I went in expecting pretty typical modern boombap that I’d play once and forget about, but they spend the entire runtime rapping their asses off and covering all the New York bases with such reverence. From overly dark Camoflauge Monk beat on “What’s This”, to the anthemic, upbeat Y2K feel of “Ice Cold“, Welcome to Stuyville plays the part with bars that do justice to the rappers’ Brooklyn heritage. If this was Rome Streetz and Westside Gunn or whoever else, every publication would be putting it on their album of the year list.
Listen to Welcome to Stuyville on Apple Music
Crown Me Kaine (produced by Machacha)
I’ll be honest: I started 2025 as a Machacha hater. The Copenhagen based producer has an impressive output and often collabs with some of my favorite MCs, but its rare that those albums were among the artists’ best. Thankfully, he proved me wrong this year, starting with Crown Me Kaine. While Machacha’s production is pretty simple and understated, there is a regal undertone throughout the album that gives Eddie plenty of room to work – whether that means storytelling cuts, crooned hooks, or simply ripping the mic as usual. This may be Eddie Kaine’s definitive, most fully realized project to date.
I’m glad Crown Me Kaine mostly turned my opinion on Machacha around, as I went back to play his albums with Ty Farris, Estee Nack, Mickey Diamond, Ferris Blusa, and more. His latest album with Vega7 the Ronin also made my album of the year list.
Listen to Crown Me Kaine on Apple Music
Play For Keeps
Play For Keeps is a short, sweet listen that feels more like a casual tape to put out after the acclaim of his previous two projects. There’s a decently wide variety of production across these eight tracks, often offering an extra retro feel thanks to some sound effects. The Flee Lord feature is a good fit.
But look how sick his New York Knick’s logo is, man. Bring back hip-hop logos.
Listen to Play For Keeps on Apple Music
Twelve 24: The Nightmare (produced by Wavy Da Ghawd)
The sequel to his 2020 collab with Wavy Da Ghawd, Twelve 24 was released on their birthday, Christmas Eve. Wavy has worked with similar artists like Rome, Nack, and Asun Eastwood, but the beats Eddie picked for this album were especially meditative and dreamy. You can tell he takes the opportunity on his birthday with these albums to reflect on the past year and include some personal topics, including a skit with his girl. It made for a nice seasonal listen that’s still laced with the wordplay and gutter talk you’d expect.
Listen to Twelve 24: The Nightmare on Apple Music
While Eddie Kaine seems content enough in his own pocket of New York hip-hop, 2025 proved he’s got the sauce and the ability to drop well curated projects. He’s the type of rapper that if you give him one opportunity, just one verse with a relatively high profile artist, he’ll steal the show and have listeners begging to get him signed. Maybe even change up the release model to add some demand and prestige to his albums, a la Roc Marciano or Mach-Hommy (okay maybe not like Mach, please).
Hopefully he takes the momentum he created this year to work his way up the ladder and get more eyes on these albums with great collabs, because he’s just too talented to go relatively unheard. The demand should always be there for traditional New York rap like this.