With the way sales numbers are adding up, it seems very probable that Taylor Swift‘s latest LP, 1989, will be the first and only Platinum-selling project of 2014. It’s a brave new music game—and a cold one, as Syler well knows. Rather than capitulating to contemporary trends in hopes of seizing a piece of an ever-shrinking pie, the NYC spitter doggedly pursues his own, unique artistic vision on new single In My Shoes. Making its world premiere on our front page, the record finds Syler drawing inspiration from KRS-One‘s classic Step Into My World as he laces his own boom-bap production with raw, unfiltered commentary on the state of the industry. Lest you pigeonhole him as a hip-hop purist, though, the artist switches gears to showcase his sung vocals on the unabashedly pop-appealing chorus. This record isn’t currently attached to a larger project, but y’all, of course, will be the first to know if and when that changes.

premiered on DJBooth