hailed by many as one of the most skilled and innovative lyricist since hip hop’s conception, qwel is not your average ambiguous applause monger. Seasoned within chicago’s unrelenting battle circuit, qwel found his niche among his soon to be crew at University of chicago’s wHPK Wednesday night rap show. The show, a staple in chicago underground history, was then hosted by dj Natural and kid knish. There he would meet both denizen Kane and qwazaar and soon after they would form typical cats. The project that they shortly after released, would instantly gain both national and international acclaim. With production from natural and lyrics from, arguably, the three rawest lyricists to date, typical cats would set the pace and tone as just the beginning of qwel’s notoriety. After the release of typical cats’ debut album and qwel’s vicious appearance and performance in the chicago blaze battle, what could fans expect? From his prolific debut to his most recent works, he has proved to be groundbreaking and exceptional in all his endeavors. he continues, time after time, to shatter the molds and preconceived notions set for hip hop. With his clever lyricism and cutting edge versatility and topics, qwel continues to fight to gain legitimacy for hip hop.