Rapper Lil Tony, once a key figure in the hot-blooded Atlanta drill wave that included 2sdxrt3all and L5, has undergone an unexpected artistic evolution over the past year. Furnished with track titles like “Can’t Leave My Bible” and cover art reminiscent of a medieval altarpiece, Tony’s latest work is centered on his renewed Christian faith. Projects like Tkey vs. Tony are outright inspirational, quoting scripture and weaving cautionary tales over the pluggy, sample-heavy sound that helped him blow up in the first place. Thanks to his candid, diaristic writing style, it’s felt less like an overt pivot toward self-help rap and more like Tony’s way of grappling with the gulf between his past self and his ideal future.
His latest drop, Mrs.Key, rang in the new year with a resolution to embrace love: It’s Tony’s first full-length project that could be described as romantic, and there’s a surprising undercurrent of optimism throughout. The album opens with a pair of love songs that practically shimmer with jazzy keyboard glissandos and dainty folk-pop fingerpicking. Neither is as stuffed with wisdom or photo-dump caption fodder as his best singles of 2025, but there’s a pleasant sweetness to punchlines like, “I’ve got so much on my plate, when I get done I’ma need a napkin.”
The new sense of optimism finds its way into Tony’s spiritual endeavors, too. “Talkin2Jesus,” with its backdrop of slowcore guitar riffs, portrays faith as a “warm and vibrant” salve for his young adult aimlessness. Even when he dabbles in other themes, there’s a sense of placidity that glues the tape together. From the pastoral plugg of “Reflection of Key” to the epic Kingdom Hearts-esque orchestration on “Take Her to Mars,” his primary concern is generating atmosphere, and he’s quite good at it. These songs are cozy spaces you’d want to loaf around inside for an evening.
While Tony adopts the beat selection and expressionist vocal processing of Southern “pain music,” his aims are a bit more nuanced than pure catharsis: As with his Christian drill fusion, he’s searching for a constructive outlet through which to process that trauma once it’s dredged up. The feeling behind this music is raw, though I wish there were more concrete imagery to flesh it out. “Remember my nose was runnin’ and we ain’t have no tissues so I had to blow in a receipt,” he raps on the excellent closer “Keyette,” effortlessly conjuring a scene that’s loaded with emotional baggage. There’s still a lot of room for Tony to make the rosier present feel as vivid as his past. For now, Mrs.Key serves as a charming if minor entry in his prolific discography. It’s melodic, sample-heavy comfort food, filled with lush production and puppy love.
