At What Cost

DC rapper GoldLink continues the forward momentum that turned heads on his 2015 mixtape <i>And After That, We Didn’t Talk</i>. <i>At What Cost</i> unspools like a film, transitioning seamlessly from late night to early morning. “Crew” pictures GoldLink stunting hard with Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy. He can body a club track (“Meditation”) and shock listeners with a surprise ending. The fatalism that marked “When I Die” is back on “Pray Everyday (Survivor’s Guilt)”, the realest song about self-medication since Kendrick Lamar’s “Swimming Pools”. <i>At What Cost</i> connects soul with noir, inward-facing narratives, chopped, off-kilter beats, and nocturnal moods.