The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.

Last November, BandGang Lonnie Bands was feeling a bit hesitant about releasing some of the music he’d been recording. “There’s a lot of songs I got that I feel like I’m not ready to put them out,” he said in an interview with Passion of the Weiss. “Like some super super deep ass songs.” The Detroit rapper was replying to a question about how Tupac, his favorite rapper of all time, influenced him. Lonnie pointed to Pac’s tireless work ethic, but also said that he was inspired to talk “what’s really going on in [his] life” in his music because of Pac. It wasn’t a shocking revelation, given the personal, diaristic nature of his music, but it is a clarifying statement that provided new perspective on the insular turn his music has taken. “What you know about scared, nigga, to go to sleep / Cause you see so many RIPs in your dreams,” he rapped on last year’s “HeartBurn.” Over the last year, he’s opened up more, penning arresting songs about the friends he’s lost and the fatalistic, unforgiving nature of the streets.

Like Pac, Lonnie’s candid, conversational writing prioritizes directness and creates a sense of urgency that makes him seem like he’s seconds away from boiling over. With these plain lyrics as a base, Lonnie’s unpredictability and explosiveness turns him into an affecting writer that can turn paranoia into motivation, unyielding faith into self-doubt. He’ll finish bars out with long sighs and mumbled thoughts, and snap into a pointed rant seconds later. On “Creature Thoughts,” Lonnie’s slow-rolled delivery combines with tense strings and keys for one of his most unnerving songs yet. “You know how the streets is / Just like the sea is,” he raps in short, cutting bursts. “When you in that deep end / Can’t get caught snorin’.” It’s a chilling, uncomfortable listen, but it’s impossible to look away.