#avant nova

EP Art: @hunnigarden (IG)

North Philly rapper/producer slayr has already established himself as a vital voice in modern music, blending trap, EDM & metal to create a vibrant, maximalist sound that some have dubbed “colorful rage.” In a music landscape so often obsessed with artifice and posturing, slayr’s commitment to a no-frills appearance is unique & refreshing, but his addicting melodic vocals are anything but ordinary. 

On the heels of a breakout performance at Summer Smash and being named a 2026 XXL Freshman, fast-rising Philly rapper/producer slayr is back with a new EP entitled Avant Nova. It’s the latest chapter in his mythology-themed discography and a taste of what’s to come on his next mixtape Fabula Nova. Visual artist HunniGarden, who designed the cover for slayr’s breakout mixtape Half-Blood, hand-drew the EP cover, as well as individual cover arts for each song, paying homage to the Final Fantasy saga. 

Avant Nova begins with two standout collaborations, with Chicago-based electronic sensation underscores and rising Charlotte rapper/producer prettifun, respectively. underscores co-produced opening track “promise,” which the two recently performed together at her sold-out Chicago show, and prettifun lent a guest verse to track 2, “switch my swag.” It’s the first song to feature verses from both slayr & prettifun but not their first time working together; prettifun previously produced “Racks” for slayr as well as the beat for his Lunch Break Freestyle on Lyrical Lemonade. 

Avant Nova comes shortly after slayr announced his first-ever headline tour, in support of Half-Blood and the expanded edition Bloodluxe. The Half-Blood Tour will kick off July 30 in Seattle and includes 24 stops across the US and Canada, as well as CLOUT Festival in Poland, Openair Frauenfeld in Switzerland and Counterfeit Fest in the UK. Within days of announcing the tour, he sold out the 1200-capacity Irving Plaza in New York, prompting him to add a second NYC date for September 3. 

The Avant Nova release, the headline tour and the XXL Freshman nod add to what has already been a banner year for slayr. After releasing BloodLuxe in March, he was named SoundCloud’s Ascending Artist of April, shared new music videos directed by Lyrical Lemonade’s Reduciano (“Eyesight”) and MONTREALITY (“Self Titled”), and featured on Tiffany Day’s “CONSTANTLY,” a hotly anticipated collaboration that’s picked up 2M+ streams in just two weeks. 

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