IDK confidently and comfortably dropped what is one of his most fun, free-flowing, and best projects yet with e.t.d.s.
Release date: January 22, 2026 | Independent | Instagram | Twitter | Stream/Purchase
I’m nine years in being an IDK fan. Ever since his salient, personal mixtape IWASVERYBAD, it was apparent to me that he’s a guy you had to keep your eye on, the forming of a new guard along with the likes of Denzel Curry, the Griselda boys, Vince Staples, Odd Future members doing their own things by that point, etc. With all that in mind, it’s nice to be able to sit down with a new project of his and review it. It just so happens I might’ve picked one of his best for the occasion.
e.t.d.s. A Mixtape by .idk. was probably supposed to come and go with relative ease, a holdover project between bigger albums perhaps. IDK says he didn’t even plan to tour around it or anything since it was just a mixtape, and yet it’s received tons of attention and acclaim from fans that may have made him reconsider that. Shit, Dead End Hip Hop even got the advanced copy enabling them to drop a shining review on the date of the tape’s release, a very rare, but welcomed occurrence for that team. It’s still had the usual rollout – a few videos and singles over the last three months, a drip-feed of info that stokes hype, and in the end it was all worth the trouble, not to mention the hard work that IDK is known for putting into all his work no matter the size or intention.
To top it all off, he’s working with bona fide greats on this one. I mean, IWASVERYBAD had fucking MF DOOM, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Chief Keef on it – all great – but e.t.d.s. has damn DMX, RZA, Pusha T, Joey Valence & Brae, Black Thought, MF DOOM again, and the likes of No ID, KAYTRANADA, and Conductor Williams helping him produce beats, all hosted and endorsed by DJ Whoo Kid. Honestly though, IDK remains the star and reason why I hit play on his shit and it all comes down to how he approaches his lyricism.
IDK‘s a younger dude compared to most of his peers here, someone who’s lived a cruddy life to quote DMX back in ’98, done the dirt, done the time, and now lives illuminated while ignorantly delivering knowledge (what ‘IDK’ stands for). As such, so much of his shit feels warm and wise, multifaceted and aware as he darkens his music with free game or gives it deserved levity. In other words, and to make it relevant to e.t.d.s., it’s the difference between “HALO” and “CLOVER”, where the first track has reflections of who he was as a young robber capable of turning hats to halos; the second track with the mighty Joey Valence & Brae making wordplay going from shooting bullets out a gun to shooting ropes on a fine-ass woman. The man contains multitudes as most great artists do.
e.t.d.s. hits all along that emotional and tonal spectrum. To start slower, “FLAKKA” uses a somber beat for IDK and MF DOOM to skate on. Now you might be thinking, surely DOOM’s part is recycled or repurposed vocals since he passed a few years ago, how much could they add to the track aside from being from one of the best MCs to ever do it? Well, IDK ended up splitting up bars from verses from old Metal Face to make other tracks when he was alive and had these particular pieces left over, and it just so happens that some of them corresponded with the theme of the track with IDK reflecting on his time in prison – serendipitous, right? This was all revealed in a talk with Open Mike Eagle about this tape and more. The feature with DMX on “START TO FiNISH – S.T.F” happened similarly, his voice as bold and recognizable as they were back in 1999, over an energetic KAYTRANADA beat that sounds like it’s from the same era.
“SCARY MERRi” is a track of karmic justice, fictionally painting IDK as a robber during Christmas (‘Jingle bells, Batman smells/Robbin’ got me paid‘), like the klepto Santa Claus from Friday After Next. His fleecing and flocking streak ends when a murder’s pinned on him and he goes to prison. To me, it’s his way of reckoning with his past which he’s obviously moved past, but also obviously impacted the hell out of him. One of my favorite tracks is the following “CELL BLOCK FREESTYLE / CD ON” which sounds like the damn Key & Peele theme song with all the acapella scatting and harmonization. Or, maybe it’s “EVERYONE KNOWS :)” with its sing-songy chorus and lyrics about authenticity and how fakeness will get you found out, and how it dovetails into its tonal foil “SCRAMBLED EGGS – TBC :(” as IDK bares his soul one last time with heart-rending regret and sleepless nights caused by his past.
Like Chance The Rapper‘s Acid Rap and Flatbush Zombies‘ BetterOffDEAD before it, e.t.d.s. is one of those projects that you would get off of DatPiff or LiveMixtapes back in the day, something you couldn’t believe was free for as much artistry and thought went into it. For IDK, the point was simple: pay respect to the craft of mixtapes and the days of yore when rappers were hustling and slinging tapes out of their car trunks, and remind people that mixtapes aren’t always indicative of a loosely or lazily thrown together project. With artists like him, Ray Vaughn, and Doechii – all younger than me – who all feel similarly about that particular aspect of hip-hop culture, it’s safe to say it’s in good hands. It’s also a good reminder that, if you really support the craft and have the means, put that purchase in so these artists ‘can go platinum and double platinum like them bullshit-ass old Western country motherfuckers‘, to quote Sticky Fingaz.
That all said, damn, this is my favorite IDK project since IWASVERYBAD. While not quite as emotionally tinged as that or USEE4YOURSELF (but damn close), it’s a wonderfully diverse autobiographical story with flow and purpose, a cold look at a warm soul. With a lot of impressive variance on display with lyrical flows and beats which shows off how much IDK has honed his production chops and chosen people who mesh well with him, it’s a masterful display, honestly. e.t.d.s. was named after the notion that even people with wicked and evil ways – those we often call devils – still smile. When he thought back to when he was sentenced as a kid to 15 years in prison for robbery and how those who made victim impact statements in court to support prosecution called him a monster, painting him as a future career criminal and fantasizing all the worse things he’ll do, and smiled while doing it. It’s not that IDK was a wholly bad person – a supposed monster – circumstance made him who he was, and who he is now. e.t.d.s. is a deft and compelling reckoning with all that and more.
Photo credit to Alfi Moss-White
