Karrahbooo's NOT DA 2 Fits a Whole Night Out Into 22 Minutes

By Odessa Vance, October 6, 2026

"No Hook" runs 1:08 on the Bandcamp listing for Karrahbooo's NOT DA 2. That's the song I'd start you on, and I'm not alone. In Pitchfork's review, Hattie Lindert wrote that it "makes the strongest case for this ultra-nonchalant persona, and it only takes a minute," tracking her through a night of pit stops "over Halloween B-movie synth." Lindert also pulls out the line that sums up the Atlanta rapper's bedside manner: a bouncer is "doing a lot for a job that's not paying enough."

A whole night out in one minute and eight seconds, and the title tells you exactly what it skips. That's the tape's whole argument in a single song.

Why now

NOT DA 2 came out September 4, 2026: 11 tracks, credited to her own NotTheTwo, LLC, with the Beatport listing naming Mercury Records/Republic. Add up the track times on Beatport and it lands just under 22 minutes, with nothing longer than 2:36. She told Rolling Stone she is now signed to Mercury, after two years in which, in her words, "I couldn't drop at all."

KARRAHBOOO: NOT DA 2

A lot of the conversation around this release has been about everything surrounding it, the deal and the delay. I'm leaving that alone, because the songs have been under-discussed as a result. The FADER put "MAKE HER DANCE" with K3 in its Songs You Need list on September 9, and Vivian Medithi called it "an in-your-face ode to getting paid and making it rain." Pitchfork reviewed the tape and Rolling Stone ran an interview, but little else I found went deep on the songs themselves.

Where she's coming from

Karrahbooo is Atlanta-born, per Rolling Stone, and she spent years as a DJ before she rapped. uDiscover Music notes that she worked clubs and parties first, recorded "MONEY COUNTER" in 2022, and drew wider attention with "Box the 40," "Running Late" and her On the Radar freestyles. Rolling Stone's Jeff Ihaza compared her flow to Veeze or Lucki, "both laid-back and conversational and deeply and intricately rhythmic." She has toured with Latto, Mariah the Scientist and Key Glock, and played Coachella and Rolling Loud. Per uDiscover, The FADER put her 2025 single "FREE BOOO" among its best rap songs of October 2025. She's part of a deep Atlanta bench right now, alongside names we've covered like Che and ApolloRed1.

The production story is the part I want to underline. Pitchfork reports the tape was helmed by Truebeatzz, whom it calls a Mike WiLL Made-It protégé, and that it leans toward "more muscular, classic trap beats" rather than "the cloudier Michigan fare she often goes for." She told Rolling Stone she pushed for that herself: "Why you never give me no turnt shit? Let me try that." I love an artist who asks her producer for the harder beat and gets it.

Three songs to hear

KARRAHBOOO: NO HOOK

"No Hook." Covered above. It's the shortest track on the tape and, by Pitchfork's account, it has "a real sense of place." Start here.

"WYO" (feat. Monaleo). Here's the Third Coast thread. Houston's Monaleo, according to Pitchfork, "imbues 'WYO' with welcome bark, playing wingwoman and bodyguard with equal gusto." On paper, a rapper this composed next to a rapper with that much bark is the pairing on this tape I'd most like to hear more of. A full collab EP would be welcome. Monaleo also turns up on "Bolaji" from Ro$ama's My Forte, so she's having a real Texas-to-Atlanta run of features this fall.

"Keep Up W Me" (feat. Zukenee). She first put this out as a single in July, per uDiscover. Pitchfork describes "Tay Keith-type horrorcore piano" under it and credits fellow Atlantan Zukenee's "sing-along cadence" with adding variety. Zukenee has his own new tape, BLUNTS & BLADES, out September 23, so treat this one as a door into another catalog.

Where I land

Pitchfork's verdict was that the tape is "pretty muted" and, memorably, "mediation music." I take the point about tone, but I read the structure differently. Eleven songs, none past 2:36, one of them barely a minute long: that's a tape built to run twice in a row, and play counts don't show that. A short project that leaves you wanting more is doing its job. A long one that wears you out isn't.

One more detail before you press play. On "Understand Me," Rolling Stone reports, she worked with producer Noah Breakfast on "something closer to the hazy alternative music she likes." It's a preview of where she says she's headed.

What to watch

No debut album has been announced, and I won't invent a date. She told Rolling Stone she wants to work with Ghanaian American singer Moliy and, especially, the producer Laila! on that record, and she set the bar herself: "My mixtape, OK, it's good. But I want my album to be great."

Hold her to it. Until then, NOT DA 2 is 22 minutes that ask to be played twice. Give them that.

Odessa Vance called it first: Karrahbooo, October 5, 2026. Run back "No Hook."