MAVI shares video for “Triple Nickel” (feat. MIKE)
On the heels of the release of his highly-anticipated mixtape, The Pilot, which was met with critical acclaim from Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, MAVI has stepped into the new year with a music video for “Triple Nickel” (feat. MIKE). Filmed in New York City with MIKE, the video for “Triple Nickel” echos the intentional and mature elements of MAVI‘s latest work. Arriving as both a creative reset and a personal milestone of ongoing sobriety, the recent release of The Pilot is a celebration of MAVI’s first full year of sobriety, a transformation that guides both the tone and intention of The Pilot as he embraces his newfound artistic control and emphasis on collaboration. With 2025 proving to be a year of transition and expansion for MAVI, he spent the past seven months stretching his sound and reach by releasing a number of collaborative singles including “Landgrab” with Earl Sweatshirt (5M+ Streams), which marked the first time he collaborated with another rapper on his own song, “Potluck” with Smino (8M+ Streams), “Jammer’s Anonymous” with Niontay and “SWIM” with Guapdad 4000 from the HIM Soundtrack. Where his last project, 2024’s shadowbox explored self-confrontation and the weight of addiction amidst a dark personal period, The Pilot captures MAVI with a sense of renewal that signals a looser, lighter body of work that embraces spontaneity, creative freedom and collaboration. In the process, MAVI is re-framing the trajectory of his career as he fully embraces a new sound and lyrical territory backed by a newfound willingness to flex braggadocio –– “Never touched college diploma but I seen a hundred racks flow through a money counter”, he raps on “G-ANNIS FREESTYLE”. With appearances from Earl Sweatshirt, Kenny Mason, Smino and MIKE, The Pilot finds MAVI expanding his once-insular process into one defined by community and creative exchange. The music maintains the introspective depth MAVI has become known for, but brings newfound clarity and warmth in ideas, exploring the uncomfortable stretch that comes with personal growth. Conceptually, it’s less a continuation of 2025’s successes than a reframing of them, a project that looks forward rather than back.
After spending his first three albums (Let the Sun Talk, Laughing so Hard, it Hurts & shadowbox) garnering critical acclaim for his introspection and poetic storytelling, building a reputation as one of Hip-Hop’s most profound young writers revered for his emotional depth, the new release of The Pilot reveals MAVI‘s duality as both an interior philosopher and exterior showman. Preceded by July’s Lunch Break Freestyle for Lyrical Lemonade where he blended self-expression, humor, personal ritual, and technical precision, MAVI then spent the summer and early fall on the road, first joining Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist on the nationwide Alfredo 2 Tour, and is now stepping into a new spotlight as a support act on Earl Sweatshirt’s 3L World Tour. Consistently hailed for his poetic lyricism and virtuosic technical abilities as a rapper, MAVI‘s last full-length release, the heart-rendering third studio album, shadowbox was met with instant critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and The FADER, while even being hailed by Rolling Stone as the #4 Best Hip-Hop Album of 2024. MAVI then embarked on his headlining shadowbox tour. Following the sold-out success of the tour, MAVI began ushering in his new era with the aforementioned string of independently-released singles, paving the way for The Pilot –– out now.
THE PILOT MIXTAPE – OUT NOW
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