Cochise

Florida rapper Cochise’s music is a giddy, freewheeling blend of trap, dancehall, and cloud rap, with gleeful, sugar-rush vocals delivering carefree, anime-referencing lyrics over hazy beats. After finding success online with singles like “Hatchback” and “Red Head,” Cochise released his major-label debut album, Benbow Crescent, in 2021, and followed it with The Inspection in 2022. The more aggressive EP No One’s Nice to Me appeared in 2023.

Terrell Cox, whose parents are both Jamaican, was born and raised in Palm Bay, Florida. He grew up listening to reggae and playing drums in a church choir, and started rapping when he was in high school, naming himself Cochise as a reference to The Warriors. After uploading tracks to SoundCloud for several years, he released his first EP, PULP, in 2018, followed by Hijack (produced by Lousho) in 2019. After he graduated from high school, Cochise issued the singles “Hatchback” and “Redhead,” which found him adopting a more playful flow and higher-pitched voice than his earlier material. Both songs became viral hits, and Cochise signed to Columbia in 2020, making his label debut with the single “Taxin.” The full-length Benbow Crescent arrived in 2021, containing “Hatchback” as well as other heavily streamed singles like “Knicks” and “SANJI.” Cochise also collaborated with $not on the single “Tell Em,” which reached number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum. Second album The Inspection appeared in 2022. Several stand-alone singles followed, with “Cook Up” emerging as a TikTok favorite. The hard-edged No One’s Nice to Me was issued in 2023. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi