iLoveMakonnen Says He’s Retiring

A decade ago, the woozy and singsongy Atlanta rapper iLoveMakonnen released his sticky and hypnotic single “Tuesday,” a local hit that became a national hit when Drake jumped on a remix. Makonnen’s association with Drake’s OVO label didn’t last long, but Makonnen persisted as an influential underground figure ever since, not least because he was one of the first prominent rappers to come out as gay. Now, after a fascinating and turbulent run, Makonnen says that he’s retiring.

On Instagram today, iLoveMakonnen posted that he’s “retiring ilovemakonnen” and that “Heavy In The Streets,” a single that he released a few days ago, will be his “last song.” Makonnen and the late Lil Peep released the collaborative album Diamonds last year, and Makonnen popped up onstage at Awful Records’ 10th-anniversary show last month. Below, check out Makonnen’s announcement and “Heavy In The Streets.”

Rapper retirements are notoriously unreliable, but this feels like a good opportunity to give iLoveMakonnen, a magnetic and game-changing figure, his flowers.