IDK can rap in a lot of different styles, but it still feels like him because he’s intentional about every move. Raised in Maryland, he’s always sounded like an artist who studied the rules just to bend them. These essentials catch him in multiple modes, from chest-out records that feel built for a setlist (“24,” “Digital”) to the more reflective pockets where he lets detail do the flexing. It’s all about control. Even when the production shifts, his writing stays sharp, with tight cadences and scene-setting that rewards repeat listens.

The features matter just as much as the solos because IDK treats collaboration like a proving ground. With Denzel Curry, the energy gets competitive and kinetic, pushing him into rapid-fire pockets that still land clean (“ONCE UPON A TIME”). Pair him with JID and Pusha T and you hear his taste for technical rapping and big-idea punchlines (“Porno,” “Cereal”). Then there’s the left-field reach: Burna Boy bringing global ease to “December,” City Morgue adding that grunge rock feel with “MINIMIZYA,” and the cult-legend aura of MF DOOM on “Red.”

Taken together, this list captures IDK at his most versatile. He’s a rapper who can talk his talk, take creative risks, and still sound grounded in the culture’s core values: Bars, presence, and point of view.

1. ONCE UPON A TIME (FREESTYLE) (feat. Denzel Curry)

Notable bars: “My times table never was good at the time I was nine / At 17, I was forced in a nine-to-the-five / So nine times out of 10, I'm despising the eyes / Of the greedy ones all around me like some f**king flies / Get away, bye-bye, *NSYNC, lie, lie, instinct / Y'all n**gas some fossils tellin’ me how to live my life”

2. Red (with Westside Gunn, MF DOOM, and Jay Electronica)

Notable bars: “She say, s**t, she just tried to hit me with a slap / I blocked my face with my hand, now it's a dap / No strings attached, I ain’t tryna be a puppet, you heard? / I’d rather be stung by bees than be fuckin’ with birds / I say this s**t all the time until I’m touchin’ her curves”

3. 24

Notable bars: “You don't make no clap back when you backpack, my bad / But I’m past that, with a NASDAQ, that’s cash / When the money fall, I’ma slap that a**, clap / When the money go, you don’t slap a**, that's facts”

4. December (feat. Burna Boy)

Notable bars: “Dispatch, yeah, dispatch / We’re gonna need to call them when I get that / Slim with them thighs that mix-match / Sweet and your spice, ya Tic Tac”

5. Dogs Don't Lie (extended version) (feat. Royce Da 5’9”)

Notable bars: “I'm up in Harvard, class start in a hour / My n**gas is tryna see it, these crackers giving me problems, s**t / They might even be black, f**king with ours / Got Listerine for the tongue, they leaving my mouth sour”

6. Cereal (with JID and feat. Kenny Mason and DJ Scheme)

Notable bars: “Aw s**t, I killed him / I ain’t know he wouldn’t pay when I billed him / F**k with my money, I’m f**king your bill up / Aim for the head when I shoot, Billups / Aim for the head when I shoot my shot, call me Clinton / Presidential watch, they gonna steal ‘em / Lootin’ up the shops, me, I'm just chillin’”

7. Shoot My Shot (with Offset)

Notable bars: “24/7, I’m a real one / I ain’t got no money problems, I ain’t got no children / Dodgin’ baby mama drama, oop, that’s a close one / A** like a horse, but her face like she wholesome”

8. TIFFANY (B) (with Gunna)

Notable bars: “Knock down the door, they ain’t let me in / I’m the type that I gotta win / I’m the type that could never lose / I’m the type that be breakin’ rules / And I’m breakin’ backs, gotta bring it back / To my n**gas that be on the breaking news”

9. Dog Food (with Denzel Curry)

Notable bars: “I hope they don't sing like they’re tryna win a Grammy /I hope it ain’t a act like they’re tryna win a Emmy / I’m tryna get a nut, so I’m movin’ like I’m Sandy / I’m livin’ underwater, I don’t know how I can breathe”

10. Lil Arrogant (feat. Russ and Joey BADA$$)

Notable bars: “Some rappers magicians, they trick you, they Copperfield / Act tough as a gold medal, you link ‘em, they daffodil / Meanwhile, I’m just runnin’ back kick returns on the field / Where the Redskins be losin’ but we gon’ support ‘em still / That’s how you know where our loyalty at”

11. Prince George (with Cordae)

Notable bars: “In the hood where they pedaling, the cycle is Rayful / I don’t do consignments, I ride the cycle I pay fo’ / Leather on the jacket, like I ride with the angels / Leather Louis wallet be preserving the angles”

12. Pizza Shop Extended (feat. Del the Funky Homosapien, Gleesh, and MF DOOM)

Notable bars: “S**t, really I’m a good boy / But that Trapaholics tag turned me to a hood boy / Blunt guts on the floor, I’m a Backwood boy / Lookin’ at me wrong, make you wish you never looked, boy”

13. Digital

Notable bars: “Nine times out of 10, he gon’ die or he gon’ go to jail, let’s not pretend / Huh, look, everybody starts as a kid with a pure heart, then they turn to him / Papa died, mama died, all the n**ga know is sin / Traumatized, freedom jeopardized, he just wanna win / What’s a smile when you dodging strikes, dodging every pen’?”

14. Porno (feat. JID and Pusha T)

Notable bars: “The bible say beatin’ my d**k and killin’ is equal / But that don’t add up, ‘cause the amount of times that I milk my s**t I’ll probably be considered serial / Them Cocoa Puff t**ty balls make a n**ga balls fall inside of her jaws while her drawls fall / All like a nightstand in the earthquake caused by the backstroke, dog style, all wild / Kill the pretty kitty, leave a X over its eyes like a KAWS clown”

15. MINIMIZYA (City Morgue and ZillaKami feat. IDK)

Notable bars: “I'm a minus sign on the screen till they click on me / Till I can't breathe, they want sinus, my enemies got clique energy”