A leader of the new underground, North Carolina rapper MAVI makes his debut in New Zealand this year.

His music requests patience and attention, rewarding his audience with consistency as he wastes little time and especially little words. An artist with utmost focus and careful quality, MAVI is a breath of fresh air in a hyper-commercial and impatient landscape.

MAVI’s style is one of intimacy and gentleness, a careful navigation of muddy and jagged production rather than a race to the finish. His music “the kind you gotta read”, MAVI shares grief, pain, empowerment and purpose footnoted by melancholic instrumentals. 2019 saw the release of his debut album Let The Sun Talk, a thunderous introduction to the precocious artist, abstract in its delivery but focused in intent. 2022’s Laughing So Hard, it Hurts is as tortured and emotionally potent as its title, but like his debut, it’s not all cynical. MAVI laughs in the face of darkness, grief, and the capitalist machine, his pointed criticisms and contemplations invoking the adage this too shall pass. Enlisting an all star production cast, Laughing So Hard, it Hurts is a powerful next statement from the rapper, and one that signals light for the future.

Developing a cult following, MAVI now finds fans across the hip-hop landscape, from underground legends The Alchemist and Earl Sweatshirt to global superstars like Jack Harlow. Making new strides after going on tour with the latter, MAVI is a robust beacon against the tumultuous mechanics of an impatient artistic moment and is making his way to our shores for the first time. His unique creative presence and tenacity makes him an unmissable generational voice: this debut tour is sure to deliver.