An alum of mid-2010s South African SoundCloud rap, PatricKxxLee expresses existential angst in raps that are delivered with aggressive conviction via Auto-Tuned, punk rock-styled melodies. Patrick Madalitso Mvunga was born in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was introduced to hip-hop by his cousin as a young child. Soon after, at the age of six, he moved to Johannesburg, where he immersed himself in urban culture and music. He started rapping while still in school, and—out of necessity—taught himself how to make beats. His sound developed into chaotic, mosh pit-ready productions with distorted basslines and dark synths, a sound that suited the distress and hedonism expressed through honest recollections of his life. His 2017 debut, Diary of an Arsonist, details his self-destructive ways, and the 2018 single “Hurts to Feel,” from third album Nowhere Child, is a catchy song rooted in bleak messaging about living with mental illness. Similarly dark themes are revealed throughout his releases when PatricKxxLee opens the door to his mind-bending world.