Pitchfork-approved Alabama rapper NoCap plays Ybor City next week | Show Previews | Tampa

There might not be a better time to see NoCap live because the Alabama rapper born Kobe Vidal Crawford might not play rooms as small as The Ritz much longer.

Pitchfork says the 23-year-old “is like a blues singer who fell in love with battle rap” and cites his emotionally transparent—but overtly fun—output in lumping Crawford in with hip-hop heavyweights like Boosie and Kevin Gates.

In fact, the indie tastemaking website even said he’s “on the precipice of becoming someone LeBron raps along to on Instagram.” No cap, indeed.

Tampa emcee Pusha Preme—one of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s 22 Rappers to watch in 2022—opens the show with his band the Wandering Assassins.