Ace Cosgrove is a young guy with old problems. Housing, money, employment: His troubles aren’t first world, they’re old world. But in the new video for “Golden Chills,” the jazzy and soulful opener from the Gaithersburg rapper’s recent mixtape, UsvsRobots, the 23-year-old slips into the role of a time-killing, suburban-bred millennial.
At least that’s what it looks like. Shooting hoops, smoking weed, typing on an iPhone and chasing a Ride On bus: That’s what we see Cosgrove doing in the deceptively carefree video directed by Guru MG. Listen to the lyrics, and a sadder tale rises to the surface. The skinny rapper (real name Adrian Eskridge) says he’s depressed, broke and concerned about his grandma. To make matters worse, he’s facing a shadowy foe: his own mind. “I’m battling myself,” Cosgrove raps. “I’m my worst enemy.”
In our recent chat with the MoCo MC, Cosgrove said he’s normally more reserved, but he vents on his tracks. “I’m horrible at opening up to people face-to-face, but I’m a great person for others to vent to, [and] when I make a song, I’m doing the venting.”
Meanwhile, it’s clear the MC hasn’t lost touch with his inner kid. Asked by a writer at Karmaloop to describe himself, he had this to say: “Ace Cosgrove doesn’t sound like anybody, he’s his own person, he loves pizza.”
Ace Cosgrove performs Nov. 14 with BADBADNOTGOOD at American University.