Marqus Clae is a rap acrobat. The Houston-bred artist doesn’t spit as much as he twists, flips, and somersaults, coiling fiery tales of aspiration into agile flows and tightly wound rhyme schemes. The mic skills that enabled him to begin his professional rap career when he was only 10 years old are threaded through his latest album, The Mecca, which further establishes him as one of the most nimble wordsmiths in hip-hop. Visceral and exacting, the record is the result of a masterful instinct for storytelling. The seeds of Clae’s rap career were planted at an early age. His mother, herself a dedicated rapper, would bring him to the studio, where he’d sit at the mixing board as she belted out rhymes. Imbued with a more developed voice and increasingly refined flows, Clae signed to Def Jam Records at the end of 2020. Now he’s all set to consummate the newest phase of his career with Mecca. Looking ahead, Clae is seeking impact over accolades. With a new label home and an album in tow, he understands the moment. “I feel like everything I went through was just a test to get me where I am,” he says. “Now it’s about establishing dominance.”