What a different 12 months can make. Around this time last year, D Smoke was a contestant and eventual winner of the Cardi B, T.I., and Chance The Rapper-helmed Rhythm & Flow competition. The Inglewood emcee then followed that up with his EP Inglewood High, which saw seven cuts and features from Tiffany Gouche, Sha’leah Nikole, and Tommy Sketch. Then, this past February, D Smoke unveiled his sophomore album Black Habits, a 16-track masterpiece with assists from Snoop Dogg, Jill Scott, Ari Lennox, his blood brother’s SiR and Davion Farris, and more. That project was led by the singles “No Commas,” “Black Habits I,” “Gaspar Yanga,” and “Lights On.”

Today, D Smoke makes a big return with the new single “Rapture.” The powerful track is his first since he teamed up with SiR for the socially charged cut “Let Go” back in May. In an interview with REVOLT, D Smoke spoke on delivering real subject matter in his music, something that remains evident with “Rapture”:

“When you stand for something, you have to be better at it then someone who’s just there to be there. To have a message, you definitely need to know your craft. Otherwise, it’s so easy to write it off. People can enjoy coonery, bad coonery even. People enjoy it in whatever form: ‘Oh look at this person make a fool of themselves.’ It’s clickbait. But in order to deliver a message, you have to be really good at it or else you’re not going to be listened to. That’s for me, too.”

Fans can press play on D Smoke’s “Rapture” below, which is hopefully a sign of a new body of work in the near future. In related news, he also contributed to Roc Nation’s Reprise’ compilation that was released last week — you can check that out here.