‘The Pilot’: MAVI enters a new era of freedom, clarity and collaboration
Critically acclaimed North Carolina rapper MAVI released his new mixtape ‘The Pilot’ today.
2025 has thus far proven to be a year of transition and expansion for MAVI, who has spent seven months stretching his sound and reach by releasing several collaborative singles. After ‘Landgrab’ with Earl Sweatshirt kicked off his run in May, marking his first time collaborating with another rapper on his own song, he followed up with ‘Potluck’ with Smino, ‘Jammer’s Anonymous’ with Niontay and ‘SWIM’ with Guapdad 4000 from the HIM Soundtrack. In July, MAVI also delivered a standout freestyle for Lyrical Lemonade’s Lunch Break Freestyle series where he showcased the true duality of MAVI as an artist, embracing self-care by getting his hair and nails done while simultaneously flexing his tight-knit technical rap abilities. Further cementing his growing reach, MAVI also spent two months embarking on a stint opening for Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist on the Alfredo 2 Tour in America, before beginning a short stint opening for Earl Sweatshirt on six dates of his 3L World Tour. So far, a very successful year for MAVI and now he released his new album ‘The Pilot’.
While MAVI is widely praised for his potent rhymes and evocative instrumentals, the Charlotte-born wordsmith is also a multi-faceted renaissance man whose expertise extends far beyond the mic. An artist as thought-provoking as he is creative, MAVI pursued a degree in biology from Howard University and is an avid political theorist and community-oriented activist who holds steadfast beliefs about the ever-changing social landscape around him.
‘The Pilot’ finds MAVI fully taking off into a re-framing of his career as he fully embraces a new sound and lyrical content. Whereas MAVI’s last project, ‘shadowbox’, captured him in a period of self-discovery, addiction and a lack of control, ‘The Pilot’ was written amidst sobriety and signals a looser, lighter body of work that embraces spontaneity, creative freedom and collaboration.
