Since he's ditched the stage name Jams Dean in favor of using his first name Chicago's Blake Gardner has furthered his reputation as an underground MC with smarts, sharp bars, and one-liners that are witty and unabashedly blunt. He slayed in July when he dropped the goofy, low-key video for "Your Boyfriend Sucks," part of which was filmed at a pie shop where Blake and I occasionally hang out. Blake's since followed it up with the equally eye-grabbing video for "Squats" in October, which features the MC washing his face with handfuls of skittles and stealing a bike with rapper Auggie the 9th. Then this past Sunday Blake dropped a five-song release, Three Some EP.

"Your Boyfriend Sucks" and "Squats" are, unfortunately, not included on the EP, but these five songs contain the same unique charms. Blake expresses his affable, amusing perspective with a forthrightness that makes the absurdity of lyrics about, say, seducing women with his own music, go down easy. He spikes his instrumentals with the same cleverness he injects in his lyrics—on "I'm the Shit" he cribs the melody from Kanye West's "New Slaves" and plays it out on what sound like a xylophone and kettledrums. Take a listen to Blake's Three Some EP below, and take a peek at the video for "Squats" while you're at it.

Leor Galil writes about hip-hop every Wednesday.