Much of the well-deserved acclaim surrounding rapper Nick Grant’s steady rise in Hip-Hop relates to the South Carolina MC’s high-energy delivery and live performances. He recently tore down showcases at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, and his January appearance as the musical guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert brought down the house. Two of his Return of the Cool singles, “Get Up” and “Luxury Vintage Rap,” are fast-paced, lively records which showcase his signature vitality.

Nick Grant’s Freestyle Is More Than Funky Enough On This D.O.C. Classic (Video)

Nick Grant’s Tiny Desk Concert for NPR shows a more reserved (though no less skilled) side of the emergent powerhouse, who performed a handful of his records backed up by a live band. The performance is even more impressive considering, as NPR themselves explained, “he arrived at NPR headquarters with a mild case of the flu and quickly demonstrated why the title of his debut — Return of the Cool — should be taken quite literally.”

Performing the aforementioned “Luxury Vintage Rap” in addition to the album’s title track, Grant also rocks “Drug Lord Coutoure” (which he explains details how he discovered “the street life wasn’t for me”) before closing his set by leading a chant for “real Hip-Hop.”

Earlier this month, Nick Grant appeared on Jarren Benton’s “C.R.E.A.M. ’17,” a Wu-Tang Clan inspired dosage of what makes this generation of up-and-comers so exciting.