Since turning heads as a return performer during the BET Awards’ cyphers, Rain910 has been promoting his latest project, A Perfect Day to Die. The 14-track mixtape demonstrates the South Carolina’s skills as an MC, but also as a producer and guest appearances from Cory Gunz and Paul Wall give it a give it influences from elsewhere without sounding referential. Through and through, the tape is an offering in Rain910’s rugged taste in production mixed with his affinity for the cerebral, lyrically. “Prayer for Me,” the knockin’ opener, sets the tone for the remainder, with a illustrative depiction of life in the ‘hood, where the perpetual goal is the elevation of one’s self over the turbulence and temptation of life in the streets.

The tape’s title track serves as the closer and an acknowledgment that, by living life to the nth degree and grasping at whatever opportunities life presents, the literal and metaphorical deaths faced by those struggling the most will never be in vain. Sandwiched in between are soulful and brooding tracks that are simultaneously funereal and celebratory, like “Blow Me Away” and “Big Gold Chain,” both of which examine the sometimes unavoidable draw to the hustler’s lifestyle all the while remarking on the futility of such choices. Boasting runs skillfully rampant on tracks like “Too Many” and “Who Wants to Die” while “Chicago” and “Blacker the Berry” are rousing calls to action in the form of fighting back against oppression. And, while each track sounds quite different from every other, the common point of seizing the day is unmistakable. As he told Ambrosia for Heads, he wants the mixtape to “give these young people the game before they end up dead or in jail.” Check out A Perfect Day to Die in all of its entirety below.

Related: Spotlight: Despite His Name, Rain910 Is Here To Shed Light On His People’s Pain (Video)