XXL Freshman Chris Patrick Dares Detractors with Fiery Rap Song "Check Me"
Kicking off 'SAINT' season, the East Orange, New Jersey, Def Jam rapper returns with his first solo single of the summer as the biggest year of his career keeps gaining speed.
The last time I saw Chris Patrick, we were backstage at the New York stop of the Pray 4 Tha Underworld tour, the co-headlining run he shared with his longtime collaborator MARCO PLUS. His parents were in the building that night, watching him perform live for the first time ever, on his mother's birthday no less. "To see that they were able to witness this moment after everything that they've seen me go through, it means a lot to me, genuinely," he told me. "I try not to get too emotional sometimes when it happens on stage, but I'm grateful."
A lot has happened since that conversation. Patrick was named to the 2026 XXL Freshman Class , joining the same lineage that once introduced the world to Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Chance the Rapper. In the Freshman cypher , with DJ Drama presiding a decade after he joined the 2016 class, Patrick went first and name-checked SZA and Fetty Wap before placing himself in that same New Jersey lineage. The bar didn't surprise me.
When we spoke, he lit up talking about his home state. "New Jersey is probably one of the places that low-key has some of the most talented individuals across the board in many different industries," he told me. "And y'all sleeping on us because y'all don't realize how amazing we are as a collective."
Rewatching our interview, another answer reads like prophecy. Asked what he loved about the current rap landscape, he described "a composite group of individuals who just about to come out here and bust through them walls," adding, "It's a lot of us, myself included." Months later, his name was on the Freshman list.
It's been a while since Chris Patrick has responded to my texts, and I never take it personally. I know how much focus it takes to sustain a career as a creative professional while being bombarded with more notifications by the day. To say that watching his star power rise, and watching him finally receive his flowers, makes me happy would be an understatement. He's one of those genuinely good guys who, as he blows up, makes you think, "I'm so glad I got to know him and witnessed the rise early." And even though there's plenty left to do after the Def Jam signing, the headline tour, the BET Awards after party with Yung Miami, and the XXL Freshman honor, I can't help but be proud of everything he's accomplished, because I've watched the hard work and dedication that carried him to this point. I won't pretend I was in the trenches with him — I certainly wasn't. I didn't see the countless times he may have broken down or felt like giving up. But as a creative who started out as a songwriter, I have an inkling of an understanding of what it means to go from a musician nobody cares about to a musician who is finally buzzing.
"Check Me" Ushers in SAINT Season
Now comes " Check Me ," out today, Friday, August 28, his latest release since April's "Run It Back" , the Mack Keane-assisted single that followed his Def Jam EP Pray 4 Me . He announced the record on social media with the confidence of a man who knows exactly where he stands, writing that it's "time to talk crazy" and declaring that "SAINT season" is loading (aka his debut album era).
The production is trumpet-heavy and almost menacing — triumphant the way a victory lap feels inevitable rather than lucky. Over it, Patrick catalogs the climb with the specificity of someone who wrote it all down: sleeping on his cousin's couch, dodging rent, losing his grandmother, thugging it out through every version of "no." By the time the chorus arrives — a not-so-rhetorical challenge to anyone bold enough to try to check a rising star — it reads like a check he's willing to cash on site.
If the drop is any indication of what he teased when we sat down, fans should buckle up. "Another project with some fire features, like the most fire features ever," he told me of his 2026 plans earlier this year. "Nobody could even guess the features. Cuz if you guess rap, you're not gonna guess it right. Y'all gotta think R&B for this s***, about to get crazy." Considering he spent part of our interview discussing his cover of Kehlani's "Folded," which went on to win two Grammys in February, my fingers remain crossed for that collab.
Patrick has always understood the long game. He's the kid from East Orange who worked retail while recording, named himself after his father because it was "the most authentic way for me to connect with people," and built a catalog, from From the Heart to X-Files to "Ramen Noodles," that documented the climb in real time. It's the same spirit behind the emerging artists I profile and spotlight on New Music Friday : catch them before the world does, because the world always catches up.
His final words in our interview stay with me. "If you're a dreamer, just keep going. Anything is possible. You never know when it can happen, and it's never too late for it to happen." He'd know. After all, he's living proof. When I think of Chris, it's more than bonafide talent that comes to mind. I see vision and tenacity personified. I see hopes and dreams coming to fruition. I see flowers being received in real time…finally. The song is called "Check Me." Consider this your reminder not to check him, but to check him out. And become inspired to be everything you set out to be.
