The guest list for Burna Bandz’s Houligan Timing—the MC’s first release since 2020’s Bandz Can’t Fold, Pt. II—is as much a checklist of Toronto’s most promising young MCs (J Neat, Why G, TallupTwinz, Pressa, NorthSideBenji, the dearly departed Houdini) as it is a roll call of Bandz’s friends. The reality is that the Northside Jane-hailing MC, and his UpTop Movement crew, have been making noise just about as long as they’ve been making music, and with each release comes another opportunity for the whole to lift up an individual. With Houligan Timing, it’s Bandz’s turn, and he makes the best of it by telling oft-Auto-Tuned stories about his life as a trap star, and the pressure and responsibilities that come with it. “In my city I’m a icon, they gon’ remember me,” he says on “Icon.” Deeper in, we get an appearance from Detroit upstart Drego (“4 Seasons”), revealing an intention to make noise well beyond the GTA limits, but if Bandz’s name isn’t the first to get called, he’s got a strong team he can support the same way they’ve done for him.