But as offers flooded in from rap and pop A-listers alike, the New Jersey native retreated further into the shadows. His lo-fi beats-turned-breakout tracks for Lil B and A$AP Rocky paved the way for two disparate new rap icons and helped forge a fresh sound in the process – so-called cloud rap, which slowed hip-hop into queasy drifts of bass and synth.
In 2012, Michael Volpe seemed to have the world at his feet.
