On February 12, 2019, Qari Delaney spent a candlelit evening smoking a joint alone in his roommate’s jacuzzi tub with a lavender bath bomb. To further set the mood, the 23-year-old Chicago rapper listened to his own music: Operation Hennessy, his first full-length collaboration with local producer, rapper, and DJ Green Sllime, which would come out the next day. “It was honestly deeply meditative—I felt like I was in the ocean or some shit,” Qari says. “I was transported. It was beautiful.”

Despite his successes, Qari has always felt anxious about releasing music—until Operation Hennessy. For the first time, he says, he wasn’t worried about the quality of what he’d made, only about whether it would find its audience. The loose energy and raw production of Operation Hennessy have more in common with gritty 90s boom-bap than with contemporary trends such as trap or Soundcloud rap. “There are so many times where it was like, ‘Who in their right mind wants to hear this?’” Qari says.

Words Past the Margin Featuring Kevin Coval in conversation with Qari, Green Sllime, and Mulatto Beats. Tue 4/23, 7 PM, the Hoxton Chicago, 200 N. Green, free (RSVP required), 21+

All Smiles Seven-Year Anniversary and Finale Featuring Tomorrow Kings, Psalm One, Green Sllime, Encyclopedia Brown, Moodie Black, SCC, and DJ Elliven. Fri 4/26, 9 PM, Tonic Room, 2447 N. Halsted, $10, 21+

“This project meant eliminating anxieties,” Qari says. “Pulling myself out of whatever fuckin’ terrible pit of despair I put myself in as an artist—always doubting myself and always tellin’ myself I’m no good at what I do.”

“When he first started DJing for us, he was very adamant that he was not a DJ—he was like, ‘Nah nah nah, I’m not a DJ. I just got this DJing equipment,’” Marshall says. “He also had a million different names. He was always going through stage names—either the first one that I knew or the one that I knew him by best was ‘Enfa Red.’ And a lot of times we’d introduce him at shows as ‘DJ I’m Really an MC.’” Sllime worked Marshall’s open mike for a couple years and spun at others hosted by high schools, including Jones College Prep.

As the members of Wiggidies Crew began moving away for college in 2007 and 2008, they launched 119 Productions to catalog their solo recordings. “We would make these mixtapes with us individually on them and drop big compilations off this 119 website—119 became a hub for all our music and art projects,” Duncan says.

Qari grew up surrounded by music—his stepfather was a rap producer. “My earliest memories are, like, my stepfather making these dope-ass beats that were different,” he says. “They were manual and original. He wasn’t doing a lot of sampling.”