Richmond-born, Chicago-based rapper McKinley Dixon announces his new album, Magic, Alive!, out June 6th via City Slang, and presents its lead single / visual, 'Sugar Water' (ft. Quelle Chris & Anjimile). For the better part of a decade, Dixon has been turning his experiences as a native Southerner sometimes living in Queens and an eager student of literature into vivid reflections on joy, pain, and perseverance. His breakthrough, though, began with 2021’s much-loved For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her and continued with 2023’s Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?, both instrumentally rich exercises in storytelling wrapped up in the trauma and grief of losing a young friend. Those albums were emotional expurgations, Dixon dumping his feelings into marathons of literary references where Toni Morrison and Greek mythology shared space with detailed personal reflections.