Combining the talents of a New York-bred battle rapper with the feel of a Carolina game spitter, Spades Saratoga is set to take over in a big way.

Born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Spades discovered he had a gift for freestyling as early as 5th grade. But while people would tell him he had talent, he didn't take it seriously until high school. In 11th grade (now in Washington, DC), Saratoga's Spanish teacher took note of his skills and helped him land studio sessions. In those early days, he met artists like Wale, Raheem DeVaughn and The Game. His first big break came after moving back to New York in 2012, when a cousin secured him a spot on 106 and Park Freestyle Fridays.

"I don't know why he did it to this day! I was only back in New York for like 3 months and my cousin called me out of nowhere like 'we're going back to DC for BET' ... this was not even a close cousin. It was like our first time linking up as adults."

Saratoga reached the Freestyle Fridays finals and the exposure bought him some buzz. But the experience also helped him realize the limitations of battle rap. He sought to branch out and focus on his songwriting. The result was a mixtape called Prom Night, a reimagined telling of his high school experience in which he attends the prom he passed on in real life.

"After you leave high school you think about all the shit you should have did. I don't know why I didn't go to prom! In high school, I was a bad ass. I didn't do nothing, I just wanted to rap."

Between the well-received Prom Night and his 106 and Park fame, Spades Saratoga's stock was rising fast. But after his grandfather passed, his family relocated to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Stuck in a new city without a home studio, he fell back on freestyling at home and uploading the clips to Facebook and YouTube to keep his name hot. When he got back in the booth, his music spread quickly through the closely-knit Fayetteville scene, eventually reaching Ced Breeze. Breeze, a producer with J. Cole's Dreamville camp liked the tracks but kept asking him for songs with "more substance". The conversation helped Spades take his lyrics into new, more real territory.

"I was trying to be catchy and talk about what I thought people wanted to talk about. Even if it was true to me, I worried it was too gimmicky. But then I just started talking about everything that was going on. I'd talk about my grandfather passing, having to move back and forth, the times I got hustled."

This personal approach paid off in the form of "Bitches Like You". Possibly inspired by the time Spades fell for the wrong girl and got took for an embarrassing amount of loot, "Like You" is a mournful, catchy-as-hell middle finger to shady women. It's like the anti-"Trap Queen", vulnerability disguised as anger in the tradition of Ghostface's "Wildflower". The track showcases Spades Saratoga's journey, both as an artist and up and down the east coast. But the two are related; had he never moved to Fayetteville, he wouldn't be the multifaceted talent he is.

"I listen to a lot of Jadakiss and Cassidy, but while bars came naturally to me, what I enjoy personally is 90's R&B and 80's songs where they're actually talking about something. If I had stayed in New York I might have stayed in that punchline box forever!"

To his surprise, "Bitches Like You" was a hit with women proud to be the one their mothers never warned them about. After Cardi B posted a clip of her singing "Like You" on Instagram, other women followed and the song went viral. In turn, Saratoga tapped renowned director Shomi Patwary (A$AP Rocky, A$AP Freg, Diplo, Clipse and others) to direct the video. It's the latest step forward for Spades Saratoga, but surely not the last.