Arizona rapper Mouse Powell isn’t out here trying to play a role. He’s not leaning into trends—he’s just telling the truth, track by track.
Don’t Trip, I’m Fine, his new full-length album, is more than a collection of songs. It’s a timestamp. A snapshot of healing. A raw, melodic journal that unfolds with honesty, humor, and a lot of heart.
Setting the Tone: “Don’t Trip”
From the jump, the title grabs you with a blend of grit and vulnerability. The opening track, “Don’t Trip,” featuring Katastro, sets the tone with this repeating line: “So tell me that it’s real, tell me that it’s alright.” It pulls you in and feels like the heart of the whole album.
From Bedroom Demos to a Full Body of Work
“At the very early stages, the thought process was just to take some demos I’d been making in my bedroom and try to expand them with Ryan and Stravs,” Powell told The Pier. “There initially wasn’t much thought into even releasing them, but after we’d made a chunk of songs that all three of us really liked, I realized I really wanted to put together a full body of work.”
Facing Loss and Finding Purpose
Then, life hit. Hard. “This was the first project that I approached with my mind really focused on legacy,” he said. “About a year into making the project I lost my best friend, Joey, and shortly after that Katastro lost Andy. We all were in a spot where we’d lost our best friends and were trying to figure out what’s next.”
That grief doesn’t hijack the record, but it shapes it. It’s there in the reflective moments, in the bite of lines that hit a little too close, in the silences that say more than words. But the album never sinks—it moves. Powell isn’t wallowing; he’s working through it. And you feel that movement, especially on tracks like “Up Against the Wall,” where he lets the walls come down for real.
Lightness and Groove Amid Depth
Still, it’s not all heavy. Tracks like “Lemonade” give it some bounce, using humor and sharp turns of phrase to keep things light without losing depth. “Slide” is all swagger and groove. With Bluthecolor riding shotgun, it leans into a slick, synth-laced funk you’d expect from the Prince catalog—but with a modern twist. It’s one of the album’s most fun, feel-good tracks—light on its feet but loaded with style. That same balance shows up on “Home,” his collab with Logan Rex, which threads introspection through a feel-good groove. (We talked more about that one in our earlier article—give it a read if you missed it.)
Choosing a Mindset
“Don’t Trip, I’m Fine really is just a time capsule of the last few years of my life and everything that’s happened within those years,” Powell said. “It covers a lot of emotions. I think if I had to put a message to it, it would just be that it’s okay to decide that things are going to be okay, even when they aren’t. There’s a lot of power in choosing that mindset.”
The Story Behind the Title Interlude
That mindset shows up literally in the center of the album, with the interlude that gave the record its name. “Oddly enough, one of the first songs we made was the interlude,” he said. “It was a rainy day and Stravs and I wanted to just make something weird and kind of structureless. We made that loop and I thought it would be sick to have something that repeats sporadically over the top of it to let the music breathe. So I came up with ‘If I die, Don’t Trip, I’m Fine.’ And we tracked it.”
At the time, it just felt cool. But after Andy’s passing, it took on a different kind of weight. “We went back in while we were finishing up the record, and the laughs you hear on that are actually my best friend Joey and Andy,” Powell shared. “The whole thing just felt really eerie.”
Bookends of a Journey
Those laughs—frozen in time—turn the interlude into something more than a mood. It’s a moment. A goodbye. A promise. And in that context, the structure of the album hits even harder. It opens with “DON’T TRIP” and closes with “I’M FINE”—like Powell is talking himself through the chaos and landing in a place of peace. It’s intentional. It’s grounded. And it lands with the kind of quiet power that stays with you long after the last note fades.
What’s Next? Tour Dates
Powell has already rolled out a handful of tour dates this summer, with more headline shows on the way. Stay tuned for updates as the full run takes shape.
