Betsy Dutcher

"My name is Josh Sallee and this is my story," says Oklahoma rapper Josh Sallee in the very first seconds of "Heaven's Intro," the opening track of his newly released album Flamingo.

The Oklahoma City-based artist has been teasing the new project for months, and on Friday, it arrived. Out now via Sallee's own 88REC label, the album includes a handful of previously released singles such as "Hollywood Hoax," "95' Jordan" and "Let Me Live My Life," with fellow rapper K.A.A.N.

Speaking with Variance earlier this year, Sallee had anticipated releasing the album back in June. And even though the plan obviously changed, one thing is clear: He has plenty of music in the works. "I have way too much music I haven't released, so at some point, I just plan to travel and every two weeks drop a song," he said in April.

Chatting with us, Sallee also acknowledged the struggle leading up to this album and figuring out his next career move. 

"Some people would be like, 'Maybe it's time to move into just the production side,'" he recalls. "That's pretty constant when you're doing it by yourself and you don't have a full team around you, like everybody is trying to help. And at some point it becomes this pressure of, 'Well, do I need to listen to these people because I'm not as big as I want to be?' So maybe I'm not necessarily where I thought I'd be looking back five years ago, and at the same time, it's all just ego and pressure from the outside."

Whatever the outside opinions, this new album is a great one and perfect for listening on a Sunday afternoon or a Monday morning.

Listen now.