Ace Cosgrove.

With just two songs left in his set, Ace Cosgrove climbed down from the canopied stage on the left side of the National Mall. Joining the crowd, he pumped his arms, ensuring everyone stayed with him. Inches from his fans, he was close enough to touch and is locked-in to the moment.

“No regrets, no regrets, No biggie, no sweat,” he rapped. “Tip-top shape, Put me up against the best.” Backed by his live band, complete with two saxophones, keyboards, a bassist, and a drummer, no one in the ensemble missed a beat with Cosgrove down in the crowd.

Looking back at the energy during that performance at D.C.’s Landmark Festival in September, his biggest show to date, it would be tough to tell he was sick that day. “My voice was completely gone but I think I made do with it,” Cosgrove said in a subsequent interview with DCist. “Obviously it is bigger, but to me it’s the same job, different venue.”

Cosgrove, 24, has gained a devoted following both locally and online over the last two years with his introspective lyricism and soulful sound. Regionally, he identifies as a Marylander and shuns being labeled as a D.C. artist. Musically, he dodges rapping about partying and material possessions in his lyrics in favor of stories about personal relationships, his daily struggles, and artistic pursuits.

On his most recent mixtape, Baby Need Food, released in September, Cosgrove focuses on chasing his dreams and overcoming personal struggles “to build an empire,” he said. The mixtape draws on his connection between self-confidence and identity, an ongoing theme from his past projects. “That’s just how my mind’s worked since, like, forever,” he explained. “It’s like, ‘I know where I’m lacking at,’ and that’s just life. Most, the majority of people do feel the same. They just are afraid to admit it.”

The album also approaches the issue of racial justice. On the track, “Freddie’s Dead”, Cosgrove pays an homage to Freddie Gray, the black 25-year-old Baltimore resident whose death in police custody ignited protests in cities across America. “We’re marching as one/you bitin’ your tongue/ pointing the finger, you’re my reason for anger,” he chants.

Cosgrove’s previous two projects, UsvsRobots, and its predecessor Simple Criticism, both released in 2014, catered more to college students, he said. Baby Need Food offered more relatable music for the “average person in the street.” The songs share his personal struggles and goals: his pursuit of success in music without selling out, turmoil from past relationships, and trying to meet others’ expectations for him as both a person and artist. Cosgrove said this was the first album he really truly liked listening to after its release.

“You can see the growth, that’s all I care about,” he said.

Cosgrove enjoyed listening to music growing up but never received any formal musical education. He didn’t pursue rapping seriously until he was 19 years old, when a friend named Gino, who later passed away, first introduced him to making music. Cosgrove eventually moved in with a friend who owned a studio in Poolesville, MD.

“I wasn’t making music at first, I was just seeing people come in, and eventually I thought, ‘Yo, I think I can make better stuff than them,'” he recalled. From the very beginning, he set to working hard on his craft. “Eventually I was just working on one song all god-damned day, and that eventually led to me working on a couple songs every day, and it just gradually picked up.”

Cosgrove met collaborator UnoHype in 2009 during their junior year of high school, though the two didn’t begin working together until 2011. UnoHype is one of four emcees in the Hostile Youth collective, also featuring Vaunfe and Donovan Day (formerly known as Hassani Kwess). Producer DJ Black Diamond rounds out the group’s roster at five members.

Vaunfe connected with Cosgrove during high school, later discovering the two were actually related through shared cousins. That fact only strengthened the quality of their work together, Vaunfe believes. Vaunfe also holds Cosgrove’s work ethic as his most admirable quality.

“Ace’s mind works really differently,” he said of his colleague. “It’s like he can’t sit in one place, so his mind is always working to the next best thing.”

Cosgrove’s devotion to authenticity in his lyrics extends to the rest of the Hostile Youth collective. “We put our real life experiences into the music and people really do connect with it well,” said UnoHype.

“Most rappers lie in their raps, say stuff they don’t do,” Vaunfe added. “We’re not trying to preach that. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to be honest and people are going to respect us for our art.”

Cosgrove takes the same approach of being true to himself to his regional identity. Having grown up in Montgomery County, he makes it clear that he is not a D.C. artist. “I’m just not about to rep where I’m not from,” he says. “They’re just two different places, two different atmospheres.”

As for a broader DMV sound, Hostile Youth doesn’t believe there is a specific sound they need to match. “There’s so many musicians in the DMV, and I’m sure they’re glad that there’s not a DMV sound,” says UnoHype. “That pigeonholes people at some point.”

Cosgrove used to work harder to connect with D.C.’s hip-hop scene, making time to meet with other artists at clubs downtown. When he turned 24, he decided he was going to stay in more often to work, sticking with his crew and stacking up on unreleased recordings over the last year. The Internet has helped him to gain plenty of praise and fans in the last two years; his music has been featured in music blogs and magazines websites like Complex, Pigeons and Planes, and Vibe.

Cosgrove recognizes that such accolades can prove fleeting and illusory, as does sharing a lineup with high-profile artists. “It’s good for perception, you know, like, ‘Damn, he’s on the same bill with Drake,'” Cosgrove said. “But I didn’t even go on the same day as Drake, you know?”

What’s more important to Cosgrove is having the opportunity to make music with his crew and hone his craft. He remains confident that Hostile Youth can be the next group to break out in the region, boosting his music to higher places. “I’ve been here forever,” he said. “It’s a big world out there that I’m trying to experience.”