The few people reading me are probably wondering right now why I’m watching Rhythm + Flow because yes, an odd choice. The first season really exists for the judges, especially Cardi B, forever the most interesting woman on perhaps any planet. She’d do like a Lucille Ball impersonation anytime she and fellow judges make decisions. In fairness to her and fellow judges Chance the Rapper and TI, they did grow to love these rappers who are showing their unique artistry and passion from the jump. After production limbo, this show is back for a second season and it is almost similar to the first season. Replacing the first season’s judges are DJ Khaled, Latto and Ludacris, all ears during the auditions.

Latto’s placement on the panel is fascinating because she won a show like this years ago. Anyway, there’s enough shots and counter shots to the aspiring rappers missing a note or a word and Ludacris’ eyes bulging accordingly. But otherwise, and despite mistakes, the aspiring musicians get the bigger spotlight, like rough diamonds waiting for their necessary polishes. Speaking of that polish, that’s probably why I chose to watch and write about this. This show gets viewers to watch industry veterans be critics. As an aspiring critic, their input towards these aspiring musicians are better than mine, but will what they hear and I hear match up?

During the last series, I was rooting for female musicians like early out and Grammy winner Rae Khalil. I’m the same this season, where rappers like Dono incorporate both singing and rap to tell her story. There’s Sura Ali, active in her community but is willing to give judges the bars that fit the industry more. There’s Chyng Diamond, with metaphors and confidence, showing the human side that these veteran judges can relate to. And then there’s Yoshi Vintage, hailing from Flint, Michigan, finessing bars that are both punchy and tight.

The first season of this reality show had a certain freedom to it, where the judges visit different artist venues. This time around in Rhythm + Flow, viewers can see the understandable constraints that COVID brings to these scrappy productions. Maybe scrappy is the wrong word, but holding auditions in one city, Atlanta, makes the constraints a little obvious. Maybe it adds to the show’s tension, where these judges and these rappers have few shots to make connections. Big Sean and Busta Rhymes join the three main judges as guest judges, telling the aspiring musicians to have confidence and to enunciate.

Rhythm + Flow’s contestants also exist in a show with a strange structure in regards to the episode content. It shows the auditions go on for two and a half episodes, then two halves of separate episodes for cyphers. The reverse cliffhangers aren’t working for me but despite that, the show captures these rappers’ nerves. They’re in good hands thanks to fair but tough judges, but those judges still control the rest of their careers. I’m also just happy to see Remy Ma on my TV screen – I love a rapper who has bars in case there’s a booth or a cypher.

Netflix releases the first 4 episodes of Season 2 of Rhythm + Flow, the fourth episode hinting at what’s next. Dono, along with others, make it to the battle rounds in Detroit, but will other battles make her sink or swim? Who is this Detroit based white rapper who is making his way down a basement to coach the up and comers? And which one of the 14 rappers will stay ‘Brokee’ and which one will end up with a quarter of a million dollars?

Find out the answers to these questions and more by watching Season 2 of Rhythm + Flow, only on Netflix.