Let’s get the most superficial and amazing aspect of Well$’s new single, “Heaven’s Door,” out of the way now, because, if you read the headline, you’re already thinking about it, anyway: Did he really do a song with Metro Boomin’? That Metro Boomin’? This is a pretty big deal.

Metro Boomin’ was once just another member of a celebrated pack of ascendant hip-hop producers consistently getting credits with some of the biggest artists in the game. Then he executively produced Future’s Monster mixtape in 2014. Then he executively produced Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive in 2015, and produced on Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo in 2016. In the span of a couple years, Young Metro has gone from a buzzing collaborator to one of the hottest, most respected names in hip-hop.

So it’s more than a subtle flex for Well$—a budding but still very regional artist in North Carolina—to drop a song produced by the highly coveted Atlanta beatsmith. As co-signs go, few are stronger right now.

It’s just the latest in a stream of savvy moves by Well$ and the Immaculate Taste crew. They’ve debuted songs on Billboard and Noisey, constantly worked the blog-and-showcase circuit in New York City, and collaborated with some of the biggest in names in music. These decisions have placed considerable distance between the artist and his Triangle hip-hop brethren.

But if you can’t spit, it doesn’t matter whether you’re produced by some guy down the street or Yeezus himself. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case for Well$, who laces “Heaven’s Door” with the same intensity that he’s brought to impressive recent releases like “Coldest Heart,” “130,” and his guest verse on Angelo Mota’s “Over Here.”

Over a haunting, repetitive backdrop that suggests the creepy music boxes of a horror movie, Well$ re-introduces his mix of brash confidence and clever wordplay, with lyrics like, “That’s just where it’s at in terms of life/I’ll forget to take the picture, man, I know I’ll see it twice,” and “In real life, we Pistol Pete the way we push the rock/And what’s a dynasty without a little coup d’etat?”

By the time the slicing drums come in, Well$ has already whipped himself into the scattershot rampage of a tornado, riding the edge of losing control. It’s in these moments that the rapper is at his most exhilarating and least predictable. “Heaven’s Door” is the strongest stuff Well$ has put out in months. If it’s any indication of the quality of his upcoming The Way I’m Living Makes My Mom Nervous, we’re in for a treat come late March.