Hypebeast Magazine

This post is in support of our Don Toliver cover story from Hypebeast Magazine #37: The Architects Issue. To order a copy, visit HBX.Don Toliver loves cars. That much is obvious. But with Octane, that obsession becomes something more deliberate, even a guiding ethos surging through the entire project’s DNA. The album itself plays like a pedal-smashing love letter to Group B rally racing and high-performance fuel. It even opens with “E85,” an ode to high-octane fuel blend used in flex-fuel vehicles. From the start, it’s clear: where 2024’s Hardstone Psycho saw the Houston musician building a full musical and visual world around motorcycle culture, Octane finds Toliver making music for the velocity and adrenaline rush of rallying racing.“I got infatuated with watching racers race and fans li...