Meet the Most Productive Musician of 2025
A chat with Cure for Paranoia’s Cameron McCloud, who went viral this year by posting a new political and playful rap verse every single day.
For much of 2025, my daily morning routine involved checking for the latest post from Cure for Paranoia, aka the 32-year-old Dallas rapper and preschool teacher Cameron McCloud. While his no-days-off strategy of uploading a new rap verse every 24 hours or so might sound like the kind of meme scheme that’s engineered to gain viral popularity, for McCloud, it’s a personal project to cope with the horror that is current U.S. politics while leveling up his considerable rap skills. In his “dailies,” as he calls them, he captures the churning news cycle with acerbic wit, frankness, and a charisma that seems to be an extension of how much he cares, as well as incorporating lyrics about his personal mental health struggles and the loss of his mother. (It’s also the kind of thing that wouldn’t work if his verses, set to beats ranging from Busta Rhymes’ “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” to Cilla Black’s “Surprise Surprise,” weren’t absolutely fire.) As an example, here’s his verse from today, December 29:
McCloud and I spoke in early December, when he was embroiled in a bit of internet controversy: He had recorded a video with the rising Democratic Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett about her run for Senate, which some of McCloud’s staunchly progressive viewers disliked because Crockett voted for an aid package that included money for Israel’s defense in April; all year, McCloud has been consistently and vocally supportive of the Palestinian cause. If there was any question that McCloud didn’t write his verses brand new every day, there he was, responding to what was going down in his comment section at that moment—while also preparing for Cure for Paranoia’s third official release, the Work of A.R.T. EP, and coming off a truly rousing On the Radar performance of his song “The Artshow.”
This year, McCloud’s raps have been a consistently grounding force—art that has tangibly helped me get through the political climate of this shitty-ass year—that have also made me laugh at the insanity of it all (those punchlines, whew!). “You literally called me at the perfect time,” he said when he picked up the phone. “I just finished recording my verse.”
