SEARCH FOR: VEEZE

There are some emcees in the rap world that are simply certified hitmakers, and their levels of fame far exceed anything that I could even fathom in my own life. Bonafide superstars are what I consider these people, and there aren’t too many more beyond the likes of Drake, Kanye, and Jay-Z. Well, although it’s hard to imagine that he is quite there yet because his career is still so young, one rapper who I think is well on his way to a legacy that won’t be forgotten about is Atlanta’s Lil Baby. He just has this star power that translates into any song he jumps on turning to gold, both intangibly and physically. Somehow I was late to his Antt Beatz-produced song “U-Digg”, and while I can’t sit here and claim to tap in with every single release he puts out, I am a massive Detroit rap fan, so considering he recruited 42 Dugg and Veeze to join him, I was shocked that I didn’t know sooner. Dugg isn’t someone who surprises me because this duo has worked together in the past, but Veeze is still so underground and underappreciated, so I was most excited to see what he …

Babyface Ray is someone who I honestly didn’t listen to extremely often when I first got into the Detroit rap scene, but that has completely changed over the last year or so. When I initially tapped in with the scene up in Michigan, I was immediately encapsulated by the insane sounds that were being brought to life, and although I now realize that Ray is one of the greatest to ever do it in Detroit, I was completely sleeping on him in the beginning. Well, after the success that his album FACE had on all fronts from a critic and a fan perspective, I knew that he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but that has pretty much been a given for years now. Then, when I saw that he dropped a deluxe version of the already insanely compelling album that featured artists like Veeze, Lil Yachty, Lucki, and more, I was even more excited than ever about the project. His song “Back N Action” has been in constant rotation from the moment I first listened to it, but the song that I didn’t realize was so fantastic until recently was “Spending Spree” featuring Veeze. Due to this, you can only …

Today was a day that really made me realize exactly why I love hip-hop and rap music. Some weeks can be slow for releases, but today was full of so many different artists dropping incredible music, I felt overwhelmed in the best way possible. I just couldn’t figure out where to start, but my solution was solved extremely quickly once I found out that Babyface Ray, one of the most elite emcees in the entire industry right now, dropped a deluxe version of his album FACE. Now, the original was already as good as it gets, so I wasn’t sure how much better a few extra songs could have made it, but I didn’t even realize that he actually dropped 8 new tracks, enough to basically make another album if you ask other artists, and these records seem to get better and better as you continue listening. I also love the strategy he utilized, because he decided to include features on four of these tunes while also leaving half of the new tracks for himself to enjoy without any guests. I have to mention, also, that the features he got for the deluxe were absolutely unbelievable, including Baroline, fellow Michigan …

Although I have no actual personal connection to the city of Detroit, it has become a place that definitely holds a piece of my heart, and that is for no other reason than its music scene. Over the past couple of years, each and every emcee coming from the Motor City has put in way more than enough work to not only get recognized on a national scale way more than what might’ve been originally expected, but they have proved that they’re one of, if not the very hottest music hubs in the entire world. Whether looking at people like Rio Da Yung OG, Icewear Vezzo, Veeze, or any of those smooth and inventive artists, or someone like whiterosemoxie who has brought a sound to life that is pretty much impossible for me to describe, each and every talent in Michigan has been dropping hit after hit, and when I think of my favorite emcees in the state, I have to admit that Baby Smoove is absolutely towards the top of that list. While it seems like he might drop off random singles as well as various mixtapes whenever he pleases, they’re always full of his nonchalant, lowkey personality-filled bars …

I remember seeing Lucki say a few months ago that his favorite new wave in rap is the WhiteHouse Studio collective of sorts which features several different Detroit rap crews and large names, even including some of the top Flint talent on their posse-cut dominated collab tapes that often pit mainstream forces with everyone from first time artists to rappers who don’t take the music super seriously and even many of the people most poised to take the reins of the next generation. For this reason I was not surprised at all to see that Lucki and World Tour Mafia’s DaeMoney back on another track together after colliding on “Scotty Ppls” last year. On this latest track the pair is also joined by Veeze who has the potential to be either a bona-fide underground legend or a mainstream star depending on the route he chooses to take. This joint-effort is both a testament to Lucki’s impeccable taste as well as how quickly the Detroit wave is spreading, causing all sorts of unusual collaborations as so many artists that have pioneered other scenes immediately pay homage to the Michigan scene for its realness, humor, and unique bar-heavy style. “GTA” is hopefully …

Detroit and Little Rock artists have been showing love to each other for a minute now and many have collaborated since, my favorite perhaps being D Mitch and Veeze’s track “Young N Turnt” and that song in many ways put me onto a great deal of the Little Rock scene that I was not yet hip to. D Mitch is back in our pages again today with his track “BLVD” where he unloads his staccato streetwise bars over Space’s suspenseful and ominous instrumental, varying his flows and talking his shit from start to finish in true Detroit fashion despite being one of the leaders of Little Rock. Arkansas’s music scene has been red-hot lately and I know it is only a matter of time until even more artists from Little Rock and beyond start to garner more attention.

It is no secret at all at this point that Detroit rappers love Nashville, and really the whole state of Tennessee in general, and this is evident through the music of the entire city’s scene as “The Tenn” has become a goldmine for midwest hustlers and has been for Nashvillians for generations. While Detroit often shouts the city out and Nashville’s rap scene is beginning to elevate itself more and more it has always surprised me that the actual music scenes themselves didn’t cross over more, but that seems to be beginning to change thanks to AC FreeThaReal and EasyMoney Roe who have been very consistent as of late, releasing numerous videos and adapting the Motor City’s sound and flows while giving it a twist with their Nashville drawl and slang. The trio boasts aspirational and motivating lyrics over a soulful but fast-paced instrumental, giving each artist a chance to slide on the beat in their unique ways. If you enjoyed this track you should check out AC and Roe’s other recent memorable collaboration “Trap or Die” or AC’s solo track “Fuck Rap” which is one of my very favorite songs to come out of Nashville in the last several …

The last year has seen the whole world turn their eyes to the Detroit music scene through a variety of different avenues as many, many artists at this point have stamped their names into the national consciousness from the Motor City, but to me the group of artists that are both some of the purest embodiments of the chaos and problems with their city as well as the ones who are the most committed to telling their stories in the most creative fashion possible are without question Los & Nutty, who alongside their Daisy Lane companions, have built a cult-following for their music almost as rabid as the fiends they rap about serving from Michigan to Tennessee, not to mention having been arguably the most consistent out of their city as the last two years has seen them drop three collaborative mixtapes, several individual projects, and dozens more features and singles to boot. While I also really, really enjoy WB Nutty’s music, Los has always been my favorite of the duo, and honestly from a personal perspective is my favorite rapper out of Detroit period, and on his latest project War on Drugs he delivers some of his very best work …

Despite the fact that Lil Yachty hails all the way from Atlanta, it almost seems like he turns into a different person when he finds himself up north in Michigan. He’s one of the few people who truly respects all of the insane talents coming out of the state, and even though there are so many different styles and sounds that all of these artists are delivering, I truly and firmly believe that Yachty did his very best to encapsulate just about all of these personalities on Michigan Boy Boat. Even though he might’ve been slightly out of his comfort zone when first starting to rap over some of these beats, he seemed to come into his own on this project and the most noticeable thing is the fact that his wordplay seemed to be at an all-time high. While it’s tough for me to pick a favorite song on the album considering it’s jam-packed full of bangers, one track I found myself gravitating towards earlier on has got to be “Stunt Double” which features the unbelievably talented Rio Da Yung OG. Despite the fact that Rio is currently locked up for various reasons that he describes as things that …

Just a month or two ago, the homie put me onto an artist who goes by the name Lil Aaron Japan, and although he might live out in Houston at the moment, his roots are dug deep in Milwaukee and that’s the place he calls home over everything else. The song that was my introduction to him was called “Thinkin” and it was a Detroit styled banger that was very reminiscent of a Baby Smoove or Veeze type of flow, instrumental, and overall aesthetic, but little did I know that it was going to lead me to more music that is even more unique and incredible than I could’ve ever expected. This incredibility is shown off in his latest project entitled Who Would Ever Thought, a 7 song, almost 13-minute-long mixtape featuring production from T4 and GabyBatBouta that gives a sample size of all the insane and out-of-the-box styles that Aaron can bring to life. Opening up with “Scotty Pippen”, an inspiring piano melody is combined with some airy, lighthearted synths. As he talks, his vocals are soft and angelic, yet it almost sounds like he is putting the most minimalistic amount of effort into his delivery as the autotune …