Image via ShittyBoyz/Instagram
Donald Morrison hopes Kendrick Lamar plays “meet the grahams” at the 2025 Super Bowl.
Baby Ghost – “BOW”
The production on “BOW” is like if a Wisconsin producer tried to make a beat for TisaKorean but instead gave it to Rio Da Yung OG’s brother in Flint. The sample and snare are relentless. Baby Ghost raps as if he’s oblivious to the beat, letting loose cruel and witty one-liners that would surely make his incarcerated brother proud. There’s a BabyTron cameo in the video as well, which makes sense as he was one of the first Mitten State rappers to collaborate with the Wisconsin scene years ago.
With Rio Da Yung OG, Louie Ray and now Baby Ghost all being related, it’s safe to say they’re one of the most talented families in rap right now. The influence of Rio’s darkly humorous view on life, and his refreshingly mature perspective on what it means to be in the streets, can be felt in Baby Ghost’s own music, although he hasn’t quite mastered the tact and introspection that makes Rio, or even Louie, so special. It’s charming for me to see little bits of Rio’s personality in Baby Ghost’s music. The way Baby Ghost says “I paid cash for these jeans, I don’t know no boosters,” is clearly channeling Rio’s rascal side. I’m still counting down the days until his release, which is slated for next summer according to the Bureau of Prisons website — although his team has hinted that it could be much sooner due to good time credits.
X4 & DaBoii – “R U Dumb”
X4 has one of my favorite voices in rap right now. Not since the inspired raps of NOLA’s Young Roddy has an artist’s physical voice been able to somehow crack the pleasure sensors in my brain this way. He can basically do no wrong in my eyes. I can’t stop telling my girlfriend — who’s hopefully ignoring me at least half the time — that I wish all rap music sounded like X4. He’s the modern day Problem, no offense JasonMartin, mixed with the nervous deadpan of Drakeo The Ruler and the hit potential of artists like Remble or early YG. And plus, he gets a surprising amount of love in the city for someone with Hoover Killer tattooed on his face.
“R U Dumb” is X4’s prodigious collab with The Bay Area’s DaBoii, who both sound as if they’ve been rapping together since before SOB X RBE broke up. DaBoii has an energized verse with lines about his opps not being able to make the rules in their own apartment because their girlfriend is the one who actually pays the rent. His assertive energy sounds almost like Meek Mill next to X4’s relaxed and unfazed tone. The beats X4 chooses to rap over remind me of early DJ Mustard and Tyga, an era that desperately needs to return for summer 2025.
CHRIST DILLINGER & RXKNephew – “IM BACK”
Ignore the cringe DJ drops (“THIS SONG IS FUNDED BY STOLEN DRUG MONEY”), and what you have here is RXK Nephew at his very best. He is somehow making some of the most fun and irreverent dance music of our time. On “I’m Back,” RXK and Christ Dillinger ride the danceable production with true conviction. It’s like something I’d want to hear playing at the end of an intense or somber movie.
Meet The Whoops & Hit-Boy – “Stand For That”
Hit-Boy hasn’t sounded this inspired since he helped form the supergroup HS87 more than 11 years ago. Now he’s working with another talented group based out of Los Angeles, Meet The Whoops, comprised of Jay Worthy, Rosecrans Hop Out, Hitta J3, Slumlord Trill, YS, Mari Ruger, and CEO Wacko. Meet The Whoops had a moment this past June when they performed at Kendrick Lamar’s infamous Pop Out event at the Kia Forum in Inglewood. “Stand For That” is a good example of how to fit more than four rappers into one song without it feeling overstuffed. Each artist builds off one another and the Hit-Boy production is simple enough to allow the MC’s to really shine.
ShittyBoyz – “Maroon 5”
Fresh off a major feature on the latest Eminem album, Babytron is back with his ShittyBoyz crew to prove he’s not too big time to avoid the trenches. Big Sean and Eminem letting BabyTron outrap them on “Tobey” is proof that the Detroit legends of yesteryear have officially passed the torch to the ShittyBoyz head boss. This surely isn’t something I would have predicted but I’m happy it’s happening. “Maroon 5” is classic Shittyboyz, with each three bringing an incursion of fast-paced flexing, with BabyTron saying “he up hundreds once a year, that boy’ a blue-mooner, 20 hoes vs. me, but I ain’t a Youtuber.”
Emptying the Chamber
