Le Geek

Lelo - Get Geeked
(From Mastiff: Pink Tiles album; 2026)

Fellow #MicTerrorHive member Jmil reckons Ezale should beatjack and remake this song. I concur, but until then the original will do just fine as a Detroit Bass exocet missile designed to blow my limbs into a frenzy. Your shit is underground, this shit is underwater™. The title says Geeked, but this song is more Rollin' than Scotty. This beat is a good example of how a Rap song can snatch a couple of magic moments from an otherwise dire 80s Dutch pop song and mold them into a bangeur. True story: I've only just realised that Lelo and Gelo are two different rappers.

No words

Never On Sunday - Urban Rains
(From Day By Day EP; 1992)

octave one · A3 Never On Sunday - Urban Rains

Deep melancholy Detroit dance music from Octave One under a different name. Detriot dance music is so confusing with all the aliases innit? For example, ur boi only recently realised that Alien FM are Aux 88 under a different guise. Anyhoo, Urban Rains is the missing link between Night Drive the choon and Night Bus the concept. A Woolworths £10 gift voucher from 2008 goes out to anybody who can tell me how I discovered this song. Shout out to the woolyback crew in St. Helens!

Dizzee Rascal - Strings Hoe
(From white label 12"; 2004)

UK Urban Classic Hits · Dizzee Rascal - Strings Hoe (Instrumental) - 2004 - UK Grime

So, there's a 2004 white label Dizzee Rascal instrumental called Strings Hoe which samples John Lurie's Car Florida from the Stranger Than Paradise soundtrack. How on Earth did 20 year old Dizzee Rascal find a John Lurie score from a 1984 Jim Jarmusch movie? Answers on a postcard from Margate plz. Personally, I'm glad Rascal didn't rhyme over Strings Hoe because, if Jarmusch were to ever do a Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samourai sequel set in London, he could use this track as the main theme. This ain't no ancient civilization here, m8... except sometimes it is.

His Adidas

"Your trophy wife is participation
N*gga, your affidavit like 10 pages"

Bruiserwolf & Harry Fraud - Boss Up
(From Made By Dope album; 2025)

Sometimes a one paragraph Youtube comment sums up a song's appeal better thana blog post ever could. Just when you thought the song was percussion-free, those drums kick like Bruce Lee! How much Adidas does Bruiser Wolf own tho? Who does this guy think he is - Gary Aspden? Wolf should record a song called I Sit Alone In My 4 Cornered Room Staring At 3 Stripes.

Ur boi Messi Mart bought a pair of Adidas Nastase in 2007-ish, wore them once, decided I didn't like them that much, and stored them away. Rediscovered them late this summer, decided they'd be the ideal white kicks to pair with shorts, wore them a handful of times and the soles crumbled on both shoes. Godamn, homie - my kicks is playing tricks on me.

Don't Get Caught

Babyf×ce E ft. Mello Buckzz - Tweakers
(From Tweakers single; 2025)


On one hand, this is tuff and I have a crush on Mello Buckzz. On the other hand, Babyf×ce E has shamelessly 'borrowed' lyrics from 70th Street Carlos' Government Shutdown and thought nobody would notice. It's not just me who clocked it either because various people in the YouTube comments have picked up on it. Should have tried to disguise your plagiarism with a different flow, m8. You can drop your song, kid, and it don't matter that it's hot, there's still one rule, playa - don't get caught.

Shorty K Back

Robb Bank$ ft. Sir Michael Rocks, Shorty K & Boldy James - Top Shottas 2K25
(From the internet; 2025)


Top notch posse cut belonging to Shaggy's son Robb Bank$. Everybody did their thing and sounded cognizant of each other’s presence over a beat which is effervescently effective. Personally, I'm pretending this is a sequel to Too $hort Back which was recorded for Boldy James' first album.

I saw a Wolf with a Columbian menu in his hand... (part 2)

"That was a good look, before he left me hanging like a pull up
It was money on the floor like a push up
But that's the story of my life, which is a good book"

Bruiser Wolf - Hurry Up & Buy
(From My Story Got Stories album; 2024)

Bruiser Wolf · Hurry Up & Buy

When Bruiser Wolf declared "I got my own sound, I'm an instrument" on his first album it wasn't so much a boast as a explanation of how his dulcet Looney Tones work. Marvin The Martian tempo, his lines got pimples, the spaces got dimples, everything he says sounds com-umental. The game ain't the same without the playaz in, these words don't make sense without the layers in, the white lines don't hit the same without the LOLz in, this beat sounds like it was chopped in Shaolin.

Previously: I saw a Wolf with a Columbian menu in his hand...

I saw a Wolf with a Columbian menu in his hand...

"I wonder if they could tell I'm a dope boy?
My first toy was a scale, I had no choice
Money talk, I had no voice
My mom was gone, I had no joy "

Bruiser Wolf - Dope Boy
(From Dope Boy single; 2024)

Bruiser Wolf · Dope Boy

2024 has lift off! It's the return of the Wolf with more one-liners than Bob Monkhouse. Thankfully he's stuck 2 his script and his musical M.O is still Danny Brown's m8 who sounds like Suga Free in a Carhartt Duck chore jacket rather than a Cavalli 3/4 length Mink coat. A Rapconteur with the comic delivery of your favourite sitcom character, Bruiser Wolf stays a breath of cool breeze in the zone of Detroit D-Boy rhymes. Those intangibles innit - it's mostly tha voice that makes your ears perk up, it's mostly tha voice that makes your funny-bone buck.

So whatcha 'saine?

"Runnin' n*gga you ain't never been no boss
Talkin' real reckless when we know you soft
Boy, you a lame dude, shit knock off
And never pop out when the shit pop off"

Poe Whosaine - You Bad If You Thought Different
(From A1 Gone Sell Itself album; 2022/YouTube; 2023)


Another good random find: this is like Calvin-T's long-lost brother from Detroit or Sada Baby's funky-uncle from Oakland. Beat on this is so boingy you can bounce on it like a trampoline. All things considered, this shit deserves a place in my canon of favourite non-2023 Rap songs I've discovered in 2023. Dial M for Martorialist if you feel me, ya hear me?

Fab Five Freddy - Sucker M.C's freestyle (1983)
MC Lyte - I Cram To Understand U 1990 (DJ DOC remix) (1990)
Tung Twista - Back 2 School (1992)
Children Of The Corn - Fair One Part 2 (1994)
Big Pokey - Hardest Pit (1999)
Drama - Big Ball (2001)
Dizzee Rascal - Street Fighter (CDQ) (2002/2023)
Big Scoob ft. Celph Titled - Floss Filthy (2003)
Day Day Sustaaa - B.A.N.P (2022)
Lebra Jolie - What Kinda (2022)

I'm tryna get in where I fit in, what's your throat size?

"You the type of n*gga catch a body then go get baptized
I don't know what the f**k it is but I hate fat guys"

Kookei - So Icy
(From The Incredible Hulk album; 2023)


Like I said, Kookei makes his best music when he picks beats which slightly deviate from yer standard boring interchangeable Michigan Rap formula. What makes So Icy hit just a little bit different is that bass which sounds like it was programmed by Juan Atkins. It's all luv to the basic bloggers who love generic Michigan beats, but here at The Martorialist we're tryna hear some Detroit Rap that's designed for cosmic cars.

Kookei Crank Thatii

"If it ain't about no money I don't see it in my schedule
Turn his brains into Chicken Noodle Soup, that n*gga dead, he ain't a vegetable"

Kookei - Incredible
(From Mr. Incredible album; 2022)


A cheat code song for those of us who've been hankering after some 2022 steel-drum Rap. No offence to the Michigan fanboys but Incredible is what I wish Veeze's music sounded like. File this shit alongside Phat Baby's Proper Play (FWS) in the 2022 canon of 'good bad-energy Rap songs which make me feel like I need to restore my moralbiotic balance afterwards.'

Incredible was all good just a week ago, and now Toknight is my jam too. Relentless Kool G. Rap type multis and an opera sample which elevates this one above the deluge of boring interchangeable 2022 Michigan Rap.

"Police askin' questions, I don't know, I popped a bar that night
I can't live with no bitch that like to fart at night"

Kookei - Toknight
(From Mr. Incredible album; 2022)

Electronic Warfare

Cybotron - Clear
(From Clear single; 1983)

Rafael Falce de Souza · Cybotron - Clear

Yeah, Juan Atkin's Cybotron is cool but have you ever heard Martin Slavin's Cybermen theme from 1960s Doctor Who? True story: it was #actually a piece of stock music called Space Adventures Part 2 which Doctor Who's producers at the BBC licenced throughout the late 1960s to soundtrack the Cybermen in scenes like this. Imagine hearing some crazy space shit that don't make no sense like this as a kid in 1966 or 1967! To paraphrase Juelz Santana, this shit sound like it's from another galaxy. The BBC stayed terrifying children on multiple levels, not all of them noncey.

Martin Slavin - Space Adventures Part 2
(From various Doctor Who episodes; 1966 onwards)


Martin Slavin had 60's electronic shit more John Blaze than Karlheinz Stockhausen and ain't shit recognised by blokes who read The Wire magazine.

I play with the stick, violin

"Bottles of Champagne, some shots, a few beers
I treat my dogs better than white people do theirs
I'm in a drop like a tear
But the engine sound like a pick-up
My roof can do a sit up
These hoes come outta nowhere like the hiccups"

Bruiser Wolf - Chess Move$
(From Dope Game $tupid album; 2021)


Hat tip to Fred for recommending this Bruiser Wolf album. So, Wolf is Danny Brown's sidekick and his musical M.O is that he's Suga Free in a Carhartt Duck chore jacket rather than a Cavalli 3/4 length Mink coat? I can dig that like Ben Byron's dog. It's a cold world and we could all do with more rappers bearing warm clobber. Gotta appreciate the #OutfitSynergy of Bruiser wearing a Superstar tracksuit in a song where he says "sold more white lines than Adidas." Pity the Superstar trackies have been shitty quality since 2017 when Adidas switched to cheaper materials and added the stupid white piping from the armpit to the collar. Holla if ya hear me, AthleisurewearHive.

Also very necessary is Bruiser's tragicom song about his mum being a baghead. Tears of sadness and laughter at the SAME DAMN TIME like the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

"Pushed me outta the womb and left me when I was two
No first days at school or watchin' me jump the broom
I was ashamed when people asked me what Momma do
So I made up somethin' crazy like 'yeah, she work at the zoo!'
Can't trust women 'cause I couldn't trust you"

Bruiser Wolf ft. Apropos - Momma Was A Dopefiend
(From Dope Game $tupid album; 2021)


"I am you, but I ain't you
You left my dad bitter like grapefruit"

Paddy and Mick walk into a pub...

"It just don't look like this
If you livin' carefree then you probably don't look like us
Damn, n*gga, let me cook right quick"

Mick Jenkins - Carefree
(From The Circus EP; 2020)


Need an investigation into how a Mick Jenkins single produced by Black Milk has ended up a semi-hit in the U.K. Granted, it's a legit jam about a topic that's become even more horribly pertinent as 2020 unfolds, but who'd have thunk such a song would become Big In Britain™? Personally, I'm diggin' this shit because its hazy late night vibe is the exact opposite of what I'd expect a Mick Jenkins & Black Milk collaboration would sound like.

The first Chicago Rap song to be bigger in the U.K than the U.S since Vic Mensa's Hip-House song. AKA the only Vic Mensa song where his inherent corniness could blossom into something listenable.

Sada Bacon

"They wanna see me do my dance
In these $1000 pants
Don't disrespect me and my mans"

Sada Baby - Whole Lotta Choppas
(From the internet; 2020)

Sada Baby · Whole Lotta Choppas

File this under 'Detroit bass music that accidentally sounds like Laurent Garnier's French rave classique Crispy Bacon.'

Laurent Garnier - Crispy Bacon
(From 30 album; 1997)


Mi amor, merci, oui oui, bon bons and all that good stuff to the Northern headz who remember that Crispy Bacon was a far bigger CHOON in't late 90s than any of the singles from Daft Punk's first album.

Too Many Men

Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Sudden Death
(From Innocent Country 2 album; 2020)


One of my big pet peeves about Rap right now is the need for superfluous guests. Thus, of course the best songs on Quelle Chris new album feature people doing Chris' one job (or Chris doing someone else's job in the case of Sudden Death.) Wonders do happen when Jean Grae's significant other is home alone with his microphone, but he seems hellbent on becoming the Ampichino of sardonic eccentric-Rap: a needy bastard with a near-pathological aversion to go for self on his own songs. If only it were possible to enforce social-distancing on Rap albums, mixtapes, and EP's - no more than 2 guests per project, imho.

Humanity Strikes Back!

"Ima chill at the crib cuz I’m safe here
I ain’t even bouta drink me a Corona beer
Ima bouta stay at the crib for about a year
And I ain’t coming back out til this shit clear
I done bought me a mask and a lot gloves
And I still feel like that’s not enough
I ain’t shaking no hands, I don’t wanna hug
Make sure you wash yo' hands with a lot of love"

Gmac Cash - Coronavirus
(From YouTube; 2020)


Hands on the sanitizer pump, we ain't goin' out like that. It's Gunplay over Future all day, everyday: Mask On and you might see 2021, Mask Off and ya ass might get the cough.

Previously: All the homeboys with coronavirus be quiet!!!!

His name is Rio and he dances with the bands

"I threw some water on his shirt, he had a f*ckin' wire
Bought a zip of soft for 800 and let my uncle try it
He said 'straight drop'
I knew the shit hadta be good I seen his face drop
It's 75 on a strap but he dropped 8 shots
I knew somebody got hit I heard the 'K stop"

Rio Da Yung OG - Take A Day
(From YouTube; 2020)


Shout out to Duran Duran, we in this bitch! Like Pink Chardonnay says, this one is a slight change of pace - a slight change of pace that's more to my taste, tbh.

Comme Detroit Garçons

"And I might just scam you, bro
Put a shell in his back - Michelangelo"

BandGang Lonnie Bands ft. ShittyBoyz - Simba
(From YouTube; 2019)


Via Ray Garraty. For a song that only lasts 2 and a half minutes, this track sure slaps with a lorra lorra synergy and packs a lorra lorra punchlines from the 4 lads involved. Now that's what I call Maximi-zing! More impressively, it even justifies the existence of Comme des Garçons' corny diffusion line with ShittyBoy BabyTron's "Play hoody on the only time that my heart gon' show" line. Perfect **Mic Drop** moment to end the song or wot?

Not quite my fave Detroit song of the month, mind. That'd be Sada Baby's 2k19 equivalent of LLYGMISTA innit.

"Choppa and a Glock the size of Andy Milanokas, n*gga
I sip lots of Wakie and my pockets got that gwop up in 'em
I dont f*ck with thots most of them blocked after my cock up in 'em
It's a buncha snakes up on your squad, how is you rockin with 'em?"

Sada Baby - Lame
(From YouTube; 2019)

Pe' Against The World

"Bossed up on these n*ggas like Im Darnell
N*ggas sellin' couches actin' like the cartel
Leather in the 650, new car smell"

Peezy - New Car Smell
(From No Hooks II mixtape; 2019)


I ain't even a Peezy fan like some of youze lot but even I'm glad the highlight of No Hooks II just got blessed with a video. Believe me it ain't easy admitting that Detroit now has the best rapper called Peezy. Damn, OMB, the fuck happened to you?

Pop, lock, and cock it

"N*ggas buildin' walkways, you already burnt your bridge"

Baby Money - I'm Coming
(From YouTube; 2019)


Some ol' Robotic futuristic George Jetson type random Detroit street shit that Mr. Wiggles could pop & lock to.