Detroit and the Bay Area are two rap meccas that are forever intertwined. Some theorize the bond goes back to the early days of the Great Migration when a few automobile plants moved from Detroit to Oakland; others claim the ties were built through generations of hustling. , a modern-day icon of Detroit rap, the synchronicity to have fully bloomed in hip-hop when influential local crew the Street Lord’z were collaborating with Bay Area stars like , Spice 1, and Too $hort in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
For his part, , “Detroit, it’s like Oakland/It’s a Black thing and I’m a Black man.” (Hey, sometimes it’s really that simple.) If Too $hort’s Detroit shoutout was the proposal, then the Street Lord’z 1999 cross-pollinated was the wedding day.
That’s all to explain why Detroit’s J.U.S and Oakland’s sound as if they share the same brain right out the gate on their first joint album, .
On the mic is J.U.S, a longtime engineer and producer with , the -led crew of elder-millennial shit-talkers.
In the last few years, he’s turned his attention to slick-tongued, autobiographical rhymes. Behind the boards is Squadda, formerly one-half of rap duo , who dropped one of the great mixtapes of the early 2010s with . Together on they’re a loose-lipped, hi-hat-happy riot.
J.U.S’s storytelling is personal and funny as hell: a lifetime of balancing Detroit player status and more ordinary responsibilities has him worn down.
“I’m on the road doin’ shows I do.