Everyone was Icewear Vezzo crazy for two years straight. Vezz had that wave in Detroit for a while. You also had Icewear Vezzo on the project - why is it important to you to feature Detroit mainstays? We went through a lot together, from the features rolling in unexpectedly. Putting this together, it took damn near a year to put this album out. I really can’t explain it, you had to be there watching us doing it. How we roll the album out - the songs are critical, how we choose songs for the album. We just map out everything we want to do achieve. We planned for this to happen, though, so I’m glad we worked so hard for this moment and it’s actually happening.
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I don’t really know how to feel, it’s crazy because everywhere I’m turning, are listening to it and saying something about it, it’s crazy. Everybody know I really be nonchalant, but now it’s finally starting to hit me. How are you feeling, with the success of Face? “You got the people that pop out with that hit and go crazy off one song, and then you’ve got guys like me who put so much work in and finally get they shot. “There’s two stories to how this s–t can go,” Ray says.
The East Side native recalls touring local high schools, a common way to self-promote for Detroit artists, and intends to pay a visit to his own alma maters, Osborn High School and Mumford High School, soon. Putting Detroit on the map, he says, was always a part of the vision. Today, the support of his parents means the most to Ray, along with his hometown. Loaded with features from recognizable artists including Pusha T, Wiz Khalifa and Swedish rapper Yung Lean, Face transcends borders, allowing an unmistakably Detroit body of music to be devoured by mainstream listeners everywhere. also landed on three other charts: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums and Independent Albums, debuting at No. The album, released via Wavy Gang/EMPIRE.
Since 2019, Ray has gone from a virtual unknown on the national rap scene to one of the most commonly referenced emerging Detroit rappers, spearheading a new mainstream wave for the genre, alongside fellow Billboard Rookie of the Month and CMG-signee 42 Dugg, who has morphed into a feature favorite.įace marks Ray’s second charting album on the Billboard 200 and highest charting, to date, at No. And while the city’s climate may be unforgiving, it undoubtedly builds resilience.ĭespite many hearing Ray’s name for the first time with the arrival of his last album, Unfuckwithable, the 31-year-old rapper has been pounding the pavement for a decade (it’s hard to tell by looking at him, which explains his innocuous moniker). Throughout the 57-minute-long project, Ray remains true to the off-beat-by-a-millisecond cadence that defines modern Detroit rap, the slightly proper, slightly street accent, and the dark tales that can only occur in a city where for five months out of the year, thick, gray clouds are relentless, and the cold pierces every square-inch of city goers like ten thousand pins and needles. In a coolly nonchalant tone, commonly understood as the Detroit way, Ray recounts his conquests, wealth, struggles and triumphs, at moments “straddling the fence” between his upbringing and “being in the streets,” he says. Seconds later, the album darts into a piercing 808 Mafia beat, as Ray effortlessly unfolds rhymes detailing the very darkness his father prayed he’d be protected from. “Giving him protection, prosperity, and peace, in a dark and dying world.” “Our Father and Our God … I come asking your choice blessings on my baby boy Ray,” he prays. He isn’t spitting a verse - instead, Randal covers his son with a blanket of divine safe-keeping. Baby Keem: 2021 R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the YearĮighteen years later, Ray’s father, Randal, is the first feature heard on his 2022 breakthrough album, Face.