Babytron – “Megatron” review

This is the 6th mixtape from Detroit rapper Babytron. Coming up as a member of the trio ShittyBoyz along with his childhood friends Stanwill & TR Dee signing to Lando Bando’s own The Hip Hop Lab Records, he’s also branched out on impressive solo career for himself as well as the side groups Lewis & Clark and the Dookie Brothers. However, it seems like last year was probably his biggest year yet landing interviews ranging from No Jumper to even Rolling Stone or the release of Luka Trončić last summer prior to signing with EMPIRE Distribution later that same month & then Bin Reaper 2: The 2nd Coming back in the tail-end of October. But to follow all that success up, he’s kicking off his 2022 run with Megatron.

“Letter to Cornelius” starts out the tape mixing jazz & trap to spit braggadocio whereas “Manute Bol” works in some strings to talk about being paid similar to that of the late NBA player of the same name later referencing the greatest WWE superstar ever; soon-to-be inducted Hall of Famer, 7-time world champion, 7-time tag team champion & WWE Hardcore Champion The Undertaker. “Peachtree” goes into a cloudier direction letting muthafuckas know that no one can beat him, but then “Cobra Kai” works in a danceable groove to talk about some late night shit.

Meanwhile on “Beyond Turnt”, we have the Dog $hit Militia general continuing to flex accompanied by some strings leading into “Huge Lifestyle 2” is a mediocre sequel to a loosie that GTP Daidoe put out a little over a year back. “Area 51” has an appropriately spacious atmosphere to it talking about being an alien just before “Mr. Do the Dash” brings a weepy violin loop into the mix declaring himself as such.

“Extra Butter” has a dope ass funk sample dissing his competition while Helluva takes “Crocs & Wock” into a more electro-direction to ball. “BMF” of course flips the 50 Cent single “Wish Me Luck” paying tribute to Big Meech’s operation of the same name prior to DaBoii tagging along for the hyphy-laced “Chess Players” to talk about their reckless gangster mentalities.

Following that, “6 Star Wanted Level” comes through with some insane beat switches for each verse saying he lives a GTA life while “Mainstream Tron” has a more playful tone talking about all the success he’s been seeing as of late. “Hustle Junkie” is basically him admitting that he’s addicted to grindin’ with an exotic sample woven in while “God Tier” goes into soulful territory talking about being his own boss.

“December 1st” flips the Sue Ann Carwell joint “I’ll Give You Love” to declare himself a living legend while “Hold Up, Wait!” returns to a more symphonic sound talking about being too high & punching a clerk harder than the longest reigning 2-time WWE Universal Champion, former 3-time WWE Champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion & WWE Tag Team Champion Roman Reigns. “RIP Virgil” experiments with disco paying homage to the late Off-White founder of the same name while “Stupid” finds Babytron displaying a decent back & forth chemistry with Glockboyz Teejaee over a violin instrumental.

The song “Jerry Rice” returns to the jazzy sounds of the opener continuing to diss anyone who thinks they can step up to him while the penultimate track “10 Toes Wherever” samples the classic Nate Dogg/Warren G banger “Nobody Does It Better” to talk about feeling cocky. “The Lost World” ends the tape with multiple beat switches from Danny G & some incredible charisma in Babytron’s verses.

If you ask me, Megatron serves as yet another reminder as of why Babytron is one of the hottest rappers in the city right now. He continues to bring some exciting new sounds into the Detroit trap scene & his pen-game (most notably the punchlines) continue to level up at an astonishing rate.

Score: 3.5/5

ShittyBoyz – “Trifecta” review

This is the sophomore album from Detroit trio ShittyBoyz. Consisting of Babytron alongside Stanwill & TR Dee, the group dropped off their debut mixtape 3-Peat under Lando Bando’s own The Hip Hop Lab Records in the summer of 2019 & quickly became one of the city’s biggest acts in recent memory. Their full-length debut New Year, Same Scams came out 7 months later & the last we heard from them as a unit was almost a year ago with their 2nd tape 4-Peat. However after taking some short time focusing on their solo careers, the founding Dog $hit Militia members are back in town in the form of Trifecta.

“Red Wings” opens the album with a mystic trap beat from Jakesand talking about shining from out the dark whereas “Gotham City” follows it up with a more darker tone saying they don’t lane switch referencing both 14-time WWE world champion, 4-time WWE tag team champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion & WWE United States Champion Randy Orton followed by 3-time WWE world champion, 5-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion, 9-time WWE tag team champion, 3-time WWE Hardcore Champion, 3-time TNA World Champion, 2-time TNA World Tag Team Champion, ROH World Tag Team Champion, HOG Tag Team Champion, ΩCW Heavyweight Champion, ΩCW New Frontiers Champion, 2-time ΩCW Tag Team Champion & The Crash Mundial Parejas Campeon Jeff Hardy. “Big 3” takes a more vibrant route to talk about their star power just before “Soul Bleed” mixes chipmunk soul with trap continuing to flex.

Meanwhile on “Taliban Ties”, we have the ShittyBoyz picking up where the previous cut left off sonically talking about their connections to the mob leading into the flute-laced “Visa Magicians” getting back in their scamming bag. “Red Light, Green Light” is pretty much their own take on the Squid Game concept down to the sample Danny G chops up, but then the instrumental that “Sly Cooper” brings to the table of course pays homage to one of my favorite video game series growing up talking about taking computer’s from internet thugs & dissing the weirdos with no money.

“Night on Collins Ave” almost has a bit of an orchestral quality to it detailing how it is on the titular street here in Detroit while “Ghetto Elegance” returns to chipmunk soul territory to show off their wealth. “Payday” works in some catchy vocal melodies hanging in the background painting pictures of the lives they live while “TMZ” incorporates a sitar to talk about being married to the paper.

Following that, “Bill Nye” goes into a more synth-heavy direction calling out those who ain’t never chased a bag prior to “Blizzard Mode” throwing some bells in the mix talking about how nothing they achieved was luck. “Triple Dog Dare” comes in with a more entrancing tone challenging a fed after pulling up to right & TR Dee making a reference to 16-time WWE world champion, 4-time WWE tag team champion & 5-time WWE United States Champion John Cena while “Supervillain” sinisterly compares themselves to that of.

The amount of beat switches on “Time Travelin’” are completely fuckin’ insane as they let their competition know they ain’t scared of them while “Rob Dyrdek” addresses their hustle referencing UFC Hall of Famer & former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin alongside the Justice League franchise owned by the Warner Bros.-owned DC Entertainment. “NFL” of course samples the Twilight Trio’s theme tune for the titular company making a bunch of clever sports references while the song “Kung Fu” over a weepy instrumental talking about being bound to blow. The penultimate track “Pedal Pushin’” has some cloudy undertones to the beat talking about pulling up when the money calls & “On 1” ends the album with an opera sample & talking about working magic.

Between this & the new Babyface Ray album Face, I feel like this is gonna be a great year for the city as far as rising talent goes. It’s always amazing to me how each member of the trio stands out in their own way & their style remains unmatched in comparison to some Detroit trap artists painting themselves in a corner stylistically.

Score: 3.5/5

Babytron – “Bin Reaper 2: The 2nd Coming” review

Babytron is a 21 year old rapper from Detroit, Michigan who came up just a few years ago as part of the trio ShittyBoyz along with his childhood friends Stanwill & TR Dee signing to Lando Bando’s own The Hip Hop Lab Records. Along the way, he’s also built up a solo career for himself as well as the side groups Lewis & Clark and the Dookie Brothers. The kid just dropped Luka Trončić on his birthday over the summer & with Halloween approaching this weekend, the Dog $hit Militia general will be celebrating by dropping a sequel to his debut tape Bin Reaper.

“Half-Blood Prince” kicks the tape off with Danny G sampling the Harry Potter theme getting on that gangsta shit whereas “Next Level” weaves in a soul sample talking about elevating. “Paul Bearer” named after the titular WWE Hall of Famer who managed both members of former 3-time WWE Tag Team Champions The Brothers of Destruction consisting of fellow WWE Hall of Famer Kane & The Undertaker individually works in a flute to get braggadocious, but then “Euro-Stepper” has a more minimalistic sound to it with him going at his competition.

Meanwhile on “Day in Ferndale”, we have Babytron displaying some intriguing storytelling despite its weak instrumental just before the bassy “007” talks about creeping up with the strap. “Pissed Off” has a bit of a early-2000’s era Dr. Dre influence to the production declaring himself as a 1-man army leading into Lil Yachty tagging along for “Turtle Pie” to show some amazing chemistry even though it’s criminally short giving Twist of Fates like former ECW World Heavyweight Champion, 11-time WWE Tag Team Champion, WWE United States Champion, WWE Cruiserweight Champion, WWE Hardcore Champion, 2-time ΩCW Heavyweight Champion, 2-time ΩCW Tag Team Champion, 2-time TNA World Champion, HoG Tag Team Champion & ROH World Tag Team Champion Matt Hardy.

“Monkey D. Luffy” has a hypnotic vocal loop buried in the bass comparing himself to the 1 Piece character of the same name while the soulful “It Is What It Is” looks back on not having all the shit he has now. “Pink Runtz” resurrects the hi-nrg vibes of Luka Trončić calling himself the drip god & dissing those who say yes to hoes like future AEW World Champion, former 5-time WWE world champion, 2-time WWE Tag Team Champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion, IWGPジュニアタッグ王座, GHCジュニアヘビー級王座, 2-time PWG World Champion, ROH World Champion & ROH Pure Champion Bryan Danielson. The flutes on “Monsters & Mobsters” are a nice touch letting cats know beef with them ain’t the best decision whereas “On the Bible” shows off lyrically over an instrumental that sounds straight from a kung fu flick.

Krispylife Kidd comes into the picture for “Tag Team Champs” to deliver a more fleshed out version of “Turtle Pie” leading into the glossy yet romantic “Jesse Owens”. The late night cruiser “How?” calls out his haters as crackheads & the more mellow “Heart Break Kid” taking it’s title from the nickname of WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development, NXT Head of Creative, 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, 4-time WWE world champion, 3-time WWE Intercontinental Champion & 6-time WWE Tag Team Champion Shawn Michaels spills out some $1M thoughts.

I like how minimal yet detailed “Superstar” sounds addressing his rising fame just before the ShittyBoyz come together for the hi-nrg “Young Goats” talking about being future legends in the making buying rockets from SpaceX founded by Tesla CEO & Neuralink founder Elon Musk. “Blankman” grimly details living better days as of late & “Pimp My Ride” pays homage to the show that overshadowed Xzibit’s music career down to the sample.

“Green Lantern” takes a funkier approach dissing those faking the funk, but then Helluva provides a techno vibe for “Frankenstein”, which is about how Wockhardt got him moving slow including a bar referring to WWE Hall of Famer, 6-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion, WWE Tag Team Champion, WWE Hardcore Champion, IWGPヘビー級王座, the inaugural 6-time TNA World Champion, TNA X Division Champion & 2-time TNA World Tag Team Champion Kurt Angle.

The Everybody Hates Chris theme gets flipped during “Everybody Hates Tron” to throw in a bar referring to former IWGPヘビー級王座 as well as 10-time WWE world champion & former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar while the bell-heavy “No Jumper” speaks on blowing weed on Adam22’s podcast of the same name. “Lavar Ball” with RTB MB is another flute-woven cut that Jakesand cooked up talking about turning the party up whenever they walk in & to finish the whole tape off, “Sith Lord” flips the iconic Darth Vader theme to basically call himself the rap game equivalent to that of one of the greatest villains ever.

Not a lot of sequel projects in hip hop can live up to the expectations set by the predecessor, but Bin Reaper 2: The 2nd Coming is a solid example of that. It’s a little long-winded running at 27 tracks total, but I genuinely think Babytron’s punchline game is one of the best in the current hip hop landscape & how he along with the rest of the ShittyBoyz break free from how repetitive Detroit trap can be.

Score: 3.5/5

Babytron – “Luka Trončić” review

This is the 4th mixtape from Detroit rapper Babytron, who came up just a few years ago as part of the trio ShittyBoyz along with his childhood friends Stanwill & TR Dee signing to Lando Bando’s own The Hip Hop Lab Records. Along the way, he’s also built up a solo career for himself as well as the side groups Lewis & Clark and the Dookie Brothers. But to celebrate his 21st birthday, it’s only right for the general of the Dog $hit Militia collective to drop Luka Trončić.

It’s cool to hear him kick it off with a glossy, rubbery sequel to “Cheat Code” produced by Helluva as well as a dancy conclusion of the “Jugg Messiah” trilogy. Meanwhile on “Blitz”, we get some keyboards from Danny G as the recently released Peezy tags along to flex whereas “IG Captions” feels like a charming freestyle & the instrumental feels like something out of the 80’s.

“PunchGod 3” if you couldn’t tell by the title showcases his punchline abilities backed by an infectious high-pitched vocal sample & even though Allstar Jr. has one of the weaker features on “Scam Stars”, I do like the piano-inflicted beat quite a bit. We go into a more suspenseful sound on “Golden Ticket” as Babytron compares his rap career to such referencing the greatest WWE superstar ever; 7-time world champion, 7-time tag team champion & WWE Hardcore Champion The Undertaker before sounding off on his wealth on “$1M Thoughts” even though the instrumental is kinda plain.

The song “Where They At?” is more spacier cut where he says he feels like the late Blade Icewood, but then Stanwill & TR Dee unite for the electronic-tinged “Cold World” going at clout chasers. “Cowabunga” mixes some synth-strings & blobby bass for Babytron to start flexing lyrically & not only does he carry that topic onto “The Office”, but the way they sample the actual theme song from The Office is pure brilliance.

“Just In Case” is pretty much his own version of the Jahiem song of the same name while the synths on “Mr. Miyagi” sound off like laser guns as Babytron proclaims he has the magic touch. Since99’s verse on “Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy” is another weak spot on the album, but I do like how they compare themselves to the SpongeBob duo & actually sample their theme music much like on “The Office”.

The braggadocio continues on the entrancing “Playmaker” sampling “Since I Fell for You” By Apollonia including a reference to former IWGPジュニアヘビー級王座, 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion & 4-time WWE Tag Team Champion Owen Hart’s death at the latter promotion’s infamous 2nd & final Over the Edge pay-per-view prior to going back to that Bay Area sound for “Game Time” thanks to Jakesand, where Babytron raps about cranking the notch up just to prove a point since he’s phenomenal as current WWE World Tag Team Champion AJ Styles.

I love the haunting synth melodies accompanying the championing lyricism of “MVP Season” but then for the materialistic “$100 Rice Bowl”, the sound is like a cross between 80’s-like synths & hyphy. “Space Jam” has an EDM flare to it sonically as Babytron says he “got a Goon Sqwad like he’s Trick-Trick” while the eerie, bassy “Money Man” flashes his wealth.

The song “Untouchable” has a vintage sample throughout as well as lyrics about being that dude while the penultimate track “Bugs Bunny” is a glistening yet explosive cut about being up now. As for the closer “Early Bird”, there’s a plinky beat & Babytron rapping about how he can’t be fucked with.

Of all the tapes this cat has dropped, Luka Trončić could very well be his best one yet. I think the Hi-RNG undertones in the production is super unique in comparison to the more generic sounds you hear in modern day trap & Babytron’s continues to reveal himself as the most skilled ShittyBoy there is.

Score: 4.5/5

ShittyBoyz – “4-Peat” review

The ShittyBoyz are a hip hop trio from Detroit, Michigan consisting of Babytron, Stanwill & TR Dee. Breaking out in 2019 off their debut mixtape 3-Peat after Lando Bando signed them to The Hip Hop Lab Records, the 21-year olds would begin to grow in popularity by opening for Danny Brown at his 6th Annual Bruiser Thanksgiving show as well as their No Jumper interview early last year. They dropped their full-length debut New Year, Same Scams pretty much right after that but as the 1 year anniversary of the album came & went over the weekend, the trio are reuniting for their 2nd mixtape.

The title track that starts things off talks about being the coldest group in Michigan over an electronic dance-flavored beat from Helluva whereas the next song “Boss Fight” references the current 2-time WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns alongside soon-to-be inducted WWE Hall of Famer, former SMW Tag Team Champion, 3-time WWE world champion, 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 12-time WWE tag team champion & WWE Hardcore Champion Kane over some cinematic string-sections laced in the instrumental.

“War Zone” talks about the Dog $hit Militia putting bounties out over a much darker beat while the song “Ryan García” talks about multiplying bitches over a classy instrumental. The track “3-Man Weave” finds the trio going back & forth using the same rhyme schemes for 2-minutes over a glossy beat from Jakesand while the song “Terry Crews” talks about being cocky over what sounds like an animé sample.

The song “Jeez Relax!” talks about their newfound lifestyles over an opulent beat while the song “Rat Trap” claps back at those who try to stop their shine over some foreboding bells. The track “Scam GPS” of course returns to their scamming roots over a leaden beat while the song “10:20 at the Lab” talks about being gifted now over a flute-tinged instrumental.

“Pick & Roll” finds the trio pondering about a number of different things over some snares firing off like rounds while the song “Jack Frost” talks about how there isn’t many like them over a Danny G instrumental with some icy synth melodies. The tape then rounds out with “Metta World Peace”, where the trio get materialistic over a boisterous beat.

Like the ShittyBoyz said at the very beginning of the tape: “We’re the coldest group in the state”. Their production continues to get better & the way they bounce off one another in their verses is still as unique as it was when they first broke out a couple years back.

Score: 3.5/5