Lelo – “Mastiff” review

Detroit, Michigan rapper Lelo coming off his full-length debut New Detroit last summer to drop his 7th extended play. Signing to 10K Projects a couple years ago, he would make his presence known more widely in the local trap scene by putting out his 4th EP Nightingale not too long after landing a record deal & gained even more exposure a month later by dropping the single “No Contempt” on SoundCloud. LifeAfterDogshit as well as When It’s Over & New Detroit would further increase his profile, returning 10 months since the latter to drop Mastiff.

“Hollowed Bricks” begins with a luxurious backdrop, some hi-hats & 808s talking about living before sitting in the casket whereas “Blueprint” featuring Apolloscase brings a wavier Detroit sound to the picture so both of them can trade verses with each other. “Dialect” ends the 1st leg of the EP explaining that it’s a whole different kind of talk whenever one brings up money around him & not inserting himself around those who haven’t seen shit.

To kick off the 2nd half, things got for a pluggier vibe instrumentally so he can talk about staying “Hoodrich” until his very last breath while “Monetize” brings a subdued tone to the beat flexing his ability of selling this shit back to the trap like he didn’t already begin to make some chips off it. The closing track “Down to Earth” spends Mastiff’s final 3 minutes blending a soul sample with hi-hats talking about having bigger dreams & a few telling him to die by this chain he has.

It made me happy to hear that more ears got put onto Lelo the summer prior ditching the trap elements of When It’s Over so he could make a turn towards a cloudier Detroit trap direction & create something entirely new out of interpolating many of the city’s popular sounds, swapping out the cloudier influences in favor of standard trap for Mastiff & incorporating some occasional plugg undertones to further represent the Motor City’s past & present.

Score: 3.5/5

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Lelo – “New Detroit” review

Here is the full-length studio debut from Detroit, Michigan rapper Lelo. Signing to 10K Projects a year earlier, he would make his presence known more widely in the local trap scene by putting out his 4th EP Nightingale not too long after landing a record deal & gained even more exposure a month later by dropping the single “No Contempt” on SoundCloud. LifeAfterDogshit & When It’s Over would both increase his profile, returning 7 months after the latter to flex his New Detroit status.

“Soldier” opens up with a cloudy Detroit sound talking about giving a fuck less regarding the American dream & wanting to be in a position where’s doing good from both financial & health standpoints whereas “Good for Your Health” responds to a hoe telling him to quit showing off when he only wants to smash. “Forever in a Day” continues the cloudy Detroit trap vibes talking about picking up loads at every pit stop while “Paris” encourages a woman to follow him to France.

As for “100,000 1s”, we have Lelo encouraging everyone to get it while they’re young just before “Call It” talks about not trusting a bitch in roughly a decade. “Leisure” finds himself pondering the idea of giving a bitch $1K so he can keep her around for a bit longer until “F.A.L.” officially concludes the 1st half talking about taking shit to kill shit & not wanting to fall in love with this woman who makes him feel like he’s on cloud 9 whenever she boots him up.

“Between the 20s” kicks off the 3rd quarter unpacking a lot of shit that he has on his mind including him asking God to fill his cup back up & trying to turn someone out while “Sudden” produced by Tony Seltzer confronts an individual regarding them fucking with him all of the sudden outta nowhere. “AM” talks about him getting throwed in the morning to numb some matters he’ll take to his grave while “Groundhog Day” comes through with a 2-parter explaining that it feels like the same shit & different.

The song “Mourning Money” nears New Detroit’s conclusion talking about never being the type to go chat with people & having his entire squad willing to go to war for him while “Chirp” discusses feeling 1,000,000 wounds, with not a single one of them being effective from his point of view. The closing track “Survivor’s Guilt” ends the LP talking about him admittedly making plays when he was on autopilot & having nothing other than the post-traumatic mental condition itself.

Some may remember me saying Lelo’s debut album would elevate himself to the next level artistically during my concluding thoughts on When It’s Over & not only does New Detroit accomplish that, but it offers some of the best Detroit trap in 2025 & brings everything heard throughout his early extended plays full circle. The production minimizes the influences of standard trap & emphasizes the cloudy Detroit sound undertones to make something refreshing out of combining the 313’s musical past, present & future.

Score: 3.5/5

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Lelo – “When It’s Over” review

This is the 6th EP from Detroit, Michigan up-&-comer Lelo. Signing to 10K Projects earlier within the year following his first 3 EPs, he would make his presence known more widely in the local trap scene by putting out his 4th EP Nightingale not too long after landing a record deal & gained even more exposure a month later by dropping the single “No Contempt” on SoundCloud. LifeAfterDogshit just so happened to come out a month ago & exactly 30 days later, he’s picking up exactly where he left off on When It’s Over.

“Broken” starts by mixing a rubbery bass-line with hi-hats talking about his top shelf status & being in it forever whereas “Get It Together” takes the cloudy trap route instrumentally talking about trying to get everything all in order. “Manga” has a cool symphonic trap vibe advising not to compare him to anyone he’s better than while “Dresser” cautions that all the extra shit is gonna result in y’all getting lined up.

To get the other half going, “Evangelion” talks about his desires of becoming rich & not trying to come off as being too brash while “Game” speaks on racing his idols out here rather than looking up them & callin’ a fuck boy his child since he raised him. “Numbers” nears the end of the EP by talking about having hoes leading into “Real Dogshit” closing up shop pointing out some of these dudes be actin’ tough & not seeing any action.

Whenever the time comes for Lelo to put out an official full-length debut, I really do think it’s gonna elevate him to the next level because I can say with confidence that When It’s Over has to be the most enjoyable EP in his discography other than Nightingale. The production maintains the consistency of the EP that he gave us only a month ago, once more holding off on any guests to make way for him rippin’ mics by himself.

Score: 3.5/5

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