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Guilty Simpson

Byron Simpson has one of the heaviest voices in rap and has spent twenty years using it over some of the most adventurous production available, mostly through the Los Angeles label Stones Throw.

Early life and origins in Detroit

He grew up on Detroit's west side and came up through the same circuit as Elzhi and Proof. His delivery — slow, flat, physically imposing — was fully formed early and has barely changed.

J Dilla

Dilla championed him and was preparing to build his debut album before dying in 2006. Dilla's production appears across Ode to the Ghetto, and the association put Simpson in front of an international audience that Detroit street rap did not normally reach.

Album discography

Ode to the Ghetto (2008), OJ Simpson (2010) with Madlib, Dice Game (2012) with Apollo Brown, Detroit's Son (2015) with Katalyst and Man on the Moon (2013) with Small Professor, alongside the Random Axe project with Sean Price and Black Milk.

Working with Madlib and Apollo Brown

OJ Simpson paired his blunt street writing with Madlib's most disorienting production, and it works precisely because neither party compromised. Dice Game with Apollo Brown is warmer and more soulful and is the record most listeners start with.

Random Axe

The 2011 group album with Sean Price and Black Milk is a cult favourite and took on additional weight after Sean Price's death in 2015. A follow-up has been discussed for years.

What he is known for musically

Weight. He does not rap quickly or use elaborate rhyme schemes; the effect comes from tone and timing. He sounds like the last word in an argument, and producers put him on records for exactly that.

Standing

He occupies a specific position — Detroit street rap credibility combined with an international backpack-rap audience — that almost nobody else has managed to hold simultaneously.

Ode to the Ghetto

The 2008 debut on Stones Throw carried production from J Dilla, Madlib, Black Milk and Oh No, which for a first album is an extraordinary roster and reflects how much of the underground was invested in him. Dilla's involvement was posthumous in part, using material completed before his death.

Stones Throw

The Los Angeles label built its identity on Madlib, Dilla and Madvillain, and signing a Detroit street rapper into that catalogue was a deliberate disruption. It gave him a European and Japanese audience most Detroit artists of his register never reach, and gave the label a hardness it had lacked.

Random Axe and Sean Price

The 2011 album with Sean Price and Black Milk is treated by fans of all three as a high point. Sean Price's death in 2015 ended any straightforward possibility of a sequel, though Black Milk has discussed unreleased material.

Consistency

He has released steadily for close to two decades without a bad record and without a commercial breakthrough. Producers keep hiring him because he is reliable in a specific way: give him anything and the verse will be heavy.