Every city has its own cultural imprint. Of course, I am well aware of this fact because I am from Chicago, a city full of musical influence. From there I moved to Miami, with its own multi-ethnic musical foundation. However, a good amount of my family and friends live in Detroit. What’s your first thought when asked about music from Detroit? If you said Motown, that would be in line with the thoughts of most. What about rap or hip hop music from Detroit? First to come to mind most likely would be Eminem and Big Sean. Is there a large, thriving hip hop community in Detroit, Michigan? Absolutely! The evidence is the many artists who have come to national prominence and others on the rise. Our featured artist this week is just one of those artists. This week we feature young powerhouse rapper, singer, songwriter DeJ Loaf.
I must say that I am very happy this week has arrived. DeJ Loaf is easily one of my favorite young artists in the music industry today. She is part of a movement that I noticed a few years ago. There are many very talented female artists rising within the hip hop community. Weekly Music Commentary has featured many, and this week we feature one more. DeJ Loaf is right in the middle of a musical revolution. If we look at her background, why she is part of a rising group of talented young women might be apparent.
Deja Trimble (DeJ Loaf) was born on April 8, 1991 and was raised on the East side of Detroit, Michigan. As a child, she often listened to music with her parents and grandmother. That means she listened to a wide array of music ranging from straight ahead jazz to hip hop and rap music. In a 2014 interview with the Detroit News, DeJ Loaf spoke in detail about the music of her childhood. “Music was always around — mom would listen to Mary J. Blige and Toni Braxton, grandma would play Erykah Badu” — and DeJ (rhymes with “beige”) would spend her time jotting down lyrics to her favorite songs and deciphering the lyrics. She remembers playing J.J. Fad’s lightning fast “Supersonic” and trying to decode it. “They were really saying stuff if you pay attention, but you’ve gotta listen,” she says.
A self-described “good kid and a decent student” who mostly kept to herself, she began writing her own original music at the age of 9. In 2009, she graduated from Southeastern High School in Detroit, playing basketball at the junior varsity level. After high school DeJ Loaf then attended Saginaw Valley State University and studied nursing for three semesters before deciding to focus full-time on her music career. “I was just kind of wasting time and money,” she says. “My heart wasn’t really in it.”
DeJ Loaf got off to a good career start in 2011, and along the way found her stage name. In an interview with TheSource.com, she explained where the unusual name came from. “I used to wear a lot of Jordan’s in high school and coming into middle school. So when I went into high school I was like, “I’m going to change it up a bit.” I am going to start wearing Jordan’s a lot and Nike’s and I am going to start wearing loafers and I’m going to start calling them “Dej Loaf.”
She came home and poured her heart into her first mixtape, “Just Do It,” which was released in 2012. She rapped about her life in an honest, confessional manner, and her style and manner caught the attention of fellow Detroit rapper Say It Ain’t Tone.
“I saw potential, I saw what she could do, and I had a vision for her,” says Tone, a close friend and associate of Big Sean. He saw her as a Lauryn Hill or a Drake type, someone who could cross genre barriers and gender lines with the street smarts that made her cool enough for males and females to embrace.
I really think the most interesting fact about DeJ Loaf is her demeanor. She is a quiet person who just puts life into her performances. The Detroit News article started with a description that best fits the young rapper. “Rappers tend to be loud, boisterous, bigger than the room. Not DeJ Loaf. The Detroit rapper is so soft-spoken, it’s disarming, and she talks in a hushed tone like she has a librarian hovering over her shoulder.” Perhaps that is the appeal of DeJ Loaf. What you see and hear in interviews, and performances is real. Just as much as the more boisterous Cardi B draws music fans with her realness, so does DeJ Loaf.
DeJ was later signed to his indie record label, called IBGM (I Been Gettin’ Money) under Tone’s management team. In July 2014, she released her track, called “Try Me” (produced by DDS) as a single, which earned her viral popularity, after Canadian hip hop recording artist Drake quoted lyrics from the song in his Instagram post. In October 2014, she signed a major record deal to Columbia Records. However, her second mixtape release Sell Sole got attention from music industry insiders who realized the young musician was special. One of the best reviews I’ve ever read came from music critic Robert Christgau. In his review for Vice he said, “What’s irresistible is the form-content disparity—a rapper who brags so un-macho, a rapper whose greed is so explicitly for her family, a rapper who’s ‘Grindin’ ‘ at music. Plus her flow is a brook, her producer respects her space, and her two sex rhymes are into it and into it more.”
DeJ Loaf contributed rap to the song, called “Detroit vs. Everybody” featured on a fellow American high-profile rapper Eminem’s compilation Shady XV. There was no turning back from that point. She was on her way to success.
DeJ Loaf has taken another big step toward her début solo album, scheduled for release later this year. She was featured in the much rotated song of Jacquees, At The Club. As well as her single “No Fear” and “Liberated” featuring Leon Bridges. The upcoming album should prove to be very good and let a larger audience discover an artist just getting better with each release.
If this post is your introduction to DeJ Loaf, then I hope you will grow to appreciate her and her music in time to come. She is a worthy representative for the city of Detroit, and an extraordinary artist on the rise. Get ready for the revolution.