Veeze has joked that 2022 was his “rap internship” as he prepped his debut LP, Ganger, and spent time around rap stars like Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and Babyface Ray, observing them and learning rap-star decorum. Now, with the album out to much acclaim, the 28-year-old Detroit native is on the verge of stardom, and he’s the one whose example younger artists will be following.
Singles like “GOMD” and “Not a Drill” were ubiquitous among rap heads in 2023, with so many artists still doing freestyles to the latter that he had to publicly ask them to stop recently. Veeze’s style — a sludgy delivery and stellar ear for beats that make him one of rap’s most fun listens — is too distinct to imitate, so he has to try and take freestyles as flattery. Beat-jacking notwithstanding, Veeze says he’s proud of Ganger‘s impact.
“I love it,” he says. “I’m glad people love it. It’s always good to see the feedback come back good on something you was working on.”
Veeze isn’t in an especially verbose mood when we catch up by phone; asked how his recording pace has been since Ganger dropped and he ascended in fame, he curtly answers: “The same.” But those two words are all his cult fanbase needs to hear.
Ganger was a long-anticipated project after Veeze broke out with songs like 2019’s “Big Draco” and “Law & Order,” with hilarious putdowns like “He sworn on God he was gettin’ money, going straight to hell.” His sense of humor lumps him in with a broader movement of Michigan rappers who specialize in side-splitting bars.
After releasing his debut mixtape, Navy Wavy, in 2019, Veeze found that the increased buzz it brought made him rest on his laurels — he felt so comfortable with fame that it dampened his creative fire. But he ended up finding it again. “You get the feeling like you don’t got to practice, so I [started] back practicing,” he says. “I want to be better at rapping.” He says time around prolific rappers Lil Yachty and Lil Baby helped reinvigorate him. “People like Yachty and Baby got enough money to be lazy, but they work every day, and they stand on working.” Seeing their work ethic turned him back up — as well as the motivation of losing his Instagram account in 2021, for reasons he doesn’t disclose.
He said he initially had an album that he was planning to drop around that time, but having to start from zero on Instagram influenced him to create an entirely new project as well. Enter Ganger, a 21-track project showcasing Veeze as a double-cup-wielding villain over a refreshing variety of production. Every artist talks about an ambitious creative process, but you can hear it on a project like this. On “you know i,” he samples Bone Thugs’ “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” on two different beats while simultaneously borrowing a “Big Pimpin” line from Jay-Z. He’s taking it easy with Chicago’s Lucki on the smoky “Broke Phone,” then “7Sixers” turns things back up with a sleek loop from producer and close collaborator Rocaine. And on “Tramp Stamp” he offers the rare line that’s retroactively more potent with “Slimeball like P. Diddy, cake walk to get it.”
On “Not a Drill,” he juxtaposes titanic horns and quaking bass drums with his slithery delivery. The track has accrued more than 7.7 million Spotify streams and become a fan favorite at his shows. “The bars came straight to my head soon as I heard the beat,” he says. “I ain’t never even heard no beat that sounded like that before.”
That’s what a lot of listeners likely say after hearing Veeze. His artfully parched voice is somewhat in the same lane as artists like the late Drakeo the Ruler and Young Slo-Be, but while those artists have been liable to punch through their oft-murky production with random lucidity for emphasis, the Veeze experience is exclusively croaky, offering a new take on what the quintessential “too cool” rapper can sound like. His vocal presence is as withered as Rakim’s was smooth, and yet it works for him. And his technical lyricism and eagerness to switch up cadences means that calling his sound “lazy” doesn’t do it justice. Veeze says that even as a rap fan, an artist’s voice means “a lot” to him.
“Some people’s voices are so exclusive, that’s what make the type of artist they [are],” he reasons. “Even if it’s the way they make their voice when they’re in the studio, just to make yourself poke out. That’s one of the things the fans really like, the way they’re approaching not sounding the same as any other rapper. It means a lot to me how I approach it.”
When I ask if he, as a rising artist, feels any pressure to shift his sound to seek more mass appeal, he says no. “In today’s industry I don’t see no difference from an independent artist to a major artist,” he says. “Everybody [does] the same thing. It ain’t like it’s super talented people out here left and right. It ain’t that many Andre 3000s or Lil Waynes or people like Future… Right now in this industry, I don’t really see nobody that I could say is sacrificing a sound to be commercial. It ain’t really a crazy high bar to reach. I feel like in today’s world, if you work hard enough, anybody can get a Number One record.”
Veeze is still on the pursuit for one. He’s also facilitating that opportunity for other artists with the recent partnership between his own independent Navy Wavy Records and Warner Records. He says his goals with the label are “learning how to maneuver, bringing other artists to the light.” He’s looking for other talent to bring into the fold, including producers, DJs, and cameramen. He’s also steadily recording his own music, letting the process flow freely.
“We just be doing shit,” he says. “Sometimes I do a couple songs, sometimes I only do one song. Sometimes I do five songs. I work every day though, so I make a boundless amount.” Hopefully, the new artists around him are taking notes.
