With one foot still in the Detroit underground, clinging to the raw, chaotic beats that define that sound, and the other prepared to step into the limelight with radio-ready beats produced by the likes of 808 Mafia, Ray has the potential to be the bridge between his hometown’s insular subculture and the wider world beyond. He’s now standing at the precipice which a handful of other Detroit natives reached the closest analog would be Big Sean, with whom he previously collaborated on the latter’s joint EP with Hit-Boy. The album opens with a reflective intro, “My Thoughts 3,” on which he ruminates on the climb to his current leaping-off point. It’s also left him with an – ahem – self-effacing nature. He attests to as much on “Overtime” with Yung Lean and “Palm Angels, Palms Itching.” Babyface Songs View All Why Duet with Michael Jackson Brotherhood A Song For Mama 202 Motown Songs: The Complete No. But there’s a benefit to that level of patience: Ray’s confidence is unshakeable and his consistency is time-tested. It took 2021’s Unfuckwitable EP to finally bring him the shine he’s been working toward all that time, so you’ll forgive him for feeling a little burnt out. You can also listen to popular albums with Babyface songs like LOVEYes I do, Dancefloor Hits, Ultimate Colletion Sandy Lam, The Essential Celine Dion. Maybe that’s because he’s low-key a veteran of the indie rap grind himself prior to his latest, he’d self-released 10 projects dating back to 2015. Whether he’s getting money on “6 Mile Show” with Icewear Vezzo or patting himself on the back with G Herbo on “Blood Sweat & Tears,” Ray’s disposition comes across as though he’s been on the job long enough to see little change except for the faces around him. Instead, he sounds not exactly world-weary, but weathered, as though he’s seen and done it all – or near enough to it – and has ceased to be impressed, awed, or dismayed by the facts of the street-worn narratives he relays. Likewise, his wordplay is similarly low-key, sans the over-the-top punchlines favored by his peers. Although he’s very much a product of the frenetic Detroit underground scene, taking bits and pieces from the city’s diverse patchwork of sounds and styles, his cadence is more controlled than the frenetic pace demonstrated by other members of his cohort like Sada Baby or Icewear Vezzo. The word that best describes Ray’s unique approach to rhythm and rhyme is dispassionate.
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While it’s not a perfect project by any means, Face demonstrates Ray’s star power, illuminating an artist with all the tools to make the leap from promising underground talent to a bonafide hitmaker. With the release of his debut album, Face, last week via Wavy Gang and Empire, that assessment looks closer than ever to becoming a reality for the 2022 list (not to brag or anything). Last year, I wrote that Babyface Ray was one of the artists who could have made the 2021 XXL Freshman list. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year.
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The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year.