So, who’s this Detroit emcee that goes by the name Guilty Simpson anyway? The first time I heard Guilty I didn’t even know that I had heard him. He was on some local Detroit mixtape that my friend had dubbed for me back in 2002 hosted by another local favorite named DJ Houseshoes. It wasn’t until I heard an advanced promo of that Jaylib (J-Dilla & Madlib) album “Champion Sound” that featured a dope track by Guilty called “Strapped” that I finally put the name and voice together. His emcee name sounded strange to me when I first heard it, so here’s the meaning the behind the madness. He was originally given the name Guilty back in the day because of his aggressive rap style. He was guilty of being a talented emcee that was true to his hip-hop roots. He soon found out that another artist was already using that moniker. That caused him to add his real last name Simpson to it, which gave it that personal touch. Guilty had several musical influences like BDK and N.W.A., but his biggest influence was Kool G. Rap. That’s obvious by his vivid and raw rap delivery. For you youngsters that don’t know about Kool G., check out some of his early classics from the 1990s and get your understand on!Guilty’s rap career started with a local rap crew called the Almighty Dreadnaughtz before befriending J-Dilla in 2001. Dilla did use some Simpson verses on his hip-hop cult classic “Ruff Draft,” but it was on the Jaylib (2003) project that folks really started to take notice. For several years Guilty has stayed on his grind working with other underground artists like Jay-Dee, Fourtet, Bling 47, Dabrye and Slum Village dropping verses here and there to keep his name in the streets.
In 2006, Guilty signed with the Stones Throw label, which took his career to the next level. Stones Throw knows how to market an artist of Guilty’s caliber, and they have been convincingly showcasing his raw talent on several projects over the last couple of years. For an overdose of Mr. Simpson’s verses put your ears on recent projects from Buff 1, Monica Blaire, Percee P, Chrome Children 2 (Stones Throw), Phat Kat, Black Milk and B-Ball Zombie War (Stones Throw). One of my favorite Guilty Simpson tracks is definitely “Baby” featuring Madlib off of the classic Dilla “The Shining” album! Those albums should keep you occupied until Guilty drops his debut album “Ode to the Ghetto” in 2008. Production duties for the album are being handled by J-Dilla, Mr. Porter, Madlib, Black Milk and Oh No, so I am pretty hyped about this release. His vicious flow with those hot beats sounds like a win-win situation for my eardrums.
Unless you have been out of touch with hip-hop for the last few years, you already know that the Detroit hip-hop scene has been one of the most consistent as far as solid album releases recently. If you are a fan of Detroit artists like Dilla, Royce, Phat Kat, Slum Village, Black Milk and Ta’Raach, make sure you add Guilty Simpson to your list as well. He’s definitely next up for putting more of that Detroit hip-hop on the map, so keep your ears open. Forget about the airport chair jumping, Las Vegas robbery committing Orenthal James (O.J.) because there’s new Simpson in town, and his name is Guilty!
Check out this Simpson joint:
CLAP YOUR HANDS
Check out these web sites for more Guilty info:
www.myspace.com/guiltysimpson
www.stonesthrow.com
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