Music
Guilty Simpson
· rapper, songwriter
Deep-voiced Detroit rapper, one of J Dilla's favorite MCs, who recorded for Stones Throw and formed Random Axe with Black Milk.
- Birth name
- Byron Dwayne Simpson
- Detroit years
- birth–present
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Byron Simpson is a Detroit rapper whose recording career spans more than three decades. Influenced by Big Daddy Kane, Scarface, Kool G Rap and Ice Cube, he developed a gruff, commanding delivery that made him one of the late J Dilla's favorite rappers; Dilla featured him on his posthumous album The Shining and on Stones Throw's Chrome Children compilations. Signed to Stones Throw, Simpson released his debut album Ode to the Ghetto in 2008, with production by J Dilla, Madlib and Black Milk. He then teamed with Black Milk and Brooklyn's Sean Price in the trio Random Axe, whose 2011 album became an underground favorite, and made the album OJ Simpson with Madlib (2010). He is also part of the Detroit collective Almighty Dreadnaughtz and has appeared on records by many local artists, from Ro Spit's “Detroit 101” to projects with European producers, keeping a Detroit voice central to independent hip-hop.
Highlights
- Debut album Ode to the Ghetto (Stones Throw, 2008).
- Featured on J Dilla's The Shining (2006).
- Member of Random Axe with Black Milk and Sean Price.
- Member of the Detroit collective Almighty Dreadnaughtz.