Although I don’t live there anymore, the city of Detroit will always hold a special place in my heart. I was born in Detroit and it’s where my love for hip-hop and maps begin. I remember learning how to read a map from the Rand McNally in my dad’s glove box and later memorizing the bus route maps that could take me across town as a teenager. Eastside Chedda Boyz, Slum Village, Esham, and D-12 are very much a part of my foundation as a hip-hop fan and participant. Trying my hand at making a city map has been on my list since I began this project. I knew I had to start with Detroit, but I didn’t know how challenging it would be. I’ve been working on and off on this map for a good year now, mostly from analyzing source materials.
THE PROCESS
As with my emcee maps, I set a list of criteria for the map that assisted in giving me some limits and creating something replicable for when I create another city map or if you would like to duplicate the process for your own maps. Here is what I set:
- Any emcee from the city, and surrounding areas if they reference the city, are fair game.
- Geographic references can be cited from the lyrics in studio albums, freestyles, battles, mixtapes, etc. In my personal methodology I began with studio albums and mixtapes, then features on other artists’ projects, freestyles, etc.
- Find 1 unique geographic identifier (street, place, neighborhood…) per emcee. I would later find out how difficult this can be when a significant amount of emcees are all reppin’ the same street (more on that below)
- Places significant to hip-hop culture in the city, but not called out by an emcee, can also be added to the map.
THE MAP
I mapped 37 unique places from 36 emcees/groups: 16 streets/highways, 17 places, 4 neighborhoods. I added Saint Andrews Hall/The Shelter for being a premiere venue for rap battles in the 90s. The City of Detroit has an open data portal and I used their streets, neighborhoods, and zip code shapefiles for my foundation. I plotted the places myself using Google Maps as a reference for ones I did not know the exact location of. Since it’s a Detroit map I based the symbology on the colorways of Detroit sports teams. Streets are honolulu blue (Lions), neighborhoods are green (90s Pistons), and places are red (Red Wings). Streets were more common to be shouted out on the west side, and the east side had more neighborhoods and places.
Putting together the data for the map involved listening to a lot of Detroit music, some old favorites, some emcees I never listened to before. One I didn’t even know was from Detroit: Boldy James. Prior to hearing any of his songs that reference Detroit I assumed he was from Buffalo, NY like the rest of the Griselda camp. I was listening to a song of his and he mentioned Stahelin Ave. I know Stahelin because I had a cousin who lived on the street a while back and instantly added him to the list. I can imagine it probably wouldn’t go over well if I didn’t include him.
Another thing I found out: EVERYONE IS FROM EFFING 7 MILE ROAD. Just kidding, but seriously, 7 Mile was the most brought up street in lyrics. Blade Icewood, Royce da 5’9, Guilty Simpson, D-12, Esham, and others represented 7 Mile Road often.
Through this process I became a fan of several Detroit emcees I didn’t do much listening to when I lived there. When I was active DJing I made most of my money on the 40 and up events and family reunions, both venues where knowing the local scene isn’t necessarily useful for business. For this project I really dug through all of their catalogs and found some great music. Emcees like Payroll Giovanni, Peezy and Tee Grizzley are on mainstays on a few of my personal playlists now, although admittedly I didn’t listen to them much in the D.
Speaking of playlists, here are all of the songs where I cited lyrics for the map. I’m not paid by any streaming service so I’m not going to tell you which one to go to. Instead I’ll give you a list of the songs.
K-Deezy – In My Hood
Royce da 5’9” – Ride
Slum Village – Conant Gardens
Shady Records – Detroit vs Everybody Remix
Tee Grizzley – First Day Out
Eminem – 8 Mile
Guilty Simpson – Rhyme 101
D-12 – 40 Oz
Big Sean – So Much More
T. Baby – It’s So Cold in the D (reference comes from video)
Icewear Vezzo – Real Niggaz
GMac Cash – We on The Lodge Wit It
Payroll Giovanni – Get Money Stay Humble Intro
Blade Icewood – Fa Sho
Sada Baby – Alright
Drunken Master – My Nigga Jake (RIP)
Doughboyz Cashout – Neighborhood Star
Danny Brown – Greatest Rapper Ever
Esham – Back in the Day
Obie Trice – Rollin
URLtv – Arsonal vs Calicoe
Kash Doll – Check
Dex Osama – Crime in the D
Stretch Money – Pray for Me
Eastside Chedda Boyz – Detroit 2 the Bay
Tone Tone – Put Dat Shit on Yo Hood
Elzhi – Let’s Talk
Peezy – Never Seen B4
Lodge Boyz – I’m from the D
Big Herk – Show Me Luv
Fat Killaz – Skit 1, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Boldy James – Brick Van Exel
42 Dugg – Free Mine
OMISSIONS/ERRORS
Flint. I thought about doing an inset map for Flint, which is about 60 miles north of Detroit, but eventually decided against it. Flint has a robust hip-hop history as well, from the Dayton Family and MC Breed, Jon Connor, and current emcees like BFB da Packman and YN Jay. Still might do a Flint map in the future.
A was going to add Somerset Mall, a high-end shopping center north of Detroit, on the map because it’s where many purchase the infamous Cartier “Buffs” glasses and where a lot of emcees brag of ballin’ out at. It’s out of the extent of the map and didn’t want to include the rest of the suburbs just for a mall.
I know I couldn’t have included everyone worthy to be on this list. If you know of someone I missed reach out and I’ll amend the map.
Rap GEO 