First Look Friday: Detroit’s Talibando Looks to the Sky and Beyond
Talibando is joining a proud tradition of Detroit spitters.
For at least the last decade, the unveiling of a new Detroit rap star has been an annual tradition, with acts like Tee Grizzley, Babyface Ray, 42 Dugg, Veeze and others breaking out within months or a couple years of each other. Hailing from 7 Mile, Talibando is looking to join the tradition.
Armed with icy cool and a penchant for vivid street vignettes, Talibando has been carving his own space in the D-Town landscape since 2018. Released in late 2023, Pyrex Kids was his proverbial level up. Since then, he’s parlayed that momentum into a spot opening for Veeze and a steadily increasing stream count. Now, he’s ready to make his come up an extended one.
Fresh off dropping his Art of War project, Talibando speaks with Okayplayer about his career beginnings, influences, touring with Veeze and more.
Okayplayer: What was the first song that really got you some motion? What was that moment like?
Talibando: It was “E S 7 M Freestyle.”“Ox” was just kind of like a buildup. After the freestyle, it took off like a wildfire.
When did you get started rapping? What did you like about it?
I made “Ox” at about the end of 2017 or beginning of 2018. I had played around the studio a bunch of times before that record. I’d go to the studio with the guys and play around. But I started actually trying to take it serious with “Ox.” I like listening to music, so I know what I want to listen to. That's what I think about — what am I trying to listen to? I can tell my story how I want it to be told. It’s like reading your own book.
Who were some of your biggest musical influences?
Some of the ones that inspired me were like Young Jeezy, Yo Gotti, Jay-Z and Future. I moved to Atlanta and had a nice run on Rich Homie Quan, too, R.I.P.
It feels like everyone from Detroit loves Jeezy more than anyone else. Maybe it’s the Big Meech connection.
He made that real hustler music. If you know anything about Detroit, man, these Detroit players ran on hustling, man, these boys care about getting that money. From way before my time to past my time it will be like that. It's just the culture.
Who were some Detroit artists that inspired your hustle?
Blade Icewood, you got Street Lord Juan, you got Big Herk, [Eastside] Peezy, Icewear Vezzo, Doughboyz Cashout. The Detroit culture is really small, but it's crazy. I love the Detroit rap culture. So I think everybody play their own part. I listen to just about everybody in Detroit. If you from Detroit, I’'ll give you a spin.
What’s it like being from a place like Detroit? Y’all have been killing the game musically, but I feel like y’all are still underrated as a city.
It is that, it's the Motor City, it's everything.. All these beautiful cars getting made. It's nice here. I don't care what nobody say. I be telling people around the world, “They be like, well what's the best taste like, man, you ain't been to Detroit yet. You got to come to Detroit. I'm telling it was a good time.” After you go to Miami and L.A. and all that, where you going to go? We the next big city. This is a big city. Don't forget about Motown.
You’ve been performing as the opening act for your friend Veeze. What’s that been like?
It was beautiful. Opening for Veeze was easy. That's my brother. I wouldn't want nobody else to open for him. It was beautiful stuff. I had a good time. The crowd was reacting good. A lot of the crowd already knew me from being with [Veeze]. I think it got better when I learned how to control the crowd. It just came with learning things from performing over time and it was turn overall experience of 10 out of 10, 12 out of 10. I wouldn't change it for nothing.
You’ve come up a lot over the last year. What are some goals you’ve got for 2025?
Man, everything. I haven't accomplished anything yet. I got to accomplish it all. I still got super small goals, like cracking the top, top 50 or top 10 on the Apple [Music] charts. I got small goals like that all the up to big goals like getting on the Billboards charts and Grammy nominations. The sky is not the limit.