- Brian Jeffries is practically a Detroit institution, and not just in underground circles. The ghetto-tech pioneer is best known for helping the genre spread outside of his hometown in the late '90s, thanks to a prolific streak of singles released through his own labels. These days, Jeffries is an internationally celebrated DJ who plays everything from St. Patrick's Day parades to the Detroit Tiger's opening day to club nights.
Jeffries has long been a stylistic shapeshifter, touching on old-school electro, trap, techno, electro house and beyond. This Is Detroit is said to take him "back to his roots." In that sense, the EP succeeds. Its two vocal-led tunes ("Hell No!" and "Whatcha Got") are as hyped-up and bottom-heavy as anything from ghettotech's heyday, with Detroit MCs Good Money and Six Foe waxing big, dumb and nasty in turns. The beats smack especially hard, too. "Let's Jit" blends those high tempos with a classic techno approach: its simple arrangement of quick-fire synth stabs and a steady beats gives the record its most specifically Detroit-sounding production. DJ Godfather has done some personal and cultural archaeology for This Is Detroit, and what he digs up is amusing, if not slightly passé—"she in the club with her girls at the bar / big booty bitches looking like a buncha stars," Six Foe raps in "Whatcha Got." A better title might have been This Was Detroit.
Tracklist01. Hell No! feat. Good Money
02. Let's Jit
03. Whatcha Got feat. Six Foe