Groove Pill, the DJ and production collective of Cdub and Shogun, have found a rare synergy with their Detroit comrade, Lelo. The duo produced a handful of foundational singles as well as seven tracks on Lelo’s 2025 debut, New Detroit, that helped warp the fabric of his swaggy Michigan street rap. They displayed this camaraderie on a March episode of the Lot Radio’s RapRave, as Cdub and Shogun spun verses from Tay-K and Lloyd into raunchy ghettotech jams, transferring the sensuality and swagger to a cramped crowd. After 15 minutes, Lelo couldn’t help but get in on the fun, leaning in to take control of the decks. As “Hoes on 7 Mile” looped one time too many for his liking, he tapped Shogun for assistance, leading to a condensed lesson on queuing and transitioning.
This real-time education comes to mind while spinning Leo’s spotty new double-EP, Mastiff : Pink Tiles. With New Detroit, Lelo aimed to elevate the lyrical subject matter of his scene, injecting an emotional nakedness to balance the aloofness and watch-gleaming. Through each half of Mastiff : Pink Tiles, he draws on the sonic dynasties of Detroit’s past and present. The idea seems to be that all of these ideas in tandem make up the New Detroit sound he wishes to lead. Despite the ambition, the results are too awkwardly executed to take him there.
Side A, Mastiff, is an attempted primer of the street rap that informs the city today, but it falls apart when Lelo acts as mimic rather than a curator. “Monetize” is a too-close-for-comfort copy of Veeze’s “7sixers,” from the noir atmosphere to the light-headed lean he uses to spit clichés (“Really in the mix, my life a movie, ain’t shit dramatized”). The Apollosca$e-assisted “Blueprint” comes with a 2021 Flint-type beat and a humdrum two-man game that could appear on anything from the Dumb and Dummer trilogy, if all its personality was drained into Lake Saint Clair. Only side-one closer “Down to Earth,” an emphatic fight song dedicated to his own flyness and written-in-the-stars rise, breaks kayfabe on the too-cool-for-school facade. Even at Mastiff’s peak, Lelo abandons the intimacy and inventiveness of New Detroit as he searches for new highs through other rappers’ POVs.
On Pink Tiles, Lelo rediscovers the creative itch that’s driven his career to date. For six songs, he throws a strobe-lit warehouse party that channels DJ Assault and electro-rappers of the ’80s. Guided by Shogun’s five credited productions, Lelo works through ghettotech, bass, and freestyle electro backdrops with simple, spellbinding command. The pinnacle arrives on “Get Geeked.” Cdub and 4amjuno’s beat is lifted from the raves of Detroit’s yesteryears, sprinkled with zipping cowbells and vocal chops from the Dutch new-wave deep cut “Cheese.” Lelo swaps between a refrain of drill sergeant demands and verses about a weekend romance. Here, you see his vision for a New Detroit come to life: a frenetic block party where the hustlers, club rats, and passionate ones roll together as one. It glimmers with the hope of an oasis untapped.
