Earlier last month, Fat Ray of Bruiser Brigade dropped the video for “Leather Knuckles”, the first single from his upcoming project Perseus. The video teams ray up with regular collaborators Auxiliary Cinema for the visual to the Antman Wonder (Phryme 2) produced track. The video is nostalgic 80’s television with an old radio broadcast describing an alien landing in between verses. It opens with an aerial shot that descends into a zoomed focus of Ray on a busy strip in Downtown Detroit that suddenly morphs into a bare jazz club where Fat Ray opens with bars about “mimosas and a blunt of loud” before launching into a stream of consciousness about his fly lifestyle of choice vices and better women as he floats through the city. Fat Ray is quite the alien ambassador.
Fat Ray was raised on W. 7 Mile to a musical family. His father who was a musician and a studio engineer had a studio built in the basement of their home on Grandville. This is where Fat Ray, born Raymone Bogus, had his first experiences with recording. As a child, Ray enjoyed playing around with the keys but would eventually take to drums. A little-known fact about Fat Ray is that he is a percussionist. In fact, his time with the Detroit-based music collective BR Gunna (including other former members Black Milk & Young RJ) is often thought of as “2 producers and a rapper”, but Fat Ray contributed to production and songwriting for the group and other placements with acts like Slum Village, Fat Killaz, & others.
It was his musical ear that led Fat Ray to co-found his independent label Brilliant Boy with in-house producer Rich Rick (Double R). Even with a slight frustration towards the overwhelming amount of low-grade lyricism, Fat Ray & Double R were willing to admit that they don’t want their music to lose its party vibe. The album Perseus will highlight the duos new sound that blends the genres of street-rap and backpack. Fat Ray says “we just feel like you shouldn’t have to sacrifice the bars or the vibe. They’re both important.” The Bruiser Brigade lieutenant is dropping Perseus on the new Brilliant Boy Summer 2018, releasing to Tidal and all digital streaming platforms.
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