It’s an hour before Detroit’s Old Miami opens its door, and the manager Dena is setting up chairs and wiping down the bar while sharing a few laughs with emcee Valid, who’s enjoying an early morning sip of Yebiga plum brandy. With nearby Temple Bar being temporarily shut down and the closing of Cass Cafe and Traffic Jam & Sung, the Old Miami is one of the few remaining Cass Corridor bars open from Detroit’s yesteryear.
“Old Miami just has a special place in my heart,” Valid says. “It’s an important landmark in Detroit hip-hop.”
Last year this time Valid was riding the wave of Bill & Isiah, a collab album with fellow emcee Stretch Money. Sonically, the project channeled a deep 1980s vibe as Stretch became a hip-hop Isiah Thomas and Valid transformed into a hip-hop Bill Laimbeer. The album was one of Valid’s most successful projects to date.
“It was one of the most exciting things and coolest things ever,” he says. “A lot of people learned about me through that project.”
Sixteen months later and he’s still called “Bill” or “Laimbeer” by passersby when he’s out and he routinely receives requests from the trap side of Detroit hip-hop for guest verses.
“The things we were pulling from when we wrote the Bill & Isiah album were in a certain bucket,” he says. “And while that was going on I kind of created a Bill Lambeer version of Valid.”
Valid has still been busy since Bill & Isiah. On February 2, he released The Bronko Tape, a 12-track mixtape that he calls, “Bangers in the vault.” And on May 6, Valid was featured in a Detroit Tigers video announcing their new “City Connect” uniforms. The video also featured rappers Stretch Money, P.L., and GMAC Cash, with a cameo by Eminem.
“I didn’t know Em was going to be a part of it and it fucked me up,” Valid says. “I have that Tigers jersey with my name on the back framed and hanging on my wall.”
With this new album Peach Brandy he’s returning to being personal and incorporating his Serbian roots as he’s done on previous solo albums.
“With Plum Brandy (2020) is a certain version of Valid,” he says. “I was tapping into my ethnic roots. I had always wanted to do a sequel to that… Mihajlo in 2019 was as personal as it gets and Peach Brandy is a sequel to both, the same eastern European samples getting flipped.”
Peach Brandy is personal, sentimental, and clever. “One of a kind” and “May 6” are boom bap bangers with production courtesy of producer knowhere2run. “Never Question” changes with the vibe up with a bass heavy R&B beat and a feature by Neisha Neshae.
“We worked before on the ‘New Nasty’ in 2015,” he says. “I’m a true Neisha Nasha fan. I fuck with her shit. I think her voice is incredible.”
Boog Brown drops a hot verse on “Plush” and John Connor and Philmore Greene contribute standout verses on “Cigareta.”
“On that one I tell a story about what it was like growing up in my ethnic culture; in the ’80s and the ’90s when it was a lot of controversy over there and a lot of turmoil in Yugoslavia and wars were happening and what it was like growing up in America,” Valid says.
Following the release of Peach Brandy, Valid and DJ Head will be headlining the “Preach the Ric” festival in Croatia on August 15-16. It marks the first time that Valid will be rocking a stage in Southeast Europe.
“Dreams come true and it still feels like a dream,” he says through a smile. “It’s not going to sink in until I’m over there rocking.”
The album dropped on July 26 and is followed by an album release block party Saturday August 3 at Woodbridge Pub. The party will also feature Guilty Simpson, Asaka The Renegade, DJ Head, Eastside Jon, DJ JMAC, Shigeto, and Ideeyah.
“I wanted to do something free for the people,” he says, adding, “Just show up with your ID, chill, have fun, and enjoy the music!”
