Soul Saturday: Black Milk on his musical roots, inspiration behind latest album

2023 was a momentous year for local rapper and producer Black Milk, marking the release of his eighth studio album, Everybody Good? — his first record since 2018.

The Detroit born and bred artist first made a name for himself at just 18 or 19 years old, producing tracks for Motor City hip-hop legends Slum Village.

“Having not only Slum, but having [J Dilla] jump on a record that I produced was big for me personally because you got one of your favorites acknowledging your work,” he said.

That big break was a jumping off point for his now fruitful solo career, which he says was largely driven at the start by his own creativity and urge to create music that he himself gravitated to, rather than making music to appease others.

“That was a time where I was really trying to, I guess, put something out there in the world that I wanted to listen to,” he said. “Something I was looking for as just a music fan, and decided, like, ‘I’m gonna just make it as a music artist.'”

His musical style and songwriting has evolved quite a bit since those days, he says, refining his subject matter from mostly “rapping about rap” to now being more socially conscious with his lyrics and drawing more from personal experiences.

That evolution continues with Black Milk’s latest record, elevating his original beats with spacey synths and live instrumentation spanning multiple genres, as well as featuring progressive hip-hop and R&B artists like Raphael Saadiq and Phonte, among others. He even found some inspiration from indie rock producer and Tame Impala frontman, Kevin Parker, telling WDET that while making the record he asked himself: “What if Kevin Parker grew up on 7 Mile, what would that sound like? That was gonna be my version — the ghetto version to Currents.”

Listen: Full interview with Black Milk on WDET’s Soul Saturday with host Nick Austin