Finale

Detroit rapper Finale entered the game amid a crowded local scene that demanded sharper skills, cutting his teeth by trading rhymes alongside Guilty Simpson and One Be Lo. After swapping tapes and crossing paths with the city’s revered J Dilla, he left his automotive engineering position to pour himself into writing, performing, and building his profile. His feature on B.R. Gunna’s 2004 project Dirty District, Vol. 2 opened doors to further collaborations with Invincible and Dabrye, among them a spot on the latter’s 2006 Ghostly album Two/Three. In 2007 he teamed with producer Spier 1200 on Develop, issued via the Rawkus imprint Rawkus 50. The following year brought appearances on Invincible’s Shapeshifters and Vandalyzm’s Megatron Majorz mixtape, along with his own single “Don't Sleep,” which featured Invincible and Black Milk. His first full-length, Pipe Dream and a Promise, surfaced in 2009 through the Interdependent label and was promoted by the browser game Super Finale, a reimagining of Super Mario Bros. that cast Finale in the title role. He then stepped away to devote time to his wife and their newborn son, only to reenter the fold after five years at a conventional job by linking with producer Oddisee. The pair delivered the 2015 album Odds & Ends, which included guest contributions from Homeboy Sandman and Big Tone.