Payroll Giovanni & Cardo

Prior to teaming for an ongoing run of joint mixtapes that chronicled street-level ambition over polished, bass-heavy productions, Payroll Giovanni and Cardo had each already built independent reputations. Born Dior Giovanni Petty, the rapper first rose through Doughboyz Cashout, a key force in Detroit’s late-2000s and early-2010s underground scene, before issuing solo projects such as the self-released Get Money Stay Humble and Stack Season. Meanwhile, producer Ronald LaTour—known professionally as Cardo Got Wings or simply Cardo—had relocated from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Dallas, Texas, and accumulated credits alongside Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Meek Mill, Jeezy, and the Game. In 2016 LaTour earned his initial platinum-certified placement with Travis Scott’s “Goosebumps,” the same year he and Petty unveiled their debut collaboration, Big Bossin, Vol. 1, whose sound might easily have been mistaken for a release from Oakland, Los Angeles, or Houston rather than the Midwest. Later that year LaTour also supplied beats for Petty’s Sosa Dreamz. The pair then joined Def Jam, which delivered the reworked Big Bossin, Vol. 1.5 late in 2017, a year that also saw LaTour contribute to Migos’ Grammy-nominated C U L T U R E and Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning DAMN. Those accomplishments, capped by LaTour’s co-production on Drake’s chart-topping pop single “God’s Plan,” paved the way for Big Bossin, Vol. 2, which arrived in early 2018.