Stalley

Self-starting lyrical rapper Stalley spent years operating underground before incorporating a Midwest blue-collar sensibility into Rick Ross' Maybach Music roster, which released his Top Five R&B/hip-hop album Ohio (2014). The MC has since expanded his artistry through projects on various independent outlets and his own imprint, among them New Wave and Another Level (both 2017) plus Reflection of Self: The Head Trip (2019). He teamed with Detroit producer Apollo Brown on Blacklight (2021), and his solo set Somebody Up There Loves Me surfaced in 2022.

Born Kyle Myricks and raised in Massillon, Ohio, he began crafting rhymes and rapping during middle school; peer encouragement soon led him to record under the alias Stalley, derived from stallion in reference to his basketball prowess. His first above-ground exposure arrived in 2010 via a guest spot on Curren$y's Pilot Talk. Early the following year, third mixtape Lincoln Way Nights earned Rick Ross' admiration, prompting a signing to the Atlantic-affiliated Maybach Music Group; Ross joined a commercial reissue of the tape and placed the rapper on MMG's Self Made, Vol. 1 compilation before 2011 closed. Throughout 2012 and 2013, Stalley appeared on Ross' God Forgives, I Don't as well as the second and third Self Made volumes, delivered another mixtape, and issued Honest Cowboy, his initial solo entry on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. This momentum set the stage for his debut proper album, the uncompromised Ohio, which arrived in October 2014 and debuted at number five on the R&B/hip-hop chart; the LP featured guests ranging from Nipsey Hussle to De La Soul.

Following a pair of transitional mixtapes, Stalley departed Maybach amicably and secured support from imprints such as Real Talk Entertainment and Nature Sounds while launching his own Blue Collar Gang label. During 2017 he dropped the full-lengths New Wave and Another Level along with the inaugural installment of the Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil EP series; two further volumes of Shame the Devil arrived before Reflection of Self: The Head Trip in 2019. Blacklight, a joint effort with Detroit beatmaker Apollo Brown, emerged on the unrelated Mello Music Group in 2021. Somebody Up There Loves Me followed the next year, boasting production from Namir Blade, Black Diamond, and KFisha.