OH REALLY

Prior to the release of Doe Boy’s album OH REALLY, longtime fans knew more or less what to expect when they’d heard the MC’s signature ad-lib. There’d be gun talk, of course; more than a few pledges to street code, maybe a mention or two of some wayward female companionship—but ever present and no less important than any of that, there’d be a barrage of smirk-inducing wordplay rooted in his intention to be taken seriously as an MC. All of that is present on OH REALLY, the Cleveland MC’s first release since 2020’s Demons R Us, but so are songs about being in love (“CRY FOR ME”), songs unfurling major parts of his life’s story (“GENUINE”), and even one featuring out-and-out R&B-style singing (“SNATCH YO SOUL”).
“It's more than just the street Doe Boy, what everybody used to,” he says. “It's a lot of storytelling on here, it's a lot of different type of music that people not used to hearing me do, and it shows who I want to be as an artist.” Doe Boy’s been experimenting, both topically and with his voice, since as far back as 2017’s Codeine Confessions, but on OH REALLY, he feels like the time might be right to take some of the armor off. “I got so many more fans and so many more people just paying attention to me now since the last project I dropped, it's like I get to come out as a whole new artist,” he says. “[OH REALLY] has so much range on it because this the project for me where everybody is going to pay attention.” Below, Doe Boy walks us through a few standout tracks from his reintroduction to the world.
“BIG OH REALLY” “‘BIG OH REALLY’ was the very last song I did. ‘RESPECTFULLY’ was originally the intro, but I made that number three now because I previewed that song damn near a year ago. I was in the studio with Southside and Atl Jacob and they made the beat right in my face. I wanted it to have that intro feeling, and that shit came out so hard. It wasn't even supposed to be on the album or nothing. That shit's my favorite song though.”
“AIN’T MY FAULT” (feat. Rowdy Rebel & 42 Dugg) “I was in New York and I was just kicking it with Rowdy Rebel the whole day. We went to Pop Smoke candlelight [vigil], went to his hood, then they had a house party—ghetto-ass shit. After that, we went to the studio and that's what we came up with. When I played the beat, Rowdy started saying, 'That ain't my fault.' We just made it our own shit, for real, and then we added 42 Dugg.”
“GENUINE” “I don't write or nothing like that; I just rap whatever I'm feeling at the time. So the day that I made 'GENUINE,' that's just the space where that beat put me at: just telling my life. That beat requires lyrics; you can't just get on there and do anything. I like showing people that I can go over here and do this, go over there and do that. I don't care what it is—a pop beat, a rock ’n’ roll beat—I go crazy on anything for real.”
“CRY FOR ME” (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) “I feel more comfortable with putting this type of stuff out now. Sometimes a n***a be thinking like, ‘Man, damn, I don't know if I should do this because, you know, they like me so much for the shit that sound like Demons R Us.’ So I'm just at the point of, I don't care no more: I know that it's hard, so I know they gon' fuck with it. I’m just trying to reach out to new people and show people that I'm going to be one of them ones.”
“ONNA HOOD” (feat. Babyface Ray) “A minute ago me and Babyface was working on a EP together. So this was one of me and his favorite songs that we did. Me and Face got this one type of chemistry, we be in that bitch boxing. Because he could rap, too. A lot of rappers can't rap for real, so it be different when you actually get in a studio with somebody who got bars for real. He one of my favorite artists to rap with.”
“SNATCH YO SOUL” “N***as think I just be on bullshit all day. No, I be in love and I got other shit going on, too. That shit be real, n***a done been through shit. That's what I be getting people to understand. They forgetting I'm a real person.”
“LIFE GOES ON” “I’m growing up, and I'm just naturally a wild person, but I'm trying to figure out how to chill. I don't want to be like that no more. Unless it's like necessary, then I don't got to be like that. I rather do other shit. I got all types of shit going on, actually, like investments and stuff like that. I be into that type of shit. Everybody think I'm just this drunk, wild n***a, but I’m really smarter than all that.”