Amir Obe

Representing both Brooklyn and Detroit, rapper Amir Obe got his start in 2009 as Phreshy Duzit. With a sound that echoes Big Sean and Drake, the MC born Amir Obeid recorded his first song when he was just a teenager. Though he was born in Brooklyn, he later moved to Detroit with his Polish mother and Sudanese father, pursuing sports during the day and music by night. The first song Obe wrote was titled “Step Your Swag Up,” which he wrote in high school. After graduation, he returned to New York to pursue music full-time, recording under the name Phreshy Duzit. He signed to Atlantic Records and made his label debut in 2011 with the Brave New World EP. Unsatisfied with Atlantic, however, he chose to release The New Religion mixtape the following year on his own independent label, Neighborhood PHCK$, and After Platinum Records. After parting ways with Atlantic in 2014, he quickly signed with After Platinum and changed his stage name to Amir Obe. He released the Detrooklyn mixtape soon after, with help from his longtime producer NYLZ. The year after, he released a second EP (Happening in the Grey Area) and produced “Star67,” a track on Detrooklyn fan Drake’s If You're Reading This It's Too Late. By March 2016, Obe had released a third EP (Won’t Find Love in the Hills) and would sign with Def Jam by the year’s end. His track “No Peace” appeared on the label’s promotional compilation playlist Direct Deposit, and his Def Jam debut, NOTCW, was issued in 2017. The following year saw the arrival of a trio of EPs, Can’t Be A ____Here volumes 1, 2, and 3. ~ Neil Z. Yeung