Payroll Giovanni

Motor City MC Payroll Giovanni (born Dior Giovanni Petty in 1988) is a member and de facto leader of the Detroit West Side rap crew Doughboyz Cashout. With a style reminiscent of ’90s West Coast rap, Giovanni laid a steady, aggressive flow over tales of street life and drug dealing, similar to the output of DBC. Influenced by local Detroit-area legends like Street Lord'z and the late Blade Icewood, DBC continued their hometown’s legacy for dense storytelling when they issued their debut mixtape, We Run the City, in 2007. Giovanni made his own debut in 2013 with Get Money Stay Humble, which featured DBC crew members like Big Quis, Chaz Bling, Ro Jack, and B-Mo Maine. Stack Season arrived in 2015. The following year, Giovanni issued Big Bossin, Vol. 1, produced by Cardo (Drake, Kendrick Lamar) and Sosa Dreamz. A second installment, Big Bossin, Vol. 1.5, arrived the same year. The emcee closed the year with his own mixtape, Payface. Produced by fellow Detroit artist Helluva, the album featured “How We Move It,” which transformed Montell Jordan’s classic “This Is How We Do It” into a hustler’s anthem. In addition to another Cardo-collaboration, Big Bossin, Vol. 2, he packed 2018 with a pair of solo efforts, 4-1P and 10 Stack Commandments. Further honing his throwback style, he issued January 30th, released that day in 2019. The short set featured verses by Chaz Bling, Ygg Tay, Drey Skonie, and more. ~ Neil Z. Yeung