Priority Records

With hypnotic beats and a flow that’s equally relentless and relaxed, BlueBucksClan are driving Los Angeles’ rap renaissance forward — slowly, steadily, and mercilessly. Since emerging in 2019, DJ and Jeeezy have captivated their city with vivid tales of shutting down the club while draped in designer drip. Each cinematic song affirms that these two men from the rough parts of South L.A. are leveling up, wearing shoes that cost more than your rent and driving foreign cars with beautiful women riding shotgun. Backed by sparse, bass-heavy production that sounds both sinister and lavish, they make the extravagant seem commonplace to them, and unattainable for most. With each nonchalant flex, BlueBucksClan grind a little bit closer toward domination.

Louie Tay discovered BlueBucksClan early into their career before they gained major attention and signed them to his independent label, Out The Blue Records. Out The Blue Records’ mantra is to focus on developing rappers with a bold hustle and a sky is the limit attitude while bringing positivity to the local South Central community. Aside from BlueBucksClan, Out The Blue Records is home to Snoopy Harvard, Coot Corleone, and Bino Rideaux.

Across 2020, DJ and Jeeezy have taken the ominous sound of contemporary L.A. street rap and make it regal, bringing the hood to Beverly Hills. They’ve been timely, too, with March’s Clan Virus EP and October’s No Rules 2, which kicks off with bleakly booming “F**k 12.” The former also gave us BlueBucksClan’s viral single “Todd Gurley.” Named after the similarly tenacious NFL running back, the eerie banger finds the duo driving luxury vehicles and running up checks as quickly as Gurley runs yards: “Balenciaga store, they like, ‘Oh, hey, it’s you again.’”

Football is what brought DJ and Jeeezy together in the first place. The South L.A. natives met while playing as kids, and their lifelong friendship developed in conjunction with their skills on the field. The sport not only diverted them from gang life, but also paved the way for a career where chemistry, tireless work ethic, and sports-inspired punchlines would come in handy.

DJ and Jeeezy played college football at different universities, but reunited back home after their athletic careers ended. They worked day jobs to pay the bills, until DJ found himself in the studio with some friends. He was seized with a wild confidence that he could out-rap his buddies, and he was right. “I quit my job before we even started making money off of rap,” he says. Jeeezy saw one video of his old teammate on the mic and they became BlueBucksClan, a name that signifies their bond as much as their economic aspirations. It’s also a riff on the moniker of a certain racist organization — a subtle reminder that two Black men riding in a Rolls Royce is still political.

BlueBucksClan built an audience the best way: organically and locally. They self-financed their first video — “Clones,” where they crisscross the city flashing cash and spitting clever couplets — and racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. With few resources or industry connections, they hit any studio that would have them, eventually recording enough flex-heavy, often subtly funny songs for their first project, 2019’s Clan Way. Their chemistry and cadences were seemingly perfected, but like the best athletes, the duo put their heads down and worked.

“We get better with every project,” Jeeezy says. “I don’t know how it happens, but every time it’s better than the last.” Persistence helps. They’ve since recorded nearly every day, dropping five projects in just one year. They hustle quick, moving on instinct and disavowing rap standards, forgoing hooks and 16-bar verses, passing the mic fluidly, and unpredictably. It’s like watching two football players outwit their opposition with a series of brilliant laterals. “It all starts from just playing around,” DJ explains. “If a bar sounds cool, we’ll build a whole song around it.”

In an era where shallow hooks take precedence over bars, BlueBucksClan bring you into their world one line at a time. No Rules 2 was rightly named — as long as there’s music and money to make, DJ and Jeeezy aren’t going to stop doing it their way, and bringing their city with them.