Both rappers are from Detroit, and the quickstepping song samples DJ Clent’s “Back Up Off Me,” a ghetto house and juke anthem that was the first release on the Michigan label Juke Trax. On this EP, the duets are more balanced, be it “Hey There” or the rising hit “Back Up,” a back-and-forth with Big Sean. (When she’s rapping alone, her sneering is most alluring: gritty songs like “Desire” and “We Winnin’ ” easily outshine simple love declarations like “Butterflies.”)īeing a female rapper invariably means all manner of collaborations with men, many unwelcome and retrograde, but Dej Loaf has consistently used those opportunities to show new sides of herself, whether adding spooky kiddie menace to Kid Ink’s “ Be Real” or ride-or-die insouciance to the remix of Lil Durk’s “ What You Do to Me.” But she has never been more impressive than on the remix of Omarion’s “Post to Be,” one of this year’s most salacious songs, and one on which Dej Loaf finally blends her aggression and her sensuality, asserting, “I’m a pimp by blood, ain’t no coaching me,” and later, cleverly shrugging, “I just got a checkup and ain’t no ho in me.” Her new EP, “#AndSeeThatsTheThing” - her first major-label release of new material - has some of both, her saccharine voice sometimes blurring the lines between them. Since then, Dej Loaf has become a refreshingly chameleonic presence in hip-hop, slithering through songs about mean-mugging and songs about sweet loving. “I might catch a body,” she sing-rapped, and it swung like a do-si-so. Her breakthrough single, “ Try Me,” which was released last year, sounded like getting threatened by a particularly needling child.

Dej Loaf, from Detroit, has a child’s voice, round and small and not yet firm. Minaj in that category, but this was the first year when there was even a credible contender for runner-up.

During her acceptance speech this year, she acknowledged her fellow nominees, but focused on one newcomer, Dej Loaf, saying, “You’ve been very, very interesting to me, and super, super forward.” She is indisputably great, and in this particular arena, indisputably alone. Simply to be heard, it can take exceptional gifts, like those possessed by Ms. Every year since 2010 at the BET Awards, Nicki Minaj has been named best female hip-hop artist because, well, let’s just say hip-hop has long been inhospitable to female talent in all its varieties.

Dej loaf try me album