Tee Grizzley - Payroll ft. Payroll Giovanni

What this video is

Released March 2020, 'Payroll' arrived at the precise cultural inflection point when Detroit rap was achieving its broadest national platform. Tee Grizzley, signed to 300 Entertainment following his viral breakout with 'First Day Out,' used the single as a pre-release salvo for The Smartest mixtape, cementing his Detroit street-rap identity alongside Payroll Giovanni — a veteran of Detroit's underground scene…

Why it matters

Represents a definitive artifact of the 2020 Detroit trap canon: two of the city's most respected street rappers trading autobiographical bars over Hit-Boy production, delivered in a visually grounded style directed by JerryPHD — Detroit's most prolific rap video director of the era. The video…

The director

Jerry Johnson, known professionally as JerryPHD or Jerry Production, is a Detroit-born music video director who launched his YouTube channel in 2012 to spotlight Detroit underground hip-hop talent. He is widely regarded as one of Detroit's premier rap…