BabyTron on eve of homecoming show: 'I want to be Michael Jackson-big'

BabyTron isn't putting a cap on his dreams.

Ask the Detroit rapper how big he wants to get and he answers, "Michael Jackson-big." Ask him where he sees himself a year from now and responds, without missing a beat, "performing at the Grammys."

Why think small? The 22-year-old brings his 20-date nationwide tour home to Detroit's Majestic Theatre Friday, the biggest hometown show of his career. "It feels surreal," he says of the sold-out concert. "It's going to be legendary. It's going to be a big chapter in my book."

In that book, BabyTron is guided by a simple philosophy. "Anything is possible," he says.

So far, things have been working in his favor. XXL magazine called him "Michigan's hottest new rap prospect" when it named him to its 2022 Freshman 10 class, its annual list of up-and-coming rappers.

And he’s getting a sense of his stature outside Detroit on his current tour, playing to sold-out crowds everywhere from Charlotte to Phoenix, from Boston to Oakland. “We literally traveled across the country – up, right, down, left, back up, full circle,” Tron says. “It’s crazy. It’s all the same country but it’s 100,000 different worlds.”

BabyTron was born James Johnson III in Ypsilanti in June 2000, one day before the start of that year's NBA Finals, which saw Kobe Bryant winning his first championship.

Perhaps that's part of the reason basketball is in his blood and is a frequent topic in his music; he's made songs named after pro basketball players Manute Bol, Trae Young, Joe Dumars and Cade Cunningham, and his mixtapes "Sleeve Nash" and "Luka Troncic" are references to NBA stars Steve Nash and Luka Dončić.

Other topics in Tron's playfully reference-heavy lyrics include Detroit, cartoons, Harry Potter, pro wrestling and his favorite footwear of choice, Crocs. He’s also known for rapping over unconventional beats and instrumentals; he flipped the instrumental to the NBC sitcom “The Office” on a track on his 2021 mixtape.

He came up as a member of Sh*ttyBoyz, the trio of scam-rappers — the hip-hop subgenre centered on low-level crime of the credit card fraud variety — which he formed in high school with pals TrDee and StanWill, and of which he’s still a member.

Music has always been a part of his life — Tron's father, who goes by the stage name Sadistic, performs in the Detroit nü metal band Motown Rage, which was once signed to Insane Clown Posse's Psychopathic Records — and he grew up absorbing classic rap albums. He was particularly fond of Chief Keef and Detroit rap group Doughboyz Cashout.  

But he says he didn't take music seriously until 2019. "It was me just growing up, figuring out what I want to do in life," says Tron, on the phone this week from just outside Chicago, after performing in Minneapolis the night prior.

Since making that decision he's been in overdrive, and he's released seven full-length solo projects and eight full-length collaborative projects in four years. He was featured on Lil Yachty's 2021 mixtape "Michigan Boy Boat," which collected collaborations with Michigan's young class of rap talent, including Tron's peers Babyface Ray, Sada Baby, Icewear Vezzo and more.

In October, Tron's mixtape "Bin Reaper 3: Old Testament" debuted at No. 69 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart; he followed it up last month with another full-length set, "Bin Reaper 3: New Testament."

He's constantly recording — never writing, always freestyling — and says when he's home he logs full days in the studio, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. But at the moment he has no plans for a proper "Bin Reaper" follow-up. "I probably won't drop another full-length project until next year, honestly," he says, although an EP might arrive on his birthday.

That birthday will be timed to another NBA Finals, and he says he sees a Dallas Mavericks/Milwaukee Bucks showdown on the horizon. "I know someone who time travels," he says, deadpan. "But I can't say who. Government will snatch him up."

Maybe BabyTron has peered into his own future and he knows what's coming. Either way, he's enjoying his success and taking it as it comes.

"The best part is living out the dreams you imagined," he says. "There really is no bad part. You can't really look at the bad side of things, you've got to be optimistic." =

BabyTron

with Sh*ttyBoyz and Da Boii

7 p.m. Friday

Majestic Theatre, 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama