The Break Presents: Peso Da Mafia

Baltimore rap trio Peso Da Mafia is using its music to raise a new generation of paper chasers. The group—comprised of brothers Shordie Shordie and Lor Dee, and their first cousin, Purp—scored a hit song with 2017's "Money Man," a sparse, fun track dedicated to collecting cash by any means necessary.

“We starting to change the kids’ minds," says Lor Dee of their breakout hit and its video, which has clocked more than 3.5 million views on YouTube. "The kids starting to want to drip flavor and get a little bit of money—they out here wantin' to pump gas, wipe windshields, anything. Anything to get money. Everybody wanna feel like ‘Money Man’ now."

Peso Da Mafia's sound and content skews more optimistic than the narcotics and violence that tends to dominate the rap music coming out of B'more. The three artists joined forces with hopes of doing something positive with their time. “We felt as though we could change something, or somebody,” says Shordie Shordie (a.k.a. Shordie 2x).

In 2018, Peso Da Mafia is determined to change their own reality in a drastic way. After performing at SXSW later this month, the group plans to drop its Never a Drought EP—its singles “Winning” and “About Us” have been steadily rising in popularity. “This our official start right here," Purp says. "Once the EP drops, it’s go time.”

Learn more about Baltimore’s rising stars during XXL's latest segment of The Break.

Names: Shordie Shordie (a.k.a. Shordie 2x), Purp, Lor Dee

Age: Shordie 2x, 21; Purp, 22; Lor Dee, 21

Hometown: Northeast Baltimore

We grew up listening to:

Shordie 2x: "Hot Boys, Lil Wayne and Boosie [Badazz]."

Lor Dee: "Juvenile and Boosie, when he was young. Migos, now."

Our style has been compared to:

Purp: "The Migos."

Most people don’t know:

Shordie 2x: "We’re real original, like [with our] lingo—I would just say everything. We’re just our own selves."

Purp: "[Cardo World], that’s my first cousin—my mother's little brother's first son. He lost his life Oct. 3, 2016. I made a promise to myself [that] every song and every show I’ma make sure his name heard for real. We lost him to the streets, something that we’re trying to stay away from. We got so much going for ourselves, so we just express our pain in the music, for real.”

Our standout moment to date has been:

Shordie 2x: "Opening up for Kodak Black. That was, like, our biggest thing."

Purp: "It was good because when people come out for a big artist, they really come out for that artist. So there might not be that much love for somebody who’s opening up, but we is who we are, and we give off that good energy. They reacted like they knew us—well, they probably already did. But they gave us a lot of love even though it was a Kodak Black show."

Our goal in hip-hop is:

Purp: "To take it beyond the charts. Top 10, that’s cool, but we tryna be beyond that."

We're going to be the next:

Purp: "Grammy winners."

Lor Dee: "We don’t wanna be like nobody. We[’re] us."

Follow Peso Da Mafia on YouTube and Instagram.

Standouts: "Money Man"

"Winning"

"Look At Me"

"About Us"

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