DeJ Loaf is far from the woman she was a year ago. Last summer, budding fans were riding out to her slow but steady smash hit, "Try Me," and just discovering the corresponding catalog of this pint-sized Detroit MC. Flip a few pages on the calendar and the 24-year-old has definitely morphed into something greater, not just for her city, but for all emerging female MCs in the game.

The 2015 XXL Freshman's last musical release was $ell Sole in October of 2014, which helped propel "Try Me" to greater heights and stake her claim in the game as more than just a one-hit wonder. Nine months later, DeJ has birthed her followup, And See That's The Thing, a labor of love with just the right amounts of sass, grit and sex appeal to avoid being a flash in the pan.

In order to show growth, and furthermore her push for long lasting notoriety, Lil Loaf seems to serve up a different persona on each song. But whether it's addressing the haters or luring her love in for the kill, the young upstart makes sure to maintain her cool in any and every situation.

Spitting her signature monotone flow to keep things lax, DeJ trades bars with Future on "Hey There," produced by iRock, J. Vaughn & A Team. DeJ raps, "No shame in my game, I'm a fiend, I'm a junkie/You need a line of my love, put this pussy all on you/I got you bumpin' and grindin', got me screamin' and moanin'/Who's knockin' at the door? My legs locked right now." But don't let the glammed up cover art or the soft, bedroom vibes fool you. DeJ is still familiar with the Detroit streets that made her. "I don't trust nobody, rather do it on my own/Get them squares out your circle, leave them pussy boys alone," she spits on the Go Grizzly-produced "Been On My Grind." Switching things up yet again, Loaf enlists fellow Detroit rhymer Big Sean as her hype man for the bouncing, radio-friendly "Back Up." Sampling the classic Detroit juke beat from DJ Clent, the femcee warns, "Yah yah bitch, back up off me/You don't know me, I'm too clean, I'm too holy, bitch I'm godly/I only go for real niggas who don't brag bout what they bought me/'Cause they know I got a bag, gotta fuck me up some commas."

Currently on the road as an opening act for Nicki Minaj's The Pinkprint Tour, fans of the rhymer have been loving her from Dallas to New York. The fanfare stands as a testament to DeJ's focus on continuous grinding. With this growing exposure, her collaborators—which include the likes of Lil Wayne and Young Thug—and now this taster's plate of audible indulgence, DeJ Loaf has come a long way from the fiesty little chick in the leather bucket hat. And see, that's the thing. —Sidney Madden

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