Ugly Heroes

Hailing from the West Michigan town of Grand Rapids, Apollo Brown is a hip-hop artist based in Detroit. In the tradition of left-field beatmakers like the great J Dilla and Madlib, Brown is a man of many influences, with a sound that owes as much to Seals & Crofts' yacht rock as to classic R&B, drawing from every corner of the music world to craft beats that are as musically interesting as they are rhythmical.

Apollo Brown started making beats as a bedroom producer in 1996. He moved to Detroit and became part of the city's hip-hop scene and won the Detroit Red Bull Big Tune Championships in 2009. He has released three albums since. The Brown Tape, a Brown-produced alternate version of Ghostface Killah's Twelve Reasons to Die, was released in 2013. In 2015, he issued Grandeur, a feature-filled album with Big Pooh, Oddisee, Sean Price, and many others. His 2019 full-length Sincerely, Detroit featured dozens of Motor City hip-hop artists, including Royce da 5'9", Slum Village, and Trick Trick. Brown collaborated with Buffalo-based Che' Noir on 2020's full-length As God Intended, which included appearances from Black Thought, Skyzoo, and Planet Asia.

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