Music
BabyTron
born 2000 · rapper, songwriter
Ypsilanti rapper of the ShittyBoyz whose joke-dense, pop-culture-packed bars made him a breakout star of the Detroit rap scene and an Eminem collaborator.
- Born
Ypsilanti, Michigan
age 26- Birth name
- James Edward Johnson IV
- Detroit years
- 2000–present
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
James Johnson IV was born and raised in Ypsilanti, in the western part of metro Detroit, and graduated from Lincoln High School in 2018. At 16 he formed the trio ShittyBoyz with childhood friends TrDee and StanWill, and he began releasing solo mixtapes in 2017. His 2019 mixtape BIN Reaper made him a star of the Detroit scene when its track “Jesus Shuttlesworth”, stuffed with sports and cartoon references, went viral and spawned countless memes. A string of projects followed, from Sleeve Nash (2020) to the BIN Reaper sequels and his studio album Megatron (2022), and in 2022 he began a series of medleys in which he raps over many famous beats in a single song, starting with “Prince of the Mitten”. Named to the 2022 XXL Freshman Class with Detroit's Babyface Ray, he appeared on Lil Yachty's Michigan Boy Boat and, in 2024, joined Big Sean on Eminem's single “Tobey”.
Highlights
- Co-founded the ShittyBoyz with TrDee and StanWill.
- “Jesus Shuttlesworth” from BIN Reaper (2019) went viral.
- Named to the 2022 XXL Freshman Class.
- Featured with Big Sean on Eminem's “Tobey” (2024).