Genesis Renji

16. Genesis Renji – Keefe
Hot off last year’s S.I.N.S: Stories I Never Shared (#18 on our best Milwaukee albums of 2018 list), Genesis Renji returns with the overflowing and deeply personal Keefe. The Milwaukee street in question makes an unfortunate appearance in opening track “The Window,” which features audio from a FOX6 newscast detailing a homicide on 5th and Keefe. It’s a grim beginning for an album that never shies away from trouble both internal and external. Elsewhere, the Milwaukee emcee dreams of escape on the airy “Takemeaway,” fires on all lyrical cylinders on “6 Am,” and does some brutal soul-searching on the incredible “Music 2 Die 2.” Loaded with notable guest features (Nile, Ms. Lotus Fankh, more), the Cade Zube-produced Keefe is a major statement from an artist who was busy in 2019 (playing Summerfest, playing a Milwaukee Bucks halftime show) and who shows no signs of slowing down. - Milwaukee Record

28. Genesis Renji ft. IshDARR – “Wannabe”

Genesis Renji’s flow is all thought, IshDARR’s is all motion. It’s a combo that works. - 88Nine Radio Milwaukee

10. Genesis Renji – Keefe - 88Nine Radio Milwaukee

'Keefe' - a Top 10 album of 2019 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"The prolific Genesis Renji has emerged as one of the city’s most instantly recognizable rappers […] he’s also not afraid to bare his soul. S.I.N.S: Stories I Never Shared is his most deeply personal work to date, and also a showcase for some of his most sensuous vocal work." - Milwaukee Record

"Crisp, calculated and captivating, Genesis delivered story, craft, and crowd appeal like I have never seen before. " - Copywrite Magazine

"Doing something every day without missing a step isn’t easy—but Genesis pulled through with it, dropping 31 tracks in 31 days." - Breaking and Entering

"Of all the rappers in Milwaukee, Genesis Renji may be the hardest to pin down—Renji refuses to box himself in as a tortured artist."

Shepherd Express reviews Genesis Renji's 'LUCID' EP. - Shepherd Express

Cut from a similar cloth as Kendrick Lamar’s recent works, Genesis Renji’s I Might Be Home has all the trappings of a prestige rap album circa 2016: jazzy production, soul singers, dense narratives and lengthy internal monologues loaded with biblical and historical references and dotted with word choices straight from a New York Times crossword puzzle. Don’t mistake it for an academic exercise, though, because there’s a deeply relatable experience at the core of the album—the disconnect of returning home but no longer feeling at home, of seeing your city with fresh eyes and no longer knowing what to make of it. Renji has a gift for making sense of a world that doesn’t often provide easy answers. - The Shepherd Express

Like Black Hippy rappers Kendrick Lamar and Isaiah Rashad, Milwaukee’s Genesis Renji makes music that takes a while to sink in. Where some of contemporary rappers can go into the studio and crank out several tracks in a day, Renji’s latest EP I Might Be Home is clearly the world of a guy who took his time. It’s jazzy, profound, poetic and, above all, dense—a veritable Jenga tower of social and political commentary and personal reflections on home and identity. And like so much of the best rap of the Internet era, it seems to make up its own rules as it goes along. These eight songs are constantly expanding and contracting, clearing room for outside voices and perspectives then abruptly returning to Renji’s internal monologue. This is an EP worth savoring. - The Shepherd Express

He’s got this deep, soothing voice that is super easy on the ears. I have to say that the songs “In The Garden” and “02-911” have some of my favorite beats on the whole project. I’m so unbelievably stoked to be presenting this all to you, especially because of how original and how fuckin’ old school I Might Be Home is.

When the next generation looks back on what got the wave of Milwaukee hip-hop started, they will almost have to look at this tape. Gen has some hard-hitting bars, and the natural instruments and great samples are damn near genius. This man tells a story with his project. That’s a quality of a hip-hop legend - Daily Chiefers