Words By Zach Collier
Photos By S’yiel Custodio
“It’s definitely a time for an energy shift within the culture – to move away from the messiness of what's the past and see the brightness of what's tomorrow.”
It’s been a wild couple of weeks for Harlem’s 27Delly. After working hard for years to earn respect in the industry and carve a name for himself in the rap game, he’s developed some serious momentum. His new EP, Time 2 Bounce, dropped on August 23, 2024 with six hot tracks that demonstrate both his versatility as a rapper and his ability to craft dance-driven party anthems that incorporate world music textures.
One of the most notable tracks from the record is “Caliente.” It was co-produced by Grammy-nominated producer Jaasu and features Ferg – 27Delly’s older brother.
A high octane music video for this collaboration dropped today and features Delly and Ferg taking cars for a sunset spin out on the racetrack.
When I met up with 27Delly to chat, he was still coming down from the excitement of a private clubtalk and mixer at the iconic Billionaire Boys Club store in SoHo. The event was held to announce and celebrate 27Delly’s new position as brand ambassador for Billionaire Boys Club. Intentionally ironic, the fashion brand was named by Pharrell Williams and NIGO® in 2003. The NYC fashion brand prides itself on being focused on originality and authentic self-expression.
Having compassion, creativity, curiosity, and the ability to perceive wealth in humanity are all cornerstones of the Billionaire Boys Club brand. It’s no wonder they chose 27Delly to represent their values. 27Delly is all of those things and more: chill, creative, and a deep thinker who is quick to laugh and has a desire to give back to his community.
“For New York Fashion Week in February, I'm going to be driving my own line with Billionaire Boys Club,” Delly says. “Billionaire Boys Club has always been a staple brand in my community. And I've always had a hard affiliation with my style and the reputation of the brand. This was something I was banking on and praying on from when I was a kid. The timing of it all was very divine.”
We talk for a long time about culture: how it’s hard to quantify, how we’re not able to force the creation or adoption of culture, and how it just kind of happens outside of anyone’s full control. But Delly is determined to do all he can to change culture for the better through this new brand partnership.
“I definitely just want to give light to the hard workers, you know?” he says.
“I feel like everybody has their own platform. Everybody has their own eyes. And nobody's audience is better than the next. But I feel like sometimes certain audiences have certain advantages – like loopholes. And I feel like right now, I'm my community's loophole to get more audience.”
Delly is excited about the future, and he’s facing his new responsibilities with drive and optimism. But he’s also laser-focused on community building – supporting others in their goals instead of just focusing on his own.
“I'm very excited to do what I got to do, but also very excited to usher in everything that's around me,” Delly says about the new brand deal. “And just kind of open the culture's eyes to how much more is in store and allow for people to move on gracefully from what we were used to for so long. I know it's a hard transition for everybody to just completely take on a new identity, or a new era, new energy. It’s definitely a time for an energy shift within the culture – to move away from the messiness of what's the past and see the brightness of what's tomorrow.”
For 27Delly’s music, part of seeing the brightness of tomorrow includes embracing new sounds. You can hear his willingness to experiment most clearly on “Caliente” with Ferg. The song’s Latin flair stems from a trip Delly took to the Dominican Republic.
“I did the record with Ferg in Atlanta and then I was playing it back as I flew back to New York,” Delly recalls. “And then a day later I was just seeing my friends in the DR and I'm like, yo, for some reason I feel like I should: I could take this record and just give it a whole new flavor. Like, I don't know, I was feeling bored with music and bored with life. So I definitely had to just switch it up for a second and ask: what is it like to put myself in a situation where I'm going to make something so great, but it's not going to be a simple process like how people would love it to be?”
So 27Delly began reworking his music with his friends. The result made them laugh and dance in the studio. To them, it felt like a brand new genre, so they gave it a name: dembowlogy. It pulls from dembow – a musical style that originated in the Dominican Republic and is known for its fast pace – hip-hop, and American electronic dance music.
I ask 27Delly what it was like to work with his older brother on a track. I share with him stories of my own sibling rivalry with my older brother growing up, and how one time in college he asked me not to try out for the community hockey team because that was already “his thing.”
Delly busts up laughing. “You know, it's crazy. I think big brothers run hard from the thought of being a big brother until like they realize, oh shit, I'm a big brother! It even goes for my older sister. My sister loves me to death, but it's like an attention thing. They don't like to split the attention. They already split the attention between the parents, the friends, the family, so if you come into their actual little world that they built for themselves and start splitting up that attention too, oh god, it's like hell for them. It's like, dude, you already stole my room. I had to share it with you once you were born, you know? This is my corner of the world.”
We have a good laugh about being the younger brothers before Delly gets serious, and profoundly grateful.
“Being the youngest sibling allows you to see so many lives before you lived, so many stories and lessons lived before you even get to make your own. So it's so much information that we're born with, and it's a gift.”
Delly is grateful that Ferg didn’t just hand him his success. “It felt like it was definitely on my back,” he says. “Being the younger sibling can come with a lot of negativity at first. If you don't know how to navigate, it can make you crash out. But once you learn how to navigate a smooth sailing, honestly, you start feeling like the youngest boss in the room.”
He tells me about how Ferg let him see how things worked behind the scenes, and how instrumental it was in teaching him to find his own way. “I remember being in with him and working on the track list of an album he was working with on with Pharrell,” he says. “I realized, okay, if I want my brother to to really, truly work with me, I can't just come in this game thinking he just wants to work with me. I have to almost make the people working with him want to work with me. And then that makes my brother feel like, oh, now I get to work with my little bro. That feeling is much of the feeling every little brother's probably looking for.”
Finally getting to do a track with his big brother has been so fun. “Hard work always, always – whether you can see it or not – is going to reward you,” he says. “A lot of times people don't embrace pain, but pain is the first identifiable symbol of growth. I always like to work out, so I know when pain comes, that's not always a bad thing, you know? Because once that pain settles, what are the results? If the results are what you need, then that pain was worth it. Welcome to the pain party.”
Whether it’s music, family, fashion, or community building, Delly is thinking about it all. He’s got big dreams. But he’s also willing to sacrifice and to live his life in such a way that those dreams can become reality.
“My goal and plan is to be the greatest, but I don't need my ego to be the greatest in order for me to be that,” Delly laughs. “So, you know, I come in humbly saying, like, I want to be the greatest. I may become the greatest. But I'm willing to work very hard for that.”
Make sure to follow 27Delly’s journey on Instagram. You can watch the brand new music video for “Caliente” featuring Ferg below!