Bay Area rapper D'angelo "D-Lo" Porter had a regional smash in the late '00s with "No Hoe," a one-off recording session that took off while D-Lo was behind bars. When he got out, the song had gained new life, and spawned not just a remix featuring E-40, Beeda Weeda, and The Jacka, but a recording career. D-Lo soon released follow-up single "You Played Me"—an equally misogynist street hit with that distinct spasming delivery. He and his brother, the rapper Sleepy D, became two of the better post-hyphy Bay rappers, alongside new Bay stars like Roach Gigz and DB The General.
Mr. No-Hoe—the nickname inspired by his first smash—has continued to release material. D-Lo's entry in DJ Fresh's Tonite Show series was one of the best. His latest tape, Keep It On the D-Lo, opens with the sparsely produced tropical "Choppa Dance," a single so good the tape can hardly recover. D-Lo slips into that Migos cadence as well, proving the enduring national appeal of that flow.
