Detroit rapper Baby Money has risen within the wildly competitive Motor City scene thanks to a blend of ingenuity and humor. His flow is slippery and rarely adheres to the rhythms of the beats he raps over, but everything is tethered to the slice-of-life observations he recalls with an uncanny dead-eyed absurdity. He spins in a curveball, though, on the surprisingly emotive 2026 release L.I.E. (Loyalty Is Everything), a sprawling collection of reflections on what it takes to make it in the rap game. He comes in hot on opener “Wrong Turn,” spitting over a swaggering saxophone line and a bevy of harmonies. Baby Money chooses some ambitious beats on L.I.E., upping the ante alongside the intensified subject matter. Of course, there’s plenty of fun, too, like on the raunchy “Shake That,” which features Flint rapper Babyfxce E and plenty of one-liners imploring women everywhere to, well, shake that.