In Rotation: Baby J

Hailey Jean Rusch grew up in rural Wisconsin and took her grandmother’s middle name to create the moniker Baby J. On paper, a 25-year-old blending pop, folk, and country isn't the usual fare for a site built on boom-bap and 808s. But any real crate-digger knows that hip-hop has always mined rural folk and country for its most haunting samples. When I hear Baby J’s new EP, You Don’t Know My Name, my producer brain immediately starts chopping up her crisp vocals, but the songs are simply too damn good to tear apart. She only started pursuing music seriously a few years ago. You can track her rapid evolution from her 2024 EP 13:4 and her collaboration "Energy" with Troy MW. Now, she's found a pocket that feels entirely her own. Take a track like "The Fix." The production is snappy and upbeat, carrying raw, straightforward lyrics. The visual, directed by Zev York and Justin Joo, features her wandering through nature with a strange green sidekick. It’s cheeky, visually weird, and highly effective. What actually anchored me to the project is "Fallen Angel." The instrumentation is sparse enough to let her voice handle the heavy lifting. She sings with a sharp clarity, hitting notes dead center without burying herself in heavy vocal effects. The industry is clearly noticing the shift. "Fallen Angel" just debuted at #28 on Spotify's New Music Friday, while another cut, "Fond," is currently sitting at #9 on their #NowWatching playlist. My take? The industry spends millions trying to engineer authenticity, but you can't fake the dirt on your boots. Baby J succeeds because she relies entirely on unpretentious songwriting. She writes hooks that stick to your ribs. The folk elements give the music a grounded, earthy texture, while the pop sensibilities keep the momentum pushing forward. It’s the exact kind of raw vocal performance that a young Kanye would have pitched up and built a classic around. Check it out below.