Ann Arbor hip-hop collective releases "magnum opus" after 13 years of work

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, and the University Musical Society.

After 13 years in the making, "Pure Levels," the new album by the Ann Arbor-based hip-hop collective Tree City, will be released on Dec. 13.
 
"It’s been a long journey," says Evan Haywood, a founding member of the group. "We had to really grow into the music, and we had to get to a point where we felt we could honor how rich the music was through our storytelling."

Mike DykehouseCover art by Mike Dykehouse for Tree City's "Pure Levels."
Tree City currently comprises Haywood, Kyle "Silas Green" Hunter, Jacoby "DJ Cataclysmic" Simmons, and Charles "Cheeks" Cheek. Haywood says most of the album’s beats were originally created by producer/artist Dykehouse in 2011 and that the collective has "been crafting and evolving the album since then."
 
"[We] had to level up to get to the point that the beats were at," Haywood adds, referring to the "many colors and textures and tones and vibes" in Dykehouse’s work.
 
"We really put [the album] together like a jigsaw puzzle and looked at how each piece would fit … with the other pieces," he says.
 
Haywood says "Pure Levels" "mirrors a lot of our own life experiences and talks about relationships and generational trauma and dealing with death and loss. I think there's a lot of humanity in it — and it's hard to do that and still make a cool rap album sometimes."
 
"A lot of people have trouble being honest in their music," he adds, "because being honest is showing vulnerability, and vulnerability can be seen as weak."
 
Haywood says the new album also feels like both a natural extension and a departure from the group’s prior albums. Tree City originally formed in 2005.
 
"Our earlier work tended to be more battle-focused, … more about impressive lyricism and really trying to show off," he says. "... At this point, we don't feel we have so much to prove."
 
Instead, he says the collective "wanted to put something together that we felt could stand the test of time."
 
Tree City has performed some of the new songs live, but Haywood says "there's also things that nobody has heard before" on the album.
 
Haywood says Tree City doesn’t currently have plans to tour behind the album, though that doesn’t mean they won’t.
 
"We want people to be able to hear it and enjoy it, and we feel it's the right time to put it out," he says.
 
After 13 years of work, could "Pure Levels" be Tree City's final album?
 
"I would say this is the culmination of all the work that we've done up to this point, and it is our magnum opus as a group," Haywood says. "I would also say: don't count us out to release something in the future."

Natalia Holtzman is a freelance writer based in Ann Arbor. Her work has appeared in publications such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Hub, The Millions, and others.

Photo by Cy Abdelnour.