How HiTech became Detroit’s ghettotech defenders

King Milo, 47Chops, and Milf Melly of the group HiTech are seated inside of Corktown’s Momento Gelato and Coffee waiting for paninis. They’re fresh out of a studio session and still riding the wave from performing at their first Coachella music festival seven days ago, where the group was joined on stage by rappers G.T. and Zelooperz, DJ and producer Fullbodydurag, and jit dancer Queen Gabby. “It was just lit ass Detroit, bro,” says King Milo. “And it was just good to showcase lit ass Detroit.”

When asked about the group’s origin story, Milo tells his version of events. “We was all shopping at the Pornhub store and we all wanted the same size T-shirt but they only had one left,” he claims with a straight face. “So they threw it in the middle of a mosh pit at a metal show and we had to fight for it. I was pulling Melly’s hair, he punched me in my face, so I stepped on his toe, and he socked Chops in his shit. It was Ringling Brothers, bro!”

Three seconds of silence pass and then suddenly all three burst into simultaneous laughter. The moment is symbolic of a brotherhood that's built on equal parts of music, eccentricity, and comedy. So yes, the Pornhub story was completely made up, but they swear they met at an organized sex party (another story too lewd to be believable).

HiTech’s true origin story doesn’t need any exaggerations. Growing up, King Milo moved from Detroit to Ypsilanti before graduating from Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School, and 47Chops went to University Preparatory Academy in Detroit. Milf Melly went to Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores, and all three didn’t even meet until they were well into their own separate musical journeys.

“My little brother pulled me in the studio and I was like, ‘I love this shit,’” says Milo, who took a hardcore Joey Badass approach to hip-hop early on.

47Chops clung to DJing right out the gate, and Melly was the only one who took a comedic approach as he was making satirical tracks. “My first song was a parody of the ‘Thong Song,’” he says with a laugh.

The group organically formed as they all admired each other’s talents in Detroit’s crowded hip-hop scene and began recording music at Milo’s house. But after a while they felt like they were giving too much of themselves to music while not receiving enough back back in return. One day, they decided to pivot.

“After a bunch of acid trips later we were tired of just rapping, so let's make some shit that just feels good,” Milo says. “I just wanted to make some dance shit, he wanted to make some dance shit, and we locked in and made that shit.”

The result was a hard pivot to ghettotech that was immediately embraced by listeners. “We just made some shit and people was feeling it,” Milo says with a head nod.

If you’re a Generation Xer from Detroit, you probably associate ghettotech with sweaty nights jitting at Maxi’s in the ’90s to partying at River Rock in the mid-2000s. The genre started in the 1980s when DJ Jeff Mills (aka The Wizard) would blend hip-hop, house, and techno together, playing it at 45 RPM. As the ’90s rolled in, DJs like DJ Godfather and DJ Assault began spinning, producing, and incorporating Miami bass music within the combination. The result was a soundtrack that became a mainstay at every night club, weekend at Belle Isle, and backyard barbecue. In an era when gangster rap cleared dance floors in bars across the country, ghettotech kept Detroit dance culture alive well. The genre never sought or cared about any type of mainstream success. There was never acceptance or major label support and there are no Grammy or American Music award categories for it. Ghettotech is Detroit techno’s baby brother that never moved out the house.

HiTech has taken the baton, which has made them a representation of the past, present, and future slice of Detroit music. They are all in their 20s and admit they thought ghettotech was much more known around the world than it was. “It’s like going back in time with some shit that don’t exist back then,” says Chops.

“They’re so immersed, you can feel it,” Melly says of the audiences the group has reached. “When we’re doing shows or festivals, they’re so engaged, it’s like you're an alien, they’re locked into you.”

HiTech released their self-titled debut project in 2021 highlighted by “Henny Runtz,” a heavy bass-driven melodic party anthem with chants like, “Back it up, back it up, back it up” and “Just like that, just like that, just like that.” Tracks “Big Prism,” “CA$$$HAPP,” and “Im Pullin Up” all use momentum and bounce to capture the quintessential ghettotech vibe.

“That first one we was just working with people that was directly with energy,” Milo says. “We was in the thick of it every day in my room, in my room making music.”

HiTech’s album worked its way through the club scene, and their performances got better and better. One night in 2021 during a festive performance at Conant Gardens, the ghettotech gods sent them the proverbial sign that they were on the right path.

“We had two big bottles of Hennessy,” says Milo. “We started pouring drinks, just pouring all of it. This shorty looked at me, opened her mouth, I lifted my arm up, and she took that shit. I was like, ‘This feels right!’ Everything just felt right!’”

Part of the adjustment was they realized they had to remove themselves from the traditional emcee approach to performing. There was no need to attack the mic like a battle rapper or drop an endless amount of monotone bars with a backpack hanging off their shoulders. Ghettotech concerts are a collaborative synergy between the music and the attendees.

“We didn’t know how to perform for that kind of rap approach, to that kind of music,” says Milo. “But now I get to enjoy the party and I don’t feel like I have to make them hear me.”

Eventually they caught the attention of Dart Parker, A&R for Loma Vista Recordings. Parker is the longtime manager of Detroit emcee Danny Brown and an overall friend of the Motor City. He added HiTech to Brown’s 2022 Bruiser Thanksgiving concert, and the group officially signed to Loma Vista Recordings in 2024.

“Danny introduced me to ghettotech when we were programming the first Bruiser Thanksgiving party in Detroit,” Parker says. “From there, I got familiar with the history, but it wasn’t until 2023 when I met HiTech that I thought they could add to the sound and make it fresh. HiTech stands out as a real group of Detroit guys who grew up with modern hip-hop sensibilities but are taking ghettotech outside of the nostalgia around the globe.”

HiTech was featured on the remix of Food From Plates’ “Show Me The Body” and released sophomore album DETWAT in 2023. Since then they’ve won a Kresge Artist Fellowship in 2024, and have been on a rigorous performance schedule including a Boiler Room set in Chicago and overseas. Each show adds to their litany of unexpected danger and excitement.

“We did the ‘Defend Forest’ in Atlanta,” Melly says, referring to a music festival organized by a protest movement against a police development known as “Cop City.” “That gig was a moment in time… they burned that forest down, after the show the forest got burned down.” Some 35 people were arrested after setting fire to vehicles at the construction site.

During a show in Brussels, a young lady took Milo’s call and response a little too seriously. “I was yelling ‘Where da freak hoes at?’” Milo says with a chuckle. “Why this girl come up and grab my nut sack and squeeze it real hard? She squeezed hard and pulled and was like, ‘Yeah, Yeah!’ I was trying not to destroy the vibe but I grabbed her hand a little bit.”

Success outside of Detroit has come with its own share of challenges. The studio sessions and traveling has limited the time Chops gets to spend with his grandmother, while Milo is a father of two and says he only makes time for music and family. For Melly, the adjustment to being a full-time music artist has been surreal — something he never thought would happen.

“I mean I was working at FedEx, and we were going to Paris on the weekends and I gotta get back to work to put in that 60 hours in,” he says with a shrug.

With their new album Honeypaqq Vol. 1, the group picks up right where they left off. “Take Yo Panties Off” is a club head-nodder powered by a chant “Real freak bitches know when to take their panties off!” “Spank” is a twerk-starter kicked off by guest emcee GDMRW, who raps “Beauty, she got brains, she got booty all on that thang/fooly cooly on that thang, bend it over let me spank.” On “Shadowrealm,” Zelooperz drops an energetic verse over something taken out of DJ Assault’s “Bangin’ the Beat” playbook. Overall, the album is balanced and has a fresh feel whether you’re a long-time ghettotech fan or new to the genre, and features the talents of Obie Iyoha, Rob Apollo, George Riley, Debby Friday, LOVEFOXY, Vayda, Na-kel Smith, and Milfie.

“The only thing that changed for real is where we’re at,” says Chops.

“We will bring this shit out of everybody,” proclaims Milo.

For this year’s Movement Festival, HiTech’s mission is the same: Do whatever it takes to unlock the crowd. If you’re not swinging your T-shirt above your head like a helicopter, sweating from places you didn’t know you could sweat from, or chanting obscenities as a pounding 808 beat rattles your skull, then they haven’t done their jobs.

“We gotta pull it up out of people who don’t know how to let go of their inhibitions,” says Melly, “and get to it.”

HiTech performs at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, May 26 at Movement Festival; Hart Plaza, Detroit; movementfestival.com.