defcee

Blue Chips is a monthly rap column that highlights exceptional rising rappers. To read previous columns, click here. Water sloshes in the background when Adam Levin answers the phone. Bath time ran longer than anticipated, so the 32-year-old Chicagoan calls back when his infant daughter is occupied with episodes of Sesame Street. Teacher by day, recent father and husband by night, Levin also raps as Defcee whenever possible. These days, multi-tasking is imperative. “I’m still figuring out how to structure my time to honor all of my commitments in full,” he says on a Tuesday evening in late May. After a decade-plus of veritable obscurity and spotty releases, Levin’s released a series of increasingly gripping albums and EPs since 2018, including April’s For All Debts Public and Private on Cl...