"Montgomery Brawl" is a single by

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

-based

comedy rap Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Gr ...

per

Gmac Cash Gerald Allen (born March 12, 1993), known professionally as Gmac Cash, is an American comedy rapper known for his various short songs about newsworthy topics, including the Detroit Sign, the Belle Isle Park Giant Slide, the COVID-19 pandemic, a ...

. The song is a humorous recount of the events of the Montgomery Riverfront brawl and celebrates the defenders in the event. "Montgomery Brawl"

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...

and was generally well received by critics for its humor.

Background

Gmac Cash is a comedy rapper from Detroit. He is best known for his songs "Big Gretch," a single praising

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

governor

Gretchen Whitmer Gretchen Esther Whitmer (; born August 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she served in the Michigan House of R ...

, and "Giant Slide," a song about a notorious slide at

Belle Isle Park Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle (), is a island park in Detroit, Michigan, developed in the late 19th century. It consists of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, as well as several surrounding islets. The U.S.-Canada bor ...

. On August 5, 2023, a group of white boaters attacked a Black boat captain at the Montgomery Riverfront after he untethered their boat and moved it 3 feet to the right from the space reserved for the ''Harriott II''. The initial attack lasted about 60 seconds. Some minutes later, with the assistance of the captain, the ''Harriott II'' docked. Numerous Black passengers disembarked and attacked the white individuals who were at the opposite end of the dock, sparking the Montgomery Riverfront brawl. Gmac Cash recognized the brawl in general, and the Black defenders' acts in particular as an important mark in Black American history, telling the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

'' that "This was really a big moment for us ... I feel like this is a moment that shows we can come together, we have each other's back and that's what we should do all the time in every situation instead of sitting back watching just with a camera phone."

Music and lyrics

"Montgomery Brawl" is a comedic "rap anthem" recounting the events of the Montgomery Riverfront brawl. Writing for ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'', journalist Jordan Darville described the song's beat as "pure boilerplate Michigan" and detailed that "Gmac adopts the posture of a friend who’s outlining the video for someone who hasn’t seen it, bursting with pride throughout." Gmac Cash references multiple individual defenders, including "unc with the chair," a Black defender who utilized a folding chair as an improvised weapon. Gmac Cash also highlighted the swimming skills of "Black

Aquaman Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles ...

," a 16-year-old defender whom he praised as "the first Black man to swim to a fight."

Reception

"Montgomery Brawl" has been generally praised by music critics. Writing for ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

'', journalist Mackenzie Cummings-Grady praised the single as "hilarious." Darville shared Cummings-Grady's assessment of the song's comedic success and concluded that "Montgomery Brawl" is "a hilarious recap" of the events and "the song a piece of history deserves." The song

and has been viewed millions of times on social media. By the afternoon of August 8, 2023, the song's music video had been viewed over 1.3 million times on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. Several prominent rappers, including

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. He met Kanye West as a teenager, and signed with his record label GOOD Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2007. He gained popul ...

Sexyy Red Janae Nierah Wherry (born April 15, 1998), known professionally as Red, is an American rapper. She rose to prominence with the release of her 2023 single " Pound Town" (with Tay Keith); its popularity spawned the remixed sequel "Pound Town 2" ...

, and GLC, all supported "Montgomery Brawl" in comments on Gmac Cash's

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page.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{refend 2023 singles Comedy hip-hop songs Songs about violence Songs about racism and xenophobia Songs based on American history Viral videos