“Check the résumé” is the key line in Ice Meez’s I Been. The Northern California rapper uses the hook to remind listeners how long he has been here.
Corey Byrdsong has recorded as Ice Meez for more than a decade and works as a director and engineer. Tee Grizzley flew him to Detroit for a session at Royal House Recording Studio, where HudsonMadeIt produced “I Been” and Julian Suleiman engineered it. Tee suggested shooting the video at the Golden Gate Bridge. It opens with studio dialogue; when the song starts, it cuts to the bridge.
The production combines a midtempo hyphy bounce with G-funk ease and the heavy low end associated with Bay Area rap. It has a club feel you can just vibe to, and the flow holds it down from start to finish. Meez’s clipped cadence pushes just ahead of the beat, driving each bar against the relaxed groove.
The résumé claim is backed by tightly paired punchlines. “Heavyweights” are cut down to “featherweights”, while people who treated him “crooked” are warned that he will set them “straight”. The writing becomes more personal with “ever since I lost my brother”. The résumé he’s flexing is also a list of who’s gone.
With West Coast rap textures back at the forefront, “I Been” risks being crowded out by tracks drawing from the same palette. Meez’s résumé is the pitch: he’s been here long enough to earn the radio spin, and “I Been” makes a real play for it.
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