Looze Cannon Topped the iTunes Rap Chart With a Michael Jackson Filter

Looze Cannon's 'Big Michael Michael' has topped the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap chart. The single, delivered in a cotton-soft register that echoes Michael Jackson, began as a freestyle on the Detroit rapper's livestream and became the internet's latest earworm.

The track has also inspired a lip-sync video from Lil Baby. Earlier this month, Cannon brought his 'Big Michael' character to G Herbo's show at Chicago's United Center, performing for a nearly sold-out crowd. It was the biggest audience of his career.

'G Herbo, I think he did a post where he was singing a song, and the next thing I know, my management was just telling me, "Hey, Herbo wants you to come out at the United Center in Chicago and perform,"' Cannon tells Rolling Stone. 'I was like, "What?" I thought everybody was playing, but it was real. We got in the Sprinter and we drove straight from Detroit to Chicago. And next thing I know, I was on stage, man, having the biggest moment of my life.'

Cannon has been rapping in Detroit since the 2010s. 'I've been around some big crowds because I've always been on stages and stuff like that, but that was the biggest thus far, was the G Herbo show,' he says.

Who is Looze Cannon?

Cannon belongs to a generation of artists who build careers on livestreaming and short-form video alongside their music. In his videos, he performs as Jackson and other characters using an AI face filter (software that maps a digital face onto the user's own in real time). He premiered the character early last month and officially released 'Big Michael Michael' as a single on October 24.

'I had no clue that "Big Michael Michael" would take off like that because it was just me playing around,' he says. 'I've been doing this for a long time and to see how this transition to what it is, it's unexplainable.'

A Detroit native, Cannon has released music since at least 2016, when he put out Looze Minded. He followed with Lil Glen in 2020 and Now or Never in 2023.

Gimmick or craft?

Detractors dismiss the moment as a viral gimmick. Cannon disagrees, and his defense is straightforward: wit gets people listening.

'A lot of rappers, sometimes they focus on being too cool and trying to put off an image that they think will propel them into stardom or whatever, and people lose sight of being who they are,' he says.

He says he isn't a Michael Jackson impersonator, though he credits the singer with making him want to pursue music. 'I'm a big Michael Jackson fan. Michael was the reason why I even really wanted to do music,' he says. 'I knew that there's so many different versions of the impersonators out there and things like that, but I analyzed the game. What is it that no one is doing? And I just hit the live button, man, with that filter on and just blacked out.'

He'd already tested other personas on BIGO LIVE, a livestreaming app. 'I have over 10 characters and I haven't really unleashed all of them yet,' he says. The roster includes a costumed Dr. Seuss who tells stories. He chose Jackson for TikTok for one reason: 'I chose Mike on the TikTok side because I just knew the shock value of what it would do.'

Commenters have mocked his 'be yourself' advice, given that he performs as someone else. 'They're only looking at the surface of the filter,' he notes.

'None of them do what I do,' Cannon says of people who think the content requires no skill. 'I'm actually being Looze Cannon. And I think that's what the game is missing is just originality.'

His challenge to doubters is specific. 'I always tell people, "Put a Prince filter on and see if you can dance with me in the same type of ring,"' he says. 'And if you can't do that, then what you're saying is just, in my eyes, just hate.'

What about the filter itself?

When Rolling Stone suggests the filters are new, Cannon corrects the premise. 'It's not really new,' he says. 'Anybody can put a filter on, but how can you bring it to life?'

His argument is about attention economics: after the filter goes on, a performer has 'at least five to 10, 15 seconds max to lock them in, or they swiping somewhere else.'

'It takes a certain type of charisma to bring the filter to life because people want to really get into what's happening,' he continues. 'But if you're just banking on a filter and talking like your regular self or not performing in a certain way, then it means nothing.'

The business behind the joke

Cannon is independent. Before 'Big Michael Michael' took off, he sold downloads directly to fans. His math is blunt: 'If I have 50 loyal fans that'll buy my download for $1.99, I'm beating a majority of the people that's getting 100,000 streams.'

He compromised when the record exploded. 'I understand the times that we're in and you got to play ball sometimes,' he says. 'So I did it, but I've always been direct-to-consumer for a long time now.'

The new attention is spilling into his catalog. 'I'm actually seeing the numbers of my other songs and they are picking up. They skyrocketing right as well,' he says. 'My Spotify is up, my Apple Music is up.'

Snoop Dogg, Timbaland, Usher, Tiffany Haddish and Funny Marco have all reached out. 'I got a lot of celebrity friends now,' Cannon says. 'Uncle Snoop Dogg, that's my guy.'

He has also been in the studio with Eric Bellinger and Roscoe Dash, among others he declines to name.

A full project follows the single. 'It's time to show everybody that outside of my content that I do on social media, I'm a serious artist and I'm going to show the world that now that I got the eyes, it's time to show them the prize,' he says.