There’s no doubt that Moneybagg Yo is one of America’s most talented trap artists: just ask his long list of collaborators, an impressive collection that includes Migos’ Quavo, Young Thug, Future, Kodak Black, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Baby, BlocBoy JB, Zaytoven, and Gunna.
Stepping out in 2012 with a series of self-released mixtapes, the rapper caught the attention of Yo Gotti, who signed him to his label Collective Music Group in 2016. This was shortly followed by a deal with N-Less Entertainment before Moneybagg set up his own imprint, Bread Gang.
His major-label debut, 2 Federal, saw the rapper collaborate with Yo Gotti on a 19-track mixtape that set the stage for four more mixtapes that followed throughout 2017, all of which charted in the US – August’s Federal 3X scored him his first Top 10 hit, coming in at No 5 on the Billboard 200.
After winning the Memphis’ Hip Hop Award for Mixtape of The Year, the Tennessee-born rap artist continued working with increasingly high-profile names while cementing his reputation as one of the genre’s most formidable players.
His official debut studio album, RESET, featured guest verses from J. Cole, Future, YG, Jeremih and Kodak Black, hitting No 13 and prompting Apple Music to compare him to 2Pac and remark that “progress is sharper on every level: topics, beats, mentality, even ad-libs”.
Less than a year later, Moneybagg followed up his debut with 43va Heartless, a similarly incendiary package that debuted at No 4 on the Billboard 200, gaining the rapper his highest position yet. There’s no doubt that Moneybagg Yo is set to continue this astronomical rise, turning the global hip-hop and trap scenes upside down in the process.