Blac Youngsta

Memphis rapper Blac Youngsta released several independent mixtapes before going nationwide during the late 2010s, signing to Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group as well as major-label Epic. His Billboard 200-charting full-length projects, including 2.23 (2018) and Moneybagg Yo collaboration Code Red (2020), alternate between hard tracks for the streets and comparatively lighter jams for parties. His third full-length, 4LIFE, appeared in 2022.
Prior to his commercial breakthrough, the rapper born Sam Benson was known in his native South Memphis as an emergent artist and as the organizer of the popular McMillan Street block party. Youngsta began hosting the parties in 2011 to honor murdered neighborhood youth King Craddy. As a recording artist, he got his start with mixtapes, including the Fast Brick series, started in 2012. Yo Gotti signed Youngsta in 2015 to Collective Music Group, the outlet for mixtapes such as I Swear to God, Young & Reckless, and F*ck Everybody, all issued by the end of 2016. He also launched Heavy Camp, his own imprint under CMG.
Youngsta then moved up to major-label Epic in 2017, and the following year released the full-length 2.23 and mixtape F*ck Everybody 2, both of which registered in the upper half of the Billboard 200. “Booty,” a single taken from the former, peaked at number 35 on the R&B/hip-hop chart and crossed into the Hot 100. Its remix featured Chris Brown, Jeezy, and Trey Songz. Youngsta returned in 2019 with the three-song Cut Up EP. Church on Sunday, his second full-length, appeared later in the year. In September 2020, new music surfaced in the form of the mixtape Code Red, a collection of trap anthems and other high-energy collaborative tracks made by Blac Youngsta and Moneybagg Yo. Code Red also included appearances from Yo Gotti, 42 Dugg, DaBaby, and others. After a third volume in his F*ck Everybody mixtape series, he returned in May 2022 with his third proper album, 4LIFE. A sprawling 23-track set, it featured guests like Pooh Shiesty, 21 Savage, and Luh Kel. ~ David Jeffries