Lil Poppa

With his languid, singsong flow, Southern rapper Lil Poppa delivers thoughtful, street-centric rhymes culled from his experiences in east Jacksonville, Florida. Following the releases of his underground mixtapes, he gained viral attention with breakthrough single “Purple Hearts,” which was included on his 2018 effort Under Investigation. He later charted in the Billboard 200 with his 2021 studio debut LP, Blessed, I Guess, and his 2022 mixtape Under Investigation 3. Heavy Is the Head followed later in 2022.
Born in 1994 and raised around his hometown of Jacksonville, Poppa — taking his moniker from a childhood nickname — started rapping at the tender age of six, honing his skills by rapping in church and crafting rhymes with his big brother. Outside of that spiritual setting, he also learned plenty from the streets, injecting his storytelling with grit and gravity. He built a makeshift studio in his bedroom and began recording his songs. Following early mixtapes, he made his breakthrough in 2018 with the singles “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Purple Hearts.” The latter became a viral hit and landed on his mixtape Under Investigation, which notched over a million streams.
Signing with Interscope Records, Lil Poppa made his major-label debut in 2019 with the singles “Man of the Year” and “Dangerous.” The full-length Evergreen Wildchild 2 appeared in May 2020. The rapper’s debut album, Blessed, I Guess, arrived in early 2021. With appearances from Toosii and Seddy Hendrinx, the project built further on his earnest storytelling and emotive melodies. The album reached 160 on the Billboard 200 and was followed a year later by the mixtape Under Investigation 3, which charted at 194. Another mixtape, Heavy Is the Head, arrived in November of 2022. ~ Neil Z. Yeung