Lil Wyte

When the quick-rapping, crunk to the core Lil Wyte first came to the attention of Three 6 Mafia it was with an all-white group of which Wyte was a member. The group fell apart but the Memphis-based Wyte was too skilled to be stopped. Three 6 Mafia members Juicy J and DJ Paul signed the under-21 rapper immediately after the group’s disbanding and soon were working on his debut. Doubt Me Now appeared in 2003 and became a word-of-mouth hit among crunk and Southern rap’s hardcore fans. Wyte’s “Smoking Song” started to appear on numerous street-level mixtapes and Internet message boards were filled with Wyte talk. The Warner Bros. label took notice and approached the rapper about becoming a flagship artist for the relaunch of Warner’s Asylum imprint. He signed, and brought Juicy J and DJ Paul along with him. The trio’s work made Wyte’s 2004 release, Phinally Phamous, one of the most “real” and “street” releases to appear on a major label under the crunk banner. His Warner follow-up, 2007′s The One and Only reached a very respectable #46 on the Billboard Top 200 and became his most successful release to date. Two years later, Wyte’s DJ Paul and Juicy J-produced fourth LP, The Bad Influence, made a decent showing on the charts, but would be list last for Asylum. Year Round, a 2011 collaboration with Jelly Roll and BPZ recorded under the name SNO, became the inaugural release on his own Wyte Records, which appeared in conjunction with Hypnotize Minds. It was followed a year later by Still Doubted?, Wyte’s first post-Warner solo effort. A welcome return, the album was well-received by critics and was accompanied by Wyte Out, one of many mixtapes delivered during this era. After a pair of collaborations, first with Jelly Roll on 2013′s No Filter then with Frayser Boy on 2014′s B.A.R. (Bay Area Representatives), he returned to solo work with No Sick Days, his sixth solo LP. Throughout this period, the prolific Wyte maintained a steady stream of mixtapes, often releasing several per year. Alongside the Jelly Roll-accompanied sequel, No Filter 2, 2016 also brought his sixth holiday mixtape, Wyte Christmas 6, with DJ Ritz. ~ David Jeffries