Southside

Southside is an American hip-hop producer and solo artist whose music incorporates elements of trap, rap, and pop. He was born as "Joshua Howard Luellen" in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 2, 1989, and began creating his own beats as a teenager. At 17 years old, he was discovered by Waka Flocka Flame and signed to Gucci Mane's record label, 1017 Brick Squad Records. Several years later, he made his mainstream debut by producing the song "Fuck the Club Up" from Waka Flocka Flame's album Flockaveli. Shortly thereafter, he produced "Illest Motherfucker Alive" from Kanye West and Jay-Z's collaborative album Watch the Throne. Both projects helped increase his reputation as a go-to producer, and Southside earned a gold record for producing Birdman's "Tapout" in 2013. He earned another gold certification in 2015, this time for his work on Future's "Fuck Up Some Commas." Meanwhile, he began releasing music of his own, beginning with the 2014 mixtape Free Agent. Young Extravagent Nigga (2014), Free Agent 2 (2015), Free Agent 3 (2015), Hardcore N Hi-Tech (2016), and Lebron Flocka James 4 (2016) followed during the next two years. He then teamed up with G Herbo to release a collaborative album, Swervo, in 2018. Swervo peaked at Number 15 on the Billboard 200 and Number 8 on the Top Hip-Hop Albums chart. Southside returned to the upper reaches of the Billboard charts in 2022, when "Hold That Heat" became a hit in both Canada and the US.