YoungBoy Never Broke Again

Real name Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, Youngboy Never Broke Again was born on October 20, 1999 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Severely injured at the age of 4, he inherited extensive scars on his face that would follow him all his life. His childhood was disrupted by his father's 55-year prison sentence following a robbery, and by his mother's abandonment of him and his siblings. After becoming a delinquent, he served six months in prison, during which time he wrote his first lyrics. These were extended into music on his release, and in 2014 he published his first mixtape, Life Before Fame. He then had to wait another two years to be noticed, thanks to his next mixtape, 38 Baby. However, he was arrested at the end of the same year for attempted murder. During his incarceration, which ended in the spring of 2017, several singles were released, and in the middle of the summer he released the Al YoungBoy mixtape (charting at No. 24), led by the tracks "Untouchable " (No. 95) and "No Smoke " (No. 61). His first proper album, meanwhile, was released in January 2018. Entitled Until Death Call My Name (No. 7), it included the track "Outside Today", which reached No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2019, he returned with the single "Self Control" (No. 50). The same year, his duet "Bandit" with Juice Wrld is a bigger hit (No. 10). His next two albums, Top (2020) and Sincerely, Kentrell, (2021) reach #1 in the U.S., while the follow-up The Last Slimeto (2022), following the Colors EP and featuring duets with Kehlani, Rod Wave and Quavo, reaches #2. Following the mixtapes 3800 Degrees (a tribute to Juvenile and Lil Wayne) and Ma' I Got a Family (featuring Nicki Minaj), the rapper collaborates with his protégé Quando Rondo on 3860 and leaves Atlantic Records for Motown via his own label. By early 2023, he was working on his fifth album, I Rest My Case (ranked #9), immediately followed by Don't Try This at Home (#5), featuring contributions from Post Malone and The Kid Laroi, Mariah the Scientist and Nicki Minaj. With the single "Big Truck", YBNBA becomes the youngest artist to reach 100 entries on the Billboad Hot 100. The mixtapes Richest Opp and Decided 2 round off a successful year, before a string of off-album singles in 2024 and a period of incarceration during which the album I Just Got a Lot on My Shoulders is released.