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Drumma Boy is a Southern rap producer based in Atlanta, GA, whose credits include collaborations with many of the most popular rappers in the South, most notably T.I. and Young Jeezy. Born Christopher Gholson in Memphis, TN, he grew up in a musical household where his mother was a professional opera singer and his father was a professional clarinetist in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in addition to being a music professor at the University of Memphis. From his parents he learned a lot about music, not only classical music but soul music as well. He began making beats at age 14 and was making money as a rap producer while he was still in high school. Drumma Boy initially established himself on the Memphis rap scene, working with local rappers such as Gangsta Boo, Yo Gotti, and Tela. Some of his early work can be heard on the albums Double Dose (2000) by Tela ("Tennessee Titans"), Enquiring Minds, Vol. 2: The Soap Opera (2003) by Gangsta Boo ("Sippin & Spinnin"), and Life (2003) by Yo Gotti ("Life"). In 2004 he moved from Memphis to Atlanta to pursue a career in Southern rap production. He had already worked with Pastor Troy, producing beats for the Down South Georgia Boyz album 'Til Death Do Us Part (2003), and he began working with Young Jeezy and his Boyz N da Hood collective, most notably producing "Standing Ovation" on Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 (2005). Drumma Boy's first big hit came in 2007 with "Shawty," a Plies song featuring T-Pain that reached the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The following year he was credited with producing a few tracks each on T.I.'s Paper Trail and Young Jeezy's The Recession, two of the most popular rap albums of 2008. ~ Jason Birchmeier

Louisiana rapper Boosie Badazz, formerly known as Lil' Boosie, has taken his raw and uncut style from underground circles to mainstream success over the course of a long and winding career. After starting out as a teenager in the '90s as part of a collective called Concentration Camp, he was taken under the wing of Pimp C as a solo artist, and first charted in 2000 with Youngest of da Camp. From 2006 through 2017, he put together five consecutive charting projects distributed by major labels, starting with Bad Azz and continuing with titles such as the Top Ten Billboard 200 hits Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz and Touch Down 2 Cause Hell. During this period, he scored a handful of hit singles that included "Wipe Me Down," which went Top Ten R&B/hip-hop and Top 40 pop. Boosie has since earned his first gold RIAA certifications as a headliner for 2019's "Nasty, Nasty" (featuring Latto) and 2021's "Period" (joined by DaBaby), and has added to his large catalog with full-length projects such as 2022's Heartfelt, 2023's Lines for Valentines, and 2024's soul- and blues-themed Boosie Blues.

Originally known as Lil' Boosie, Boosie Badazz's tough Southern style comes from growing up in one of Baton Rouge's more notorious neighborhoods. Not having his father in his life was another challenge, but things began moving in a positive direction when Boosie immersed himself in basketball and eventually music. Still in his teens, he turned to rapping and eventually hooked up with C-Loc. An appearance on C-Loc's 2000 It's a Gamble became Boosie's debut. He soon released the full-length CD Youngest of da Camp on his own. His big breakthrough began when he joined Pimp C's Trill Entertainment camp. He was paired with fellow Trill artist Webbie for the 2003 release Ghetto Stories and again for 2004's Gangsta Musik, which featured the first appearance of Webbie's future hit "Give Me That." Trill then worked a deal with the Warner Bros.-associated Asylum, and both Webbie and Boosie were now on a major label.

Webbie released his album in 2005, and Boosie's release, titled Bad Azz, arrived the next year with features from Yung Joc, Pimp C, and Webbie. The Bad Azz DVD soon followed, featuring interview footage in which Boosie explained the drug-related death of his father and revealed his own battle with diabetes. Late in the year, the Streetz Is Mine mixtape appeared in cooperation with DJ Drama. His slick album Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz landed in 2009 along with the single "Better Believe It." The next year, Boosie followed up with Incarcerated, which was issued while he served time for drug possession.

After his 2014 release from prison, Boosie changed his name to Boosie Badazz and was featured on several tracks, including ones by Jeezy ("Beez Like") and T.I. ("Jet Fuel"). He also issued Life After Deathrow, a mixtape, as a free digital download. The proper album Touchdown 2 Cause Hell followed in 2015 on Atlantic. It featured the single "Like a Man" along with guest appearances from Chris Brown, Rich Homie Quan, T.I., and Rick Ross. In 2016 he dropped the crime-themed street release Thug Talk along with Penitentiary Chances, a collaborative album with the then-incarcerated C-Murder, who recorded his verses from behind bars. A slew of mixtapes arrived that same year, including In My Feelings (Goin' Thru It), Out My Feelings (In My Past), and Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas. Studio full-length BooPac arrived in 2017, alongside the Hurricane Chris collaboration My Favorite Mixtape and its quick follow-up, 2018's My Favorite Mixtape 2. Boosie also tried his hand at being a romancing soul man on the silky Boosie Blues Cafe, which was followed by another seasonal tape, Savage Holidays, which featured appearances by YFN Lucci and Rich Homie Quan.

The prolific emcee continued in 2019 with multiple mixtapes. A streak of releases began in March of the year with Badazz 3.5, followed shortly afterward by Talk Dat Shit (highlighted by the gold-certified Latto collaboration "Nasty, Nasty"), Goat Talk, and the Zaytoven collaboration Bad Azz Zay. In February of 2020, another collaborative mixtape appeared, this time with Dallas rapper MO3. The project, appropriately titled Badazz MO3, quickly found its way into the Billboard charts, and was soon trailed by Goat Talk 2 and In House. Goat Talk 3, issued in 2021, produced another gold single for Boosie with "Period." The full-lengths Heartfelt and Lines and Valentines arrived over the course of 2022 and 2023. After the Jit the Beast collaboration In House 2: Boosie and the Beast, Boosie returned to themes of romance and heartache with Boosie Blues, released in April 2024. ~ David Jeffries

After three years of making his name on the mixtape circuit, Atlanta rapper Mykko Montana broke through in 2011 with the club track "Do It." After the local newspaper published a teen Mykko's tribute to his recently deceased Grandmother, the future MC gained confidence in his ability to write. Mixtapes like The Overdraft and Applying Pressure would get him noticed by hip-hop producer Nitti who signed Mykko to his label in 2010. The single and video for "Do It" would land in 2011 with "Bessy, Bessy, Bessy" following in 2013. ~ David Jeffries