NBA Youngboy picks his five favourite rappers: “My top five”
Baton Rouge emcee NBA Youngboy has been caught up in a lot of controversy, and the ‘Bandit’ lyricist has been battling a lot of legal troubles. Earlier this year, the AI YoungBoy was arrested in Utah for various accusations, including drug and gun possession, identity fraud, forgery, and more.
NBA Youngboy was caught violating his house arrest again in February this year for unlawfully possessing “a narcotic drug or other controlled substance” and was already facing a federal gun case with the court date set for July.
Despite this, the artist has continued to release music and, on September 11th, released a new music video for his song ‘Survivor’. However, he is nowhere near as prolific as he was during the height of his career in the mid-2010s.
Still, he speaks about his musical process and influences in interviews and during an interview with Grammy.com, the Baton Rouge artist spoke about his approach to releasing music and his passion for it, stating, “My brain ain’t on standstill. My music is kind of my life, so you know the music ain’t going to be at no standstill.”
He continued to disclose how he always has something to say and likes to use his music to share his opinion, stating, “I’ll always feel like I got something to speak on or to say to get my point across. I’m always, like, in a moment with my music or with my thoughts or with my releases. That’s kind of how I do that connection with my fans.”
He continued, “I never hid nothing with them from the jump. So it’s a reimbursement cycle going on with us, I guess. It’s spiritual. I dish out pain, they dish out what they dish. But dish out the negative or positive, either way it go, I’m still noticed by them. I’m thankful for that.”
In 2022, the Louisiana lyricist launched his Amazon Amp radio show Never Broke Again Radio, and during one of his first episodes, he named his favourite MCs, stating, “My top five rappers I’ll say, uh, Yeat, I’ll say [Young] Thug, I’ll say, French Montana, Glizzy, I’ll say Shy Glizzy, yeah, the last one [is] Soulja Slim.”
Concerning his favourite rappers, YoungBoy has worked with four of the five mentioned on songs like ‘Don’t Text Back,’ ‘Permanent Scar,’ ‘So Real,’ and ‘Where We Come From.’ However, he never worked with Soulja Slim because he was only four years old when Soulja Slim was tragically killed in 2003.
Slim, akin to NBA Youngboy, was born and raised in New Orleans and is one of the few MCs from Louisiana who managed to enter the mainstream. Still, the late legend has the respect of icons such as Lil Wayne, Jay Electronica, Master P and many others.
NBA Youngboy’s five favourite rappers:
- Yeat
- Young Thug
- French Montana
- Shy Glizzy
- Soulja Slim