Raised by his grandmother in Baton Rogue, Louisiana, YoungBoy Never Broke Again (born Kentrell DeSean Gaulden in 1999) started recording with a Walmart-bought microphone as a teenager, writing tracks for his early mixtapes while in juvenile detention. It’s a path that would continue to cast shadows on his career. After a flurry of increasingly strong mixtapes (most notably 2017's u003ciu003eAI YoungBoyu003c/iu003e), Gaulden made his major-label leap with 2018’s u003ciu003eUntil Death Call My Nameu003c/Iu003e, only to be derailed by further arrests. He bounced back later in the year with a string of similarly titled EPs (u003ciu003e4Respectu003c/iu003e, u003ciu003e4Loyaltyu003c/iu003e, u003ciu003e4Freedomu003c/iu003e, u003ciu003e4WhatImportantu003c/iu003e) that continued to chart his sound, featuring collaborations with Young Thug and Kevin Gates. Aggressive but soulful, Gaulden’s music feels like a natural step in the evolution of Louisiana hip-hop, echoing both Boosie Badazz (a collaborator) and Gates (who went so far as to get a tattoo of Gaulden’s face) as well as the serious, sing-song-y feel of classic Cash Money. Speaking to u003ciu003eThe FADERu003c/iu003e in 2017, Gaulden described the pressure he felt to succeed—for his family and for himself. “I can see, I can hear, I can smell, I can speak, I can touch,” he said. “Ain’t no excuses.” n