In 2015, 21 Savage was beginning to bubble as the next Atlanta hip-hop star. He invited his cousin, a kid named Quantavious Tavario Thomas, to appear on his track “Air it Out” from that same year. Born in 1992, Thomas was still a teenage novice, but, under the alias Young Nudy, he stood out as an effortlessly sardonic voice when contrasted with Savage’s whispering villainy. “I wasn’t serious about rap when that song came out,” he explained to Apple Music. “I just did it for my cousin, because he was pushing me to do this sh*t.” Quickly after, though, Nudy caught the rap bug and catapulted himself to the top of Atlanta’s always-crowded upper echelon of MCs. Slimeball, Nudy’s breakthrough 2016 mixtape, showcased a rapper versatile in themes and delivery. He effortlessly moved from classic street tales on one track to humor-laced digressions on weed, women, and jewelry on the next. It’s often hard to step out from the shadow of your famous family, but Nudy turned the 21 Savage cosign into a brilliant, prolific career almost overnight. On “Zone 6,” from 2018’s Slimeball 3, the rapper moves between flows with ease, showcasing the triplet style pioneered by Migos before utilizing an internal rhyme pattern that proves his lyrical prowess. Nudy took his career to a new level in 2019 with the release of his brilliant collaborative tape with Pi’erre Bourne, Sli’merre, and another new mixtape, Faded In the Booth, which came just 13 days later. Though Nudy seemingly releases new records with reckless abandon, he spends ample time deliberating over his philosophy. “I move more carefully now. I’m not young as hell,” he told Apple Music. “I move a little better. A little smarter.”
