Moneybagg Yo confirms new album; gets Biden meme fame
Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo is set to release one of the most anticipated hip-hop projects of 2021, “A Gangsta’s Pain,” later this month.
The 29-year-old star confirmed the imminent arrival of his fourth full-length studio album, due out April 23 via Cmg/n-less Entertainment/interscope Records. He’s also previewing the album with a new single titled “Go,” featuring fellow Memphian Big 30.
The track with Big 30 follows Moneybagg’s recent team-up with Grammy-winner Future. Their collaboration, “Hard for the Next,” was released in late March and has already garnered 6 million-plus Spotify streams and 6.7 million Youtube views. The track continued Moneybagg’s recent hot streak, which also included the February single “Time Today,” which hit the Billboard Hot 100, has so far generated 30 million-plus streams, and was recently certified gold by the RIAA.
Born Demario Dewayne White Jr., Moneybagg Yo gained attention starting in 2012 with a series of mixtapes like “From Da Block 2 Da Booth”. His second fulllength project, “43va Heartless,” which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard chart, came out in 2019.
In 2020, Moneybagg broke through on a bigger scale with the album “Time Served”. Released in early 2020, the record -- a star-studded project featuring collaborations with Future, Da Baby, Lil Baby, Megan thee Stallion, Summer Walker, and Fredo Bang -- hit No. 3 on the album charts. A deluxe version was also released and the two projects have collectively been streamed more than two billion times globally.
In September 2020, Moneybagg also released “Code Red”, a collaborative project with Blac Youngsta. Moneybagg and Blac Youngsta got their start together in local hip-hop group Memphis Greatest Unrated before going on to solo careers. The joint effort also debuted on the Billboard Top 10.
Moneybagg has been a trending topic on Twitter over the past month. In March, hitmaking artist/producer Pharrell, praised him on an episode of his “OTHERTONE” podcast, noting that “Moneybagg is my favorite, favorite, favorite, right now.”
Moneybagg also found himself the subject of a popular internet meme after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package in March. Soon after, social media commentators began referring to the President as Moneybagg Joe. And the phenomenon became the subject of a segment on MSNBC’S “The Beat with Ari Melber.”