Blueface

L.A. rapper Blueface made a snap decision to abandon his dreams of playing football and in under a year went from never even contemplating making music to being one of the more buzzed-about rappers in the game. Taking the name Blueface to represent both an association with the Crips and the "blue" 100 dollar bill, the face-tatted rapper broke out in 2018 with several releases that highlighted his asymmetrical flow and cleverly surreal lyrical styles.

Blueface was born Jonathan Porter in 1997, growing up in Los Angeles and moving around the area a lot before attending college at North Carolina's Fayetteville State University on a football scholarship. After dropping out of college, Porter found himself back in L.A. and hanging out with his friend TC4800 in a studio session. At random he got on the mike, rapping for the first time in his life. He developed a polarizing style that incorporated lines that wandered in and out of meter as well as provocative, ear-catching lyricism heavy on slang and clever imagery. His first track to break through on a bigger level was "DeadLocs" in early 2018. He followed the viral track with the even more successful "Thotiana" a few weeks later. He began doing tours of high schools and meeting fans at area malls. This grassroots promotion helped him build a devoted fan base quickly and he quickly issued new music to keep them interested. The Famous Cryp mixtape, an EP entitled Two Coccy, and a collaborative mixtape with Trendd called We Over Famous all showed up before the end of 2018. Late in the year, Blueface signed with long-running rap superpower Cash Money Records. He began 2019 with the new single "Bleed It."