TIA: Amidst a sea of up and coming artists, one rapper is on the come up and is taking
social media by storm: NLE Choppa.
Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, NLE Choppa shares a hometown with everyone from rap legends
like Three 6 Mafia to more recent stars like Moneybagg Yo.
NLE Choppa’s only been rapping professionally since 2018, but his ascent happened fast.
His very first song, “No Love Anthem” dropped in February of last year.
NLE CHOPPA: It was on YouTube but it was really it go on Instagram a lot of famous people
was putting it on their Instagrams and stuff and it started to get buzz from there.
TIA: He spent the year dabbling in the rap game, but by December, he was propelled into
the spotlight after his verse on the local rap collective Shotta Fam’s “No Chorus,
Pt. 3.”
NLE CHOPPA: That hoe went dumb.
And everybody was like the whole song fire but who that first nigga, who that first nigga?
TIA: The solo track, “Shotta Flow” came shortly after in January 2019, and was immediately
a hit, quickly racking up streams and YouTube views, with over 65 million to date.
NLE CHOPPA: What really made me was how the beat came on it was like...I was like hold
up.
We got something right here.
I had already freestyled to it in the car I was like the freestyle goin crazy so I gotta
drop the real song.
TIA: And it didn’t take long after “Shotta Flow” dropped, for labels to come knocking--
in fact, there was even a bidding war to sign the young rapper, who ultimately joined business
man Steve Stoute’s company, United Masters, which allows the rapper to own the rights
to his music.
STEVE STOUTE: We’re a distribution company.
He’s not signed to us, we distribute the work that he owns.
// We allow his music to go from the studio, onto Spotify, onto Apple, so we distribute
to all the streaming platforms for him.
NLE CHOPPA: They have a team to distribute my music, a marketing team, all that.
At the end of the day you still own all your music.
So it’s independent, but you got help.
TIA: And NLE Choppa hasn’t missed any opportunities since his debut.
A month after “Shotta Flow,” he dropped “Shotta Flow 2,” which currently has over
30 million views and over 200,000 page views on Genius.
And in April 2019, he stopped by Genius for a live performance of “Shotta Flow” for
our series Open Mic.
A month later in May, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #96.
Since breaking out in January with “Shotta Flow” NLE Choppa has been steadily releasing
new music, like his recent cuts “Blocc Is Hot” and “FREE YOUNGBOY.”
As for NLE, which stands for No Love Entertainment, Choppa hopes to expand the brand and eventually
turn his sights on investment and making some long-term financial gains outside of music.
NLE CHOPPA: When I get my first check I wanna invest in real estate. And then I wanna own get a shoe store.
NLE Kicks.
And then you got uh...NLE real estate.
Everybody need shoes.
Everybody need a house.
TIA: I’m Tia with Genius News bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.