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Busting out of Atlanta in 2011 with his hit street track "Tony Montana," rapper Future grew up in Atlanta's Zone 6 section. Born Nayvadius Cash, hip-hop was in his family, as his cousin was producer Rico Wade. It was his local crew who gave him his moniker, dubbing him "The Future of Rap," something the nation got to experience in 2010 when he partnered with Gucci Mane for the mixtape Free Bricks. In 2011, he released the street album Streetz Calling and made a guest appearance on YC's mixtape hit "Racks." In the fall of that year, as "Tony Montana" was catching fire, it was announced that Future would be signing to the Epic Label Group thanks to producer and C.E.O. L.A. Reid. Future's debut album, Pluto, landed on Epic proper in 2012. Featuring valuable input from Snoop Dogg, T.I., and Juicy J, it debuted at number two on the pop chart. Later that year, Future enjoyed high-profile credits (co-writing and performance) on Rihanna's Unapologetic with the track "Loveeeeeee Song," and early 2013 brought a compilation mixtape, F.B.G.: The Movie, on his own Freebandz imprint. Later that year, Future and Ciara announced their engagement.
Future's second full-length album, initially known as Future Hendrix but later retitled Honest, was issued in early 2014. It earned both critical acclaim and popular success and peaked at number two. Two singles from the album, "Move That Dope" (featuring Pharrell, Pusha T, and Casino) and "I Won" (featuring Kanye West), charted inside the rap Top 20. A few months after the album's release, Future and Ciara's split was made public. During late 2014 and early 2015, Future was on a creative roll with three mixtapes, as well as another major hit, "F**k Up Some Commas." They primed his fans for third album DS2, which debuted at number one in July 2015. Only two months later, What a Time to Be Alive, a mixtape collaboration with Drake, reached the same spot. In early 2016 he dropped the surprise album Evol, which arrived unannounced but still debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. In November of that year, Future issued another Drake-assisted single, "Used to This," from his Beast Mode 16 mixtape.
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Atlanta-based rapper and trap pioneer Gucci Mane made his mainstream debut in 2005 with his first national hit, "Icy." However, he became involved in a quarrel with that song's collaborator, Young Jeezy, and found himself facing murder charges in the Georgia courts. The skirmish would kick off a storied narrative that defined his career. Before the dramatic arc, Gucci Mane (born Radric Davis) loved to compose rhymes, writing poetry as a child in elementary school in his native Birmingham, Alabama. During the fourth grade, he moved to Atlanta with his single mother. By the time high school started, Gucci Mane had already spent time in a recording studio. The glamour and fashion sense of rappers like Big Daddy Kane motivated him to put words to music. His debut single, "Black Tee," was a hit on the local scene and earned him a contract with Big Cat Records. In May 2005, the label released his debut album, Trap House, which peaked at the number one spot on Billboard's Heatseekers chart.

The beef with Young Jeezy originated from a fight over the rights to the album's "Icy" hit single, which spawned a number of diss tracks traded between the two. Within the same month of the LP's release, Gucci Mane was arrested for murder following an altercation in which he shot at a group of five men who burst into his friend's house, threatening to kill the rapper. As it turned out, the murdered attacker was an associate of Young Jeezy, who denied any involvement with the incident. Gucci Mane declared in court that it was self-defense, and by January 2006, Georgia prosecutors dropped all charges, citing lack of evidence. However, the legal issues would only continue for the next decade.

After being released from jail (on charges unrelated to the murder) that same month, he quickly went back into the studio to make his second album, Hard to Kill, which was released in October. He took the song "Go Head" from his first album and made it the lead single for the second in order to make up for the time taken away from promoting Trap House. The State vs. Radric Davis, his second official album, was released in December 2009 following a dizzying array of dozens of mixtapes.

The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted followed in 2010 with guest shots from Estelle, Nicki Minaj, and Wyclef. Featuring the single "Mouth Full of Gold" with special guest Birdman, the "street album" The Return of Mr. Zone 6 followed in 2011, along with two collaborative albums, 1017 Bricksquad Presents...Ferrari Boyz with Waka Flocka Flame and Baytl with V-Nasty. A second volume of Gucci Mane's The State vs. Radric Davis mixtape would drop in 2013. Entitled The State vs. Radric Davis II: The Caged Bird Sings, it featured appearances from Migos, Young Scooter, Peewee Longway, Verse Simmonds, Young Dolph, Rocko, and Young Thug.

In late 2013, his scraps with the law finally came to a head. He agreed to a plea deal over a firearms possession charge and would not emerge from prison until May 2016. During his two years of incarceration, Gucci Mane would release close to 30 mixtapes.

The rapper would have a landmark year in 2016. His ninth studio album, Everybody Looking, arrived mere months after his release from prison. Issued on his own label, Guwop Enterprises, the LP debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and boasted high-profile guest appearances such as Drake, Kanye West, and Young Thug. Keeping up with his prolific reputation, Gucci Mane released his tenth album just five months later. Woptober featured Rick Ross, Travis Scott, and Young Dolph. Guwop also scored his first Billboard number one single with the Rae Sremmurd hit "Black Beatles." To close out his busy 2016, he dropped his third album of the year, Return of the East Atlanta Santa, which debuted in the Billboard Top 20. ~ Cyril Cordor & Neil Z. Yeung
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