Kentrell DeSean Gaulden (born October 20, 1999), known professionally as YoungBoy Never Broke Again or NBA YoungBoy, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. From 2015 to 2017, he released eight independent mixtapes and garnered a regional following for his work. He signed with Atlantic Records in the latter year to release the singles "Untouchable" and "No Smoke", both of which marked his first entries on the Billboard Hot 100. Released in January of the following year, his single "Outside Today" became his first to reach the top 40 of the chart, and received quadruple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It served as both his mainstream breakthrough and the lead single for his debut studio album, Until Death Call My Name (2018), which peaked at number seven on the US Billboard 200 despite mixed critical reception.
His 2019 single, "Bandit" (with Juice Wrld) became his first song to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. In the following week, he released the commercial mixtape AI YoungBoy 2 (2019), which debuted atop the Billboard 200 and received 18 gold certifications by the RIAA for each of its songs. The release of its follow-up, 38 Baby 2 (2020) and his second studio album, Top (2020) made Gaulden the second hip hop act to peak the chart thrice within a single year. Released during an incarceration, his third album, Sincerely, Kentrell (2021) likewise peaked the chart and became the third project—behind Tupac Shakur's Me Against the World (1995) and Lil Wayne's I Am Not a Human Being (2010)—by an imprisoned artist to do so. His fourth album, The Last Slimeto (2022) peaked at number two on the chart and served as his final release with Atlantic. Gaulden then signed with Motown to release his fifth and sixth albums, I Rest My Case (2023) and Don't Try This at Home (2023), both of which were met with trailing critical and commercial reception.
Despite his success, Gaulden's career has been marked by a long history of legal issues that began in 2016. He has maintained a largely prolific output notwithstanding his incarcerations.
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