Atlanta rapper
Lil Keed was raised in the same rough neighborhood as
Young Thug, and was heavily influenced by
Thug's music before
Keed eventually signed with his YSL label.
Lil Keed's style stayed true to the trippy, Auto-Tuned trap that
Thug helped usher in, and after establishing himself locally in the greater Atlanta area, he broke through nationally on the strength of singles like "Fetish."
Lil Keed first started making music with his younger brother
Lil Gotit, posting songs online and scoring some regional hits in 2017. The death of a friend who also rapped motivated him to take his music more seriously, and he started spending all of his time in the studio stockpiling new tracks. Early mixtapes and songs like "Blicky Blicky" helped make a name for the rapper around Atlanta, and he soon signed on with YSL for the release of his 2018 mixtape
Trapped on Cleveland 2. Before the year was out, he released a remix of his song "Fetish" featuring a guest spot by
Young Thug and followed with the star-studded
Keed Talk to 'Em mixtape. The 15-track collection reworked some of his best-known songs and included featured verses from big names like
21 Savage,
Trippie Redd,
Lil Yachty,
Lil Durk, and many others.
2019 would be a big year for
Lil Keed, with some of his most successful singles to date and the summer release of his first studio album,
Long Live Mexico. The record, released via 300 Entertainment and YSL, featured a nonstop list of collaborators and included the hit song "Pull Up" featuring
YNW Melly and
Lil Uzi Vert. The album got as high as number 26 on the Billboard charts, making it the strongest commercial showing of the rapper's career. A mixtape, A-Team, arrived in 2020 with appearances by
Zaytoven,
Lil Gotit, and
Lil Yachty. A third
Trapped on Cleveland mixtape emerged in 2020, and
Keed made guest appearances on releases by
Whipped Cream,
Kodak Black, and
Young Thug in 2020 and 2021.
Lil Keed died on May 13, 2022, in Los Angeles at the age of 24. ~ Fred Thomas