* En anglais uniquement
New Orleans rapper
Curren$y started out as a member of No Limit Records signees
504 Boyz in the early 2000s and made it through struggles with various labels before starting his own. Over the years, his smart lyrics would catch the attention of fans and other artists alike, and along with prolific output in the form of solo mixtapes,
Curren$y had high-profile collaborations with
Lil Wayne,
Wiz Khalifa,
Freddie Gibbs, and many others. His solo discography is impressive on its own, with highlights like his 2012 Warner Bros.-released, Top Ten-charting
The Stoned Immaculate and 2015's
Canal Street Confidential, but
Curren$y also stays highly active with ongoing collaborations and guest appearances on other artists' tracks. In addition to strong pairings with
Harry Fraud and
Wiz Khalifa,
Curren$y's continued work with
the Alchemist resulted in critical favorites like 2022's
Continuance.
Born Shante Anthony Franklin and raised in New Orleans,
Curren$y was originally signed to
Master P's No Limit label, but in 2005 he made the move to
Lil Wayne and
Birdman's Cash Money imprint, Young Money. He appeared on
Wayne's
Tha Carter II album that same year, and in 2006,
Curren$y's "Where da Cash At" single was released -- both on its own and as part of
Wayne's Dedication 2 mixtape -- but a promised album never materialized. Not one to sit idle,
Curren$y started Fly Society with professional skateboarder
Terry Kennedy in 2007. The brand was originally planned as a line of apparel, but it evolved into a music label as the rapper's relationship with Young Money soured. After leaving the label at the end of 2007 with Fly Society in tow,
Curren$y released a series of underground mixtapes, including 2009's How Fly, a much buzzed-about collaboration with then-newcomer
Wiz Khalifa.
Other mixtapes appeared before
Curren$y hooked up with the digital-only Amalgam Digital for the early-2009 release This Ain't No Mixtape. The relationship continued that October with the download-only
Jet Files, but in early 2010 he joined the
Def Jam family via
Damon Dash's DD172 imprint. With the label's in-house producer
Ski Beatz handling most of the production,
Curren$y's Pilot Talk album appeared in July of that year, with
Pilot Talk II landing in 2010. The stopgap release
Weekend at Burnie's followed in 2011, with the retro backing tracks coming from producer
Monsta Beatz.
Beatz, along with the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and
Pharrell, was back for the rapper's 2012 street release,
The Stoned Immaculate. In 2015, the album Pilot Talk III was issued on a $100 USB key made available from the rapper's
Jet Life website, while the EP
Even More Saturday Night Car Tunes landed through more traditional distribution channels. That same year, the "Bottom of the Bottle" single featuring
Lil Wayne and
August Alsina appeared right before the release of
Canal Street Confidential, an album that the MC road-tested on tour before deciding on the final track list.
In 2016, the rapper issued over a dozen mixtapes, including collaborative efforts with
the Alchemist (The Carrollton Heist), Purps (Bourbon Street Secrets), and
Sledgren (Revolver). The self-releases continued into 2017, with the Jetlanta EP and The Fo20 Massacre, followed by
The Marina (Jet Life) EP in 2018. February 2019 saw the release of
2009, a collaboration with
Wiz Khalifa that revisited the creative chemistry of the duo's decade-old How Fly project. Not long after,
Curren$y issued two more collaborative efforts, working with
Statik Selektah on
Gran Turismo and with
Berner on Pheno Grigio. He also found time for the solo mixtape
Hot August Nights. In 2020, he collaborated with
Fuse for the album
Spring Clean and
Harry Fraud for
The OutRunners and
The Director's Cut, with
Collection Agency arriving in early 2021. Work with
the Alchemist resumed on
Continuance, which was released in February of 2022. The album picked up where their 2011 collaboration
Covert Coup left off, and featured guest appearances from
Boldy James,
Larry June,
Babyface Ray,
Styles P, and others. ~ David Jeffries