2 Chainz

Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper.

Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he initially gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, alongside hometown rapper Earl "Dolla Boy" Conyers.

He later attended Alabama State University on a scholarship, and played on its basketball team from 1996 to 1997.

When asked by Rolling Stone about longstanding rumors that he had graduated from Alabama State with a 4.0 GPA, which had been widely reported on many sources including Wikipedia, 2 Chainz said: "Don't believe anything on Wack-ipedia. There's a lot of false stuff on there, to the point that every time I try to fix one thing, something else comes out."

In fact, he transferred to Virginia State University due to circumstances he was reluctant to speak about.

"I got into some trouble, went somewhere else, and came back. But I graduated, and that's that. That was then," he said.

Epps formed the hip hop duo Playaz Circle (the word "Playaz" having been made into a backronym for "Preparing Legal Assets for Years from A to Z") in College Park, Georgia in 1997, with his high school friend Earl Conyers (known as Dolla Boy), while Epps adopted "Tity Boi" as his moniker.

Following the release of an independent album titled United We Stand, United We Fall (2002), the duo was introduced to fellow Atlanta rapper Ludacris when he moved into their College Park apartment complex while he was acting as a DJ.

After taking interest in Playaz Circle, Ludacris began to record several songs with the group, playing some of them on his radio station.

Ludacris soon became one of the highest-selling rappers in the Southern United States.

After hearing of their situation, Ludacris requested of Epps that the duo join his newly formed record label Disturbing Tha Peace, a subsidiary of Def Jam Recordings.

Epps agreed to sign, although Conyers did not officially join the label until his mother regained her health a year after the initial signing.

The duo signed with fellow Georgia-based rapper Ludacris' Disturbing tha Peace label, and became best known for their 2007 debut single "Duffle Bag Boy" (featuring Lil Wayne).

The duo's debut album Supply & Demand, was released on October 30, 2007.

The lead single and the duo's debut single, "Duffle Bag Boy", became an urban hit single.

The song features Lil Wayne, and was performed by the duo at the BET Hip Hop Awards.

The duo released its second studio album Flight 360: The Takeoff, on September 29, 2009.

In January 2010, Playaz Circle filmed a music video for the single "Big Dawg" featuring Lil Wayne and Birdman at Studio Space Atlanta.

Shortly afterwards, Epps left Disturbing tha Peace, a move he claimed was taken in order to advance his career.

Although Ludacris was initially reluctant to allow Epps to leave the label (as he felt Epps could still prove financially successful), he eventually accepted the decision.

Epps faced allegations of sexism for his original pseudonym "Tity Boi", although he has repeatedly denied such accusations.

In early 2011, he decided to change his stage name to "2 Chainz," as he perceived it to be more "family friendly."

Regarding the name change, he further explained to Vibe magazine: "The name Tity Boi actually came from my Big Mama, from me being spoiled and an only child—breastfed. My mama called me Tity Boi, my dad called me Tity Man, my hood called me Tit so when we was trying to rap I had been going by Tit my whole life, Tit, Tity, Tity Man —it’s just like a country nickname —term for being an only child."

Following this, Epps released a mixtape titled T.R.U. REALigion, which became his first mixtape to appear on the music charts, peaking at number 58 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Following the success of the mixtape, Epps made numerous guest appearances on tracks by prominent recording artists such as Kanye West ("Mercy") and Nicki Minaj ("Beez in the Trap").

In February 2012, Epps signed a solo recording contract with Def Jam Recordings, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

In April of that year, his guest performance on Kanye West's single, "Mercy" marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo act, peaking at number 13.

In the following months, his singles "No Lie" (featuring Drake) and "Birthday Song" (featuring Kanye West) were released to continued success; both of which received double platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and preceded the release of his debut studio album, Based on a T.R.U. Story in August of that year.

Despite mixed critical reception, it peaked atop the Billboard 200 and spawned the top 40 single "I'm Different".

On March 24, 2012, Epps announced his debut studio album, whose title he had changed to Based on a T.R.U. Story from its original title of T.R.U. to My REALigion, which was set for an August 14, 2012, release date.

The album's lead single, "No Lie," featured Canadian rapper Drake, and was released on May 8, 2012.

On May 11, it was under speculation that Epps had signed with Kanye West's GOOD Music label, after West tweeted: "2 Chainz is charging 100k for a verse now cause he's G.O.O.D!!!!!"

His second album, B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time (2013) was led by the single "Feds Watching" (featuring Pharrell Williams), and saw improved critical reception despite a slight commercial decline.

Epps has since released the albums ColleGrove (2016), Pretty Girls Like Trap Music (2017), Rap or Go to the League (2019), So Help Me God! (2020), and Dope Don't Sell Itself (2022).

Epps has won a Grammy Award–Best Rap Performance for his guest appearance on Chance the Rapper's single "No Problem"—from six nominations.

His other accolades include three BET Awards from 11 nominations, and five BET Hip Hop Awards from 19 nominations.

He has also hosted Vice TV's 2017 reality series Most Expensivest, in which he reviews luxury consumer goods; it aired for four seasons.

2 Chainz was born Tauheed Epps in College Park, Georgia.

He attended North Clayton High School, where he played basketball and graduated second in his class.

While in high school, he dealt marijuana and was arrested for felony cocaine possession when he was 15 years old.