Moneybagg Yo

DeMario Dewayne White Jr. (born September 22, 1991 ), known professionally as Moneybagg Yo, is an American rapper.

Known for his melodic blend of trap and Southern hip hop music, he has gained recognition for his sharp lyricism, "mellow" vocal delivery, and themes that delve into introspection.

Moneybagg Yo, whose real name is Demario Dewayne White Jr, was born on September 22, 1991, in Memphis, Tennessee, to a single mother.

He is the oldest of three siblings and was raised in South Memphis.

According to Moneybagg Yo, he had a difficult childhood where his mother served the role of both parents and they often struggled with financial issues, including not having lights, furniture or running water at times.

Despite his mother's best efforts to provide for her children and keep them safe, the struggles at home and strict rules she imposed would often lead Moneybagg to run away from home and seek refuge with friends or on the streets from a young age.

"'I came from the gutter part of Memphis—like the bottom. To just have tunnel vision to get out should really tell you about my character.'"

Demario attended Mitchell High School in the city which is where he earned his stage name "Moneybagg Yo" as a tribute to his "hustler's mentality".

This mindset is all about "getting to the bag", which is a reference to the money he's trying to make.

His street life would intersect with his personal life on August 8, 2011, in which during Moneybagg Yo's family annual picnics on August 8, an altercation occurred that resulted in Moneybagg Yo, being shot at.

However, he was able to escape unharmed and was later arrested in connection with the incident.

It is unclear what exactly led to the altercation or what the specific charges were that Moneybagg Yo faced as a result of the incident.

After the incident at his family picnic, Moneybagg Yo used the traumatic experience as motivation to work harder in his music career.

He released his first official song "F U Pay Me" later that year.

Despite facing challenges and setbacks, Moneybagg Yo remained determined to succeed and used his experiences to fuel his passion for music.

During his spare time, Moneybagg Yo and his best friend Elo enjoyed freestyling.

Elo believed that Moneybagg Yo had the potential to become a successful rapper and encouraged him to pursue a career in music.

He later dropped out in the 12th grade, describing himself as "terrible" during that time.

Additionally, he explained that he felt that staying in school was not providing him with any financial benefits and saw no future in it.

He was also influenced by the fact that he was seeing his mother struggle to provide for him and his siblings, including having to sleep in an apartment with no furniture.

Thus, he chose to leave school to pursue other opportunities and provide for his family.

Despite trying to focus on sports like basketball and football, and even getting a job at a chicken restaurant, Moneybagg's struggle to provide for his family, led to him turning to selling drugs in order to make ends meet.

This was further compounded by the fact that he had his first child at this time.

Despite his mother's efforts to keep him away from the streets, the young and hungry Moneybagg was driven to do whatever it takes to provide for his family.

In spite of dropping out of school, Moneybagg Yo began to focus on entrepreneurial pursuits and diligent efforts to make a living, often spending significant time in the Haravan community where he became involved in drugs and violence.

This lifestyle led to him nearly losing his life.

However, according to him, his determination to make a better life for himself and his family kept him going.

It was during this period of his life that Demario began to develop a passion for music.

He was inspired by the financial success that some of his peers were able to achieve through rapping, earning as much as $20,000 per performance.

This made him realize that he too had the potential to make a significant income through music.

He began to take the art form seriously and started to hone his skills as a rapper, writing lyrics and practicing his flow.

Eventually, he began to gain a following and started to build a name for himself in the local rap scene.

DeWayne grew up in the Walker Homes community, which was known for its high crime rates and gang activity, he has spoken about being exposed to violence and drugs at a young age.

"'If someone can make it out of Memphis,' 'they're a soldier and meant to be here.' 'To just have tunnel vision to get out should really tell you about my character.'"

In 2015, Moneybagg Yo released his mixtape "Federal", which gained popularity in the Memphis and Tennessee areas Elo was fatally shot in 2015, which prompted Moneybagg Yo to take his rap career more seriously.

White signed with fellow Memphis rapper Yo Gotti's record label, Collective Music Group in 2016, later in a joint venture with Interscope Records.

His commercial mixtapes, Federal 3X (2017) and 2 Heartless (2018) saw his mainstream breakthrough and peaked at numbers five and 16 on the Billboard 200, respectively.

His studio albums, Reset (2018), 43va Heartless (2019), Time Served (2020), and A Gangsta's Pain (2021), were each met with critical and commercial success; the latter became his first to debut atop the chart and spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top 20 single "Wockesha."

White is the recipient of multiple accolades, and has received a Grammy Award nomination, in addition to American Music Award, MTV Music Video Award, Hollywood Music in Media Award, and iHeartRadio Music Award nominations; for the latter of which, he receieved four.

He won the 2021 "Trapper of the Year" Award by genre progenitor T.I.