GloRilla

In the early 2020s, GloRilla—one of Apple Music’s Up Next stars—emerged as one of the South’s most promising street-rap voices, with her husky, commanding delivery; hard-nosed verses; and shout-along refrains. She began her rapping career in high school in Memphis, taking influence from 2010s trap and drill trailblazers like Chief Keef as well as vaunted hometown heroes like Gangsta Boo. Her debut mixtape, 2019’s Most Likely Up Next, and 2020 EP P Status earned her local renown. After being approached by producer Hitkidd with a stark, piano-driven beat he couldn’t place with Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla turned around the 2022 crunk anthem “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)”. The track became a cultural phenomenon that spring, taking TikTok by storm with clips inspired by its most vivid bit of imagery: “At the red lights twerking on them headlights.” “They was doing it the whole summer,” GloRilla explained to Apple Music, responding to young women imitating the lyric. “I was loving it. I was like, ‘Ooh, they havin’ fun. They turnt, they outside.’” Following the song’s success, GloRilla signed to Memphis heavyweight Yo Gotti’s label Collective Music group, and sidestepped potential one-hit-wonder accusations with a Cardi-B-assisted revamp of her mixtape cut “Tomorrow”, which cracked the Top 10 on the Hot 100. After releasing her acclaimed 2022 EP Anyways, Life’s Great and securing a Grammy nomination, GloRilla joined an all-star cast at the 2023 ceremony for a performance celebrating 50 years of hip-hop. “Even being there was like, everything to me,” she told Apple Music. “I still ain’t took it all in.”