September 2019 | Rolling Stone | 39
LIL KEED: HOW AN
ATLANTA-RAP PHENOM
FOUND HIS VOICE
ONE DAY LAST YEAR, Lil Keed’s friends
were pestering him to come to the
parking lot of his apartment complex on
Atlanta’s Cleveland Avenue. One of the
neighborhood’s most popular exports,
Young Thug, happened to be there, and the
congregation knew this was their moment
to showcase the neighborhood’s rising star.
“I had a song out called ‘Bag,’ ” says Keed.
“[My friends] kept playing it over and over
again, and Thug was dancing to it. Thug
finally walked up on me like, ‘What you
working on? Let me hear something.’ So I
let him hear some of my songs, and he’s
like, ‘I got you.’ ”
Half a year later,
Thug made good on
his promise and signed
Keed to his YSL Records
imprint. Thug isn’t just a
mentor to Keed, he was
a key influence, some-
thing felt through Keed’s
high-pitched yelp,
chaotic ad-libs, and
melody-driven verses.
But on his new album,
Long Live Mexico, the 21-year-old rapper
branches out. Rapid bars are stacked next
to tighter hooks, and the falsetto chirp tran-
sitions into something more mellow. This
new approach allowed Keed to become
the number-one artist on ROLLING STONE’s
Breakthrough 25, which measures the
fastest-rising artists of the month. The spike
was undoubtedly helped by the standout,
woodwinds-heavy banger “Pull Up,” featur-
ing Lil Uzi Vert and YNW Melly.
Yet for all the album’s jubilation, its title
is a dedication to a friend Keed lost in
early 2019. “Mexico was my brother,” Keed
shares. “He was going to be special, and he
ended up dying.... When he died, I changed
the whole album up. I took the [album]
FR picture by his gravesite.” CHARLES HOLMES
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GMAGENCY;^ AUDIBLE^ TREATSSPOTLIGHT2019’s Most
Streamed Artists
Drake is still the king of music
streaming — for now, at least.
Below are the top five artists
of the year so far, ranked by
audio streams in billions.Keed’s Five Biggest Songs
Though Lil Keed’s new album
came out in June, his biggest song
of July (as ranked by Song Units,
a metric that combines sales and
streams by a custom formula) was
“Nameless,” a hit from 2018.The Rolling Stone Breakthrough 25 highlights the fastest-
rising new artistsBreakthrough Artists
UNIT GROWTH refers to gains in audio streams over the previous month. Eligible artists
must have released their debut in past five years. Chart covers growth from July 1st-31st.WEEKLY GROWTH68%
45%
44%
44%
32%
The Rolling Stone Trending 25 ranks the fastest-rising
songs in the United StatesTrending Songs
‡ (^) WEEKLY GROWTH refers to percentage growth in audio streams week over week.
Eligible songs must have been released in the past three years. Chart covers the week
of July 26th-August 1st.
Blueface
Bussdown
Universal
Oliver Tree
Alien Boy
Atlantic
Jeremy Zucker
comethru
Republic
Stunna 4 Vegas
Ashley
Interscope
Mabel
Don’t Call Me Up
Capitol
1
2
3
4
5
Source: Alpha Data
Source: Alpha Data
UNIT GROWTH
3.1M
3.7M
5.4M
6.2M
Lil Keed 300 8.3M
DaniLeigh
Def Jam
Fuerza Regida
Rancho Humilde
Quinn XCII
Columbia
Comethazine
Alamo
1
2
3
4
5
To check out the full Rolling Stone Charts, read about our
methodology, and more, visit RollingStone.com/Charts
FAST FACT
Young Thug
isn’t the only
big rapper in
Keed’s corner
— Drake is
also a fan. “He
texts me from
time to time,”
Keed said.
269K
121K
81K
69K
66K
Rise of a Hip-Hop Hit
Take a look at the trajectory of
“Bussdown,” the hit from L.A. rap-
per Blueface, in audio streams,
from its release to its rise to the
top of the Trending Songs chart.
Source: Alpha Data
7/5 7/12 7/19 7/26
40.8K
WEEK OF:
1.4M
2.4M
2.1M
Nameless
Oh My God
Fetish
JULY 17
Added to
Spotify’s
RapCaviar
playlist.
It has over
10 million
followers
JULY 13
Blueface kicks
off a tour in
Wallingford, CT
Pull Up
Balenciaga
3.34
3.0
2.48
2.38
2.09
- Drake
- Ariana Grande
- Billie Eilish
- Post Malone
- Juice Wrld