Gunna (rapper)

Sergio Giavanni Kitchens (born June 14, 1993), known professionally as Gunna, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Best known for his collaborations with Young Thug and Lil Baby, he is signed to Thug's record label, YSL Records, as well as 300 Entertainment and Atlantic Records.[2] He released his debut studio album, Drip or Drown 2 on February 22, 2019 and followed it up with his second studio album Wunna on May 22, 2020, which debuted atop the Billboard 200.[3]

Gunna
Gunna performing in July 2019
Background information
Birth nameSergio Giavanni Kitchens[1]
Also known as
  • YSL Gunna
  • Yung Gunna
  • GunnaWunna
  • Wunna
Born (1993-06-14) June 14, 1993
College Park, Georgia, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2013–present
Labels
Associated acts
Websiteonly1gunna.com

Early life

Kitchens was born in College Park, Georgia. He was raised by his mother and has four older brothers.[1] He started making music at age fifteen.[4] He grew up listening to Cam'ron, Chingy and Outkast, among others.[5] Kitchens also attended Langston Hughes High School. In 2013, Gunna released the mixtape Hard Body under the name Yung Gunna.[4] In an interview with GQ, Gunna stated that he is a Christian and is extremely religious.

Career

2016–2018: Career beginnings and Drip Season series

Gunna was introduced to American rapper Young Thug through Keith "King" Troup, a mutual friend and community figure who died in December 2015.

Gunna was later featured on Young Thug's "Floyd Mayweather" in August 2016. The song is from Young Thug's mixtape, Jeffery, and also features vocals from American rappers Travis Scott and Gucci Mane.[5][6] Also, in October 2016, Gunna released his debut mixtape Drip Season through YSL Records.[7]

He released the mixtape Drip Season 2 in May 2017.[8] He released the EP Drip or Drown, with YSL producer and close friend Wheezy, who entirely produced the EP.[9] His song "YSL" featuring American rapper Playboi Carti was on a "Grand Theft Auto" radio station.[10] The album's title track "Drip or Drown" was remixed featuring vocals from American rapper Lil Yachty and was included on his mixtape, Drip Season 3, in February 2018.

He released the Drip Season 3 in February 2018. The mixtape was executive produced by Metro Boomin and featured vocals from Lil Yachty, Lil Durk, Nav, Metro Boomin, and Lil Uzi Vert, among others.[11]

2018–2019: Collaborations, Drip Harder and Drip or Drown 2

Another close friend of Gunna is American rapper Lil Baby. The duo showed their chemistry in early 2018 through various singles, such as Gunna's "Sold Out Dates", featuring Baby, which received millions of streams on platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud. Gunna was also featured on Travis Scott's "Yosemite",[12] which was considered the most popular song in which he used the word "drip".[13] The song is from Scott's third studio album, Astroworld, and also features vocals from Nav, whose voice was mixed unusually quietly in the song and was the subject of the memes and jokes. The comments on Nav's vocals got to the point where he even acknowledged them, poking fun at his own vocals on his Instagram. Scott and the song's producer, Mike Dean, turned up his vocals a week after the song's release.[14] Scott's verse in "Yosemite" mimics Gunna's verse in "Sold Out Dates".[15] In October 2018, he and Lil Baby released their collaborative album, Drip Harder, which includes the lead single, "Drip Too Hard," which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200.[7]

In February 2019, he released his debut studio album Drip or Drown 2 featuring artists Lil Baby, Young Thug and Playboi Carti.[16] It charted at #3 on the Billboard 200 and its lead single, certified platinum, "One Call", was released exactly three weeks before the album and charted at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100.

He peaked at the number one spot on Apple Music for his feature on Young Thug's single "Hot". It served as the lead single for Thug's debut studio album, So Much Fun, which released in August 2019. "Hot" was given a remix in October 2019 with an extra verse from Travis Scott. The song eventually peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.[17] Gunna is also featured on "Surf" from the album, as well as "Diamonds" from the deluxe version, released in December 2019.

2020: Wunna

On the week of Friday, February 14, 2020, Gunna was featured on three songs. He was featured on the late Pop Smoke's "Dior" remix, released on February 12. He was also featured on Marlo's "My Hood" and A Boogie wit da Hoodie's "Numbers", both released on February 14. On March 6, 2020, he released a single, "Skybox", with an accompanying music video.[18] Gunna later released a collaborative track with Nav, titled "Turks", featuring Travis Scott. The song was released on March 27, 2020, and is the second time the three artists had collaborated on the same song following Scott's "Yosemite". Six days later, on April 2, 2020, he released a collaborative track with producer Turbo and frequent collaborator Young Thug, titled "Quarantine Clean", referencing the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 6, he appeared on Chris Brown and Young Thug's mixtape, Slime & B.[19] On May 22, Gunna released his second studio album, the 18-track Wunna.[20] It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.[21] For the week of June 16, 2020, Gunna had the number one spot on Billboard's Artist 100 List.[22]

Controversies

On December 29, 2019, Baton Rouge rapper Tec claimed Gunna was on an episode of Crimestoppers the day before and was working with the police and "snitching on criminals". Gunna denied the accusations by Tec and commented "you better do the history" to prove it was not him. Tec also claimed that Young Thug's clothing brand, SPIDER, copied his clothing brand, Spider Nation. Tec believed that it was "stealing his image".[23] People claimed that the person who said "it was him, Officer" on Crimestoppers was Gunna.[24]

On June 8, 2020 gunshots were fired during the filming of a music video for Gunna and Lil Keed's song "Fox 5".[25] The shooting resulted in 2 people with non-life-threatening injuries.[26]

On June 3, 2018, Gunna and his DJ were en route to Jonesboro, Arkansas to perform at the Diamond Grill. They were lost on the way, and asked a police officer for directions. When the officer went by their grey SUV, he smelled marijuana, ecstasy, and other drugs. He immediately searched the car and found in them an edible marijuana box. Both Gunna and his DJ were arrested. They were released on bond for $2,500 the next day and were due back in court on July 27.[27][28]

Discography
Main article: Gunna discography
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References
  1. Kochhar, Nazuk (October 25, 2017). "Gunna wants you to go out and get it". The Fader. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  2. Bundy, Will (November 16, 2016). "Young Thug Has Apparently Launched His Own Label, YSL Records. Some of Gunna's top Billboard hits include "Drip Too Hard", "Never Recover" and "Space Cadet"". The Fader. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  3. Johnson, Patrick (May 12, 2020). "Gunna Announces 'WUNNA' Album Release Date With New Documentary Trailer". HypeBeast. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  4. Lee, Christina (October 22, 2018). "Gunna Speaks His Success Into Existence". XXL. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  5. Coe, Kairi (February 16, 2018). "The Break Presents: Gunna". XXL. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  6. Hussein, Wandera (February 14, 2018). "Buzzing Atlanta Rapper Gunna Talks 'Drip Season 3,' Working With Young Thug & Meeting Wyclef Jean". Billboard. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  7. Peisner, David (December 12, 2018). "Chartbreaker: How Gunna Went From 'Only Knowing Struggle' to Having Nine Hot 100 Hits". Billboard. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  8. Kochhar, Nazuk (June 1, 2017). "Gunna rules, and here's the proof". The Fader. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  9. "Gunna & Wheezy's "Drip Or Drown" EP Has Arrived". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  10. Evan Minsker (2017-12-12). "Frank Ocean Launches "Grand Theft Auto" Radio Station: JAY-Z, Panda Bear, Aphex Twin, More". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  11. Renshaw, David (February 2, 2018). "Listen to Gunna's Drip Season 3 project". The Fader. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  12. Travis Scott – YOSEMITE, August 3, 2018, retrieved 2018-08-03
  13. "21 Savage – can't leave without it Lyrics | Genius Lyrics". Genius. December 21, 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-25.
  14. Renshaw, David (August 13, 2018). "Travis Scott turned Nav's vocals up on Astroworld". The FADER. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  15. Gunna (Ft. Lil Baby) – Sold Out Dates, April 17, 2018, retrieved 2018-08-03
  16. Saponara, Michael. "Gunna Announces 'Drip or Drown II' Release Date". Billboard. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  17. "Young Thug". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  18. "Watch Gunna's Balloon Voyage Video for New Song "SKYBOX"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  19. "Slime & B by Chris Brown". Tidal. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  20. "Stream Gunna New Album 'WUNNA' Here". Siachen Studios. 2020-05-22. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  21. Caulfield, Keith (May 31, 2020). "'Wunna' Wins: Gunna Earns First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  22. https://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100
  23. "Gunna Called A Snitch After Footage Of Him On 'Crimestoppers' Surfaces + He Responds". HOT 97 | #1 For Hip Hop. December 29, 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  24. "Gunna "Crime Stoppers" Video Surfaces Causing Division Among Fans". HotNewHipHop. December 30, 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  25. "Young Thug & Gunna Reacts To Shots Fired On "Fox 5" Video Set In Atlanta". Urban Islandz. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  26. Zachary Hansen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Police: 2 injured after gunfire erupts during filming of music video in South Fulton". ajc. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  27. "Gunna Arrested With Ecstasy And Pills After Asking Cops For Directions". AllHipHop.com. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
  28. "Gunna Reportedly Arrested For Possession Of A Controlled Substance". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
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