From to , he released eight independent mixtapes and garnered a regional following for his work. He signed with Atlantic Records and Artist Partner Group in the latter year to release the singles " Untouchable " and " No Smoke ", both of which marked his first entries on the Billboard Hot Released in January of the following year, his single " Outside Today " became his first to peak within the top 40 of the chart, and received quadruple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA.
His single, " Bandit " with Juice Wrld became his first song to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot Gaulden has sold over 80 million digital copies in the United States, ranking him among the highest certified artists in the United States. He has garnered 15 billion views on his YouTube channel, also ranking him among the highest-viewed rappers on the site.
Despite his success, Gaulden's career has been marked by a long history of legal issues that began in He has maintained a largely prolific output notwithstanding his incarcerations.
He broke his neck while wrestling as a toddler, the injury requiring a head brace until the spine healed. The brace left permanent scars on his forehead. While in juvenile detention for a robbery charge, he began writing lyrics for his debut project. After he was released, Gaulden's grandmother died of heart failure in and he was sent to a group home in which he noted that he would get beat up: [ 20 ]. I used to get beat up inside the group home for no reason, the other boys would put their hands on me, and I would look up like, 'Why are you hitting me, bro?
What'd I do? I found out how to be the person that you don't want to do that with. The two then used acts of criminality to begin to pay for studio time. Gaulden first began producing music with a microphone he bought from Walmart when he was fourteen years old. Gaulden's quick rise to popularity could also be attributed to his "song-for-song rap beef" with fellow Baton Rouge rapper Scotty Cain in December , in which songs from both rappers included death threats.
