2021 BET Hip Hop Awards: Who Is The Best New Hip Hop Artist Nominee Pooh Shiesty?
Pooh Shiesty’s explosion onto the music’s national stage has been a sight to see.
Dubbed as Gucci’s “Kobe,” the 21-year-old Memphis product has lived up to the nickname, delivering Guwop’s 1017 emblem a no. 4 album on the Billboard’s 200 Chart and no. 1 album on Billboard’s Rap Albums Chart with his debut studio album, Shiesty Season (2021).
RELATED: Pooh Shiesty: 5 Things To Know About Memphis’ Skyrocketing Rap Star
Since signing to Gucci, the South Memphis native topped Rolling Stone’s Breakthrough 25 Chart, was chosen by Spotify’s Rap Caviar as one of the “10 Artists to Watch in 2021” and has gone platinum.
Born Lontrell Williams Jr, Shiesty’s resume — although brief — already makes him arguably the most viable candidate for new hip hop artist at the BET Hip Hop Awards 2021. Going up against fellow artists Blxst, Coi Leray, Don Toliver, Morray, and Yung Bleu, none can quite claim the accolades he can, and he’s one of the youngest.
As the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards approach, here’s a deeper look into the artist we might just be talking a lot more about in the future.
Behind The Nickname
It’s not often you’ll find a rapper who shares the name with an affectionate children’s cartoon (besides Snoop Dogg) but Pooh Shiesty makes that rare cut.
Pooh is a derivative of his childhood nickname “Mr. Pooh,” given to him by his late older brother Tarrance Henderson (aka TeeDa P). As far as Shiesty? Well, as he tells Uproxx in an interview, it’s “because of his lifestyle and what was going on”.
Spent Time In Texas
While Shiesty is Memphis to the core, the time he spent in Texas during his formative years has had influence on the young rapper.
Young Shiesty moved to Pflugerville, Texas when he was 16 for two years before deciding to come home to Tennessee.
Fast Start
Everything about Pooh Shiesty’s rap career thus far has been a blur. While the 21-year-old-rapper tells BET he didn’t even want to rap, saying he just tried it at 18, he sure is good at it.
The first song he ever recorded was his feature verse on a collaborative single called “Breaking News” in 2018, which ended up going viral.
“I really got on from coming with fire verses. “Breaking News,” that first verse, went viral. It’s always been like, in Memphis, I’ve had to keep my head on … just cause they know,” he tells UPROXX in an interview.
A couple of years later he's a platinum-selling recording artist.
Comes From A Family of Music
Pooh Shiesty may have started his rap career at 18 with early success, but the “Back in Blood” rapper also had a father in the biz to show him the ropes.
He tells BET in an interview earlier this year that his pops founded the Memphis-based Mob Ties Record and rapped under the nickname Mob Boss.
“He wasn’t just no rapper. He had his own record label,” Pooh says to BET about his father and mentor. So while it’s surprising that he started rapping at only 18, Pooh was able to see first-hand how things worked in the studio.
In terms of advice? Pooh tells BET he was told to “be ready for whatever comes of this.”
Is Gucci Mane’s Kobe Bryant
The New 1017 is Gucci Mane’s Atlantic-backed record company, comprised of Big Cootie, Big Fizzle, The Wops, Enchanting, Big Scarr. Pooh Shiesty, Foogiano, K Shiday and Roboy.
And out of all the talent Gucci deems Pooh Shiesty the "Kobe" — or most valuable — of the bunch.
Such praise should not go unmentioned, not only because Shiesty is so young, but because Gucci has a track record for launching the careers of Waka Flocka, Young Thug, and Young Scooter.
Gucci gives Shiesty the compliment on the track “Like 34 & 8”, which is the second single off Gucci Mane’s Ice Daddy album.
“Shiesty, that’s my Kobe Bryant, ain’t no way I’m tradin’ the man/Don’t try me or my goons be at your house like they the cable man/They say I’m a sex symbol, they say I’m a ladies man/Dressed up in the latest fashion, fashion show with Dapper Dan,” Guwop raps over the Mike WiLL Made-It production.
