Lil' Flip

Lil' Flip出生于美國德克薩斯州重鎮(zhèn)休斯敦市的Wesley Weston，又名Leprechaun。Lil'Flip自幼就是休斯敦當(dāng)?shù)氐姆浅Ｅd旺的地下說唱歌手之一，從很小的時(shí)候開始就已經(jīng)通過地下說唱來養(yǎng)活自己。2000年，不到18歲的時(shí)候，Lil'Flip就以獨(dú)立方式發(fā)行了個(gè)人的第一張地下說唱專輯《The Leprechaun》，自吹自己是南方最牛的“自由方式說唱”(freestyle)的國王，并且一直叫囂要和埃米納姆(Eminem)爭高下。其實(shí)這個(gè)小子的成功是從當(dāng)?shù)氐牡叵抡f唱制作人DJ Screw的慧眼識(shí)英開始的，正是他從休斯敦眾多的地下說唱歌手中發(fā)現(xiàn)了Lil'Flip，并且?guī)椭浿屏艘恍┐艓?，正是這些東西讓他很快在當(dāng)?shù)匦∮忻麣?，并且很快讓Lil'Flip找到了自己的經(jīng)紀(jì)人Duane "Humpty Hump'Hobbs，Duane "Humpty Hump'Hobbs把他帶到了獨(dú)立唱片公司Suckafree，并且由Lil'Flip和Duane "Humpty Hump'Hobbs一起在1998年錄制了《Hustlas Stackin Endz》，不過最終讓他真正紅遍德克薩斯的仍然是他的首張個(gè)人專輯《The Leprechaun》。2000年，在這張專輯《The Leprechaun》發(fā)行之后，隨著單曲《I Can Do Dat》在當(dāng)?shù)氐叵码娕_(tái)的播出，這張獨(dú)立發(fā)行的專輯很快在當(dāng)?shù)匾鹆俗⒁?，這個(gè)年輕的說唱歌手也隨即被主流唱片公司所發(fā)現(xiàn)。2002年，不滿20歲的Lil'Flip與Sony唱片公司正式簽約，從地下說唱走上了主流道路。2002年9月，Lil'Flip在Sony唱片公司的首張正式專輯《Undaground Legend》正式發(fā)行，并且在發(fā)行首周進(jìn)入了Billboard 200排行榜前二十名，同時(shí)《The Leprechaun》中的一些單曲也在全國范圍內(nèi)有了更廣泛的收聽群體，Lil'Flip被認(rèn)為是最有希望的南方說唱歌手之一。隨著《Undaground Legend》進(jìn)入了排行榜，Lil'Flip也正是從一名德克薩斯州的小人物成為了一個(gè)頗受歡迎的南方說唱歌手。
by Jason Birchmeier
Amid the flourishing underground rap scene of Houston, Lil' Flip rose to quick and prosperous fame after his independently released 2000 album The Leprechaun broke through to a national audience, prompting the young rapper's signing to Universal Records soon after. Nicknamed the Freestyle King, Flip as a teen initially won the attention of the immortalized DJ Screw, who ushered the rapper into his loose-knit Screwed Up Click. The affiliation brought instant respect for Flip throughout Texas as well as the greater South, and his Leprechaun album capitalized on that, moving an impressive number of units for an independently released album. The album's slowly mounting yet ultimately broad reach and Flip's youthful appeal attracted Universal Records, who signed the barely 20 year old to a major-label contract in 2002 and released Undaground Legend later in the year. Driven by the lead single, "The Way We Ball," as well as a remix of "I Can Do Dat," a hit previously released on The Leprechaun, the album extended Flip's audience nationally and heralded him as one of the South's most promising young rappers of the early 2000s.
In 2002, Flip returned with Undaground Legend, a slick sophomore effort. It would go practically unnoticed. Two years later, Flip returned to the scene with the more expansive double-disc set U Gotta Feel Me. The set spawned a couple sizable hits, namely "Game Over (Flip)" and "Sunshine," and brought Flip the national fame he'd long been courting. With that fame came competition, and it wasn't long before Flip was beefing with T.I. for the right to don the crown of King of the South. Flip kept his profile public not only with such drama but also with a string of mixtapes, most notably the Freestyle Kings series, which reached its sixth volume in 2005. Flip's next album was planned to follow that year, but at the last minute Sony refused to release it and the rapper was without a label for the next three years. I Need Mine finally appeared in 2007 as a double CD and on the Asylum label. A year later his collaboration with Outlawz member Young Noble, All Eyez On Us, was released.