Hot 21 Radio

Lil Zay Osama

Lil Zay Osama, born Isiah Dukes on the South Side of Chicago in 1998, transformed his violent, crime-filled childhood into a series of songs that made him one of the most authentic rappers of his generation. Though he began recording as a boy, his activity in Chicago’s gang culture dominated his childhood and teenage years. He was shot and arrested in 2015. He began serving time as one of his music began to find an audience on social media. After being paroled in 2017, he sought to leave behind his legal troubles and began to focus fully on a music career. Over the course of 2018 and 2019 he made available a series of new songs informed by his past. Tracks like “Changed Up” constituted his 2019 self-released album Hood Bible, and garnered such popularity and critical acclaim that he signed to Warner Records in 2019. He issued a series of singles including “Ride 4 Me”, “Like a Pimp”, and “61st to 64th”. The mixtape Trench Baby appeared early in 2021.